The Real Value of Teachers

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The Real Value of Teachers

• Using New Information about Teacher Effectiveness
  to Close the Achievement Gap

Education Trust Conference Call for the Media,
February 25, 2004 Kevin Carey
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• Years of research has made clear that good
  teaching mattersa lot.

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Teacher difference impact

• The difference between a good (effective) and a
  bad teacher can be a full level of achievement in
  a single school year. (Hanushek)

Source Eric A. Hanushek. The Trade-Off Between
Child Quantity and Quality, Journal of Political
Economy, 1992.
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Good Teachers Matter Now, More than Ever

• States, districts, and schools are looking for
  new strategies to drive improvement and close
  gaps.
• The latest research confirms what we first
  reported in Good Teaching Matters that
  effective teachers are hugely important the
  single biggest factor in student learning.
• If we can get effective teachers to students who
  need them, we can make a difference.

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• having a high quality teacher throughout
  elementary school can substantially offset or
  even eliminate the disadvantage of low
  socio-economic background. John Kain, Eric
  Hanushek, and Steven Rivkin

Source Steven G. Rivkin, Eric A. Hanushek, and
John F. Kain, Teachers, Schools and Academic
Achievement, Univeristy of Texas-Dallas Schools
Project, 2002.
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New Opportunities to Understand Teacher
Effectiveness

• Historically, the value of teachers was hard to
  get a handle on.
• But with common standards and new information
  technology, combined with yearly testing required
  by NCLB, many states now have the opportunity,
  for the very first time, to fairly and accurately
  measure teacher effectiveness.

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Value-Added

• Pioneered in Tennessee over the last 10 years
  Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS).
• Based on growth in student learning from
  beginning of year to the end.
• Teachers rated on actual growth vs. expected
  growth.
• Statistical adjustments control for each
  individual students learning history, isolating
  teacher effect.

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Reliable and Fair

• TVAAS ratings are based on 3 years of data to
  smooth out fluctuations.
• Results show some teachers consistently get 150
  or 200 growth over expected level, year after
  year.
• Others get less than 50.
• The difference has a huge impact on student
  learning.
• Others are catching on Dallas, Minneapolis,
  North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona.

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New Focus on Teachers Urgently Needed

• No matter what measure you use effectiveness,
  certification, experience, education level,
  licensure scores, you name it most vulnerable
  students less likely to be in classroom of
  qualified, quality teacher.
• Good teaching matters but low-income, minority,
  low-performing students dont get their fair
  share of good teachers.

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Low-achievers are more likely to be assigned
ineffective teachers student class assignments
by effectiveness of teachersMATHEMATICS
number of students
Source Babu Mendro, Teacher Accountability
HLM-Based Teacher Effectiveness Indices in the
Investigation of Teacher Effects on Student
Achievement in a State Assessment Program, Dallas
TX public schools, AERA, 2003
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Low-achievers become high achievers with
effective teachersPass rates of previous
low-achieving students according to the
effectiveness of their teachersMATHEMATICS
percent passing
Source Babu Mendro, Teacher Accountability
HLM-Based Teacher Effectiveness Indices in the
Investigation of Teacher Effects on Student
Achievement in a State Assessment Program, Dallas
TX public schools, AERA, 2003
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How Can We Use Value-Added to Help Teachers and
Students?

• Improve classroom instruction
• Improve school management
• Improve district management
• Improve teacher training
• Improve state policy

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1) Improve classroom instruction

• Provides teachers with feedback about progress
  for specific subjects, different kinds of
  students.
• Much professional development takes place
  inside the classroom tool for teachers to
  learn, refine, and grow.

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2) Improve School Management

• Principals can tailor classroom assignment to
  specific strengths and weaknesses.
• Schools can create an environment of professional
  learning among teachers.
• Study the most effective teachers learn what
  works.

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One principal said

• Every year I sit down with the data, looking at
  which teachers are most effective in each
  subject, and where teachers have an opportunity
  to improve. Say Teacher A is getting 150 of the
  expected growth for 4th graders in reading, while
  Teacher B is only getting 85 of expected growth.
  Ill have those two teachers sit down together
  and talk about their teaching practices and what
  material theyre covering, so Teacher B can learn
  from Teacher A and find out why shes so
  successful.

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3) Improve District Management

• Use teacher effectiveness data for teacher
  assignment, teacher compensation, rather than
  strict seniority-based systems
• Chattanooga targeted low-performing schools,
  focused on improving teaching, included salary
  bonuses, staff reconstitution.

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Give schools a chance to succeed

• Better ways to distribute funding within school
  districts
• If schools with large numbers of low-performing,
  low-income, or minority students have the
  information they need, the resources they need,
  and the freedom they need to hire very effective
  teachers, their students can learn much more.

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Giving schools a chance to succeedChattanooga,
Tennessee

• 9 of the lowest-performing schools in Chattanooga
  previously among the lowest-performing in the
  entire state have been targeted for improvement.
• Improvement efforts include using value-added
  data to identify the districts most effective
  teachers and enticing them to work in
  low-performing schools.
• The results?

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Source Chattanooga Public Education Foundation
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4) Improve teacher training

• Lots of money spent on professional development,
  little idea what works and what doesnt.
• Value-added can be used to improve teacher
  training in higher education track the
  effectiveness of graduates, analyze and improve
  schools of education.

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One Education School Dean said

• Weve got tons of graduates, but no mechanism
  to assess the relative effectiveness of those
  teachers.
• -the Dean of University of Dayton school of
  education, co-chair of a new initiative in Ohio
  to use value-added data to evaluate and improve
  university-based teacher training.

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5) Improve state policy

• Make state funding formulas more fair give
  districts the money they need to hire the
  teachers they need.
• Make licensure processes less cumbersome and
  bureaucratic, more emphasis on effectiveness.
• Study and improve alternate routes to teaching.

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Also

• Hold higher education accountable for the
  effectiveness of their graduates
• Review state laws restricting teacher
  compensation, evaluation, tenure.
• Create powerful data systems to track students
  between grades, schools, and districts.

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Value-added is a new opportunity to close the
achievement gap

• Now a possibility for the very first time in most
  states.
• We know what districts, schools, and students
  need help.
• We know that more effective teaching is a key
  element of any successful strategy.
• Identify effective teachers, find ways to get
  them to the students who need them.

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The Education Trust

• For More Information . . .
• www.edtrust.org
• 202-293-1217