Blog

TNTP’s Leap Year

2013-04-24T18:07:30+00:00

UTRU is a data-driven organization and we routinely meet to discuss the latest research, news and reports on teacher preparation. This week, we’ve all been reading and digesting the latest important piece from TNTP, Leap Year: Assessing and Supporting Effective First-Year Teachers. The report’s insight and recommendations based on their research and implementation of ACE offers a wealth of lessons for all teacher preparation and support providers. We want to use this blog entry to echo a few of the critical points made in Leap Year and draw connections to our own work—launching, supporting, and building the movement around Urban Teacher Residency programs. We fully support TNTP’s recommendations to connect certification to performance, use multiple measures to paint the most complete picture of teacher performance possible, and to focus teacher preparation on core skills. And while TNTP’s system of in-service preparation and support is being implemented with growing sophistication, UTRU and our network partners are rethinking pre-service preparation programs with the same critical approach. Residencies are rigorous, full-year, classroom-based preparation that begins with who we select into the programs and continues through two years of new teacher induction support. The advantage of looking at teacher preparation over the multi-year engagement of a residency program, is that we can identify and connect the qualities of potentially excellent teachers to in-program performance assessments, and then confirm expectations with performance in the classroom teacher of record. As we refine this process, residencies will become the only performance based pre-service preparation model. Research like the Leap Year report help make this possible and aptly describe some of the ongoing challenges that exist. In pre-service preparation, there are limitations to the value-added data available to assess novice teacher performance. Residencies are building from the learning contained in the MET study, and now the ACE research, to identify multiple measures that can indicate if a teacher-trainee is likely to be highly-effective as a teacher of record. And this week, in Chicago, UTRU met with partner programs the Denver Teacher residency and Aspire Teacher Residency to share out case study data about mentor teacher performance. In that meeting, we explored the data-driven discussions that take place between mentors and residents, and examined how district-based residency programs like these can build in rigorous evaluation procedures and expectations into the preparation program. This is the future—setting high expectations from the point of recruitment and selection, through training, and into the first years of teaching and beyond. Providing the support, evaluation, and feedback cycles that help new teachers learn, and master the craft from the earliest point possible in their career. Read the full report here.

Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Findings

2013-01-17T21:10:22+00:00

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation released the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) final report on measuring teacher effectiveness last week. The MET project sought to answer three key questions: Can measures of effective teaching identify teachers who better help students learn? How much weight should be placed on each measure of effective teaching when combining classroom observations, student surveys, and student achievement gains? And, how can teachers be assured trustworthy results from classroom observations? Here are a few of the final results from the study: –Student perception surveys and classroom observations can provide meaningful feedback to teachers. –Implementing specific procedures in evaluation systems can increase trust in the data results. –Each measure of teacher performance adds something of value. –A balanced approach to teaching is most sensible when assigning weights to form a composite measure. –There is great potential in using video for teacher feedback and for the training and assessment of observers. As expected, this report has received mixed reviews, but these findings could change the way we gauge teacher effectiveness. The January report and all MET reports are available here.

Are Excellent Teachers Born or Made?

2012-11-14T20:08:13+00:00

A recent Washington Post blog surfaces a question that has been troubling teacher preparation programs for years: can anyone be made into a teacher, or are certain dispositions or characteristics necessarily inherent? Robert Bligh, the blog’s author, past general counsel of the Nebraska Association of School Boards, and college professor, argues that “the most important thing [teacher preparation programs] do to produce effective teachers is deciding (a) who they let into the program and (b) who they let graduate.” Bligh goes on to say that he believes academic intelligence is not nearly as important as teachers’ personality traits. Bligh’s blog is written in response to something historian David McCullough said in a 60 Minutes interview last week: “I don’t feel that any professional teacher should major in education. They should major in a subject, know something.” UTRU believes that both content area expertise and certain dispositions are essential to effective teachers. We believe our network partners would all agree that the following selection criteria are critical for residency candidates. First and foremost, residents must be reflective and coachable. The kind of intensive mentoring that goes on in a residency program requires residents to be open to feedback and to use feedback to continually improve effectiveness. Residents also need to be true content area experts. Not only is this a strong predictor of teacher effectiveness, it is also important in the context of a one-year, intensive teacher preparation program such as this. Residents need to be resilient, and persevere in the face of challenges. Residents also need to demonstrate commitment to social justice and equity, to students and families, and to teaching as a lifelong profession. Teach For America conducted a study to link their selection criteria to student achievement, and their findings further highlight the criteria outlined above. They found that a teacher’s prior achievement, leadership experience, and perseverance are predictive of student gains in math and leadership experience and commitment to TFA mission were predictive of student gains in English. We would love to hear your thoughts on what you feel to be the most important teacher dispositions and whether these can be developed over time with the proper training and support. Submit your responses as comments on this post!

