By Michelle Hines, University Relations
Posted 5-19-08
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- As many as 300 people are expected to attend the first Symposium for Future Ready Schools, sponsored by the Teachers Academy at UNCG.
The symposium, a platform to discuss the new 21st-century teaching standards and the role universities can play in implementing these reforms, takes place June 23-27 in the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.
Christina O’Connor, coordinator for the Wachovia Teacher Mentoring Network (WTMN) within the Teachers Academy, started planning the symposium last June. The new North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and the new North Carolina Standards for School Executives that will be phased in over the next few years stress increased cooperation between teachers and administrators, as well as increased leadership responsibilities for teachers.
“We’re bringing all of the stakeholders together to look at what we’re being asked to do by the state, to look at what this means and how we can implement it in this new era where things are changing faster than ever before,” O’Connor said. “We’re now preparing teachers for schools that don’t even exist yet and for conditions that don’t exist yet.”
O’Connor said administrators will be evaluated on their ability to share leadership, collaborating with teachers and community members. “It’s no longer a job where you can just have a manager; it takes several people working together. Teachers will be asked to take ownership in the decision-making process.”
Universities will also be expected to step up to the plate, O’Connor said. “They will be sharing responsibility with K-12 schools to work toward school improvement.”
The WTMN was created in the spring of 2006 through a grant from the Wachovia Corporation. WTMN’s goal is to recruit, prepare and support a network of 150 educational mentors from the 16 school districts in the Piedmont Triad region over a three-year period. The network currently has 137 mentors from 10 districts involved in the project.
For more information, contact Christina O’Connor at (336) 256-1082 or ckoconno@uncg.edu.
