I am a Broker of Expertise (who knew?)

I was selected to be a member of this pilot project, which actually begins tomorrow. I am all about closing the achievement gap and raising overall student achievement. Let's get started!

School reform efforts have mostly been conducted on an individual school or district basis. However, in these times of scarce resources, it is imperative that a state as large and complex as California learns to share sound educational solutions to common issues. The on-line nature of the resources and the community of practice are key to leveraging available resources, answering the questions posed in the pilot work, and developing a system to assist California’s teachers for the long-term challenges ahead.

In the past two years, foundations interested in helping teachers by providing them the resources they need to do their work more effectively have been developing the vision. Working through the California Department of Education (CDE), these efforts have taken the form of an initiative known as Brokers of Expertise. Those at the heart of the initiative understand that teachers and administrators around the state – in addition to others charged with supporting K-12 education, have developed expertise in diverse areas. Making the exchange of this expertise easier, along with providing easily searchable, high-quality resources, are the goals of the Brokers of Expertise initiative.

The platform for providing these resources and access to each other are being tested in a pilot. This community pilot will examine how teachers use the resources, how they interact with each other, and how useful teachers find the resources and these connections to be. Closing the achievement gap and raising overall student achievement across our large and diverse state is the overarching goal.