1. The Genie is Out of the Bottle
Implications of classroom level value-added analysis

2. Background Who is Battelle for Kids? Who is Mike Thomas
Non-profit educational improvement organization since 2002
Work built around using VA and other data for school improvement
Who is Mike Thomas
BFK since 2003
OSU from
Teacher from
Focus on leadership, school improvement and adult development

3. The Genie is out of the bottle: Implications of classroom-level value-added analysis
“Conventional Wisdom”
Highly Effective Teacher Research
What we did
What we found
What we think it means
Connecting Conventional Wisdom to the Research

4. Common Educational Wisdom?
“Based on the current evaluation process, everyone is effective.”
“The best teachers know who they are; I don’t need to tell them they are good.”
“Teachers are born not made, talent trumps craft.”
“There’s not a thing wrong with my teaching; it’s those damn kids.”
“Don’t smile until Christmas”.
“It’s my job to teach and your job to learn; I’m doing my job, you’re not doing your yours.”

5. Highly Effective Teacher Research
Selection of Participants
What we did—Research Design
What we found—Research Findings
What it means—Theorizing about the findings

6. HET Selection Process
Teacher-Level Value-Added Reports were used for the selection of teachers
Teacher had to produce value-added scores of at least 3 S.E.s above expected in math and nearly 3 S.E.s above expected in reading.
Teachers had to show positive gains with all student subgroups.
Report from previous year, if available, had to be solid.

7. What we did: Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry methods were used to induce reflection, to trigger conversation and to frame the inquiry perspective we were taking.
Teachers interviewed each other to get at the factors that account for large student gains.
Teachers shared what they learned in small groups to find commonalities in their experiences.
Each teacher group produced a list of critical factors from which common themes were identified.
Teachers each produced 2 hours of writing about how two themes played out in their classrooms.

8. Large-Scale Study Findings
Teachers, regardless of the subject area or grade level they taught, cited these four themes as reasons for their effectiveness:
Instruction that works for every student (Productivity/Competitiveness)
Classroom environment (Structures that support learning/Control)
Student-centered focus (Relationships/Collaboration)
Professional growth and flexibility (Instructional improvement/Creativity)

9. Theorizing about the findings
A list of themes, practices, factors or behaviors is, by itself, only minimally useful.
Lists are not very interesting; they tend to oversimplify things that are inherently complicated.
Lists lend themselves to shallow one-size-fits- all “solutions.”
Lists leave out as much they illuminate.
Lists tend to ignore the relationships that exist between elements on the list.

10. Competing Values Framework (Quinn)
Flexibility & Openness
Child-Centered Focus
Relationships
Support
Collaboration
Responsive teaching
Student ownership of learning
Relevance
Professional Growth and Leadership
Passion
Adaptability
Flexibility
Creativity
Parental communication
Instructional improvement
Human Relations Model: Human commitment (Collaboration)
Cohesion
Morale
Value of human resources
training
Open Systems Model: Expansion, adaptation (Creativity)
Adaptability
Readiness
Resource Acquisition
External Support
Internal Focus
External Focus
Internal Process Model: Consolidation, continuity (Control)
Stability
Control
Information mgmt.
Communication
Rational Goal Model: Maximization of output (Competitiveness)
Productivity
Efficiency
Planning
Goal Setting
Classroom Environment
Rules
Structures
Control
Routines
Classroom management
Instruction that works for every student
High Expectations
Productivity
Persistence
High quality student work
Rigor
Differentiation
Competitiveness
Structure & Control

11. Positive and Negative Zones

12. Other Findings Most HET’s reported that this was the first time
they were recognized as being good teachers.
Most HET’s tell us that they had to hide the fact that they were identified as highly effective.
Most HET’s tell us that they have never seen their grade-level value-added information or had a focused data-based conversation about improvement.
One size-fits-all PD is a waste of time.

13. Reconnecting with the Common Wisdom
“Based on the current evaluation process, everyone is effective.”
“The best teachers know who they are; I don’t need to tell them they are good.”
“Teachers are born not made, talent trumps craft.”
“There’s not a thing wrong with my teaching; it’s those damn kids.”
“Don’t smile until Christmas.”
“It’s my job to teach and your job to learn; I’m doing my job, you’re not doing yours.”

14. Next Steps Test out the framework
Develop a survey to test out these ideas.
Does it fit HETs?
How do less effective teachers map out?
Do deeper dives with HETs to get at the high leverage behaviors that connect competing values