![W H I T E PA P E R / 4
“Every teacher [at the school] was interviewed,” says Chavez. “I selected the ones to keep.
So, essentially, everyone was re-interviewed for their jobs.”
Some of the teachers, unhappy with Chavez’s sweeping, teacher-focused approach to
improving student achievement at Apollo, used the interviews as an opportunity to resign.
“There was an element of [disagreement with my methods] in this school, and that
was hard,” Chavez relates. As a result of the resignations, Apollo underwent a dramatic,
nearly instantaneous staff turnover. Within a few weeks, the middle school had 40 vacant
teaching slots to fill.
Despite the setback, Chavez remained committed to his focus on improving the quality of
teaching at Apollo, because, as he puts it, “in the classroom it’s the teacher who creates
the thunder, the lightning, or the sunshine” [emphasis added].
Tammy Christopherson, assistant principal at Apollo, recalls a vivid change in the teachers
occupying classrooms at Apollo, teachers with a drive to improve their classroom practice.
“We had teachers who wanted to be here,” she said, “who wanted to see the children
succeed. That’s what Ray built [our school improvement] on. He built it on [teachers who
said], ‘we care enough to do our jobs and to keep pushing hard.’”
Within very little time, Chavez and his team of teachers began to see remarkable,
unprecedented change. In its very first year under Principal Chavez, Apollo experienced
a meteoric rise, shooting from “Underperforming Year II,” all the way to “Performing.” By
year three, the school had scored just one point below “Highly Performing,” the highest
achievement designation for a school in Arizona.6
Today, Apollo is in the top 10 percent of
performers of middle schools in the entire state.
6
School Improvement Network, “Changing the Weather at Apollo,” 7:38, February 3, 2011,
http://www.pd360.com/pd360.cfm#tab=videos&page=videosBrowse.
The Better-Teacher Breakthrough
See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More
Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/a997efea-6fcd-41f5-8772-adc4bbcc0fbc-160220204730/85/White_Paper-4-320.jpg)
White_Paper
- 1. W H I T E PA P E R / 1 Studies show that a growing number of American students are enrolling in college—more than ever before. This good news, however, is offset by the fact that fewer than half of enrollees actually complete their degrees. Clearly, we are getting better at placing our children in college, but in our haste to do so we have overlooked a very important fact—many of them are not even prepared to go. This paper explores the current deficit of college and career readiness among K-12 students, and posits increased teacher effectiveness as a solution to that problem. The paper outlines strategies for creating effective teachers; describes how to dismantle potential roadblocks to achieving teacher effectiveness; and recommends tools for making 100 percent of teachers effective, and 100 percent of students college and career ready. A surprising new study published by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has caught the attention of educators all over the US. In contrast to many of the grim proclamations we’ve grown accustomed to seeing, the data collected by NCES has been a breath of fresh air, painting a picture of an education system on the mend, actually improving in a number of significant, measurable ways. High school students, for example, were reported to have taken more high-level mathematics courses than ever before, with a majority (60%) claiming to have “definite plans” to graduate from a four year university.1 This number was up from both 1990 (48%) and 2000 (56%).2 And students’ reported plans for college are more than just talk. According to NCES, enrollment in degree-graduating postsecondary institutions increased nine percent in the 1990s, and then another 38 percent in the 2000s, with much of the growth in full-time enrollment.3 By now, over a decade into the 21st century, nearly half of 18-24-year-olds attend college. 1 “The Condition of Education,” National Center for Education Statistics, accessed July 6, 2012, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/. 2 ibid 3 “Fast Facts,” National Center for Education Statistics, accessed July 6, 2012, http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=98. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits
