First, what everyone will always want to talk about. . . Would more money help

1
First, what everyone will always want to talk
about. . . Would more money help?
2
Nation Inequities in State and Local Revenue Per
Student
Source The Funding Gap, 2005. The Education
Trust. Data are for 2003
3

• But how much more money will help depends on how
  wisely we spend it.

4
Some districts get more for less.
5
Some districts that out-perform spend lessNAEP
2005 Grade 8 Math -Overall Scale Scores
7,132
8,311
11.920
8,283
7,284
11,312
12,562
6,923
7,799
10,199
11,847
Source National Center for Education
Statistics, http//nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/n
de and Standard and Poors www.schoolmatters.com
6
What can we do now?1 Neither Make Nor
Tolerate Excuses. Get the Data Out and Take
Responsibility for Student Learning.
7
Only 26 of High School Teachers Believe All
Students Should be Held to Same Standard
Source Ready for the Real World Americans Speak
on High School Reform, ETS, 2005
8
Underlying Everything Is the Cycle of Low
Expectations
Low Expectations
Poor Test Results
Less Challenging Courses
Low Level Assignments/Instruction
9
2. Think very hard about how to deploy their
resources. Lets look at time first, well talk
people later.
10
Most of us think of semester- or year-long
increments to teach kids what they need to learn,
but...
11
The Full Year Calendar
USE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME Analysis of One
California Urban Middle School Calendar
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
12
Less Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
13
Less Weekends, Holidays, Summer Vacation
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
14
Less Professional Development Days Early
Dismissal/Parent Conferences
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
15
Less Class Picnic, Class Trip, Thanksgiving
Feast, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Awards,
Assembles, Concerts
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
16
Less State and District Testing and Other
Non-Instructional Time
Source Ed Trust West analysis of the master
schedule of an unnamed school in CA
17
Use of Instructional Time?

• BOTTOM LINE?
• Teachers are Left with about
• 24 School Days
• OR
• 18 Eight Hour Days Per Subject Per Year

18
Before moving to new school schedules, do the
math.
19
Instructional Time Per Course
20
3 Make Sure Your Instructional System is Fully
and Carefully Alignedand That Nothing About
Teaching and Learning is Left to Chance
21
Historically, most of the really important
decisions about what students should learn and
what kind of work was good enough left to
individual teachers.
22
Result? A System That

• Doesnt expect very much from MOST students and,
• Expects much less from some types of students
  than others.

23
A Work in Poor Schools Would Earn Cs in
Affluent Schools
Source Prospects (ABT Associates, 1993), in
Prospects Final Report on Student Outcomes,
PES, DOE, 1997.
24
Students can do no better than the assignments
they are given...
25
Grade 7 Writing Assignment
Essay on Anne Frank Your essay will consist of
an opening paragraph which introduced the title,
author and general background of the novel.
Your thesis will state specifically what Anne's
overall personality is, and what general
psychological and intellectual changes she
exhibits over the course of the book You might
organize your essay by grouping psychological and
intellectual changes OR you might choose 3 or 4
characteristics (like friendliness, patience,
optimism, self doubt) and show how she changes in
this area.
Source Unnamed school district in California,
2002-03 school year.
26
Grade 7 Writing Assignment

• My Best Friend
• A chore I hate
• A car I want
• My heartthrob

Source Unnamed school district in California,
2002-03 school year.
27
Even in college-prep classes, differences in
rigor But well get to that later.
28
High Performing Schools and Districts

• Have clear and specific goals for what students
  should learn in every grade, including the order
  in which they should learn it
• Provide teachers with common curriculum,
  assignments
• Assess students every 4-8 weeks to measure
  progress
• ACT immediately on the results of those
  assessments.

