Supporting Quality Teaching and Rewarding Effectiveness: A Guide to Proposed Changes in Evaluation. Aldine Independent School District

Supporting Quality Teaching and Rewarding Effectiveness: A Guide to Proposed Changes in Evaluation Aldine Independent School District Dear Aldine Ed...
Author: Patience Peters
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Supporting Quality Teaching and Rewarding Effectiveness: A Guide to Proposed Changes in Evaluation Aldine Independent School District

Dear Aldine Educator, I am pleased to share my support of Aldine’s new outcome based evaluation model called INVEST. The new system is designed by Aldine teachers and educators for our own professionals. I appreciate the many hours dedicated by our design team to developing the new system. I am also proud of the final product, a system designed to recognize and promote effective teacher practice in our classrooms and a system that recognizes the differences in the instructional settings in all classrooms as well as instructional positions that are not traditional classroom positions. INVEST will not only give appraisers better measures to recognize outstanding work for our students, but it will also promote and provide ongoing professional conversations about how we can continue to improve instruction. The new system will allow more opportunities for teachers and appraisers to discuss challenges, concerns, and initiatives to raise our professional standards and improve educational quality for all students. After complete implementation and time to work through the INVEST system to ensure inter-rater reliability, district teams with support from consultants will develop a new compensation system to pay instructional staff based on student results and effective practices. The new system will allow instructional staff as professionals to have more input into their compensation based on their actual performance, not on a system that rewards longevity over results and effective practices. The new compensation system will be a few years away, but the work done through the INVEST pilot and complete implementation will ensure success for future compensation plans. These are exciting times for educators in Aldine. Through the work done in the INVEST system, we will meet the challenges of increased standards and expectations through greater professionalism and continued improvement in instruction. Thank you for your support and thank you for working in Aldine.

Sincerely, Wanda Bamberg Superintendent of Schools

Table of Contents

Overview...................................1 Designing INVEST.......................2 The INVEST Model.....................4 Training and Support.................7 Rating Performance...................8 Frequently Asked Questions....10

Overview Aldine Independent School District knows that teachers are the single most important factor in a child’s academic progress. That’s why we are working to build a state-ofthe-art evaluation system that improves teacher quality and support districtwide. The system we are developing, INVEST, is linked to comprehensive professional development and supports and advances the district’s focus on high expectations for both students and educators. It also equips principals with the knowledge and tools needed to evaluate instructional practice and build upon the strengths of educators. Our hope is that INVEST will strengthen our data-rich culture with new information about teacher performance and teacher practice. The planning process behind INVEST relied on intensive educator input to build a fair and effective evaluation system that works for educators as well as students. This is a system built by educators, for educators. INVEST will be piloted in 35 schools during the 2012-2013 school year. Pending a successful pilot, AISD intends to implement INVEST across all schools the following year.

INVEST’s Goals • More accurately represent teacher performance levels. • Increase the proportion of “highly effective” and “effective” teachers. • Reduce teacher attrition rates by half.

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Designing INVEST Funded by a generous grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, AISD spent the 2011-2012 school year in a planning phase, bringing our educators together on a regular basis to design the evaluation system. We began by looking at models effectively implemented in other cities as an example of what the evaluation might look like in AISD, enlisted the help of national experts, and created workgroups consisting of AISD administrators, principals, teachers, and other educators. On a monthly basis, three workgroups met and collaborated to ensure the new system is an inclusive process based on broad input among educators, looks at all aspects of teaching, and is designed to accurately tie teacher evaluations to student growth and professional development. The reform effort was inclusive, involving teachers, administrators and community members, and based on the comprehensive framework for school reform designed by Operation Public Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

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AISD’s uniquely democratic process for teacher participation was used to identify participants for this reform. The work groups were composed of VEAC and DEAC volunteers, as well as educators recruited by senior administrators because of their expertise in the subjects covered. Each group had between 30 and 60 people represented depending on purpose, and they each met several times over the course of the school year. Many more participated in updates to VEAC members and district administrators also made presentations to faculty at schools around the district.

Workgroups Teacher Practices Group: studied the Danielson Framework for Teaching in order to make knowledgeable decisions about its implementation and identify potential issues with the framework. Student Impact Group: examined Student Growth Percentiles as a concept and as an instrument to rate teacher effectiveness and improve student learning. “Other Staff” Group: identified rubrics, processes, and protocols used to evaluate performance of staff members, such as nurses, librarians, and art, music, and physical education teachers, whose work falls outside traditional measures of student growth.