- 2. W H I T E PA P E R / 2 College enrollment rates have continued to rise, overall, since 1979 “High school students are working harder than they were a generation ago,” Education Week reports in its coverage of the study. “The economic downturn may highlight an opportunity to put more of them on the path to college.”4 This is all certainly encouraging news, but while NCES’s data highlights a welcome, positive trend in American education, it does not tell the entire story of college placement among high school students. As educators over the last two decades have succeeded in putting students on the “path to college,” they have had a much more difficult time preparing students for what lies at the end of that path—the stress and rigors of university life, and ultimately a career. This fact is underscored by other research which finds that, regardless of increased college enrollment numbers, fewer than half of Americans—only 46 percent—complete college once they start.5 4 Sparks, Sarah D. “Report: U.S. Students Get Serious About High School.” Education Week, May 28, 2012. http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/24/33condition.h31.html. 5 Harvard Graduate School of Education, “Pathways to Prosperity.” Last modified February 11, 2011. Accessed July 12, 2012. http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news-impact. Clearly, we are getting better and better at placing our children in college, but as the data shows, in our haste to do so we have overlooked a very important fact—many of them are not even prepared to go. Enrollment in College Has Reached an All-time High Share of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics 2010, Table 212 PEW RESEARCH CENTER 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1967 71 75 79 83 87 91 95 99 03 07 09 The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits
- 3. W H I T E PA P E R / 3 Clearly, we are getting better and better at placing our children in college, but as the data shows, in our haste to do so we have overlooked a very important fact—many of them are not even prepared to go. It is critical that educators supplement their efforts to send students to college with a renewed focus on getting those same students ready for college before they get there. The Solution: Teacher Effectiveness Of course, as with so many of the challenges in schools, getting all students college and career ready is much easier said than done. College and career readiness for all students requires system-wide planning, teacher buy-in and collaboration, and student commitment. Students have myriad decisions to make, and they rely on a host of teachers, community members, and administrators in a complicated system meant to get them on to life after high school. One of the most difficult steps in creating a more effective system is simply knowing where to start. Ray Chavez, principal of Apollo Middle School in Tucson, faced exactly this challenge when he accepted the call to transform one of the lowest performing schools in Arizona. In 2007, Chavez was hired to help turn Apollo around, which at the time was labeled “Underperforming Year II” because of its failure to make AYP for several years, and was on the cusp of state restructuring. With students who faced the daily challenges of growing up in impoverished, gang-infested neighborhoods, and with a staff exhausted from so many years of struggle, Chavez quickly realized that the most important step he could take to help students would be to improve the quality of teaching at Apollo. He knew that for his students, success or failure began with their teachers. So, before he did anything else, Chavez set out to create a body of educators equal to the massive task he needed to accomplish. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits College enrollees struggle to complete their degrees; only 56 percent finish a bachelor’s degree program within six years Completion rates at two-year institutions are much lower than at four-year schools 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Four-Year Schools Two-Year Schools 56% 29%
- 4. W H I T E PA P E R / 4 “Every teacher [at the school] was interviewed,” says Chavez. “I selected the ones to keep. So, essentially, everyone was re-interviewed for their jobs.” Some of the teachers, unhappy with Chavez’s sweeping, teacher-focused approach to improving student achievement at Apollo, used the interviews as an opportunity to resign. “There was an element of [disagreement with my methods] in this school, and that was hard,” Chavez relates. As a result of the resignations, Apollo underwent a dramatic, nearly instantaneous staff turnover. Within a few weeks, the middle school had 40 vacant teaching slots to fill. Despite the setback, Chavez remained committed to his focus on improving the quality of teaching at Apollo, because, as he puts it, “in the classroom it’s the teacher who creates the thunder, the lightning, or the sunshine” [emphasis added]. Tammy Christopherson, assistant principal at Apollo, recalls a vivid change in the teachers occupying classrooms at Apollo, teachers with a drive to improve their classroom practice. “We had teachers who wanted to be here,” she said, “who wanted to see the children succeed. That’s what Ray built [our school improvement] on. He built it on [teachers who said], ‘we care enough to do our jobs and to keep pushing hard.’” Within very little time, Chavez and his team of teachers began to see remarkable, unprecedented change. In its very first year under Principal Chavez, Apollo experienced a meteoric rise, shooting from “Underperforming Year II,” all the way to “Performing.” By year three, the school had scored just one point below “Highly Performing,” the highest achievement designation for a school in Arizona.6 Today, Apollo is in the top 10 percent of performers of middle schools in the entire state. 6 School Improvement Network, “Changing the Weather at Apollo,” 7:38, February 3, 2011, http://www.pd360.com/pd360.cfm#tab=videos&page=videosBrowse. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits
- 5. W H I T E PA P E R / 5 As teachers at Apollo became more effective, student achievement increased dramatically. Within three years the school transformed from severely underperforming to one of the most successful in Arizona. Chavez and his colleagues at Apollo had discovered a truth that nearly all successful schools understand: the key to student achievement is not better neighborhoods, more money, or smarter students—it is teacher effectiveness. While a variety of factors will combine to affect a student’s success, the fact is, with the right teacher, any child can succeed, and become college and career ready. Of course, scoring well on state exams is not necessarily an accurate measure of college and career readiness, but the principle remains: effective teachers produce successful students. Students learn and improve best when they are taught by effective teachers. How to Achieve Teacher Effectiveness It is one thing to examine the results of increased teacher effectiveness, but quite another to understand exactly how it is achieved. “Teacher effectiveness can be allusive,” says Chet Linton, CEO and president of education company School Improvement Network. “To begin with, for teacher effectiveness to really have an impact, it needs to be achieved by not just one, but by dozens, even hundreds of educators in a school system. It goes without saying that getting that many teachers The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits APOLLO STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT StateLevel Highly Performing Performing Plus Performing Underperforming Underperforming Year I Underperforming Year II 2006 2007 2008 2009 The key to student achievement is not better neighborhoods, more money, or smarter students—it is teacher effectiveness.
- 6. W H I T E PA P E R / 6 to reach their full potential is an enormous challenge, and one that requires considerable planning and commitment.”7 To better understand exactly how teacher effectiveness is achieved, it will be useful to examine the chief roadblocks preventing educators from becoming effective in the first place. One statistic in particular highlights these roadblocks. “Every school day, nearly a thousand teachers leave the field of teaching,” researchers at the Alliance for Education say. “Another thousand teachers change schools, many in pursuit of better working conditions. And these figures do not include the teachers who retire.”8 If teacher effectiveness is the key to academic achievement, then imagine what such a massive turnover rate is doing to the overall quality of teaching at schools. Chet Linton has been helping educators improve their practice for years, and has seen the impact that retention has on teacher effectiveness: The biggest issues in education aren’t student challenges; they’re teacher challenges. If we can’t hold on to our teachers, how on earth do we expect to hold on to our students? We continually scratch our heads and wonder about why students struggle in high school and college, but we lose 50% of teachers within the first few years of their careers. It takes thousands of hours—many years—to become a master teacher. We’re losing the most important people in education before they get a chance to become totally effective.9 The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has conducted research that reveals causes of such an alarming turnover rate, and sheds light on the roadblocks that prevent many teachers from becoming totally effective. The D.O.E. identifies the top 3 reasons that teachers leave the profession: 1) Lack of planning time 2) Heavy work loads 3) Problematic student behavior10 Even a cursory examination of this list reveals root causes common to each of these problems. For example, while “heavy work loads” (#2) can clearly cause a “lack of planning time,” (#1), each of these problems also stems from a lack of support and training. With the proper lesson planning strategies and time management skills, planning time opens up, and heavy work loads become manageable. And while “problematic student behavior” (#3) may not always stem from the heavy work loads, it can, like reasons 1 and 2, often be traced directly back to a lack of support and training. 7 Chet Linton (chief executive officer, School Improvement Network), in a discussion with author, May 2012. 8 Alliance for Excellent Education, “Teacher Attrition: A Costly Loss to the Nation and to the States.” Last modified August 1, 2005. Accessed July 2, 2012. www.all4ed.org/files/archive/publications. 9 Chet Linton (chief executive officer, School Improvement Network), in a discussion with author, May 2012. 10 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, “Teacher Follow-up Survey.” Last modified January 1, 2001. Accessed July 3, 2012. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits
