1. Introduction to Tripod Student Surveys
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Introduction to Tripod Student Surveys
Educator Effectiveness
System Overview Training

2. Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Objectives for Today
Understand the Tripod Student Survey and why Hawaii has adopted it
Learn about Tripod reports and how to use them
Read through objectives.

3. The EES Uses Multiple Measures
Teacher Practice
Student Growth and Learning
Hawaii Growth Model
Student Learning Objectives
Classroom Observations
Core Professionalism
Tripod Student Survey
Working Portfolio (non-classroom)
Educator Effectiveness Data
Components in focus:
As you may be aware, Hawaii’s Educator Effectiveness system is comprised of 5 measures for classroom teachers: The Hawaii Growth Model, Student Learning Objectives, Tripod Student Surveys, Classroom Observations, and Core Professionalism. Since non-classroom teachers do not have classes that can be observed, they complete a working portfolio instead.
The EES uses multiple measures to gage teacher effectiveness, creating a 360-degree picture of each classroom teacher’s performance based on student perspectives, teacher perspectives, administrative perspectives, and student achievement results. This approach is grounded in research about best practices for educator evaluation, like the Gates Family Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching study, and is being implemented in school districts and states across the country.
In this section we will be focusing on Tripod student surveys.
Improved Student Outcomes
11/28/2018

4. Tripod Introduction Video
11/28/2018

5. Tripod Survey Overview
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Tripod Survey Overview
Spring 2012: Tripod surveys administered in over 1800 schools across the country
Spring 2012: 18 schools in Hawaii, 708 classrooms, over 13,000 responses
Treated as a formal assessment
Approximately 30 minutes to complete, on average
Response rates of over 95% are common
Now, let’s review the basics:
As you heard in the video, Tripod Student Perception Surveys are completed by students and treated as formal assessments. Similarly to other formal assessments your students are used to taking, the surveys are sealed when they distributed to each student and each survey packet is accompanied by an 8.5x11 envelope that the student seals the completed survey into. This formal nature helps to communicate to students that these surveys should be taken seriously.
Tripod surveys are not designed to be long – no more than about twenty minutes at all the grade levels. As a result of this, very high response rates have been realized amongst the many students who have taken the survey before.

6. Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Survey Versions
Grades K-2
Fewer Questions
Fewer Choices
Administered to Smaller Groups
Proctor and Small Groups Needed
Grades 3-5
Shorter than the Secondary Version
Uses More Simplistic Language
Grades 6-12
Designed for older students
Includes More Items
The Tripod surveys come in three (3) formats based on student grade levels:
The K-2nd Grade version is designed to be taken in small groups and read aloud by proctors other than the students’ teacher. It also features simpler answer choices where the student only has to choose between “Yes”, “Maybe/Sometimes”, and “No”. The questions are similar to questions that can be found on the other grade level surveys but the language is adjusted to align with young students’ abilities. Essentially, each student receives an answer sheet and they are shown how to use a second piece of paper to cover each answer choice as they fill in the bubbles for whatever question they have heard read aloud to them.
The 3-5th Grade and the 6-12th Grade versions are much more similar and only really differ in the selection of questions and the terminology used. Both use an answer scale that ranges from “Totally Untrue”, “Mostly Untrue”, “Somewhat”, “Mostly True”, to “Totally True”. These answer responses were chosen based on feedback from several thousand students interviewed by Dr. Ferguson who indicated that these choices most accurately captured their sentiments. Both these versions of the Tripod survey can be taken either in paper or online form. The tests are identical and the key reason that schools may opt for one versus the other usually surrounds the logistics of getting access to enough computers at the same time.

7. Materials Delivered to Schools
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Materials Delivered to Schools
Class packs include administration instructions and survey scripts for teachers
Schools select a survey window during which they administer the surveys at a time selected by the designated school survey coordinator and the principal. Over the course of the twice yearly administration it is not necessary to survey the same students. In fact, Tripod recommends having a different slice of students provide responses at different points in the year.
The box of surveys arrive at the school and included in the box are individual class packs. Those class packs contain administration instructions and a survey script, as well as the students’ surveys and blank envelopes into which the students place their completed surveys.

8. Envelopes are Included for Each Student
A peel and stick envelope is provided with each survey. Each students inserts her/his completed survey in this envelope before it is turned in.

9. Identifiers on the Surveys
Each survey will have information about the teacher, subject, class and student printed at the top of the front page. These are printed on a removable label.

10. Tripod Student Survey Timeline
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Tripod Student Survey Timeline
Fall Survey Administration
Spring Survey Administration
Fall Results to Teachers & Schools
Spring Results to Teachers & Schools
2013
Oct
Nov
Dec
2014
Feb
Mar
Apr
2014
Tripod is designed to collect student responses in the fall and student responses in the spring – or – in other words at 2 points during the school year. The idea is that this is not meant to be a summative data point, but rather a formative and growing body of responses about what students are experiencing in the classroom.
The reports are sent to teachers and administrators 4 weeks after they are received by Tripod.

