Thanksgiving is such a great time of year.

It’s the beginning of the holiday season, a time to reflect on the past year. It’s a chance to reconnect with those who matter the most to us, and the best time of year to be grateful for all we have. At NEE, gratitude abounds and there is so much to be thankful for.

Thank you to each of the districts we work with.  Each district is filled with so many people striving to be the best they can for their fellow educators, their community, and the students they serve. We have a unique opportunity to hear about the joys and great examples of teaching and leadership happening in more than 320 school districts.  The stories they share are full of gratitude and appreciation. You inspire us, and we strive to work for you.

Thank you to the school leaders and teachers who actively collaborate with NEE to further our efforts. When we reach out with different opportunities and trainings, we have such a great response. Every interaction with the NEE Help Desk and our Member Services team members helps us improve.  Thank you for helping us continue to build and craft an educator evaluation system that honors effective teaching and instructional leadership.

Thank you to our Member Services team. Chuck, Jill, Aaron, Benjy, Cheri, and Marc travel throughout the summer and the school year to connect with schools.  They do a wonderful job of leading trainings and, more importantly, creating conversations.  We thrive on conversations, and if you have had the chance to talk with any of them, you are well familiar with the passion and sincerity with which they all lead. They also support our improvement efforts throughout the year.  They curate materials and resources, plan and deliver webinars, facilitate consensus scoring sessions, and help design the training and support materials.  They are essential to the NEE experience and are thoughtful leaders who want to provide the best experience to each educator with whom they work.

Thank you to our research team. At NEE, we strive to be a true research-practice partnership.  We are driven by research in the field of education, evaluation, and leadership.  We also let the practices that happen every day in schools drive our research efforts and help guide us. Our research team, Javier and Xintong, have delivered top-tier research in their respective fields and have contributed to our understanding of what matters most.  We continuously evolve because of their efforts.  So often they document the stories that educators live out every day. They seek to find out what we can learn and to offer better solutions. 

Thank you to our home base team.  If you’re in a NEE district, if you’ve stopped by our booth in an exhibit hall, if you’ve seen our social media, or if you’ve reached out to our help desk – you’ve interacted with our home base team members. They are the logistical wizards that navigate us through each year.  They are the ones who answer questions, turn our ideas into reality, and make us look really, really good.

Thank you to our IT team: Kent, Anne, Scott, and Mark. We are so lucky to have an attentive IT team that can problem-solve and keep the NEE Data Tool humming.  It’s hard work and it seems to get harder every year to keep an online database running smoothly.  But they do it – and so much more.  When we bring new ideas to the IT team, they are always curious and excited to figure out how to make them happen.  They work collaboratively together and with us to make our ideas come to life in a way that is simple and powerful for Data Tool users. They are doing some HUGE things behind the scenes right now, and I’m excited to share that hard work in the months to come!

Thank you as well to the University of Missouri and the College of Education and Human Development. Fifteen years ago, the college took a chance on an idea.  Since that time, it has provided resources, space, and continued opportunities to explore.  We are fortunate to work with so many offices in both the college and at the university, and there are so many people who have had a hand in all we have accomplished over the years.  It is truly a community that works together to serve a common cause. 

From my desk, I know how fortunate I am to be a part of such a great team.  And for me, that team extends outward.  Sure, we have our core NEE team.  Yet, I consider our team to be so much bigger.  Our team is each of you — each person we work with and get the chance to support.  Our team is anyone who wants to improve what they do and how they do it.  Our team is everyone who knows we can work together to make each day a better experience.  Our team knows evaluation is meant to highlight the great work being done in schools. Our team knows evaluation is meant to build conversations and to work towards excellence. Our team is anyone who values instructional leadership. Thank you all for being on our team. May each of you have a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful season filled with joy and gratitude.

Tom Hairston is the Managing Director of the Network for Educator Effectiveness and has worked with NEE since 2011. Prior to his work with NEE, he worked as a Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports Consultant for the Heart of Missouri Regional Professional Development Center at the University of Missouri. He began his career in education as a high school special education and language arts teacher and football coach at Moberly High School in Moberly, Mo. Tom received his PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri in 2012.

The Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) is a simple yet powerful comprehensive system for educator evaluation that helps educators grow, students learn, and schools improve. Developed by preK-12 practitioners and experts at the University of Missouri, NEE brings together classroom observation, student feedback, teacher curriculum planning, and professional development as measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal designed to promote educator growth and development.