TELL Ohio

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) and the Office of Educator Equity and Talent (OET), in partnership with the New Teacher Center, piloted a three-year program called TELL (Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning) to provide educators in Ohio with data, tools, and support to facilitate school improvement planning and address issues of inequitable access. As a part of the initiative, Ohio is doing the following:

• Provides data on teaching conditions in hard-to-staff Ohio schools by implementing a working conditions survey. This survey focuses on issues such as time, facilities, resources, leadership, instructional practices, student behavior management, community support, professional development, and new teacher support.
• Shares results through an online dashboard and provides reports with benchmarking data for educator consideration.
• Provides schools and districts with direct technical assistance to use the survey results and research best practices.

In a collaborative effort among stakeholders, ODE, the Ohio Education Association, and the Ohio Federation of Teachers recently announced the 2013 TELL Initiative, which is part of the Race to the Top initiative. It begins with an online, anonymous school survey and is an ongoing process for using the results from the survey in annual school improvement planning. TELL Ohio will provide educators in the state’s Race to the Top schools with data, tools, and direct support to facilitate school improvement planning and equitable access.