11. Measures of Effective Teaching
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Measures of Effective Teaching
In the Gates Measures of Effective Teaching study a single administration of student surveys was found to be a reliable measure and predictive of student achievement gains.
Recently, a spotlight has been placed on educator effectiveness and teacher evaluation. Within the last three years, there has been a lot of work to really look at what are the most effective measures of effective teaching and student perception surveys (i.e. Tripod) have entered the conversation because the evidence of its validity is so strong.
In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching Study or the MET Project with the goal of identifying multiple measures and tools that – taken together – can provide an accurate and reliable picture of teaching effectiveness.

12. Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Through the study 3000 teachers were video-taped and observed based on the Charlotte Danielson framework, their student growth data was analyzed, and their students completed the Tripod student perception surveys. At the end of the study, evidence showed that a single administration of the Tripod surveys was more reliable than the other two measures as a measure of effective teaching and more predictive of achievement gains than classroom observations.
As a result of this finding, many school districts are implementing Tripod surveys to capture students’ perceptions of their classroom experiences and to provide teachers with actionable feedback about how to improve teaching practices that lead to student learning.

13. Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Dr. Ron Ferguson
Founder of the Tripod Project
Leads all research and analysis of Tripod survey data
Senior Lecturer in Education and Public Policy, Harvard University
Director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University.
Tripod Student Surveys were not initially designed to be used as part of a teacher evaluation system. Dr. Ron Ferguson (who you saw in the video) had spent several years studying student engagement and he wanted to understand why a set of students could be active and engaged in one classroom, and then apathetic and disengaged in another classroom. He observed students at various schools and began to realize that many things have an impact on student engagement.
Through his research he put together a tripod that is made up of content knowledge – a teachers grasp of the material, pedagogic skill – a teacher’s strategies to effectively teach the material, and relationship-building skills – the way a teacher interacts with their students and manages their classroom.

14. Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT OUTCOMES
The Tripod 7C’s
What Teachers Do (What Students Experience)
Student Engagement Targets
Teacher Professional Learning (PLCs)
Content Knowledge
Pedagogic Skill Relationship-Building Skills
Each of the three legs of a tripod is important and they are all interrelated. For example, a teacher may be an expert in the content they need to present, however if they do not have the pedagogic skills needed to teach the content, students may become disengaged thus affecting classroom management.
With these three principles in mind, Dr. Ferguson created a student survey that featured questions that address student engagement and how students perceive their classroom experience.
Let’s consider some of the sample items that address student engagement.
One sample may read “I don’t like asking the teacher in this class for help, even if I need it”. This statement has little (or nothing) to do with how the student perceives the teacher, but instead, it addresses the student’s level of comfort with asking questions. Responses to this question may give a teacher clues about how safe or comfortable students feel in their classroom.
Dr. Ferguson administered the Tripod survey to thousands of students and realized that the feedback he received through this tool provided teachers with valuable insight and proved to be very reliable.
The Tripod

15. Teaching Practices: Tripod Seven Cs Sample Survey Items
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Control
Students in this class treat the teacher with respect.
My classmates behave the way the teacher wants them to.
Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time.
Care
Control
Clarify
Challenge
Captivate
Each teaching practice item is categorized into 1 of 7 “C’s” – Caring, Captivating, Conferring, Controlling, Clarifying, Challenging, and Consolidating.
Each “C” speaks to something teachers do, and the corresponding survey items address what the students experience when the teacher is doing what the “C” describes. For example, when a teacher is “Conferring”, students perceive that their ideas are respected and their contributions are valuable.
To get an idea of actual survey items that correspond with each C, let’s take a look at on of the C’s – Control – that is often misinterpreted. Often, when people see control, they think about a controlling or domineering atmosphere. This is not what Dr. Ferguson had in mind. Instead, “Control” speaks to a classroom that is orderly where the teacher is in control and exhibits good classroom management. An example of a survey item that may get to this “C” says “My classmates behave the way the teacher wants them to” – here the student is able to provide insight into how well they perceive their classroom is being managed.
On an actual survey, all questions are mixed up so students do not know which questions address engagement and which address teaching practice. Also, the seven “C’s” are not mentioned.
The survey items that appear on the current version of the survey have been selected through over ten years of research around things like content and word choice. In some cases, specific items may evoke one set of thoughts or emotions from an adult and a totally different set of opinions from a student.
The items appear in the format that evidence has shown to address the specific “C”.
In addition, often times, one survey item may appear to be repeated in different words in a second item. This is to ensure the survey’s reliability. If a student answers one item one way and then answers a similar question in an opposite way, this raises a flag that their response may not be reliable. This is one of the ways that Tripod accounts for those students that may not take the survey seriously and enter answers arbitrarily.
A second way that Tripod maintains validity is by recommending multiple administrations of the survey to multiple students. Cambridge Education firmly advises against drawing conclusions from only one administration of the survey. Although Tripod surveys have been found to be very reliable, the survey cannot control for extenuating circumstances that may impact the responses that students provide. By administering the survey multiple times, to various students, trends can be identified.
In Hawaii, the Tripod survey will be administered twice during the school year and, where possible, different cohorts of students will be surveyed for each teacher. For example, a high school math teacher may have his 9th grade class complete the survey during the first administration, and his 10th grade class during the second administration. The following year, other cohorts could be surveyed. Taken together, trends begin to emerge that can be addressed.
Confer
Consolidate

