Greetings Readers!

Tomorrow the House Committee will be meeting to discuss HB 478.  This bill is designed to benefit  Louisiana students by allowing effective teachers to remain in the classroom.  It ends provisions for policies which can remove some of the most dedicated instructors while protecting senior teachers who may be stagnating.  Essentially, the provisions in the bill will allow for the best quality teachers to remain in the classroom with students.

While we support HB 478 we would like to keep in mind that removing seniority as a criterion for teacher hiring and firing leaves measures of teacher effectiveness as the primary consideration.  However, teacher effectiveness can be determined in many ways, and we want to urge the committe to be mindful that methods for teacher evaulation cannot solely rely on student test scores; there are many factors which contribute to the success of a teacher in the classroom.

If you share our opinion on HB 478, we hope you will sign our petition to let the committee know that there are eyes watching them!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/101/807/274/pass-hb-478/

Thanks and have a fantastic week!

Advocacy Training Night

Hey Everyone!

Hopefully you're enjoying the beautiful weekend weather.  Even though the semester is beginning to wind down, we still have a few things planned.  The first is this Wednesday, April 10th at 5:00pm in Gibson Hall room 310.  

The agenda will be as follows:

1. Peter Davis from OPEN (Orleans Public Education Network): Discussion on upcoming education policies in Louisiana as well as "how to" advice on lobbying.

2. Discussion of education Issues.

3. Westley from STAND for Children and Ernest from Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children: Organizing 101, tips on how YOU can be the change you wish to see in the world.

Dinner will be provided!

This is going to be a really fantastic event, it will provide us with greater knowledge of the education landscape and give us the tools we need to advocate for real change in education.

We urge you all to come, even if this is the first SFER event you attend; we promise it will be well worth your time.  Bring your roommate, bring your friends, invite everyone! This is the perfect opportunity to learn how both SFER and you as an individual can make a difference in NOLA education.

To ensure we have enough food, please RSVP to sfertulane@gmail.com or sspiege@tulane.edu