29
4. Monitor the Distribution of Teacher
TalentandMake Sure Low-Income and Minority
Students Have the High Quality Teachers They Need
30
Teachers Matter Big Time.
31
Students Who Start 2nd Grade at About the Same
Level of Math Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
32
Finish 5th Grade Math at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
33
Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Reading Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
34
Finish 6th Grade at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
35
But poor and minority students dont get their
fair share of our strongest teachers.
36
Poor and Minority Students Get More
Inexperienced Teachers
High poverty Low poverty
High minority Low minority
Teachers with 3 or fewer years of experience.
Note High poverty refers to the top quartile of
schools with students eligible for free/reduced
price lunch. Low poverty-bottom quartile of
schools with students eligible for free/reduced
price lunch. High minority-top quartile those
schools with the highest concentrations of
minority students. Low minority-bottom quartile
of schools with the lowest concentrations of
minority students
Source National Center for Education Statistics,
Monitoring Quality An Indicators Report,
December 2000.
37
More Classes in High-Poverty, High-Minority
Schools Taught By Out-of-Field Teachers
High poverty Low poverty
High minority Low minority
Note High Poverty school-50 or more of the
students are eligible for free/reduced price
lunch. Low-poverty school -15 or fewer of the
students are eligible for free/reduced price
lunch. High-minority school - 50 or more of
the students are nonwhite. Low-minority school-
15 or fewer of the students are nonwhite.
Teachers lacking a college major or minor in the
field. Data for secondary-level core academic
classes. Source Craig D. Jerald, All Talk, No
Action Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching,
The Education Trust, 2002.
38
Middle Grades Classes Taught by Teachers
Without at Least a College Minor in the Subject
(lt15)
(gt50)
(gt50)
(lt15)
Data is for core academic classes.
Source Craig D. Jerald, All Talk, No Action
Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching, The
Education Trust, 2002.
39
High Schools Classes Taught by Teachers Lacking
an Undergraduate Major
(lt15)
(gt50)
(gt50)
(lt15)
Data is for core academic classes.
Source Craig D. Jerald, All Talk, No Action
Putting an End to Out-of-Field Teaching, The
Education Trust, 2002.
40
Teacher Quality Index Illinois Education
Research Council

• School Level Teacher Characteristics
• of Teachers with Emergency/Provisional
  Certification
• of Teachers from More/Most Selective Colleges
• of Teachers with lt 4 Years Experience
• of Teachers Failing Basic Skills Test on First
  Attempt
• School Average of Teachers ACT Composite and
  English Scores

School Teacher Quality Index (TQI)
DeAngelis, K., Presley, J. and White, B. (2005).
The Distribution of Teacher Quality in Illinois.
http//ierc.siue.edu/documents/Teacher_Quality_IER
C_202005-1.pdf
41
IERC College Readiness Index

• Uses ACT scores and self-reported GPA
• Five levels
• Not/least ready
• Minimally ready
• Somewhat ready
• More ready
• Most ready

Presley, J. and Gong, Y. (2005). The Demographics
and Academics of College Readiness in Illinois.
http//ierc.siue.edu/documents/College20Readiness
20-202005-3.pdf
42
Illinois Distribution of School TQI by School
Percent Minority

• Very high percent minority schools are likely to
  have very low school TQIs.
• There is little difference in TQI distribution
  below the highest minority quartile (i.e. below
  about 60 minority).

43
Impact?
44
College Readiness at High Poverty, High Minority
Schools by TQI
Presley, J. and Gong, Y. (2005). The Demographics
and Academics of College Readiness in Illinois.
http//ierc.siue.edu/documents/College20Readiness
20-202005-3.pdf
45
Percent of Students More/Most Ready by High
School TQI and Highest Math Level
Presley, J. and Gong, Y. (2005). The Demographics
and Academics of College Readiness in Illinois.
http//ierc.siue.edu/documents/College20Readiness
20-202005-3.pdf
46
Lets Get That Again!

• STUDENTS WHO STUDIED ALL THE WAY THROUGH CALCULUS
  IN SCHOOLS WITH THE LOWEST TEACHER QUALITY
  LEARNED LESS MATH THAN STUDENTS WHO ONLY WENT
  THROUGH ALGEBRA 2 IN SCHOOLS WITH JUST AVERAGE
  TEACHER QUALITY.

