PROFESSIONALISM: ASSURING TEACHER QUALITY

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With deepest appreciation to the members of the committee:

Clare CohenMichelle BoddenHelen DoughtyDanny FoceriAminda GentileHoward GollubJoan GoodmanRoberta GrablerCarol Keefe

Richard MangoneLisa MendelMaria NeiraClarence ReynoldsNeil ShanahanJohn Soldini

William StamatisLucille SwaimClaire Sylvan

All of whom work long hours and have many responsibilities. They were extremelygenerous with their knowledge, their understanding and their time. This report is theresult of their dedication.

Elizabeth LangiulliChair

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

BACKGROUND

GOALS OF THE COMl\lITTEE

RECOMMENDATIONS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSIONS

PART I: BACKGROUND

"Teaching can be respected as a genuine profession when

there is evidence that teachers are experts in their subject matter and do a

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good job of inducting students into their expertise. This requires a strong

pre-service program and rigorous licensure standards, accompanied by effective

induction programs. It also requires that quality be maintained through peer

review and intervention programs and ongoing professional development. When

high standards are not suspended in the face of teacher shortages, and when being

an accomplished teacher is recognized and adequately rewarded, then we will

have teacher quality assurance and vastly greater confidence of providing a

quality education for all students."

Albert Shanker"Quality Assurance"Phi Delta KappanNovember 1966

The report A Nation At Risk stated that our nation's public schools were failing

because academic standards weren't high enough. It recommended that we raise the

standards for graduation. It also recommended that teacher preparation be improved and

that teaching be made a more rewarding and respected profession.

While academic standards are higher and student achievement has improved

somewhat, we have not reached the level of a "world class" education. We still have too

many students who do not think critically, read or compute at a high level. Too few

students graduate from our high schools with the skills they need to compete successfully

in college or in the global marketplace. These facts leave many with the impression that

our public schools are failing which has led some critics to apply marketplace standards

to schools. They say that school choice would force schools to compete for students and

that "market pressures" would make schools improve.

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That belief, based on marketplace, rather than educational values, is the

mainspring of a movement by those opposed to public education to provide vouchers to

parents who choose to send their children to private or religious schools. This diversion

of funds from public schools would create additional hardships for an already

impoverished and underfunded public school system. L'1 addition to vouchers, enemies of

public education are calling for free standing charter schools, with no standards or

accountability, and some local governments and school boards, despite well publicized

failures in Hartford and Baltimore, are looking at the option of turning public education

over to private, for profit, education firms.

There are others concerned about the current state of public education who also

offer a variety of solutions and suggestions for reforms, but, unlike those who advocate

for vouchers and privatization, they seek change within the public school system. These

solutions include: higher standards for students and educators; wider choices within the

public school system; school uniforms; extended school year and school day; a

constitutional amendment for school prayer; merit pay; an end to tenure; and increased

funding for public education that will not only attract and retain the best and the brightest

but will also ensure students are taught in structurally sound, safe, modem, well supplied

schools and classrooms. Some of these solutions unfortunately are politically expedient

answers to educational problems and will hurt, rather than help, public education. Some,

while not harmful, are purely cosmetic. Other solutions will require large commitments

of capital and the political will to support and improve public education. Still others may

require several years to show results, a luxury oftime we cannot afford given the

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relentless, vocal, powerful and well financed attacks on our public education system and,

more importantly, the needs of our children.

Critics of public education have found, through shrewd and often pointed appeals,

an ally in parents who justifiably seek the best for their children and who also know

firsthand the conditions under which their children learn. Teacher unions, on the other

hand, whether out of an anti-union animus, a need to find scapegoats or a general

dissatisfaction with "bureaucracies," are often attacked as a group that perpetuates the

status quo, that sees any kind of change as a threat to its own vested interests rather than

the interests of children, and as a force that uses its political and fiscal power to block

improvements. Although teacher unions around the country have been strong advocates

for reform, this fact is often not heard in the din of the rhetoric surrounding the state of

education in this country today. The United Federation of Teachers has long been an

advocate of school reform. We recognize that collective bargaining can have a profound

effect on teaching and learning. For more than a decade our contract has contained

language designed to support and encourage reform with measures such as shared

decision-making, school-based budgeting, alternative teacher evaluation procedures and

professional development programs to support new teachers as well as for those who are

experiencing difficulties. The UFT, in collaboration with several educational reform

organizations, was the driving force behind changes in staffing and hiring of teachers;

changes designed to support improved teaching and learning. The preamble to our

current contract states, in part, " ... the Union and the Board mutually agree to join

together with other partners in the redesign and improvement of our schools, including