16. Activity: Survey Items
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Activity: Survey Items
Select a level (K-2, 3-5, 6-12)
Explore the content of the survey items for the 7Cs
Consider the following questions:
How do these questions relate to teacher practice?
How might I seek to integrate student feedback in reflecting on my own practice?
Pass out activity & complete.
The activity is on the website and can be downloaded here:
Early Elementary:
Upper Elementary:
Secondary:

17. Upper Elementary (Grades 3-5) Compared to Ntl Mean
Tripod collects anonymous student perception data across over 20 states and many districts each year. These data contribute to a national mean or average across each of the 7Cs and contribute to an average composite score or combination of all of the 7C favorability percentages. The national mean scores are helpful for the sake of normative comparisons to identify which scores are comparable with national trends.
The graph you are viewing shows the Hawaii state aggregate favorability percentages from the spring 2012 administration across 18 schools in blue, the Hawaii aggregate favorability percentages from the fall 2012 survey administration across 81 schools in red and the national average of favorability percentages for 2012 in green. The Upper Elementary or grades 3-5 is the specific survey format displayed in this graph.
You'll note that the composite favorability percentages noted in the first column are only 1-2 percentage points different than the national mean. However, as you move from left to right, you begin to see more variance across the different 7Cs.
And, you'll note that Control, 7 columns from the left, has the lowest favorability percentages both in the Hawaii specific results as well as nationally. In fact, historically, Control favorability percentages are the lowest of all of the 7Cs.
Without seeing the comparison or knowing this, a low favorability percentage on Control could be misinterpreted or misunderstood. For this reason, comparisons with the national mean as well as within the state are helpful for drawing the proper conclusions from the data, defining priorities and implementing data-driven plans for continuous improvement.

18. Secondary (6-12) Compared to Ntl Mean
This graph shows the same type of comparison with the Tripod 7Cs national favorability averages but it is for the secondary format of the survey or grades 6-12.
You'll see that the Composite or overall favorability percentage for both the Hawaii results and the national average decreases by close to 20 percentage points between the survey formats - Upper Elementary or grades 3-5 and Secondary or grades 6-12.
Again, this is why comparisons both with the national mean and within the state are useful, because, in the absence of these data this could be an alarming difference.
You'll also note that, like in the previous graph for Upper Elementary, the Composite scores vary only slightly between the Hawaii favorability percentages and the national average. However, when moving left to right there is greater variance between the 7Cs.

19. Tripod Teacher Reports
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
Let's take a look at a sample teacher report. Approximately 3-4 weeks after the survey administration has been completed, teachers will receive password-protected score reports. These reports include a summary of percent favorability for each of the 7Cs as well as a Composite or overall favorability score.
The page you are viewing is a summary page within the teacher report displaying these scores.

20. Tripod Teacher Reports
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
As we zoom in on the 7Cs Composite Score, and Care and Challenge, you'll see that the main ideas associated with each of the 7Cs constructs is italicized below along with the teacher's score in the green box to the right.

21. Tripod Teacher Reports
Reports provide detailed explanation and normative comparisons
Detailed description of the “C”
Teacher score: favorable and non-favorable responses
School (S) & Complex Area (CA): favorable and non-favorable responses

22. Administrator Reports

23. How do I use my Tripod Score
Understanding Hawaii's Educator Effectiveness System
How do I use my Tripod Score
Collect Student Data
Analyze Strengths & Weaknesses
Establish Goals
Select and Implement Strategies
Determine Results indicators
Monitor Results
Through your score reports, you have an opportunity to analyze your strengths and weakness and identify some classroom goals for yourself that will help to strengthen your areas of weakness and maintain your areas of strength. Perhaps this is something you might do with your principal so that they can offer you support where it is needed.
From there you can implement strategies that will help to accomplish your goals and see gains.
In the process of implementing strategies you should determine what indicators you will watch to help define what success looks like for your goals.
From there you can monitor results by reviewing student progress and perhaps informally polling your students to see if their perceptions have changed, until the next administration of the Tripod survey.
Again, the key thing to remember about Tripod is that it is designed to used over multiple administrations with feedback from multiple students. You may have extenuating circumstances that affect you in a certain area during one term – by completing the survey multiple times during a year, there are more opportunities to hone in on actual areas of growth and success.