- 7. W H I T E PA P E R / 7 Dr. Lisa Leith has decades of experience in classroom management: “Effective teachers offer students engaging and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities. They recognize that students who are absorbed in real-world problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking do not need to be ‘managed.’ Effective teachers create strong relationships with their students, communicate high expectations and help students to envision a powerful future for themselves. They offer content that is rigorous and aligned to student interest and motivation. Research demonstrates that these attributes of teacher efficacy are strengthened by staff professional development that addresses classroom culture, real-world learning and response to formative assessment data.”11 Linton echoes Dr. Leith’s sentiments. “The major issues driving educators away from the profession are the same ones that prevent some teachers from becoming truly effective. The good news is that none of these issues is even close to unresolvable. Our teachers are not inherently bad at what they do. For whatever reason, too many of them just aren’t receiving the support and professional development opportunities that they need. “My colleagues and I at School Improvement Network have watched hundreds of schools overcome each of these problems in relatively little time. All it takes is access to the right professional development, and an effective system to implement that development. After 20 years, I have come to understand that we do not have to lose any of our students—not a single one. If every teacher is effective, and I’ve seen schools where they are, then 100% college and career readiness is possible.”12 The Teacher Effectiveness System As we have seen, the primary roadblock preventing every teacher from becoming completely effective is a lack of proper support and training opportunities. In order to help educators become effective and to get 100% of students college and career ready, School Improvement Network has developed the Teacher Effectiveness System (TES). The Teacher Effectiveness System provides a process to improve teacher practice, and arms educators with a set of powerful tools that can be used to progress within that process. Research shows that districts and schools that use the tools in TES produce better “After 20 years, I have come to understand that we do not have to lose any of our students—not a single one. If every teacher is effective, and I’ve seen schools where they are, then 100% college and career readiness is possible.” The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits 11 Dr. Lisa Leith (director of content, School Improvement Network), in a discussion with author, May 2012. 12 Chet Linton (chief executive officer, School Improvement Network), in a discussion with author, May 2012.
- 8. W H I T E PA P E R / 8 teachers. As a result, these districts and schools experience dramatic increases in student achievement, driving up student test scores by as much as 28.8% (p.001) in a single year. Teacher effectiveness isn’t like a light switch, to be simply flipped on and off. Teacher Effectiveness is achieved through a process that requires preparation, the dedication of day-to-day work, constant self-examination and improvement, and, perhaps most importantly, the support of administrators and leaders. Most administrators understand good teaching and understand their teachers, but many struggle to find a way to help all of their teachers to truly improve practice on a large scale. TES solves this problem by providing administrators with a straightforward system that can easily be implemented in a school or an entire district. The real power of the system, though, is the way that it enables a single administrator to accurately understand the needs of each teacher she is responsible for, and to personalize the professional development experience for every one of them. TES is composed of six steps, as well as tools to complete those steps: Step 1: Goals and Objectives Administrators decide on the goals their districts and schools need to meet, and the steps they will take to achieve those goals. With TES’s on-demand resources, administrators can then make those goals and steps visible to every educator in the system. Step 2: Process and Workflow Management Administrators create customized forms that they will use to manage the day-to-day work of achieving their districts’ goals. Pre-observation forms, post observation forms, etc., can all be customized into templates to help leaders guide staff toward their goals. These same forms will also provide useful data, so administrators can measure successes and setbacks, make changes if the need arises, and remain flexible as they work toward goals. Step 3: Systematic Professional Development Entire schools or districts will follow a united professional development plan based upon needs and goals. These plans can be personalized for individual circumstance. Through PD 360, the professional development component of TES, educators have access to the largest library of online professional development videos in the world, with over 2,000 videos on 125 topics, presented by the top experts and featuring real teachers demonstrating best practices in real classrooms. Teacher Effectiveness is achieved through a process that requires preparation, the dedication of day-to-day work, constant self-examination and improvement, and, perhaps most importantly, the support of administrators and leaders. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits