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closing those that have failed and supporting their restructuring .... The standards to which

we hold our students must never be lower than those we hold for our own children .... "

Yet, despite all these visible supports for reform one charge against teacher unions still

has particular resonance among the general public-that unions protect incompetent

teachers. This is evidenced by attacks on tenure by politicians and school boards

throughout New York State, by sensationalized cases of teachers who have been brought

up on charges sitting in district offices for years, collecting their full salaries, by

anecdotes of teachers who cannot read or write or speak intelligent English. All of this

has unjustly called in question the competence of all teachers and often negates much of

the work we have done as a union to improve and reform public education.

This focus on teacher competence is understandable. Teachers are the heart of

education. In September 1996, the National Commission on Teaching and America's

Future, a blue ribbon panel of educators, administrators, superintendents, govemors and

business leaders issued its report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future.

The report stated:

o What teachers know and can do is the most important influence on what studentslearn.

o Recruiting, preparing and retaining good teachers is the central strategy for improvingour schools.

o School reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating the conditions in whichteachers can teach, and teach well.

These basic premises rightfully emphasize the overwhelming importance of the

interaction between teacher and student. These premises led to the following

recommendations: setting high rigorous standards for all teachers; improving teacher

preparation and professional development; strengthening teacher recruitment efforts;

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placing qualified teachers in every classroom; encouraging and rewarding teacher

knowledge and skills; and creating schools that are organized for student and teacher

success.

Following the issuance of that report the New York State Education Department

issued its own report on teacher quality. This report focused on methods to ensure that

those teachers currently in classrooms around the state are proficient in their field. This

report recommends that teacher certification be based on demonstrated competence

contingent on satisfactory periodic review. Among other recommendations it calls for

more demanding teacher preparation programs and a new certification structure based on

continued professional development.

Given the attacks on public education, the widespread frustration with the seemingly

slow pace of reform, the focus on teacher competence (a focus that places our entire

profession under scrutiny) and the public perception that teacher unions, despite proof to

the contrary, oppose reform, President Randi Weingarten established a committee to take

a hard and often difficult look at the role the UFT must play in assuring teacher quality.

This is the report of that committee.

PART II GOALS OF THE COMMITTEE

As a teacher union and as an advocate for public education, the UFT recognizes

that collective bargaining and school improvement for student achievement go hand in

hand. We will never cease our struggle for salaries that recognize our status as

professionals, our fight for better working conditions and safer schools and our defense of

due process. All of these are crucial in attracting and retaining teachers of the highest

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quality. Critics of unions say that incompetent teachers are protected by tenure and

recommend that tenure be abolished to make it easier and more cost effective to remove

incompetent teachers. Other proposals recommend that iftenure cannot be abolished,

then it and due process should be circumvented by invoking solutions like "renewable"

tenure or stringent recertification procedures.

The original goal of this committee was to discuss teacher performance review

and evaluation models to determine if changes in these areas would effectively respond to

the current concerns. It became clear that these items are only part of a larger picture that

comprises education reform. The members of the committee felt strongly that to consider

only the issues of review and evaluation would be insufficient. They felt it was

imperative to examine all the components of education reform such as teacher

preparation, staffing practices, mentoring, peer assistance and professional development

and not discuss the issues of review and evaluation in isolation.

The committee, therefore, set as its goal the definition and recommendation of the

systemic changes that need to be made in order to assure teacher quality and its

correlation to improvement in student academic achievement.

To this end, the committee reviewed what is in place and discussed what is

needed to enable education professionals to take on the responsibility of cultivating

quality schools and of nurturing the highest standards for the profession.

The following report presents the committee's recommendations.

