America’s Promise Powerpoint

America’s Promise

Great teachers, weak

teachers: What is quality

teaching?

National Council on Teacher Quality

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3 big teacher quality

levers:

1. Pipeline

2. Policies

3. Pay

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The challenge

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The stubborn achievement gap

Source: B.D. Rampey, G.S. Dion, and P.L. Donahue, NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress (NCES 2009-479), National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

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The stubborn achievement gap

Source: B.D. Rampey, G.S. Dion, and P.L. Donahue, NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress (NCES 2009-479), National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Educational Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

Teachers offer our best hope.

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Odds of random assignment of great teacher — 1 in 7 in 17,000

Odds of random assignment of great teacher 5 years in a row — 1 in 17,000 in 17,000

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1. Pipeline

Who is being admitted?

Are new teachers classroom-

ready?

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Average SAT scores by subject area

It’s getting harder to attract talent

Source: Bacolod, Marigee, “Do alternative opportunities matter?” Review of Economic and Statistics, 2007. 11

GPAs of education majors

12 Source: Cory Koedel, Grading Standards in Education Departments at Universities, April 2011

Value added by a college education

13 Source: Richard Arum and Jospa Roksa, Academically Adrift (2011)

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Findings from our teacher prep pilot studies

Training in how to teach reading

15%

Elementary mathematics

13%

Student teaching

7%

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Teacher prep isn’t adding enough value

Source: Gordon, Kane, Staiger, Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job,

The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, April 2006. 16

2. Policies

• State laws and regulations

• Teacher contracts and school board policies

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Student achievement is the preponderant

criterion in teacher evaluations

State requires annual evaluation of all teachers

2009

2011

Source: NCTQ 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook

We’re seeing big changes at state levels,

prompted by Race to the Top

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Source: NCTQ 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook 18

We’re seeing big changes at state levels,

prompted by Race to the Top

Where states stand now on evaluations

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Student achievement is

preponderant criterion

Evaluations "significantly

informed" by student achievement

Evaluations include

objective measures of student achievement

Student achievement data

not required

19 Source: NCTQ 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook

3. Pay

What do we value?

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Experience doesn’t matter as much as we think…or pay for.

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Salary trajectories often penalize younger

teachers.

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$35,000

$40,000

$45,000

$50,000

$55,000

$60,000

$65,000

$70,000

$75,000

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Miami-Dade Salary Schedule

It takes too long to get to the top.

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$$$ for advanced degrees

Source: NCTQ TR3 database, www.nctq.org/tr3 24

District Masters degree equivalent

Baltimore

Boston

Hartford

Kansas City

Los Angeles

Miami

Seattle

Springfield

How many MA’s to get to the top?

One shining example from Harrison, CO

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Harrison’s new salary schedule

Novice Progressing Proficient Exemplary Master

I I II I II III I II I

$35,000 $38,000 $44,000 $48,000 $54,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 $90,000

Each year, teachers are evaluated and assigned to one of nine effectiveness levels:

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Top salary

• Before: $68,000

• Now: $90,000

Slide not included in original presentation

How teachers are rated:

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Student

Achievement

Six traditional metrics

1.Quality of instruction

2. Student engagement

3. Effective strategies and

practices

4. Curriculum alignment

5. Classroom management

6. Other criteria

A combination of 8

measures that involve:

1.Classroom scores on

both the state test and

district ssessments

2.School-wide scores on

the state test

3. A student achievement

goal set by the teacher


Classroom observations

• Frequent “spot observations” of all teachers (10 to 15 minute walk throughs).

– Non-tenured teachers 8 times each semester.

– Tenured teachers 4 times each semester.

• All teachers are formally observed 2 times a year.

• All teachers receive 1 summative evaluation each year, summarizing the spot and formal evals, and determining annual rating and salary.


State tests

• As federal law requires, all students in grades 3 through 10 are tested by the state in language arts, mathematics and science.


District tests

• Every grade and subject administers “progress monitoring assessments”

– 4 common assessments during the year • 2 assessments administered at the end of semester

• In non-tested subjects and grades, the district’s teachers have agreed upon a set of performance measures. – Retired teachers evaluate teachers each year on a set of

standard performance metrics


Teachers must meet an objective standard of performance to progress from one level to another.

– District established a “target distribution” range for each of the 8 effectiveness levels

• District intentionally established a positively skewed distribution (meaning the majority of current teachers would be found proficient and progressing)

– District set “cut scores” for each level that was based on past student achievement data, so that the actual distribution would approximate our target distribution.


The student learning measures for a 4th grade teacher

The specific measures vary grade to grade, subject to subject.