Memphis Teacher Residency Named Most Effective Teacher Preparation Program in Tennessee

2012-11-01T19:36:52+00:00

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission released the 2012 Report Card on the Effectiveness of Teacher Training Programs today, showing the Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR) as the most effective teacher preparation program in the state. Sixty-four percent of MTR graduates show statistically significant positive results in teacher effectiveness. The next highest program reported that 25 percent of their completers provide statistically significant positive results in the classroom. An excerpt from the Executive Summary of the 2012 Report Card states, “Two programs [out of 44] had completers with higher student achievement gains than veteran teachers in the subject areas in which adequate value added data are available for that program. These programs are Freed-Hardeman University and Memphis Teacher Residency.” MTR was also one of only six programs that had completers with higher student achievement gains than beginning teachers in the subject areas in which adequate value added data are available. Congratulations to the talented MTR team, including staff, residents, and mentors. We are so proud to have you in the UTRU Network, and we wish you continued success with Memphis students!

UTRU Partners in the Media!

2012-10-31T17:49:25+00:00

Two UTRU partners have been in the national media in recent weeks. The Aspire Teacher Residency was featured in this Hechinger Report article focused on the intensive classroom apprenticeship and the use of strong teachers to train newcomers. The Seattle Teacher Residency, a participant in UTRU’s Residency for Residencies Program, is highlighted in this Seattle Times article. The Seattle Teacher Residency will launch in 2013, preparing 25 teachers in its first cohort. Anissa Listak, UTRU Executive Director, is quoted in the article.

What Can Residency Programs Learn from Charters?

2012-10-03T14:57:19+00:00

Harvard professor Roland Fryer recently published a paper titled Learning from the Successes and Failures of Charter Schools. Dr. Fryer studied 35 charter schools in New York and then looked at how Houston and Denver implemented five top practices from these charters in some of their low-performing schools, yielding very promising results. We at UTRU have read the policy brief and discussion paper and found the following takeaways to be most relevant for teacher preparation. Focus on human capital Dr. Fryer found that teachers of all experience levels need increased feedback based on classroom observations, as well as ongoing (preferably weekly) professional development. Residency programs must prepare their teachers for this kind of regular observation, feedback, and development, ideally modeling and practicing this during the residency year. Use student data to drive instruction Schools that conduct regular assessments of students every four to six weeks and then use this data to drive their instruction were found to be most successful. Additionally, Dr. Fryer recommends meeting with students individually to set goals after more in-depth assessments. While we cannot dictate how principals implement this sort of model schoolwide, residencies can prepare their teachers to assess their classrooms regularly and to conduct individual goal development with students. Establish a culture of high expectations In order to establish a culture of high expectations, Dr. Fryer proposes conducting a school- or classroom-wide “culture camp” during the first week of school to establish behaviors and actions conducive to achieving success. He also suggests posting goals and college posters on classroom walls in order to promote a culture of college readiness. We are curious to hear whether these practices resonate with your residents, mentors, and graduates. Please share your thoughts by adding your comments here!

Who Works in Public, Charter, and Private Schools?

2012-09-28T14:30:24+00:00

Marisa Cannata of Vanderbilt University has conducted an analysis of the federal Schools and Staffing Survey to see what sorts of teachers choose to work at public, charter, and private schools, and what sorts of conditions they find there. Sean Cavanagh highlights some of the findings in his recent Education Week blog post. Cannata found that public and private school teachers tend to have significantly more experience than teachers in charter schools, while charter school teachers find themselves working with larger classes and for longer hours. Private schools win out for the shortest work week and smallest class size. Also, private school teachers are more likely than public and charter school teachers to come from highly-selective universities, with charters coming in second. While these findings may not be surprising, it is interesting to think about the sorts of environments our residency-trained teachers find themselves in, as well as where they themselves come from comparatively. Cannata’s analysis can be found in the book Exploring the School Choice Universe.

How is Bureaucracy Standing in the Way of Your Teachers and Students?