--~ "---------"---

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PART HI: RECOMMENDATIONS

The committee recognized that if we are to reform education and raise standards

for students, then children must be taught by teachers who have deep content knowledge

and highly developed skills. Committee members noted that currently the system does

not do enough to encourage and support continuing teacher quality. "Staff development"

in many schools and districts is often mandated, top down, and offered as stand-alone

workshops on staff development days. It is often unrelated to the classroom-based needs

of teachers or their levels of experience and it is designed without the input ofthose it is

intended to assist. In addition, while many staff developers are talented, experienced and

supportive colleagues with strong backgrounds in content, pedagogy and adult learning

there are, unfortunately, far too many who have been given the title "starr developer"

without ever having had to objectively demonstrate their own competence as teachers and

learners. It was agreed that there is a need to make sweeping changes in the areas of

recruitment, staffing, induction, ongoing professional development, support and

evaluation. It is not surprising, therefore, that the committee's first recommendation

concentrates on establishing a professional career continuum-a continuum that includes

career benchmarks and incentives to attract and retain excellent teachers, and ongoing

professional development that is embedded in a meaningful way in the day-to-day work

of teachers.

Recommendation # 1: The committee recommends the creation of aprofessional career continuum for teachers thatencourages rigorous standards for those en-tering the profession and increased peer in-volvement in staffing, mentoring, professionaldevelopment, and intervention

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Quality assurance in the teaching profession must be a systemic continuum which

includes: strong, effective pre-service preparation; rigorous licensing requirements;

strong support for teachers new to the system; ongoing quality professional development

and peer support; flexible and appropriate evaluation; intensive peer intervention for

those who are experiencing difficulties and opportunities for those who are qualified to

share their expertise. The purpose of this continuum is to support excellent teaching,

which in turn will serve the students in the best possible way. It is also expected that a

defined professional continuum will help to attract well-qualified candidates to consider

teaching as a career choice.

THE PROFESSIONAL CAREER CONTINUUM:

A. An internship for newly hired first-year teachers is the first step in theprofessional career continuum.

The committee recognized that newly hired teachers, who have pre-service

qualifications, will still require support to assure that they can help all students meet the

new academic standards at high levels. Therefore, all new teachers need to be mentored

from the opening day of the school year. New teachers should have a reduced teaching

load so they can work with their mentors, participate in staff development during the

school day and perform classroom intervisitations with their mentors and peers. Their

required involvement in school-wide activities and responsibilities should be limited.

First year teachers should also develop a career growth plan. If preparatory provisional

teachers (PPTs) are hired the system has an obligation to help them achieve full

certification, for example.

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Interns would be subject to annual performance review. If the mentor

demonstrates that the intern could profit from continued intensive peer support and

coaching, the mentor would recommend that there be a second year of mentoring.

R Residents, those teachers who have completed their internship, are thesecond step in the career continuum,

The committee noted that after the first year, teachers, many of whom still lack

proper certification, are left alone without assistance and yet are expected to demonstrate

all the skills of experienced practitioners. Resident teachers, therefore, would continue to

receive peer support and coaching from career or LEAD teachers (see below) in the

school.

Resident teachers would have full teaching responsibilities and an increased

involvement in school activities and responsibilities. They would continue to participate

in ongoing professional development during the school day and that addresses their needs

and those of their students.

Teachers who are new to the system but not new to teaching should participate in

an orientation program to learn about the system and the school. They should also have

appropriate peer support during their first year, full teaching responsibilities and ongoing

professional development, based on their level of experience and current needs.

Resident teachers are subject to annual performance review.

C: Career teachers are certified teachers who have completed all requirementsfor permanent certification and tenure and are the third level on the careercontinuum.

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When teachers achieve career level status they should receive a salary differential.

This differential will reflect their experience and qualifications. During this period the

career teacher should participate in ongoing, meaningful professional development at the

school and district levels and have and opportunity to fully engage in school-wide

activities and responsibilities.

Career level teachers have opportunities to expand their role in the school

community by participating in peer coaching and team teaching activities, including time

with peers to reflect and to enhance their own classroom practices.

The career teacher has the opportunity to choose the form of evaluation described

in Article 8 J of the Bargaining Agreement. The Teacher Performance Review option

encourages experimentation and self-directed review through the use of portfolios,

videotaping of lessons, conducting workshops, etc. which are developed in collaboration

with the teacher's supervisor. Career teachers can use either alternative evaluation

techniques or traditional evaluation methodology for their annual performance reviews.

If career teachers do not receive a satisfactory rating, they can apply for and receive peer

intervention.

D: The fourth step on the career continuum is the LEAD teacher.

