Educator Quality and Quantity a CEAAC Project with Partners NEA Alaska and Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. Charles Wohlforth Jerry Barbara

EQQ Context 2004: CEAAC Board files the constitutional Moore suit to address low performance in rural schools. 2009: Judge Gleason orders teacher and principal training to meet state’s constitutional obligation. 2012, January: CEAAC settles Moore suit without a specific teacher preparation component. 2012, April: CEAAC Board adopts a three-year plan, taking on teacher quality and quantity beginning in , April: CEAAC Board retains Jerry Covey and Dr. Barbara Adams to study and make recommendations. Today: Covey/Adams Report to CEAAC

EQQ Project Goals 1.Identify statewide issues that negatively impact Alaska’s certificated education workforce. 2.Identify effective practices in educator recruitment, development, and retention. 3.Engage stakeholder groups in a collaborative effort to prioritize improvements that will strengthen Alaska’s certificated workforce. 4.Secure policy, regulatory, and statutory changes to improve the quality of Alaska’s certificated education workforce.

Issues & Impetus From an average of 64% of teachers were hired from outside (ISER, 2013). District teacher turnover ranged from 7-52% in 2012 (ISER, 2013). Turnover rate for teachers prepared outside is double that of teachers prepared in Alaska, regardless of years of experience. For example, 23% vs. 12% turnover of early career teachers 0-3 years (ISER, 2013). Half of Alaska students are minority but 90% of teachers are white (ISER, 2013). Only about 40% of Alaska’s high school graduates attended postsecondary institutions in 2012 (ACPE, 2013). 49% of first-time UA freshman required remedial courses in Of that group 81% of them required remedial math and 50% required remedial English (ACPE, 2014).

Strengthen K-12 Certificated Workforce Systemic Approach Expand the Alaska grown Workforce Develop and Keep the Workforce Train 60% of new hires in state by 2020 Develop 90% to proficiency level by 2020 Preparation & Recruitment Prof Development & Retention Measurable Outcomes

EXPANDDEVELOP & KEEP Preparation  Raise standards for entry into and exit from educator preparation program in state  Increase university capacity for teacher education by 66%  Increase and strengthen pre-service field experience  Provide a systemic process for improving teacher preparation using stakeholder and outcome feedback  Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers  Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities Professional Development  Add 10 professional development days  Add 5 days to school year  Add 5 days to quality in-service allocation  Select 2 or 3 curricular programs for major content areas – if districts choose to use them state will purchase them and EED will provide on-going staff development  Fully fund and implement Alaska Statewide Mentor Project Recruitment  FEA program in every school district, aim for 5% of high school student population for a total of 2,000 students  Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers  Loan forgiveness for Alaskans who are trained outside and return to teach  Incentivize hard to fill jobs  Revisit salary and benefits package Retention  Incentivize hard to fill jobs  Revisit salary and benefits package  Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities  Continue teacher retention grants to districts  Note: this systemic approach should support increased retention as a whole

Preparation  Raise standards for entry into and exit from educator preparation program in state  Increase university capacity for teacher education by 66%  Increase and strengthen pre-service field experience  Provide a systemic process for improving teacher preparation using stakeholder and outcome feedback  Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers  Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #1: TRAIN 60% OF NEW HIRES IN STATE BY 2020

Recruitment  FEA program in every school district, aim for 5% of high school student population for a total of 2,000 students  Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers  Loan forgiveness for Alaskans who are trained outside and return to teach  Incentivize hard to fill jobs  Revisit salary and benefits package STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #1: TRAIN 60% OF NEW HIRES IN STATE BY 2020

Professional Development  Add 10 professional development days  Add 5 days to school year  Add 5 days to quality in-service allocation  Select two curricular programs for major content areas – if districts voluntarily choose to use them, state will purchase them and EED will provide on-going staff development  Fully fund and implement Alaska Statewide Mentor Project STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #2: DEVELOP 90% TO PROFICIENCY LEVEL BY 2020

Retention  Incentivize hard to fill jobs  Revisit salary and benefits package  Continue teacher retention grants to districts  Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities  Note: this systemic approach should support increased retention as a whole STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #2: DEVELOP 90% TO PROFICIENCY LEVEL BY 2020

Next Steps Request consensus from CEACC board Present Alaska EQQ Plan to stakeholder groups Convene stakeholder group to begin developing recommendations Present plan to school boards, local governments, statewide civic, community, and business groups Present policy recommendations to legislature and education agencies Advocate for change

Methodology & Methods Approach – Long-term issue – Make change – Leaders from range of stakeholders – Grounded Theory Data Collection – Interviews (16) – Two interviewers – Individual mostly and some group – Structured protocol – Document review

Interview Data Collection Alaska Dept. of Education & Early Development Alaska Staff Development Network Alaska Teacher Placement Anchorage School District Association of Alaska School Administrators Association of Alaska School Boards Education Matters Fairbanks North Star Borough School District Future Educators of Alaska Institute for Social and Economic Research NEA Alaska UA Rural Campus Leaders UA Schools of Education UA Statewide Administration

Research Reports/Documents Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Documents Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Education Matters, Inc. Flexner Report on Teacher Preparation (Brookings Institution) Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) Reports Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Standards (inTASC) National Board of Professional Teaching Standards National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) 2013 State Teacher Policy Yearbook Shaping Alaska's Future (University of Alaska) Stanford Social Innovation Review TCC Interior Education Summit Draft Report UA SOE Draft Plan for Revitalizing Teacher Education in Alaska

Coding & Analysis Process open coding Quality Compensation Mentoring Perception selective coding Preparation Recruitment Retention Professional development Iterative Process: open coding, axial coding, selective coding Analysis: frequency, co-occurrence, quotes axial coding Issues Solutions Changes

Results by frequency

Results for Issues Issue: ideas suggested as problems, bottlenecks, difficulties.

Results for Solutions Solution: ideas suggested that address an issue or suggest change in a specific and actionable manner.

Results for Changes Change: ideas suggested for modification without providing a solution.

Results by Topic