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Promoting Value-Added Assessment

Thank you for all your efforts to support public education and teachers. The article in your expert opinion section (“Andrew Porter and Value-Added Assessment,” summer 2005, at www.nwrel.org/nwedu/10-04/expert/) gave me valuable background information for a resolution I wrote for a growth model to be used in special education testing.

Maggie Walters
Montana PTA Advocacy Vice President and Head Start Associate Teacher
Great Falls, Montana

Valuing School Libraries

Thank you for a well-written, concise article on the value of professionally staffed libraries to public school students (“The Essential Link,” fall 2003). We are in a period of declining enrollment in my district, and the library program I have worked so hard to establish is in a predicament. This year, I am teaching regular classes part of the day. Next year, I will take on more regular teaching.

Who knows what the future holds? Our scores have improved over the eight years I have been here, but I am not sure that my part in that is recognized to the extent it needs to be in order to save our library program and to keep me (or some other MLIS) at its helm.

Rebecca Petheram
Teacher Librarian
Wishkah Valley School
Aberdeen, Washington

Project-Based Learning

Helena Fagan’s views on backward design and project-based education were very interesting (“Starting at the End,” spring 2002). I am working on a project for a curriculum design class (from Shenandoah University, www.su.edu/sas/tesol/), and I followed a link from Digital Literacy (http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/curriculum.html) to this article.

Thank you for maintaining the NWREL site. I am familiar with it for the 6+1 Traits for writing, and the article I read tonight just confirms what I already knew about the high quality of work that you do.

Dani Long Noriega
Adjunct ESL Faculty
Fox Valley Technical College
Menasha, Wisconsin

We want to hear from you! Send your letters to the editor, article ideas, and tips on places where good things are happening to nwedufeedback@nwrel.org. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.