There was significant discussion regarding this level of the professional career

continuum. It was agreed that currently teachers are not recognized for leadership

qualities on a consistent basis. As special assignments arise they are posted and generally

selection is made on an ad hoc basis with little regard for educational expertise. We

propose there be established a recognized and qualified pool of teachers called LEAD

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(Leader in Education and Academic Development). A Professional Practices, Standards

and Review Committee, with union and board representatives, would develop and

articulate the criteria for LEAD teacher status. Teachers would have to apply and be

credentialed to attain this level in the career continuum.

A LEAD Teacher Certification Board, composed of educators selected by the

union and the board of education, would have to be established. This board would be a

subcommittee of the Professional Practices Committee.

Teachers who have: a) at least seven years of satisfactory service and have taken

an educational leadership role in the school community; b) have shown evidence of a

professional growth plan; c) have completed advanced studies in content areas so they

can assume and lead instructional programs needed by the system (literacy, math,

science, technology, etc.) would be eligible to apply. Teachers who have achieved

National Board certification would automatically qualify as LEAD teachers.

Applicants would then have to complete a rigorous, objective review process.

This process would include: a) demonstrating outstanding classroom teaching ability

working with students of diverse needs; b) demonstrating an ability to work

collaboratively with colleagues and others; and c) completing an interview with members

of the Professional Board. Upon successful completion of the process they will receive a

certificate verifying that they have fulfilled the specific criteria for LEAD teacher.

Successful candidates would receive an appropriate salary differential.

LEAD teachers would have expanded career opportunities and responsibilities to

provide services needed by the system. They would assist in moving and supporting

instructional change. Positions such as mentor teacher, peer intervenor, teacher

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specialist, staff developer, curriculum developer, literacy specialist, project director,

facilitator or other special positions that demand content or pedagogical expertise should

be filled by LEAD teachers. If, however, a LEAD teacher accepts a position that supports

classroom-based instruction but requires additional responsibilities, preparation and time

outside the classroom, an assignment differential, based on the knowledge and skills

required for the position may be given. In line with the Committee's belief that the most

qualified teachers should work as closely as possible with students then these positions

may have a specified term of service to be determined by the union and the board. The

union and the board will also develop procedures for ongoing review of performance in

these positions.

LEAD teachers should conduct professional development activities for new

teachers and be encouraged to teach in hard-to-staff and low performing schools. The

committee strongly recommends that eventually LEAD teacher certification be required

to qualify for a supervisory position. This will ensure that supervisors, based on a

rigorous, objective determination, will be prepared as instructional leaders who can work

collaboratively to recognize, support, encourage and evaluate high standards of teaching

and learning.

To provide support for teachers at every stage of the professional career

continuum requires that we look at the way teachers are certified, hired, mentored,

provided with professional development, evaluated, and assisted if they experience

difficulties in the course of their career.

E: Teachers who become National Board certified should receive appropriateadditional compensation.

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Recommendation # 2: AU teachers who enter the system should becertified provisional teachers.

There are over 10,000 uncertified teachers working in New York City schools

(almost 13 per cent of all teachers) and many of them work in hard-to-staff schools where

children have great needs. In the view of the committee the practice of hiring uncertified

teachers perpetuates the view that anyone can teach with little or no preparation and that

this is not a profession that requires deep subject knowledge and exceptional skills.

There is an especially high percentage of PPTs in shortage areas. We believe that the

board has an obligation to assist PPT's who are employed to become fully certified.

To ensure that there are sufficient certified teachers available, it is also necessary

to enhance recruitment efforts. Recruitment programs should have a closer connection

with local undergraduate and graduate schools to make certain that teacher preparation

programs are upgraded to attract excellent students.

Although the Committee felt that the question of improving recruitment procedures is an

important area for further study by the union, we also recognized that it fell outside the

purview of this committee. Nevertheless, it is important to note that recruitment efforts

should have a closer connection with local undergraduate and graduate schools to make

certain that teacher preparation programs are upgraded to attract excellent students. We

must explore, in collaboration with these institutions, new approaches to teacher

preparation that do not separate theory from day-to-day practice. One such option, as a

first step in ensuring teacher quality, might be an apprenticeship program in which

prospective teachers can actively work in classrooms under the direct guidance of LEAD

teachers.

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Recommendation #3: Staffing decisions should be made as close to the schoollevel as possible by encouraging the formation of schoolbased personnel committees.

