empowering effective teachers empowering strategy

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EMPOWERING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

STRATEGIES FOR IMPlEMENTING REFORMS 1

ISSuE BRIEF


FEBRuARy 2010

STRATEGIES FOR

IMPlEMENTINGREFORMS


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READINESS FOR REFORM2


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The contribution o teachers to student

learning and outcomes is widely recog-

nized. A teachers eectiveness has more

impact on student learning than any other

actor under the control o school systems,

including class size, school size, and the

quality o ater-school programs.1

In astudy o Los Angeles schools, the di-

erence between the perormance o a

student assigned to a top-quartile teacher

rather than a bottom-quartile teacher

averaged 10 percentile points on a stan-

dardized math test.2 Researchers studying

high schools in North Carolina ound that

having a class with a strong teacher had

an impact 14 times greater than having a

class with ve ewer students.3

In spite o these realities, the education

community has not ocused suciently

on improving teacher eectiveness: on

the recruitment, evaluation, development,

placement, and retention o highly eective

teachers. Instead o evaluating teachers

perormance and treating them dier-

ently on that basis, teachers are treated

uniormly and rewarded or longevity and

degrees. Paper credentials that have little

to no proven value trump how successullyteachers educate their students when it

comes to compensation and tenure.

Intent on helping to change this cur-

rent reality, the Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation embarked on a process to nd

sites that would help determine how to

use measures o teacher eectiveness to

transorm human resources, specically

in determining who is hired and retained,

how tenure is granted, how teachers are

placed, and how compensation and promo-

tion are determined. In April 2009, the

oundation asked nine school districts andone coalition o charter management orga-

nizations (see sidebar) to propose strate-

gies or dramatically improving teacher

eectiveness, including:

developing meaningul measures o

teacher eectiveness, including but

not limited to student achievement

growth over time

increasing the overall numbers o

eective teachers

providing increased pay and greater

roles and responsibilities or teachers

who earn tenure

concentrating eective teachers

where they are needed most

The participating sites committed to

bringing district leadership, school board

leadership, and teachers union leadership

to the table to develop a plan to trans-

orm teacher eectiveness policies and

practices. These working teams spent the

summer o 2009 developing proposals

that outlined how the sites would radically

reorganize their practices and policies to

ensure that every student is taught by an

eective teacher.

ABOuT THIS SERIES


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TABlE OF CONTENTS

Site Conditions That Spport Impementation

Shared leadership, commitment, and

vision

Good data systems

Stakeholder engagement

Financial sustainability

5

Ke Strategies To Improve Teacher

Effectiveness

Multidimensional measures of

effectiveness

Evaluation that informs professional

development

More rigor in deciding tenure

Differentiated compensation and career

pathways Compensation for placement in priority

schools

9

Concsion 15

Although the sites have not implemented

their proposed strategies yet, the planning

process yielded some critical lessons and

approaches that the oundation elt were

important to share as promising practices.

Rigorous evaluation over time will deter-

mine which strategies produce the mostsignicant results. This series ocuses on

three key questions:

How can you tell i your site is ready

to engage in a teacher eectiveness

reorm agenda? (Brie 1)

I you are ready to implement a

teacher eectiveness agenda, where

would you start and what steps might

you take along the way? (Brie 2)

What impact do state and ederal

policies have on your systems abil-

ity to undertake teacher eectiveness

reorms? (Brie 3, orthcoming)

This second brie describes our site condi-

tions that support eorts to implement

reorms and ollows with a discussion

o ve key strategies to improve teacher

eectiveness.


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STRATEGIES FOR IMPlEMENTING REFORMS4

Measures of Effective Teaching

One barrier to major systems change is the lack o robust, multidi-

mensional measures o teacher eectiveness. Great teaching, ater

all, is multidimensional and should be viewed through multiple lenses.

Teachers should know what the expectations are or good teach-

ing and what they can do to improve their practice. In all 2009, the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures o Eective

Teaching project to study multiple measures o teacher eective-

nessincluding videotaped classroom observations, student surveys,

tests o teachers pedagogical content knowledge, and other test- andnontest-based dataand compare the measures to nationally rec-

ognized teaching standards. These data will help determine ways in

which eective teaching can be measured airly and consistently.

