Educator Excellence Task Force: Torlakson appointments

UPDATE, January 25, 2012: State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, announced on January 20 the creation of an Educator Excellence Task Force to "recommend ways to strengthen California's teacher corps," according to the announcement published on the state Dept. of Education's website.

Co-chairs of the task force are Linda Darling-Hammond, above, most recently appointed  professor of education at Stanford and a Brown appointee to the board of the historically troubled Commission on Teacher Credentialling; and Chris Steinhauser, superintendent of Long Beach Unified School District, the third largest district in the state. Other members of the task force have yet to be announced.

Previously reported: In early August, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s  59-member Transition Advisory Team’s report, “A Blueprint for Great Schools,” recommends strategies in nine key areas of education emphasis and reform. The advisory team, co-chaired by Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education at Stanford, and LA Chamber of Commerce senior vp of education and workforce development, David Rattray, included early childhood education in the priorities, stating,

“In tomorrow’s California, we envision that all children will thrive in preschool, be ready for kindergarten, and academically proficient in third grade by growing up healthy and having opportunities for high quality early learning.”

The committee for early education/preschool was co-chaired by Catherine Atkin, above,  of Preschool California and Ted Lempert, president of Children Now; members were Sonia Martin-Solis, LAUSD elementary school teacher; former Congresswoman Diane Watson; Alex Rooker, Communications Workers of America; and Kristin Wright, California Advisory Commission of Special Education.

Recommendations to the state Department of Education from the subcommittee were:

*Develop an infrastructure for a birth-to-grade-three system that includes readiness data, and aligned standards/assessment, curriculum, and professional development.

*Develop a comprehensive system of support, including maternal education, infant home visitation, and developmental screenings.

*Preserve First 5 commission and county commission funding so programs and services vital to children birth-to-5 are not significantly reduced or eliminated.

*Implement and quality rating and improvement system (QRIS)...

*Design and fund early learning programs and professional development systems that use both the research-based Preschool Learning Foundations and the K-12 California CCS.

*Develop an early childhood data system linked to the K-12 system…

*Improve pre- and in-service training for early childhood educators…

*Design and fund universal transitional kindergarten programs that are culturally and linguistically appropriate and inclusive in all local districts.

*Build support for innovative funding models (learn to braid funding strands, e.g.).