47
Some of the differences occur between poor and
rich school districts.

• But there are big differences within school
  districts, as well. In fact, in most states these
  differences are larger than between-district
  differences.

48
California Study after study shows large
differences in experience and education of
teachers in high vs. low-poverty schools.

• These differences, of course, reflected in
  different salaries.

49
A Tale of Two Schools

• Locke High School
• Los Angeles Unified
• 99 Latino African American
• 66 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 440

• Granada Hills High School
• Los Angeles Unified
• 32 Latino African American
• 27 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 773

Source CA Department of Education, 2003-04 data
50
In accordance with district and state practice,
both schools report the same average teacher
salary.
51

• The average teacher at Locke High School actually
  gets paid an estimated 8,034 less every year
  than his counterpart at Granada Hills High
  School.
• If Locke spent as much as Granada Hills on
  teacher salaries for its 119 teachers, the school
  budget would increase by nearly a million dollars
  (956,056) every year.

52
A Tale of Two Schools

• Mission High School
• San Francisco Unified
• 67 Latino African American
• 75 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 518

• Washington High School
• San Francisco Unified
• 13 Latino African American
• 37 of students receive free or reduced price
  lunch
• Academic Performance Index 760

Source CA Department of Education, 2003-04 data
53

• The average teacher at Mission High School
  actually gets paid an estimated 9,901 less every
  year than his counterpart at Washington High
  School.
• If Mission spent as much as Washington on teacher
  salaries for its 57 teachers, the school budget
  would increase by 564,357 every year.

54
Again, both report the same average teacher
salary.
55
Average School Gaps in 10 Largest CA Districts by
School Type
56
You dont have to just sit by and watch that
happen.SB 687.RBB.
57
If we had the courage and creativity to change
these patterns?
58
The Rivkin, Hanushek, and Kain estimates of
teacher performance suggest that having five
years of good teachers in a row could overcome
the average seventh-grade mathematics
achievement gap .
1.0 standard deviation above average, or at
the 85th quality percentile
SOURCE Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin,
How to Improve the Supply of High-Quality
Teachers, In Brookings Papers on Education
Policy 2004, Diane Ravitch, ed., Brrookings
Institution Press, 2004. Estimates based on
research using data from Texas described in
Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement,
Working Paper Number 6691, National Bureau of
Economic Research, revised July 2002.
59
Bottom Line If were serious about all kids
college and work ready we have got to move the
teacher quality and gap conversation to the top
of civic and political agendas.
60
Why is it so hard?Despite our greater
understanding of how important teachers are, it
has been very hard to get traction on an
improvement agenda.
61
Problem 1 Too polite to criticize, demand.

• Not much to say here, except

62
SPEAK UP!!!
63
Problem 2 Paralyzed by supply fears . . . And so
we never get to equity.

• Confront the Myths and Fears Head On.

64
What do we really know about supply and turnover?

• That most of the myths arejust that.

65
Myth

• Turnover in the teaching profession is just
  terrible! More than 50 are gone in 3 years.

66

• Overall, the three-year teacher retention rate
  for recently graduated teachers is one of the
  best new-professional retention rates in the
  country.
• Nationally, 76 of recently graduated K-12
  teachers who worked full time in 1994 remained
  teachers in 1997.
• Full-time and part-time new teachers remained on
  the job at higher rates than full-time or
  part-time engineers, scientists, lab and research
  assistants or employees in the legal profession.

Source Presley, Jennifer. (2003). Occupational
Stability of New College Graduates. Edwardsville,
IN Illinois Education Research Council, Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. 1 3.
67
Source Presley, Jennifer. (2003). Occupational
Stability of New College Graduates. Edwardsville,
IN Illinois Education Research Council, Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. 2.
68
Annual turnover in teaching profession? 7

• Annual turnover elsewhere in the workforce? 7

69
We need to look very closely at our data, avoid
repeating myths and aggressively counter those
who are spreading misinformation.
70
Problem 3We havent learned enough from high
impact teachers.
71
What do we know?