2012-08-29T17:29:35+00:00

At UTRU this week, we read the Broad Foundation’s “75 Examples of How Bureaucracy Stands in the Way of America’s Students and Teachers” and considered how these bureaucratic constraints impact UTR program and policy decisions. We have selected a few examples from the report and would love to hear your thoughts. Which issues do you feel significantly impact your effort to prepare excellent teachers for our highest need schools? How are you overcoming some of these challenges? 10. Different parts of the organization that manage resources do not communicate with each other, which means that schools and classrooms receive resources like supplies and instructional support inconsistently. 12. Principals lack the freedom to decide how to spend school dollars in ways they know would support their own students and teachers, because district central offices often control school budgets. 28. Teachers lack timely and adequate information about how each of their students is progressing. This includes data about how subgroups of students (i.e., different income, ethnic, gender, racial and language groups) are progressing on mastery of expected academic standards so that teachers can hone in on particular student needs, improve instruction and fill in gaps in the curriculum. 38. Top teachers are not properly recognized, rewarded or compensated, so they leave the profession. 43. Principals and managers are often unable to hire candidates they feel are best suited for the job because someone above has to approve the hire, or they are forced to hire teachers, like those removed from other schools, but have placement seniority and can bump other, less tenured teachers. 44. When districts have to lay off teachers due to budget cuts, they often lay off some of their best teachers because policies require the most recently hired teachers to be laid off first, rather than the least effective teachers. 45. The most challenged schools have the hardest time recruiting great teachers and teachers in specialized subjects that students desperately need, because they don’t offer attractive compensation packages, and placement isn’t always tied to student needs. 50. Some teachers’ colleges do not effectively prepare future teachers to meet modern student needs. 52. Many teachers feel frustrated because of poor workplace conditions and have little hope that things will improve. 63. Programs, policies and procedures are not consistently monitored and tested to ensure they are actually helping students and teachers improve - nor are these programs, policies and procedures abandoned when they are proven ineffective 71. Parents are unable to advocate for changes that would help their children and their school, don’t know how to navigate the system, don’t receive a response from the central office, or are told that “this is the way things are.” 75. The media focuses on a small handful of these issues, but misses the real story: entire school systems must be transformed.

Can Value-Added Be Applied to Teacher Preparation?

2012-08-15T15:19:37+00:00

This week Stephen Sawchuk of Education Week took a look at six research studies on using value-added data to evaluate teacher preparation programs in his blog Can Value-Added Be Used to Evaluate Teacher Preparation? Scholars Weigh In. We’ve chosen two findings from the studies to share. One study from the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research titled Teacher Preparation and Student Achievement found that programs who provide more oversight of student teaching experiences produce significantly more effective teachers. The opportunity to engage in actual teaching, as well as to review and use curricula that will be used in their future classrooms, was shown to increase student test score gains in both math and ELA. “Teacher preparation that focuses more on the work of the classroom and provides opportunities for teachers to study what they will be doing produces teachers who are more effective during their first year of teaching,” researchers write. This resonates with us at UTRU. A cornerstone of rigorous residency preparation is to have extended clinical experience in the district where a new teacher will work, and to use that classroom time to develop the resident’s ability to understand, apply and modify curricula based on frequent assessments of student learning, all in the context of the districts’ standards and curricula. Sawchuk also notes that several researchers stress the difficulty in determining whether the effects observed are a function of the training graduates receive or of the population of teacher candidates the program attracts. This is an interesting challenge for residencies to think about as we strive to improve both program quality and recruitment and selection processes. What measures is your UTR using to determine the impact of recruitment and selection strategies, and how do you determine which selection criteria may be contributing factors in resident performance?

New Research on Teacher Placement

2012-07-18T18:32:11+00:00

Two new studies are shedding light on the placement and retention of highly-effective teachers. The first, out of the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, takes a look at the effectiveness of transferring our highest quality teachers to our most high-need schools. Researchers found that these teachers remained highly effective in their new schools, arguing that effective teaching may in fact transfer across schools. This research supports current policy on equitable distribution of high-quality teachers between high- and low-poverty schools. Read more in this Education Week blog. Another set of data from Harvard University’s Strategic Data Project examines the placement and retention of new teachers. Data from North Carolina, Texas, and Georgia show that districts often make the mistake of placing novice teachers with the lowest-performing students. As novice teachers are, on average, less effective at the start of their careers, researchers concluded that “the systematic placement of novice teachers with lower-performing students is essentially a ‘double whammy’ for these students.” Additionally, districts were unable to retain the novice teachers who showed the most promise. Read more about this new data in Education Week. Both of these studies indicate the need to rethink how we place and retain both our novice teachers and our most effective teachers.