Weight Type Tested subjects

25% Classroom score on STATE test Reading, writing, math

25% Classroom performance on DISTRICT summative test (2x/yr)

Reading, writing, math, science

25% Classroom performance on DISTRICT progress monitoring test

Reading, math and writing

12.5% School-wide score on STATE test Reading, writing, math

12.5% Teacher’s own selection of a goal for student achievement

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Multiple measures brought to life

State Tests

District (Performance)

District (Summative)

District (Progress monitoring

Individual goal set by teacher


The student learning measures for a 10th grade English teacher



25% Classroom score on STATE test Reading, writing, English

25% DISTRICT tests (summative; administered 2x year)

Reading, writing, communicating

25% DISTRICT test (Progress monitoring and timed constructed response)

Reading, writing, communicating

12.5% School-wide score on STATE test Reading, writing, math


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The student learning measures for a high school AP English teacher



12.5% Classroom score on STATE test Reading, writing, English

37.5% AP Exams English

25% DISTRICT tests (summative; administered 2x year)

English

12.5% Schoolwide score on state tests Reading, writing, math


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The student learning measures for a high school art teacher



25% DISTRICT performance test (end of year performance; external scoring)

Art

25% DISTRICT summative test Art

25% DISTRICT TESTS (Progress monitoring and timed constructed response)

Art

12.5% Schoolwide score on state tests Reading, writing, math


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Art Grade 3

In the space below, create an abstract or realistic drawing of

an animal.

Use at least two different shapes.

Use at least one type of line.

Show balance in the drawing.

Your drawing will be scored on:

Are all parts of the drawing neat and finished?

How well were shapes, line, and balance used?

A sample of performance measures for non-tested teachers


A before picture


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Unsatisfactory Progressing I Progressing II Proficient I Proficient II Proficient III Exemplary

Where teachers fall on the scale: 2010-2011 Results

And after: The results produce a standard bell

curve, reflecting true performance.


What happened in the first year (2010-2011)

• Modest achievement gains in most areas: – Significant growth at high school level

• 25% of the teacher workforce left: – Includes retirements, non-renewals, and resignations

– Majority of teachers leaving were not rated proficient or higher.

• Actual distribution came close to the target distribution.

• Overall percentage of money spent on salaries remained the same.


How often are teachers eligible for a raise?

• Teachers are eligible for advancement each year.

• The fastest a current teacher can make it to the top “Master” level is 6 years

– A novice teacher can make it in 8 years.

• A teacher can stay at the same level indefinitely.

– However, ineffective teachers will eventually be moved out

• A teacher can be downgraded but only after receiving low marks three years in a row.

• Its easier to get promotions at the lower levels than higher.

• An exceptionally distinguished teacher can skip a level one time in a career.


How Harrison pays for its plan:

• It is not an incentive pay plan. – It uses the same percentage of general fund dollars as before that

went to teacher salaries

• Teachers receive no raises associated with experience or advanced degrees.

• Teachers are not paid to attend professional development. • District eliminated extra pay for mentoring or department

chairs. • MOST IMPORTANT: Teachers don’t get raises every year. • Every three years, the district will decide if a Cost of Living

raise is in order.


How it is manageable:

• Only the district can decide if a teacher qualifies for the four top levels of effectiveness. District staff evaluates these teachers.

• All school levels have assistant principals who also evaluate teachers and are trained to be instructional leaders.

• If rate of promotions is not financially sustainable, cut scores can be adjusted.


Teacher satisfaction:

• In a survey conducted in the fall of 2010:

– 69% of staff agreed that compensation should be based on performance and student achievement results

• Only 13% disagreed

– 55% of staff agreed that a pay for performance plan would be good for students’ academic success

• Only 14% disagreed


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Question: Tell us about how you were hired as a teacher?

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Question: How do you want to be measured?

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Inserting student feedback into the process

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Question: When layoffs must occur, who should go?

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Balancing teacher loyalty with student

learning.

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Question: What impact do ineffective teachers have on other

teachers?

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Do states view ineffectiveness as grounds for

dismissal?

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Yes, through dismissal policy

Yes, through evaluation policy

No

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The euphemisms we’ve found instead:

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Do states allow teachers to appeal

dismissal decisions beyond the district

level?

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Rubber Room Woes

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3 years = The average time teachers spend in the rubber room

2 to 5 years = Time it takes for arbitrators to hear cases

40-45 days = How long one teacher’s case might last, which is

8 times the average US criminal trial.

5 days = Amount of time a principal might be on the stand

during a case of 40-45 days (a disincentive to have principals

go through the hard work of bringing cases to arbitration)

$1,400/day = Amount arbitrators are paid for each day they

work -- not an incentive for cases to get wrapped up quickly

Question: How do we attract more talent into the profession?

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Question: What should districts look for when they hire?

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Kate Walsh, President

National Council on Teacher Quality

[email protected]

Documents

America’s Promise Powerpoint