Liana+-+Pre-Conference+(101+Tools)

Day 1 - March 24-25, 2011 101 Tools and Techniques to Improve Teacher Quality (James Stronge & Leslie Grant - The College of William and Mary)

Book: Planning, Instruction and Assessment -- Effective Teaching Practices (Grant, hind man, Stronge)

What can we do to improve the quality of teaching so we can improve the quality of learning?

No research and no evidence = no reform

What impact does a teacher have on student learning? We need to change our practices based on what works.
 * "Teaching is rocket science"
 * **We must be able and willing to monitor our own ranks**
 * School resources tends not to make a difference in student learning. it does NOT solve the problem. Classroom heterogeneity does not make much of an impact either. There are camps of heterogeneity and homogeneity are better. Effective teachers will overwhelm the classroom makeup. Homo/Hetero has a marginal gain on impact. Class size has some influence but not a great deal. In class size reduction there will be some improvement. (Sources: Wright, Horn, & Sanders, 1997; Hanushek, Kain, & Rivkin, 1998.) Student achievement will go up if you have a regular class of 25 and reduce to 20 there will be a gain (from 50% to 57%) but it is quite expensive. Reducing class size alone is not alone. Average class size in china is 50 (middle and elem). In rural areas it can be bigger.
 * The teacher makes the greatest impact. We know this intuitively and empirically.

Classes that are exceptionally LOW or HIGH it is hard to change scores.

Three ways to improve problem: 1. Hire high quality teachers 2. If we hire ineffective teachers, help them to grow and get better 3. get rid of ineffective teachers

In test scores there was a 30% difference in test scores of high quality teachers vs. low quality teachers in reading and math. Teachers with high gain scores do very well in classroom management & in how teachers interact with kids (PILINA).

One way to close the achievement gap, is to meet the needs of ALL kids, the top and the lower. The gap will close if we have effective teachers in the class. We need to keep effective teachers (estimates that it costs $25-30k to replace a teacher). Ohio has a four year residency program for mentoring. There is a good research around good mentoring programs. there are also a lot of POOR mentoring practices.

__**DATA ANALYSIS (from page 25-26 of activities)**__ Maria - Bad news is that they ended at 5.6 grade equivalency. so they'll start grade 6 behind. on the average she did not make a full year agin. still 5 students below grade level. 32% above grade level in june. 16% prior. Low kids did not move too much. 2 children went down. the kids who arrived at 4.9-5.1 (5 kids). their average is only .4 growth.

Leslie/James analysis: Whole group analysis: She had a below level class coming into 5th grade. There is a nice growth curve. Sub group analysis: same amount of kids are still below grade level beginning and end of year (how far below were they when they started?). Individual analysis: 8 children increased by 1.0+. only six kids made marginal to 1 year progress. 5 kids made unacceptable progress.

Quantitative data must be connected to qualitative data. More observation is not the solution. it needs to be combined. Stop just looking at teachers and start looking at kids.

Analysis of data should be whole group, subgroup and individual. This will help you to effectively help teachers.

In classes that do not have standardized assessments, how do we evaluate?performance assessment. skills checklist.

Grades are not good predictors of student success. The degree to which we build benchmark data at the bgeginning of year the better handle we will have on student progress.

What is the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student learning? Hollywood has given us some good ideas :-) Jane - assets: works hard. committed to teaching. likes bears? needs: standards lessons. evaluation of lesson effectiveness. data analysis - both quantitative and qualitative Actions: data analysis of unit effectiveness: pre and post assessments. classroom observations, complete with pre and post conference.

Note for Billy Assets - knowledgeable and continues to build his knowledge base. LOVES history. Needs - folow

There is not a direct positive correlation related to impact of background qualities beyond 3 years of teaching. In first 3 years of teaching, yes, experience matters. But after that, while it takes 10 years to reach mastery of teaching, beyond 3 years research experience does not necessarily correlate to good teaching. Experience is a very strong indicator in early years but beyond years 3 to 10 we are not sure where teachers plateau.
 * Background Qualities for Teachers**

Pedagogical knowledge AND content knowledge is important. Research in math supports this. Standard certification in teaching yields better results than no certification. Substitute teachers have NO certification. The cumulative # of days kids are exposed to a substitute comes out to about a full year.

Which teacher factor is a strong predictor of student achievement? Teacher pay is usually determined by years of experience and education background. 3% of variability of teacher effectiveness is based on these factors. There is NO difference in the ability of a teacher who has a Bachelor's vs a Master's degree. beyond a master's degree there is not a single study, in teaching K-12, that it yields better achievement. NBCT, during the year of the "work" the achievement level of students goes DOWN but following this, most of the studies are positive. The mean effectiveness for board certified teachers was marginally higher. (although there is an outside study that was done that showed high correlation...i recall seeing this).

Verbal ability matters if it is used in the correct way. Communication is the essence of what good teachers do. Clear intention, a conversation, engaging style, story telling, good questions, student talk, eliminate obstacles.

The way adult learners learn is no different than the way young people learn.

Classroom talk:
 * Respectful
 * Supportive
 * Inquiry-oriented
 * Between teacher and student - Personalized
 * For discipline - Yes and No rarely used

Wondering: How many of our substitutes are certified and have experience teaching in the classroom? Is getting pulled out of the classroom and having a sub beneficial to the students? Should we look at an extended year? So that teachers can have more PD days in the school year?
 * Day 2 - March 24, 2011**

//What doesn't work well//:
 * Interviews**
 * Unstructured interviews
 * Yes/no questions
 * Situational questions (it should be "what did you do when" rather than "What would you do IF")
 * Confirming first impressions

Quick Decision Making - How long does it take interviewers to make a dcidion about the suitability of the candidate? 74% - first 5 minutes >1 hour - 9% 60-60 minutes - 17%

How decisions are made in interviews: Judgment (Affective characteristics) School needs (what type of individual do we need in our school?)


 * What does work well?**
 * Good bones (structure)
 * Good questions (experience-based rather than hypotheticals)
 * Good answers (anchored rubric)
 * Note-taking
 * Training

Effective teachers treat others the way they want to be treated.

Proactive discipline Maintain momentum Monitor and respond (they start by assessing, not by teaching). smart teachers start year devoted to classroom management) Teach students desirable behaviors high student engagement Positive, respectful supportive
 * Classroom Management and Organization**

What doesn't work? What does work?
 * Questioning Skills**
 * Vague and ambiguous questions
 * trivial questions
 * extemporaneous questions
 * lack of order to the questions

Reflection: The notion that a student is exposed to a substitute is a full year is mind blowing. And the fact that standard certification in teaching yields better results is a little surprising. That there isn't any difference in effectiveness from a teacher that has a bachelor's vs. a masters is interesting. There are some good points and interesting/useful information that was presented in this two day pre conference session.

Implications for Ka Pi'ina: A four year residency program for mentoring is a great idea. We need to be sure that all pieces are in place to implement and support a mentoring program. Same for peer reviews, evaluations, coaching. The fact that there isn't much difference in effectiveness between a Bachelor's and Master's is interesting and makes me wonder why we should reward that in pay. If verbal abilities is important, how do we support this for teachers? Does HR need to implement a structure for all interviews for ed positions?