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A hearty congratulations goes to Paulette Saatzer of West St. Paul for being one of 85 educators nationwide to win the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Saatzer, a kindergarten teacher at Garlough Elementary School, won the award for outstanding teaching in science. She, along with the other winners, will get $10,000 as well as an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to receive the award.
As anyone will tell you, it's not easy to be a teacher, much less an excellent one. So it's only right that teachers like Saatzer receive adequate recognition for their efforts. But right now in Minnesota most of our great teachers aren't getting the recognition they deserve because the state still doesn't have a trusted system for giving teachers objective, meaningful and regular evaluations.
As an editorial by the Star Tribune points out, this has to change.
Fortunately it can. Right now state lawmakers are considering legislation that would require regular teacher evaluations based in part on student learning. Learn more about why it's so important to build a barometer for teacher effectiveness this legislative session by checking out our latest issue brief, Building a Barometer for Teacher Effectiveness.