For more inormation on this project, current grants or

teacher eectiveness, and what we are learning, please visit

www.gatesoundation.org.


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The 10 sites suraced many o thesame conditions required or suc-cessul implementation. These condi-

tions all into our distinct categories that

represent a minimum readiness threshold

that all school systems should haveor

seek to achievebeore embarking ondeep reorm.

Shared eadership, vision,and commitment to action

Aligning all stakeholders around a com-

mon vision to improve student outcomes by

increasing teacher eectiveness requires

a signicant change management eort. It

is a step change or most districts to move

rom a culture based on compliance to one

driven by perormance.

All 10 sites elt they needed to dedicate

high-level site resourcesboth human

and nancialto the implementation o

and accountability or teacher eective-

ness strategies. Based on these sites

experience, leadership must be willing to

reprioritize other initiatives and reallocate

time and resources to ocus on teacher

eectiveness. In many cases, explicit proj-

ect management expertise and resources

will be needed to support the day-to-day

execution o plans.

Gidance from the sites

Create a roadmap o all initiatives and

strategically make decisions about

priorities. Determine what can be

stopped or delayed based on resource

constraints.

Designate sta to track milestones,

identiy issues, and assign the right

people to implement the strategies.

One option is to create a Program

Management Oce, either with exist-

ing sta or through a contractor, to

provide the service until it becomes

embedded in how things are done.

Create external advisory committees.

Several sites set up external advi-

sory committees that included localunders, politicians, business leaders,

and higher education representatives.

One o these sites met publicly with

this group beore any plans were set

and ollowed up with two substantive

meetings to review a drat proposal

and get eedback. This process

resulted in relationships that helped

maintain momentum.

SITE CONDITIONS THATSuPPORT IMPlEMENTATION

!

SEE BRIEF 1 FORA MORE DETAIlED

ExAMINATION OFSITE READINESS


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Good data sstems

These sites have learned the value o data

systems that can track site, state, national,

and ormative student test scores; capture

student and teacher demographic charac-

teristics; maintain human resource data

on teacher background inormation; audit

student and teacher data to veriy accuracy

and quality; allow student and teacher data

to be linked; and provide unique IDs or

students, teachers, courses, and classes

that are consistent over time and across

disparate data systems.

The sites are committed to creating a data

system that can measure the impact a

teacher has on a student by linking courses,

teachers, and students to determine the

value-added impact o teachers instruc-

tion. Proposed improvements to human

resources data systems call or capturing

contextual inormation on certication,

degrees (including major and institution),

years o experience, salary, attendance,

and participation in proessional develop-

ment activities.

The data that are captured should be

high-quality and user-riendly. Audits are

important to ensure that all data are timely

and accurate, especially i teacher eec-

tiveness data are linked to compensation

and career progression.


Build, buy, or enhance an existing

data warehouse to ensure that all

necessary data are captured in ways

that can link teacher perormance to

student outcomes. I the site already

has a data warehouse and a good

inormation technology department, it

may make sense to build on the exist-

ing structure. Establishing good data

systems requires a signicant invest-

ment. Since sites will be living with

the decision or a long time, it is key to

make the right choices upront.

Develop inormation dashboards

that allow all users across the site

(e.g., school board, central oce sta,

principals, and teachers) to access

relevant, timely data to help assess

and improve teacher perormance.


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Stakehoder engagement

These sites have involved internal and

external stakeholders rom the start in the

planning processes. Their participation is

essential to build and maintain commit-

ment to the vision. Keeping stakeholdersengaged throughout implementation is just

as important. These sites are communi-

cating to both internal and external stake-

holders every step o the way and soliciting

their input when appropriate. Principals,

teachers, unions, and the school board are

particularly important stakeholders, but

it is hard to nd a constituent who is not

interested in teacher eectiveness.


Form a working group comprising

teachers, principals, union repre-

sentatives, and parents/community-

based organization representatives.

Some members should be chosen by

union leaders, some by site leader-

ship. Create a charter or the working

group and meet regularly to commu-

nicate progress, discuss roadblocks

and solutions, solicit eedback, and

make adjustments.Train the core site team how to com-

municate eectively with each stake-

holder group.

