TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Effectiveness and Evaluation NSBA’s Federal Relations Network Conference February

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION This presentation will focus on:  Federal legislation relating to principal and teacher quality  The difference between teacher quality and effectiveness  The impact of principals on student outcomes and their teachers  How to effectively evaluate principals and teachers Today’s lesson

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Federal Legislation

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Provide support to states and school districts and ensure their flexibility to establish programs to enhance teacher/principal quality, focusing on preparation, recruitment, retention, and evaluation NSBA’s Position

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Title II - Supporting Excellent Teachers and Principals States' set-aside funds must be used to assist LEAs in recruiting, preparing, placing, developing and retaining highly qualified teachers for high-need schools and low-performing schools. States must also set aside at least 2% of their funds for professional development for principals. States may use funds to establish teacher evaluation systems. LEAs must achieve equitable distribution of high quality teachers. Senate HELP Bill

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Title II - Supporting Excellent Teachers and Principals LEAs must conduct a needs assessment in order to receive Title II funds regarding the number of properly licensed teachers, linking them to the teacher preparation program. Competitive grants funds are available for Teacher Pathways (for partnerships of LEAs and others) to prepare, recruit, train, place and support teachers in high-need schools. Other competitive grants include the Teacher Incentive Fund for performance- based teacher compensation and the Principal Recruitment and Training Program for partnerships of LEAs and others to establish and implement principal residency, mentoring and training in eligible schools. Senate HELP Bill

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Title II - Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act Eliminates Highly Qualified Teacher requirements Shifts the emphasis in the Title II formula grant program from professional development (in NCLB) to establishing teacher evaluation systems. The formula itself is changed, based on the population of 5-17 year olds and the population of those children in poverty. Competitive grants in Part B may be used for a variety of reforms. House Bill

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Title II - Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act Part A Formula funds from states to LEAs must be used to establish and implement teacher evaluations systems (TES). TES must use student achievement data as a significant part of the evaluation, use multiple measures of evaluation and be used to make personnel decisions. Part A funds may also be used for professional development activities for teachers and principals. Part B (Teacher and School Leader Flexible Grant) funds flow by formula to states, but are competitive for LEAs. Part B funds must be used for teacher certification, licensure and tenure reforms that may include alternate routes to teaching, compensation incentives, retention strategies, and professional development for teachers, principals and other school leaders House Bill

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION NCLB’s Highly Qualified Teacher Provision Teachers in core academic subjects must: Hold a bachelor's degree Be fully certified by the state Demonstrate knowledge of the subject being taught Current Law

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION NCLB’s Highly Qualified Teacher Provision Certified in the subject they teach Current Law

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Teacher Quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Some of the traditional ways to describe “good” teachers: have strong credentials teach top students are creative are well-liked by students, parents, and their colleagues care about their students have a passion for their work Teacher quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Many policymakers and school leaders now describe a “good” teacher simply as: Someone who gets students to learn what they are expected to learn or more Teacher quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Teacher quality is different from teacher qualification Teacher qualifications Teacher characteristics Teacher quality Teacher effectiveness Teacher quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Teacher Qualifications

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Subject area knowledge & cognitive skills Teacher training and certification Experience National Board Certification Alternative certification programs Advanced degree not in subject area Do teacher characteristics correlate with student achievement? Particularly in combination

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION No single characteristic is strongly related to student achievement, but the following characteristics stand out when in combination subject-matter knowledge teacher training and certification experience Characteristics and their relationships to student results SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Does highly qualified mean highly effective?, 2009

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Teacher Effectiveness

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Two decades of research on the impact of the teacher on student learning provides empirical evidence that teachers are the single most significant in-school factor in student achievement. Teacher effectiveness SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Teacher Quality and Student Achievement, 2005

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION In Chicago, “effective” math teachers could boost gains by African American 9 th graders by 50% In Texas, “highly effective” elementary teachers for low-income students could close the gap In Los Angeles, “top quartile” teachers could close black-white gap in four years Teachers can close achievement gaps SOURCE: Education Trust, Fighting for Quality and Equality, Too, November 2009

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Jordan, Mendro & Weerasinghe, th percentile in grade 3 end of grade 5 after 3 highly ineffective teachers end of grade 5 after 3 highly effective teachers The effects of teacher quality accumulate over the years

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Jordan, Mendro & Weerasinghe, th percentile in grade 3 end of grade 5 after 3 highly ineffective teachers end of grade 5 after 3 highly effective teachers 76 The effects of teacher quality accumulate over the years

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Jordan, Mendro & Weerasinghe, th percentile in grade 3 end of grade 5 after 3 highly ineffective teachers end of grade 5 after 3 highly effective teachers The effects of teacher quality accumulate over the years

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Principal Quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals are second only to teachers in their impact on student outcomes Principal quality

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Experience as principal Tenure as principal Experience as administrator at current school Certification Advanced degrees Education Length of time as a teacher Do principal characteristics correlate with student outcomes?

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principal characteristics are not strongly related to student outcomes although experience is the characteristic most strongly related to student outcomes Characteristics and their relationships to student results SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Forthcoming report (2012)

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Principal Effectiveness

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION 2 nd only to teachers on impacting student outcomes The impact is greater the longer they are a principal Principals have a greater impact at the most challenging schools. Principals have a greater impact in elementary schools Effective principals stay longer at the most challenging schools Principal Effectiveness SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Forthcoming report (2012)

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION What impact do principals have on their teachers? Improve instruction by providing instructional support Retain effective teachers Recruit effective teachers Principal Effectiveness SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Forthcoming report (2012)

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Principals and Teachers Evaluation systems

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION Current systems are lacking Value-added models have flaws, but are much better than the systems we have now. There are ways to improve value-added models Statistical measures are used to evaluate people in other industries effectively Multiple measures are the way to go Evaluating Teachers SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Building a Better Evaluation System,2011

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION  Value-added models isolate the effect of factors a teacher on students’ change in achievement.  In a value-added model, a teacher’s effectiveness is measured by the academic growth of students in his or her classroom separate from outside factors, such students’ prior achievement or characteristics. What is a value-added growth model? SOURCE: Center for Public Education, Measuring Student Growth, 2007

TEACHER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION  How accurate are our current principal and teacher evaluations?  What data can we include to improve our evaluation systems?  How can the data from the evaluations be used to improve student achievement?  How can the data from the evaluations be used to improve teacher/principal performance? Questions for school board members