As the Director of Learning and Leadership Services at the Texas Association of School Administrators, Eric Simpson is heavily involved in the Texas Performance Assessment Consortium, commonly referred to as TPAC. The consortium includes 44 school districts, and the purpose of the group is to push for community-based accountability in schools, something Eric says that school and administrators are lacking.
Eric’s involvement in the TPAC group takes on a personal element as his kids are enrolled in a member district. He feels a personal responsibility to influence schools, not just in his district but everywhere, and as he says, “stop going down a path that creates shallower expectations and shallower learning experiences based off of a very limited way of assessing learning.”
This interview demonstrates Eric’s openness to having hard discussions about the shortcomings of our current education system. He offers a refreshing willingness to examine concrete ways that we, as a society, might attempt to turn things around for the better.
About Eric Simpson:
Eric Simpson is the Director of Learning and Leadership Services at the Texas Association of School Administrators. Prior to his role at TASA, Eric served as a secondary literacy and language arts administrator for Lewisville Independent School District, a large suburban district north of Dallas. He also served as the English language arts content lead for the TASA on iTunes U project.
Simpson taught English at the high school and college level for nine years before moving into curriculum and professional development. Eric has presented at conferences for the National Council for Teachers of English and SXSWedu. In 2015, he was recognized as an Apple Distinguished Educator and received the North Star of Texas Writing Project’s Leslie Patterson Leadership Award for his contribution to literacy and writing instructional leadership.
Further Reading: The CT Mirror - Feds give nod to CT’s plan for education accountability
My Plainview - Most area schools meet accountability standards
Corpus Christi Caller Times - Corpus Christi, Texas fare well in TEA accountability
Additional Reading:
Enthusiasm for improvements in large school districts
Assessment platforms helping transparency in schools
Supporting the need for equity in education
About Rod Berger, PsyD.
Dr. Rod Berger is President and CEO of MindRocket Media Group. Berger is a global education media personality and strategic influencer featured in The Huffington Post, Scholastic, AmericanEdTV, edCircuit, EdTechReview India and Forbes
Audiences have enjoyed education interviews with the likes of Sir Ken Robinson, Arne Duncan, Randi Weingarten, Sal Khan along with leading edtech investors, award-winning educators, and state and federal education leaders. Berger’s latest project boasts a collaboration with AmericanEdTV and CBS’s Jack Ford.
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