Create a communications plan that

encompasses and engages all stake-

holders, including teachers, school

leaders, the central oce, the school

board, unions, parents, and the com-

munity. Continuously execute and adjust

the plan throughout implementation.

Be open to eedback rom all stake-

holders, incorporate when appropri-

ate, and communicate proactively

when eedback is not incorporated.

One site conducted our ocus groups

with teachers and principals and set

up a cross-unctional central oce

working team that brought many per-

spectives to the table.

Work with site parent groups and

community-based organizations to

hold regular town hall meetings with

amilies and students.

Provide regular updates to school

board members through board meet-

ings and individual discussions.

Be proactive with the media and hold

a media roundtable when the timing is

right. In communities with high media

interest and education reporters,

reach out early in the process. In com-

munities where it is hard to get media

attention, sites may be able to wait

until there is progress to report rather

than try to get coverage o what we

intend to do.

These sites are communicating to both internal and external stakeholdersevery step o the way and soliciting their input when appropriate.


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Financia sstainabiit

As they move rom planning to implementa-

tion o a teacher eectiveness system, these

sites are identiying sources o unding to

support their eorts: eliminating current

ineciencies, reallocating existing dollars,and seeking state and ederal grants.

The sites are budgeting approximately

$20 million to $46 million annually or a

period o ve years to implement their

teacher eectiveness strategies, repre-

senting 2 to 6 percent o district annual

operating budgets. (The gures do not

include one-time, up ront costs.) One

prospect or resource reallocation is

adjustments in class size. One district cal-

culated that increasing class size by one to

two students could result in reallocations

equaling $5 million to $10 million per year.

The sites are also planning reductions in

central oce expenditures, particularly

those with declining enrollment.

State unding and a sites eligibility or ed-

eral Race to the Top unds will have a signi-

icant impact. National and local oundations

and philanthropists are another source o

unds; however, the challenge is ensuring

that there is enough money to implement

strategies over ve years or more. Using

grants and state/ederal sources as a

catalyst and reallocating existing resources

likely will be the most sustainable way

or sites to implement a high-perorming

teacher eectiveness system.


One site currently allots approximately

$30 million annually in base salary

to reward advanced degrees. Since

research has shown that such addi-

tional degrees have little impact on

student perormance, the site plans toreallocate this unding toward criteria

that directly link to student outcomes,

such as a teachers evaluation peror-

mance and ability to improve student

achievement.


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Mtidimensionameasres of effectiveness

Dening teacher eectiveness is the key

rst step and will underpin all other ele-

ments o a high-perorming system. The

10 sites are intent on developing a compre-hensive, robust, valid, and reliable system

to measure teacher perormance. Student

outcomes will be included, which typically

is not the case now.


Develop multidimensional indicators

o teacher eectiveness that include

such measures as value-added scores

based on student assessment scores,

observation o teacher perormancecalibrated against a rubric, and

nontest measures, such as student/

parent surveys. For example, one site

is ocusing on our elements:

Stdent otcomesThe site will

work with an external partner to

develop value-added measures,

using existing state tests and

qualitative end-o-course evalu-

ations o student work. This will

count or 40 percent or more o the

overall score.

Observation dataTeachers will

be observed according to a peror-

mance competency model linked

to the state standards or teaching.

This will count or 3040 percent o

the overall score.

KEy STRATEGIES TO IMPROVETEACHER EFFECTIVENESS

TEACHER EVAluATION CRITERIA

High-level

principal input

Seniority

Degrees

earned

Today Tomorrow

Teacher

aributes/values

Parent/student

feedback

Principalassessment of

work skills(i.e., teamwork/

leadership)

Rigorouspeer/expert

observaon

Test of

pedagogicalcontent

knowledge

Student

achievement

Basic: Principal observaon

and teacher qualificaonsdetermine rang

Robust: mulple inputs anchored in student achievement

determine effecveness


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Fami and stdent feedbackThe

site will leverage current work as

well as partner with an outside rm

to develop valid, statistically sig-

nicant surveys and other methods

(e.g., ocus groups) or gathering

student and amily input to teacherevaluations. This will count or 10

percent o the overall score.

