Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 1 Moving From Effective Input to Successful Output Phyllis Jacobson Administrator, Examinations and Research California Commission on Teacher Credentialing

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 2 Four Key Questions to Frame this Discussion  What is the “input” for world language candidates?  How do we know the input is effective?  What is the “output” for world language candidates?  How do we know the output is “successful”?

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 3 What is the Input?  World language teacher candidates can experience many paths to certification, including –Paraprofessional teacher training –Alternative certification routes –Traditional teacher preparation routes –Combinations and variations of the above ALL PATHS PROVIDE SUJBECT MATTER INPUT AND PEDAGOGICAL INPUT TO CANDIDATES

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 4 What Does Input for World Language Teachers Have in Common Across Preparation Routes?  Based on relatively universal standards, including helping candidates reach both subject matter competence and pedagogical competence regardless of path to certification  Provides individual attention to help candidates develop professionally and meet competency standards

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 5 So How Do We Know the Input Was Effective?  Need to have standards of what defines subject matter competence and what defines pedagogical competence  These standards transcend routes to competence. It doesn’t matter how a candidate gets there, only that candidates get there

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 6 What Do Standards of Subject Matter Competence for World Language Teachers Look Like?  California defines subject matter competence for World Languages as knowledge of: –General Linguistics –Linguistics of the Target Language –Literary and Cultural Texts and Traditions –Cultural Analysis and Comparisons –Integrated target language skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing)

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 7 Subject Matter Competence Standards, cont.  All California-trained teachers must meet these standards of subject matter competence for certification  The standards can be met by examination or by completing a prescribed subject matter program at an accredited institution

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 8 Measuring the Standards = Measuring the Effectiveness of the Input  California’s Subject Matter Examination (CSET) in World Languages  Standardized, validated assessment developed in cooperation with Pearson, Inc. and available in seventeen languages (and counting)  Examination addresses all five subject matter domains

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 9 World Languages Subject Matter Examinations Available  American Sign  Arabic  Armenian  Cantonese  Farsi  Filipino  French  German  Hebrew  Hmong  Italian  Japanese  Khmer  Korean  Mandarin  Portuguese  Punjabi  Russian  Spanish  Vietnamese

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 10 For More Information on California’s World Language Examinations

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 11 The Other Half of the Input: Pedagogical Competence of World Language Teachers  California defines standards specifically for beginning teachers, known as the “Teaching Performance Expectations”  All beginning teachers, including world language teachers, must meet these standards for certification

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 12 What are the Teaching Performance Expectations?  The integrated set of knowledge, skills, and abilities California expects each beginning teacher, including new World Language teachers, to have  Based on California’s Standards for the Teaching Profession as adapted for beginning practice rather than veteran practice

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 13 How do the TPEs Define Pedagogical Competence?  Making subject matter comprehensible to students  Assessing student learning  Engaging and supporting students in learning  Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for students  Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning  Developing as a professional educator

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 14 What Are the Benefits of the TPEs?  Allow for common definition and common understanding of our expectations for teachers, including world language teachers  Provide a legally defensible basis for evaluation of the performance of teacher candidates  Can be used across, and has the same meaning in, all teacher preparation programs in the state

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 15 Where to Find the Full Set of California’s Teaching Performance Expectations  prep/TPA-files/CandidateHandbook- AppendixA-TPEs.pdf prep/TPA-files/CandidateHandbook- AppendixA-TPEs.pdf prep/TPA-files/CandidateHandbook- AppendixA-TPEs.pdf

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 16 Measuring the Standards = Measuring the Effectiveness of the Input Measuring the Standards = Measuring the Effectiveness of the Input  California requires ALL beginning elementary and secondary teachers to demonstrate by actual classroom performance with K-12 students that they have mastered the integrated set of knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the Teaching Performance Expectations

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 17 CALIFORNIA IS A NATIONAL LEADER! California is the first and only state in the nation to require a classroom teaching performance assessment with K-12 students as a credentialing requirement

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 18 How Many TPAs Are There?  Three models approved by the Commission: –CalTPA (California TPA) –PACT (Performance Assessment for CA Teachers) –FAST (Fresno Assessment of Student Teachers)  All models are aligned with the Teaching Performance Expectations

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 19 What Does the Teaching Performance Assessment Look Like?

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 20 How Do Candidates Demonstrate Their Knowledge, Skills and Abilities? We ask candidates to : –Learn about their students –Plan standards-based world language lessons for the whole class based on what they know about the students and their progress –Indicate lesson adaptations for English learner students and for special education students –Develop student assessments, including adaptations, to determine student learning based on the lessons –Teach the lesson –Give the assessment(s)

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 21 Demonstration of Skills (cont.) –Make a video of a 20 minute lesson segment –Review the video, the student work and the assessment outcomes –Reflect on the success and outcomes of the lesson and the assessment –Use the analysis to plan the next set of lessons for these students –Explain the process and what has been learned to the supervisor or mentor

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 22 Who Assesses the Candidate’s Performance? University teaching faculty, field supervisors, master teachers K-12 teachers, supervisors, support providers, administrators Retired faculty, teachers, administrators Other qualified education professionals