National Experts Operation Public Education (affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania), provided oversight for the initiative and helped collect research and best practices from which AISD could learn. Lynn Sawyer, from the Danielson Group, provided support for the working groups as they collaborated to design the new teacher evaluation system. Dr. John Schacter, president of The Learning Growth Network, is an expert on teacher quality and data driven decision making. His company developed Aldine’s statistical growth model and reporting system, and trained Aldine educators how to interpret and use student learning growth results.

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The INVEST Model INVEST consists of two measures: classroom observation and learning growth.

Classroom Observation The observation portion is based on Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching. Originally developed in 1996, the Framework is used nationally to document and develop teacher practice. Danielson’s framework will give us tools to build on the strengths of our educators and allow us to help teachers better understand what they are doing well and what they need to improve to raise achievement. As illustrated below (Example 1), the framework consists of four domains – Planning and Preparation, Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities – which are further divided into 22 components (See below). A four-level performance rubric – Unsatisfactory, Basic, Proficient, and Distinguished – is provided for all educators, including those in non-core academic subjects (e.g., art and music) as well as specialists (e.g., librarians and nurses). Research has demonstrated a positive correlation between administrator observation on the Danielson Framework and student progress, indicating that classroom observation ratings are valid measures of teaching practice. Example 1. “Proficient” level on Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching

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Learning Growth

Student learning growth will allow AISD to measure students’ academic progress, improve instruction and services to students and teachers not making progress, and ensure that every child has access to an effective teacher. To measure student learning growth, the district developed The Aldine Growth Model (Example 2), a statistical model that expresses how much learning progress a student has made relative to the learning progress of students whose achievement was similar on previous assessments. Learning progress is reported as a Student Growth Percentile (SGP) from 1 to 99, with higher percentiles indicating greater growth. The 50th growth percentile represents effective progress. Statistical growth models are being used in several states and schools districts across the United States to hold schools and teachers accountable. Learning growth is a fairer way to evaluate teachers than using achievement because it is a better way to represent the direct impact a teacher has on student learning.

Example 2. Aldine Growth Model Report

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In order to measure student growth, Aldine will use data from standardized exams. For educators who teach courses outside of tested subjects (e.g. art, music, physical education, etc.), AISD will be piloting an initiative using “Student Growth Objectives (SGO’s).”

Tested Subjects

STAAR will be used in grades 4 through 9 (and where available in high school subjects), and Stanford/Aprenda will be used in grades kindergarten through 3.

Non-tested Subjects

A Student Growth Objective is a long-term (typically one semester or one school year) academic goal that teachers and administrators set for groups of students. It must be specific and measureable, based on available prior student learning data, and aligned to state standards, as well as any school and district priorities. Student Growth Objectives should represent the most important learning during an interval of instruction or service and may be based on progress, mastery or a combination of the two.

What Different Measures Determine (Table 1) Growth Reports

STAAR

Academic progress students make in relation to their academic peers (students with similar test results).

Achievement level of students at the end of each school year (e.g., the percent of students who Did Not Meet Standard, Met Standard or achieved Commended Performance).

Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Change in the percent of students who reach proficiency. It compares grade-level cohorts (e.g., this year’s 4th graders to last year’s 4th graders), not individual student’s growth.

Growth measures enable educators to understand the extent to which they influence student performance from year to year when their students are compared with peers with similar test results. Standardized tests and AYP measures determine how well students achieved on particular subject-matter tests at the end of a particular grade in a particular year. 6

Training and Support

AISD has opted to pilot the new teacher evaluation system in 2012-2013 to assess effectiveness, ensure the system is fair, and make modifications before expanding the system across the entire district in the 2013-14 school year. In partnership with Teachscape and the Learning Growth Network, AISD will use technology tools to support effective implementation and training for teachers and administrators. All evaluators will undergo a rigorous video-based online training and certification process. Teachers will enjoy unlimited access to the same online training videos as principals and assistant principals. All educators will be connected by a software platform to gather evaluation data from live and video-based observations and facilitate all interaction among teachers and their evaluators. All educators will also enjoy unlimited access to online videos for training on the Aldine Growth Model.