- 9. W H I T E PA P E R / 9 Step 4: Observations and Evaluations Once goals have been established, and a professional development centered plan for achieving those goals has been put in place, administrators can monitor progress using Observation 360, the multi-faceted observation tool in TES. With Observation 360, administrators can gather an extensive number of data points on teacher performance and progress, and then track those data points in a simple, easy to use worksheet program. Observation 360 makes it possible for a single person to track and manage professional development data for dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of teachers. Step 5: Personalized Professional Learning Observation 360 allows administrators to do more than just observe, take notes, and assign scores—software within the tool will also automatically recommend professional development videos in real-time, based upon observer notes, and send those recommendations directly to the teacher being observed. Administrators can also use the software to make their own recommendations, directing teachers toward a URL, PDF, or any web-based resource. With TES, the data gathered from observations and evaluations results in more than just a score representing teacher effectiveness. It uses data collected in the observation to help build an understanding of each teachers strengths and weaknesses, and prescribes training based upon that understanding, to help teachers grow. Step 6: Progress and Evidence The data, evaluations, and professional development within TES allow administrators to see the progress and evidence of teachers effectiveness as they continue to move toward 100% college and career readiness. Effective Teachers Produce College and Career Ready Students Every component of the Teacher Effectiveness System has been painstakingly engineered to make teachers more effective, and as this paper has demonstrated, effective teachers create successful students. However, it is one thing to claim that TES gets students college and career ready, and quite another to actually produce results. One of the most powerful points about the tools in TES is that they have a long track record, and over the years have been proven to work. In fact, independent research has shown that when educators use the tools found in TES, their students often achieve immediate, dramatic improvements in learning. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits Every component of the Teacher Effectiveness System has been painstakingly engineered to make teachers more effective.
- 10. W H I T E PA P E R / 1 0 For example, data from a study measuring student performance among Title I school districts found that students whose teachers use PD 360, the professional development tool in TES, achieve significantly greater gains in standardized test scores than their peers whose teachers do not: Additionally, the data show that Title 1 students outperformed and outgrew their respective districts when their teachers participated in PD 360, a remarkable finding with great implications for educational success: The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits Schoolwide Title 1 Reading Percent Change 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% -2% PD 360 Schools Districts Change in Reading Prof+Adv: Schoolwide Title 1 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% Year 1 Year 2 PD 360 Schools Districts Educators using PD 360 raised school-wide student reading scores many times over in a single year.
- 11. W H I T E PA P E R / 1 1 As district achievement averages fell over the course of the school year, schools within those districts that used PD 360 saw significant gains in student achievement. To read other independent studies demonstrating the impact that TES is having on student learning, visit http://www.schoolimprovement.com/research/independent- research/422-Title-1-Schools/. The best solution for increasing college preparedness among our students—even as we continue to succeed in driving college enrollment—is to become more effective at teaching them. No amount of funding, community involvement, or parental support can replace a truly effective teacher. If teacher effectiveness is a goal of your school or district, then begin improving your teacher development efforts by visiting http://www.schoolimprovement.com/teacher-effectiveness-system/ to receive a free 30- day trial of the Teacher Effectiveness System. The Better-Teacher Breakthrough See What the Best Schools in America Are Doing to Create More Effective Teachers, and How Their Students Are Reaping the Benefits Schoolwide Title 1 Math Percent Change 12% 9% 6% 3% 0% -3% -6% PD 360 Schools Districts Change in Reading Prof+Adv: Schoolwide Title 1 9% 6% 3% 0% -3% -6% Year 1 Year 2 PD 360 Schools Districts