Teacher evaluations years away from completion

The state budget (HB 153) required all eligible teachers to be be evaluated using 50% student growth measures, by the 2013-14 school year.

Student growth measures may use value-added data that is calculated to determine whether a student achieves one year's worth of growth. But because the current value-added measure relies on data from statewide assessments, it can only be computed for reading and math education in grades 4-8.

That covers approximately 30% of Ohio's public school teachers. But before even those 30% can be measured, lots of training and data systems need to be put in place. By the end of this year, only 60% of those 30%, that is about 18% of Ohio's teachers, will have something in place.

72% of Ohio's teachers will not be in a position for the provisions in HB153 to be implemented by the end of this year.

It has taken significant costs, efforts and time to get to just 18% - and that was the "easy" part. Many districts have yet to begin to think about how to measure student growth for the other 70% of teachers. Social studies, the sciences, physical ed, art, and music are just some of the subject areas that will need measures developed, for all grades, in just 18 months from now.

"In areas where there are no state tests and where districts need to use local measures, you start getting down into issues around who pays for those measures, how are those measures administered, do they provide adequate information for the purposes of teacher evaluation, or are they even appropriate to use to create a growth measure from it."

That's not us saying that, that's Mary Peters, Battelle for Kids Senior Director of Research and Innovation. she raises a lot of big, important questions, to which there are no answers.

If there is a silver lining, it's that SB5 was defeated, which leaves teachers free to collectively bargain for an evaluation system that they feel can be the most fair within the framework prescribed.

We doubt that the 2013-14 year brings about a widespread breakout of effective teacher evaluations. Indeed, it is increasingly likely that there will be a patchwork system of half-baked systems throughout the state and districts will continue to struggle to fund and develop anything that is remotely workable.

On top of all that, research and evidence continues to demonstrate that teacher level value add is an inappropriate tool for making high stakes decinios such as evalautions and pay.

Rethinking Teacher Evaluation in Chicago

The Consortium On Chicago School Research At The University Of Chicago Urban Education Institute just released an interesting report on the Chicago teacher evaluations rubric. We bring this to our readers attention because their process includes elements such as observations, that will surely be included in the forthcoming Ohio evaluation rubric. The conclusion begins

Our study of the Excellence in Teaching Pilot in Chicago reveals some positive outcomes: the observation tool was demonstrated to be reliable and valid. Principals and teachers reported they had more meaningful conversations about instruction. The majority of principals in the pilot were engaged and positive about their participation. At the same time, our study identifies areas of concern: principals were more likely to use the Distinguished rating.

Our interviews with principals confirm that principals intentionally boost their ratings to the highest category to preserve relationships. And, while principals and teachers reported having better conversations than they had in the past, there are indications that both principals and teachers still have much to learn about how to translate a rating on an instructional rubric into deep conversation that drives improvement in the classroom. Future work in teacher evaluation must attend to these critical areas of success, as well as these areas of concern, in order to build effective teacher evaluation systems.

Though practitioners and policymakers rightly spend a good deal of time comparing the effectiveness of one rubric over another, a fair and meaningful evaluation hinges on far more than the merits of a particular tool. An observation rubric is simply a tool, one which can be used effectively or ineffectively. Reliability and validity are functions of the users of the tool, as well as of the tool itself. The quality of implementation depends on principal and observer buy-in and capacity, as well as the depth and quality of training and support they receive.

We would add that this kind of tool could be very dangerous absent due process collective bargaining protections.

Rethinking Teacher Evaluation in Chicago

Teach For America: From Service Group to Industry

One of the best articles written on Teach for America

Although Teach For America began twenty years ago as a well-intentioned band-aid, it has morphed into what is essentially a jobs program for the privileged, funded by taxpayers and wealthy individuals. TFA was originally designed it to serve a specific need: fill positions in high-poverty schools where there are teacher shortages.

A non-profit organization that recruits college seniors primarily from elite institutions to teach for two-year stints in high-poverty schools, preceded by five weeks of training. TFA has grown from 500 teachers to more than 8,000 teachers in thirty-nine rural and urban areas.

As TFA is expanding, it is no longer just filling positions in shortage areas; rather, it’s replacing experienced and traditionally educated teachers. To justify this encroachment, TFA claims that their teachers are more effective than more experienced and qualified teachers, and that training and experience are not factors in effective teaching. TFA supporters also defend the explosive growth of TFA as an indication that TFA is elevating the status of the teaching profession for ambitious high-achieving college students.

Unfortunately, while Teach for America has been very effective at elevating the status of Teach for America, it has not had a similar impact on the status of teaching as a profession.

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