The committee recognizes that current staffing practices of assigning teachers from a

Central office may fill the vacant positions in a school but often fails to meet its

educational needs. The UFT contract anticipates that by the year 2000 most schools will

be staffed by personnel committees.

Critical to attaining higher student achievement is insuring that every classroom

have a well-prepared teacher whose abilities, special skills and educational philosophy

are aligned with the new standards. Since 1995 the UFT contract has outlined procedures

whereby school-based staffing committees can develop criteria for selecting staff based

on educational qualifications and experience.

The committee therefore recommends that the board and the union encourage the

creation of school personnel committees by identifying schools in every district that

would enter into the process. Fostering and establishing an environment to accomplish

this goal should be one of the criteria to rate a superintendent. In addition, the board and

the union should conduct up-dated awareness sessions regarding personnel committees in

each borough. Professional development for school-based staffing committees should

focus on helping these committees to develop and align clearly articulated instructional

plans and goals with the skills and abilities of applicants.

The school personnel committee should function as a sub-committee ofthe school's

leadership team so that the school's educational goals can be an integral part of staffing.

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The responsibilities of the personnel committee should also include the selection of

school-based mentors.

Schools that have functioning personnel committees established through the SBO

Staffing and Transfer Plan and which have performed successfully for three or more

years should not have to complete a School Based Option. However, they would have to

file an annual report of their activities.

Recommendation #4: Professional development should be structured tomeet the educational needs of the school, providedon an ongoing basis and linked to the teachers' growthplan goals.

Professional development should be ongoing and an integral component of each

school's culture. The school leadership team should establish a professional development

sub-committee to serve as the vehicle for identifying and responding to the educational

interests and needs of all staff members. They should assist in planning and

implementing job related learning experiences in their schools.

A district level professional development committee comprised of a majority of

school-based staff selected by peers should be prepared to support and provide oversight

of job related learning for improved instructional practices in schools.

It is also recommended that every school have a Teacher Center or similar school-

based professional development support to facilitate integrating professional development

into the day-to-day activities of a school.

Recommendation #5 The mentor program must provide services to allfirst year teachers (interns) and to any intern forwhom a second year of internship is recommended.

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The mentor program is critical to fostering high quality teaching in the classroom.

It sets the stage for the rest of a teacher's career. Article 8G2g of the UFT contract

defines a mentor as " ... a skilled, experienced colleague who has chosen to share his or

her expertise by assisting the intern." All mentors should be classroom teachers who

have achieved LEAD teacher certification. Mentors can model high levels of teacher

performance in a supportive, nonjudgmental relationship. Mentors may also deal with

issues such acculturation to schools and districts, new teacher anxieties, and problem

solving skills so that the intern is not overwhelmed.

The school system should select mentors in the spring of each year based on the

anticipated needs of the school, and they should be in place by opening day of the school

year. A system-wide, generic curriculum should be used to instruct mentors. An

addendum could be designed which meets the needs of a specific district or school. The

mentor program should be aligned with and support new teacher programs and activities.

Mentors, as well as interns, should have an appropriate reduction in teaching schedule to

allow for the time necessary for the mentoring process.

Teachers new to a building, or those who have experience but are new to the

system should be required to participate in a modified peer coaching program which

would give them insight into the culture of the school. It is recommended that the

professional development committee devise an orientation process specifically for the

school.

Recommendation #6 Reintroduce and emphasize the use of TeacherPerformance Review as a process for teachers to

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take a more active role in their own professionalgrowth.

Teacher Performance Review (TPR) has a long history in Article 8J of the

Bargaining Agreement. As the contract states " ... performance reviews are based on

assessment/evaluation procedures which identify and recognize the range of abilities and

experiences of teachers and link a teacher's performance, a school's educational goals

and related professional development activities. The reviews must be based on the

agreed upon characteristics of good teaching, including consideration of positive student

learning outcomes and parental involvement." Teacher Performance Review was

designed to provide teachers with an alternative to the traditional system of teacher

evaluation based upon brief, one-shot visits to classrooms. This alternative gives teachers

the opportunity to reflect on their practice and develop professional skills and insights

and supports the concept of the teacher as learner. Yet TPR has met with some

resistance. Most schools have remained with the traditional observation that results in a

snapshot of a teacher's performance and has little to do with professional renewal and

growth. The alternative evaluation process has the potential to foster teacher excellence

in an environment of peer support and experimentation with new techniques. There is a

need, however, on the part of the board of education to update their implementation

guidelines and to clarify and make explicit how this process works. At present there are

many interpretations of the meaning of Teacher Performance Review and most of them

have a chilling effect on teacher's choices about alternatives to traditional observation.

