I know it’s been awhile since you thought about the Master Educator Premium program. In fact, if you’re like me, you probably would rather have a root canal than think about that catastrophic failure of the Idaho Legislature’s making ever again.
Unfortunately, I need you to think about it a little bit more. But, I promise I only need a a few minutes of your time. That’s because the Idaho Legislature is about to kick off, and the only way to change this program for the better is with your help.
The State Board of Ed sent me a significant amount of materials pertaining to the development of the Mahster Educator Premium program. Attached are all the materials they sent me.
Obviously, I have not had time to look at each file. If you find anything worth interest during your examination please let me know at levibcavener@gmail.com.
Unfortunately, you cannot create “folders” in wordpress, so the files are kind of a mess, but they are all there. Enjoy perusing! Continue reading
Here is the open letter I sent to every member of the house/senate committee members, the State Board of Education, and the Governor’s office.
Please take the time to sign this petition to help pressure those folks in making reasonable changes to the current Master Educator Premium in order alleviate the current exceptional onerous process of applying which leaves many Jedi quality educators behind.
An Open Letter to the Idaho Legislature, State Board of Education, and Governor’s office.
By Levi B Cavener (Note, the following is intended to be satirical)
Levi B Cavener
Executive Director Matt Freeman of the State Board of Education shared a piece in which he suggested that educators need to be better informed of facts regarding Master Educator Premiums. My “teacher-mode” kicked in while reading his editorial, and I have made some revisions to his writing which I have shared below: (Note, the following are my words, not Director Freeman’s. We can only wish the SBE could treat teachers this way).
First, I want to issue the most pleasant of greetings to Idaho’s teachers during this summer. I know this message will find Gem State Educators all across the country taking professional development, university courses, advanced placement training, etc. I appreciate how Idaho leads the nation in its teachers taking unpaid time in order to benefit their students.
I want you to know that the State Board of Education is listening to the conversation and frustration of Idaho’s teachers regarding the Master Educator Premium program which has its first submissions due at the end of this month. We believe leadership starts at the top, which is why SBE President Critchfield has instructed all SBE members and staff to develop a portfolio of their own in order to demonstrate our mastery in leading Idaho’s education system.
By Levi B Cavener
The State Board has set the end of June for the Gem State’s teachers to submit Master Educator Portfolios in the hopes of earning their blackbelts. I am hopeful that many teachers in Idaho will be dutifully awarded this distinguishment as those portfolios are evaluated.
But I won’t be one of them. See, like most teachers I would consider to be Jedi Master quality, I don’t have time to crunch the keyboard for days filling out an enormous application. Instead, I suspect I am not alone in the Gem State in filling my days full of activities that will actually improve my students’ instruction in lieu of filling out paperwork in hopes of a minor pay bump. Continue reading
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