Throughout the pilot process, AISD will receive continued feedback from administrators and educators about what works and what challenges still exist. As the pilot phase goes on, AISD will use this feedback to ensure INVEST is designed for the teachers and provides teacher support, training, and professional development. 7

Rating Performance

One key feature of the INVEST system is its use of multiple measures, drawn from both a teacher’s observation scores and student growth scores, to produce a final rating. The “Final INVEST Rating,” as it will be called, takes into account both observation (the Danielson Framework) and student growth (Aldine Growth Model) to ensure the evaluation takes into account all aspects of teacher performance. Teachers will be rated Highly Effective, Effective, Needs Improvement, or Ineffective in both observation (See Example 1 on page 4) and student growth (Example 3. Part A.).

Example 3. Part A

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The new system ensures that both “instruction” (the teacher’s inputs) and “learning” (the student’s outputs) are considered in each teacher’s evaluation. Combining measures produces an overall rating. To be considered “Highly Effective,” a teacher must be rated highly effective in both; to be “Effective,” a teacher must receive that rating in both, etc.

Example 3. Final INVEST Rating

This pilot will provide AISD with invaluable information about the successes and challenges associated with early implementation of the INVEST system, so that strategic changes can be made before the system is rolled out across the entire district. District administrators are committed to working in partnership with educators to ensure the pilot results in an evaluation system that is fair, transparent and improves educator practice and support.

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Frequently Asked Questions How will this system differ from PDAS? Teacher practices will be measured using Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, in which instructional frameworks are linked to observation protocols and procedures, as opposed to the traditional PDAS system. The new system will foster professional conversation, provide more thorough observations, and give teachers the opportunity for growth. The system allows teachers to demonstrate growth in classrooms and offers support at all levels of performance. What is a growth model? The term ‘growth model’ describes a method of measuring students’ learning progress on standardized assessments by tracking the test scores of the same students from one year to the next. Who will have access to the evaluation data? The INVEST rating data will be accessible only to leadership of the AISD. Teachers will have access to their own personal data, and principals will have access to the final INVEST rating data of only those teachers in their school buildings. District cabinet members, and program directors will have access to all data for the entire school district, but this final rating data will not be shared with the general public or outside entities. The evaluations of public school teachers and adminstrators are confidential by state statute and exempted from public disclosure. How will the INVEST rating system be used? In the pilot year, all teachers will be held accountable to their score on the teacher practices condition. This means they will be expected to meet the conditions in order to be considered an effective or highly effective teacher. Their student growth score will be reported in the first six weeks of the next school year (preferably during the goal setting conference) and will not be used for consequence in the pilot year. Teachers and administrators in the pilot schools should use their growth score data for diagnostic purposes. How will teachers get their data? Growth data will be delivered via a password protected secure website (https://thevaanetwork.com). Aldine administrators will enroll their teachers and school staff.

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What are student growth percentiles? Student Growth Percentiles, or SGP, measure how much a student has learned compared to his or her academic peers. Academic peers are students who have similar STAAR test scores. SGP allows educators to see whether a student has progressed similar to, greater than, or less than comparable students. Growth percentiles are reported on a normative scale from 1 to 99 with higher percentiles indicating greater growth. The 50th growth percentile represents average growth. What groups of students are being compared to generate SGPs? Each student is compared to his or her academic peers (i.e., other students in Aldine with similar STAAR test score histories). This makes for a fair growth comparison because it allows us to describe the growth in student learning compared to other students that started at equivalent achievement levels. What does the median student growth percentile at my school, grade level, and classroom represent? The median student growth percentile is the midpoint of student growth percentiles in the school, grade level or classroom. In any analysis, half of the students will have student growth percentiles higher than the median; half will have lower. Research shows that there are correlations between a student’s socio-economic status and their achievement. Is the same true with growth? No. Numerous studies have established that the correlation between growth and economically disadvantaged students is weak and statistically insignificant. If my school made AYP, does that mean my students are growing faster than their academic peers? No. AYP determinations are based on absolute performance and do not compare the same students’ growth over time. Is student learning growth for a teacher compared with teachers in his/her respective school, or teachers in the entire district? Student learning growth for teachers is based on all the students in AISD.

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