Many supervisors, accustomed to traditional and outdated evaluation systems based on

power, compliance, control and ease have not been given the opportunity to learn about

new practices and methodologies. Yet a supervisor's ability to support and evaluate

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teacher performance assumes the supervisor possesses the most current skills and

knowledge in this area. Therefore, widespread staff development for teachers and

supervisors is essential. There is a clear need for new implementation circular and

orientation that explains the process as it has been modified and developed over the

years. To facilitate the acceptance of TPR as part of the fabric of school life discussion

about teacher choice of alternative evaluation ought to take place in the spring and

become part of the preferences that teachers make for the new term. This permits

requisite planning and preparation to occur and it enables a smooth transition for students

who may be participants in the development of new approaches to teaching. Success for

this process requires systemic support from the board in collaboration with the union. It

is also necessary to update and reintroduce Teaching for the 2 I" Century, which contains

the guidelines for Teacher Performance Review, especially in light of the number of

teachers new to the New York City system.

Recommendation #7 Peer assistance through the Peer Intervention Programshould be encouraged for career teachers who areexperiencing difficulty in their classrooms.

During the span of a career, teachers are evaluated in a variety of ways. The form

of the evaluation can change as they progress from intern to career teacher. When they

become career teachers they can opt to be evaluated in the traditional way, or by

alternative means.

Yet, along the way it is possible for a tenured teacher to falter, to no longer

perform at a satisfactory level in the classroom. It is recommended that at such time as a

principal determines that a teacher's performance is less than satisfactory the principal be

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obliged to provide the teacher with the opportunity to receive peer assistance. This

assistance might take the form of videotaping lessons and discussing them with a LEAD

teacher. It might include guided classroom intervisitation. It might be reflected in pre-

observation conferences or by assisting in developing lesson plans, or by encouraging

attendance at a workshop in classroom management. If these interventions do not prove

to be successful, the supervisor should be required to inform the teacher in writing that it

is likely that the teacher will receive a U rating and that the Peer Intervention Program is

available. A copy of that letter should be given to the chapter leaders. This must be done

in a timely fashion so that the teacher has an opportunity to apply for and receive

assistance.

Any member who receives a U rating should also receive notice from the board

that the Peer Intervention Program is available. (This procedure is currently in place and

should continue.)

PART IV: CONCLUSION

"In a completely rational society, the best of us would aspire to be teachers andthe rest of us would have to settle for something less, because passing civilizationalong from one generation to the next ought to be the highest honor and highestresponsibility anyone could have."

Lee Iacocca

Higher standards of performance are being required of both students and teachers

in order to meet the challenges of a changing world. The union has been in the forefront

of the fight for education reform. This is reflected in our long time struggle on issues

such as lower class sizes, redesigning failing schools, an end to social promotion, as well

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as issues such as safe and secure buildings that are in good repair. The union has fought

the budge fights for mentoring, peer intervention, teacher centers, staff development and

relief from administrative assignments so that professional activities could be enhanced.

For 20 years the union has provided meaningful staff development and in-service and

graduate level courses to help teachers achieve certification and hone their skills

The recommendations in this report shift the focus of teacher quality from

dependence solely on pre-service preparation to recognition that teachers must be lifelong

learners. Professional development must not be viewed as a program separate from our

day-to-day teaching. Policies and adequate budget allocations must support it.

The professional career continuum recommended in this report provides a

practical framework for staffing, supporting and retaining quality educators. It promotes

teaching as a career rather than a job. It follows then that there must be a fair evaluation

process that will assure teachers, parents and the public that those who are providing

instruction to children meet the highest professional standards. The committee believes

that is best accomplished through an enhanced Teacher Performance Review process that

was developed by the union and the board. For those relatively few that falter the

committee has recommended increased use of the Peer Intervention Program, which

provides peer assistance and, if necessary, counseling services ..

The committee's recommendations form a comprehensive blueprint for

implementing a systemic approach to assuring teacher quality. This is one of the most

significant strategies for improving student achievement.