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 23 Performance Scoring Each task has a specific scoring rubric describing the characteristics of a candidate’s performance relative to that task and the TPEs Each rubric has four score levels, ranging from a low of 1 to a high of 4 Scorers (assessors) are trained and calibrated to apply each rubric to candidate performance

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 24 What About Assessor Quality and Training?  Assessors receive extensive training in understanding and applying scoring rubrics  Assessor performance over time is reviewed to avoid scoring “drift” and assure fairness to candidates  Assessors must recalibrate at least once per year if they are continuously scoring

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 25 CalTPA Model Overview for World Language Candidates Four Tasks :  Subject-Specific Pedagogy –Does the candidate understand current methods of teaching and assessing for World Languages?  Designing Instruction –Can the candidate learn about students and use that information to plan appropriate standards-based lessons?

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 26 CalTPA Tasks Overview, cont.  Assessing Learning –Can the candidate learn about students’ prior knowledge, plan appropriate instruction and then assess the outcomes of that instruction? Can the candidate reflect on and use student work, the assessment responses and other information to plan further standards-based instruction and assessment?

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 27 CalTPA Tasks Overview, cont.  Culminating Teaching Experience –Can the candidate put it all together: learning about students, planning and delivering instruction, assessing student learning, reflecting on student work and lesson outcomes, reflecting on the candidate’s own performance, and using all of that information for future planning, instruction and assessment. Note: This task requires a 20 minute unedited video of the lesson.

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 28 How Do We Use TPA Results? Formative information for use by the candidate Summative information as one basis for the recommendation of a candidate for a credential Evidence of program effectiveness Formative information for use in an induction program

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 29 USE OF TPA RESULTS IN INDUCTION Teacher candidates may share their TPA results with the Induction program The induction program uses these data to help design an Individual Induction Plan to help the candidate move forward

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 30 How Do We Inform the Larger Community about the TPA?  Informational brochures about the TPA are available for –Teacher Candidates –Teacher Preparation Programs –Policy Makers –School Board Members –Parents prep/TPA.html prep/TPA.html

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 31 How Do We Manage the Statewide Performance Assessment System?  During startup, a TPA Implementation Task Force comprised of stakeholder representatives addressed common implementation issues such as communications with the field and with other stakeholders, video recording procedures, and transition to induction  Now, a TPA Users Advisory Committee advises the Commission on common issues relating to implementing all three TPA models The Committee includes model developers, psychometricians, and teacher preparation program TPA users The Committee includes model developers, psychometricians, and teacher preparation program TPA users

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 32 TPA Materials and Information on the Commission’s Website  prep/TPA.html

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 33 Does Successful Output End at Initial Credentialing?  Learning to Teach is a continuum of practice with defined sets of competencies at each level of practice  An initial credential is only the beginning of the licensing and teacher development processes  Induction into the profession comes next

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 34 What is Induction Input?  Induction input is targeted, focused practice for teachers to improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities  Induction input is also based on standards reflecting high quality professional practice  Induction input is tailored to the individual professional growth of beginning teachers

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 35 What do Induction Standards Look Like?  California’s Induction Program Standards address: –Providing individualized ongoing support from mentors and others –Advanced development of pedagogical skills –Ongoing formative assessment cycle of teacher reflection on practice –Teaching English learners and students with special needs –Deepening subject matter knowledge as appropriate to the teaching assignment

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 36 How is Induction Output Success Measured?  Formative assessment based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP)  The CSTP include: –Engaging and supporting all students in learning –Creating and maintaining effective environments for student learning –Understanding and organizing subject matter for student learning –Planning instruction and designing learning experiences for all students –Assessing student learning –Developing as a professional educator

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 37 How is Induction Success Defined?  The practice of the beginning teacher during induction is described by a competency level of practice: –Not consistent with standard expectations –Developing beginning practice –Maturing beginning practice –Experienced practice that exemplifies the standard  Induction success is defined as meeting the criterion of “Experienced practice that exemplifies the standard.”

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 38 Where to Find the Full Descriptions of Practice for Induction Standards ment-files/E 1DescriptionsofPracticeShortVersion. pdf ment-files/E 1DescriptionsofPracticeShortVersion. pdf ment-files/E 1DescriptionsofPracticeShortVersion. pdf ment-files/E 1DescriptionsofPracticeShortVersion. pdf

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 39 Tying the Pieces Together  There is a certification continuum that leads from input to output and from entry- level practice to accomplished practice  The entirety of this continuum may be viewed as a “Learning to Teach” continuum with many standards-based entry points all heading in a similar direction and towards a similar goal  What “success” looks like at each step of the continuum needs to be transparent, clearly defined and defensibly measured

Commission on Teacher Credentialing Ensuring Educator Excellence 40 Tying the Pieces Together, cont.  What’s critically important is that each step of the way makes sense to teacher candidates, provides enough focused input to help them grow and improve, provides sensible, measurable and defensible standards for them to achieve, and helps them ultimately be more effective teachers with students