Developing Effective Teaching: When Assessment is a Gift

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 The Need for More Powerful Teaching

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 What Do Effective and Equitable Teachers Know and Do?

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 Effective Teachers… Engage students in active learning Create intellectually ambitious tasks Use a variety of teaching strategies Assess student learning continuously and adapt teaching to student needs Create effective scaffolds and supports Provide clear standards, constant feedback, and opportunities for revising work Develop and effectively manage a collaborative classroom in which all students have membership.

So How Should We Assess and Support Effective Teaching?

6 Effective Teaching Qualities are Embedded in Teaching Standards National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (1987) -- Portfolio used to certify accomplished teaching Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1990) -- Adopted in > 40 states -- Basis of new licensing assessments -- Recently revised to reflect Common Core Standards

7 Standards-Based Evaluations Use structured observations of teaching, based on professional standards, along with other evidence of practice (e.g. lesson plans, student work) Are related to student learning gains Help teachers become more effective when they are the source of feedback (Milanowski, Kimball, & White, 2004).

Why Focus on Performance Assessments? In order to improve teaching we need to: Move beyond limited measures of teacher qualifications for personnel decisions Create means for examining teaching that are related to effectiveness Develop systems that are reliable, consistent, and powerful in shaping preparation, professional development, and practice

What Performance Assessments Offer Valid and stable evidence to evaluate teacher effectiveness A lever for improving teacher learning An adjunct or alternative to student test score measures that are -- volatile across years, courses, tests -- associated with student differences as much as teaching differences

Concerns about Value-Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness The research base is currently insufficient to support the use of VAM for high-stakes decisions about individual teachers or schools. – RAND Corporation VAM estimates of teacher effectiveness … should not used to make operational decisions because such estimates are far too unstable to be considered fair or reliable. – National Research Council 10

11 % of Teachers Whose Effectiveness Ratings Change … By at least 1 decile By at least 2 deciles By at least 3 deciles Across models* 56-80%12-33%0-14% Across courses* %54-92%39-54% Across years* 74-93%45-63%19-41% *Depending on the model

12 One Extreme Case: An English language arts teacher Not a beginning teacher Teaching English I both years Estimates control for students’: Prior achievement Demographics School fixed effect

This is not unusual: Teacher ratings change for most teachers Consider classification of teachers into 5 categories (A-F) in two consecutive years. 13 Grade in first year: A F Grade in second year: FDCBA FDCBA Average across 5 districts. Grades A-F correspond to quintiles 1-5. Source: Sass (2008).

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 How Should we Evaluate Teacher Effectiveness? Combine Evidence of Practice, Performance, and Outcomes in an Integrated Evaluation System that looks at Teaching practice in relation to standards, curriculum goals, and student needs Student learning / growth at the classroom and school level in relation to teaching practices, curriculum goals, and student needs.

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 Examine What Matters Standards-based observation examining practices that matter for effectiveness Examination of curriculum plans, assignments, and student work samples Evidence of practices that support student learning both in and outside of the classroom (including work with parents & colleagues) Evidence of student learning examined in relation to curriculum, teaching, and student needs

Predictive Validity of Performance Assessments National Board Certification -- Effect sizes of.04 to.20 (pass/fail) Connecticut BEST portfolio -- Effect size of.46 (4 point scale) California PACT assessment -- Effect size of.15 (44 point scale) 20 percentile point difference in student achievement for the highest - and lowest-scoring teacher

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 The Teacher Performance Assessment (PACT) Subject-Specific Completed at end of student teaching/internship “Teaching Event” includes -- Plans for a standards-based unit of instruction -- Adapted for special needs students and ELs -- Videotaped instruction with commentaries -- Evidence of student learning during unit -- Overall analysis of learning and teaching Reliably scored by trained assessors

A Focus on Student Learning Justification of teaching plans for different learners, including ELL and special education students Justification of teaching plans for different learners, including ELL and special education students Attention to specific learning needs Attention to specific learning needs Video of candidate/student interactions Video of candidate/student interactions Analysis of how students are learning both content and academic language Analysis of how students are learning both content and academic language Commentaries explaining teaching outcomes and decisions in relation to student learning Commentaries explaining teaching outcomes and decisions in relation to student learning Evaluation of student learning during unit taught Evaluation of student learning during unit taught Strategic changes in practice based on assessment Strategic changes in practice based on assessment

What Programs Learn from the PACT Analyses How candidates do: On different aspects of teaching In different subject areas In comparison to other programs Over time With different kinds of supports

Scores by Teaching Dimension and Institution

PACT Scores by Subject Area

Teacher Education Programs Learn … And change: Courses The learning sequence Clinical practice opportunities Supports for candidates

Resulting in… A more shared vision of teaching Increased articulation across courses, clinical work, and roles Structural changes to support coherence and connections

Teacher Educators Learn This [scoring] experience…has forced me to revisit the question of what really matters in the assessment of teachers, which – in turn – means revisiting the question of what really matters in the preparation of teachers.

Cooperating Teachers Reflect on Practice [The scoring process] forces you to be clear about “good teaching;” what it looks like, sounds like. It enables you to look at your own practice critically/with new eyes.

Induction Programs Extend Teacher Learning As an induction program coordinator, I have a much clearer picture of what credential holders will bring to us and of what they’ll be required to do. We can build on this.

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

Policy Uses of Teacher Performance Assessments Create robust indicators of effective teaching practices across the career Create a means to manage, analyze, and report data about teacher outcomes over the career continuum Guide teacher education improvement and more focused induction, PD Strengthen accreditation

Policy Uses of TPA Data Provide an evidence-based method for making personnel decisions regarding licensure, hiring, promotion to mentor / lead teacher status Support license reciprocity Support a National Teacher License and recruitment incentives for effective teachers

© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010 If We Took Teaching Effectiveness Seriously, We Would… Ensure high-quality, fully subsidized preparation and mentoring for all beginners Use teacher performance assessments to improve preparation, licensure, and accreditation + induction Study features of successful programs & create incentives for other programs to adopt these features Establish an infrastructure for sustained, practice- based collegial learning opportunities for all teachers Provide equal access to teachers who are prepared, certified, and supported in these more effective ways.