• Way too little. But several actionable
  conclusions.

72
1. No matter how good teachers will eventually
become, they are NOT as good in their first year
or two of practice.

• Teacher effectiveness grows for at least 3-5
  years. Growth biggest from year 1 to 2.

73

• student performance increases as a result of
  increased experience over the first three or four
  years of experience, with little or no difference
  thereafter.

Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Lankford, H., Loeb,
P.,Wyckoff, J. (2005). How Changes in Entry
Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and
Affect Student Achievement. www.teacherpolicyresea
rch.org
74
Some Payoff for Experience
Source Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O.
(2006). Identifying Effective teachers Using
Performance on the Job. Washington, D.C. The
Brookings Institution.
75
Goldhaber Gains in first few years. But I
find little evidence of productivity gains
associated with experience beyond 5 years.
76
2. ROUTE OF ENTRY

• doesnt matter very much.

77
LAUSD 3 Pathways to Teaching

• Traditional
• Alternate
• Uncertified.

78
Similar Effectiveness, Regardless of
Certification
Source Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O.
(2006). Identifying Effective teachers Using
Performance on the Job. Washington, D.C. The
Brookings Institution.
79

• in many cases, a teachers pathway
• makes little difference in the achievement
• of students
• the measured differences are not large
• in magnitude

Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Lankford, H., Loeb,
P.,Wyckoff, J. (2005). How Changes in Entry
Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and
Affect Student Achievement. www.teacherpolicyresea
rch.org
80
Some nuances

• Traditional a little better with younger
  children, especially in reading
• Alternates a little better with older children,
  especially in math
• Most differences in lower grades wash out by year
  3.

81
3. Differences WITHIN each category, though,
are huge.
82
Effectiveness More Important than Certification

• The difference between the 75th percentile
• teacher and the 50th percentile teacher for all
  three groups of teachers was roughly five times
  as large as the difference between the average
  certified teacher and the average uncertified
  teacher.

Three groups traditionally certified,
alternatively certified, and uncertified
Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O. (2006).
Identifying Effective teachers Using Performance
on the Job. Washington, D.C. The Brookings
Institution.
83
Huge Differences in Teachers Effectiveness

• An average student assigned to a bottom
• quartile teacher lost 5 percentile points while
• a demographically similar student with a top
• quartile teacher gained 5 percentile points.

Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O. (2006).
Identifying Effective teachers Using Performance
on the Job. Washington, D.C. The Brookings
Institution.
84
10 Point Average Difference Between Top and
Bottom Teachers
Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O. (2006).
Identifying Effective teachers Using Performance
on the Job. Washington, D.C. The Brookings
Institution.
85
4. There is some disagreement about whether
those differences can be predicted from
measurable teacher characteristics.
86
Research pretty consistent about

• Teacher test performance, especially verbal
• Teacher content mastery, especially in higher
  grades
• Selectivity of undergraduate college also
  sometimes predictive. Race can be relevant, too.

87
In NYC, Alternate Route Teachers much higher on
all these measures.
88
But at least in NYC and LAUSD, the relationships
between these things and achievement not clear.
89
Goldhaber Clear positive effect of higher
performance on licensure exams, especially in
mathematics. But some false negs and false
positives.
90
Bottom Line Improving the Value Added of
Teacher Force Has to be at Heart of Our Strategy.
91
Massive Impact

• If the effects were to accumulate, having a
• top-quartile teacher rather than a bottom
• quartile teacher four years in a row would be
• enough to close the black-white test score
• gap and,
• Have twice the impact of reducing class size from
  22 to 16.

Gordon, R., Kane, T.J., and Staiger, D.O. (2006).
Identifying Effective teachers Using Performance
on the Job. Washington, D.C. The Brookings
Institution.
92
4. But This One is Big. More After the Break.
Insist on Rigor and High Standards for All
Students. Make the College Prep Curriculum the
Default Curriculum.