A measre of teacher attitdes

and beiefsThe site will iden-

tiy a partner to develop a tool to

measure specic core values such

as collaboration, the belie that all

students can learn and achieve, and

sel-refection. This will count or

1020 percent o the overall score.

Evaation that informsprofessiona deveopment

In most school systems across the

country, teacher evaluations tend to be

one-dimensional indicators that do not

adequately measure or support teacher

eectiveness. In the participating sites

with satisactory and unsatisactory

rating systems, less than 1 percent o

teachers are typically ound unsatisac-tory despite low student achievement

levels. In many cases, this disconnect is

partly explained by the act that student

achievement is not a component o a

teachers evaluation. Further, the sites are

challenged to create an evaluation system

that accepts perormance dierences

among teachers.

In addition, teachers oten perceive evalu-

ations as punitive rather than a tool to help

them improve. This implies that a massive

cultural shit in belies and behaviors in

the use o teacher evaluations is needed.

Many sites struggle with providing proes-

sional development support that is tailored

to a teachers identied areas o need,

based on his/her relative strengths and

weaknesses. Without eective measures

and a system to evaluate the perormance

o teachers, this neglect is not surpris-

ing. Too oten, proessional development

courses are not strategically aligned to

areas o improvement but rather based

on scheduling convenience or marketing

appeal.

High attrition among new teachers

is a common challenge that might be

addressed by dierentiated proes-

sional support. Many o the sites eel

that novice teachers receive inadequate

support in their rst ew years o teaching.

Specically, site induction programs oten

do not provide sustained support through

the initial years o teaching, resulting in

both high turnover and ineective teaching

Early career turnover can be as much as

30 percent or rst-year teachers,

15 percent or second-year teachers,

and 10 percent or third-year teachers.

Teachers need continued appropriate pro-

essional development, mentoring to build

teacher eectiveness, and ongoing suppor

that will ensure they want to stay in the

classroom.


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Teachers and academic coaches also

express a need or support that is ongoing

and school-based to allow or application o

the support they receive. These sites also

ace challenges in tracking the eective-

ness o proessional development to ensure

that support provided to teachers ulti-

mately drives student achievement growth.

To eectively lead an evaluation process

tied to proessional development support

or teachers, principals need to be strong

leaders within their schools. Currently,

most principals are not adequately trained

to eectively evaluate teachers and ensure

customized proessional development is

provided. Further, principals in most sites

currently are not held accountable or the

accuracy or quality o teacher evaluations

or ultimately their schools student gains.


Conduct evaluations annually (more

requently or new and struggling

teachers) and ensure principals

provide one-on-one eedback to eachteacher.

Link perormance evaluations to other

elements o the teacher eectiveness

system: tenure/dismissal, recognition/

promotion, compensation/incentives,

and proessional development.

Train principals to conduct observa-

tions, provide eedback, and take

action to develop/reward teachers

or partner with an external, objective

reviewer. Doing this will help cata-

lyze the process and build capacity in

school leadership to become sel-

sustaining.

One site is planning to implement

proessional learning communities

or teams at each school site to oster

instructional and data-driven collabo-

ration rather than apply a one-size-

ts-all, centrally driven approach.

A ew o the sites are using or plan

to use teacher and administrator

dashboards. The dashboards provide

requent student-level data that allow

teachers to have discussions about

how to improve instruction.

One site is planning an intensive sum-

mer induction program to provide new

teachers with the skills they need to

be successul (e.g., ocus primarilyon classroom experience by allowing

all new teachers to gain exposure to

schools and classrooms o varying

needs).

Another site is supporting mentors or

new teachers to help drive increased

satisaction, accelerate proessional

growth, and boost retention. A set o


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master teachers either will leave the

classroom or one year to serve as

dedicated mentors to a new cohort

o teachers beore they are rotated

back into the classroom the next

school year, or alternatively, a num-

ber o master teachers will be given a

reduced class load to allow sucient

mentoring time without having to

leave the classroom completely.

More rigor in decidingtenre

In most sites, tenure is granted automati-

cally with little fexibility in the timing and

not enough rigor in the decisionmaking

process. Such virtually automatic tenure

can result in poor-perorming teachers end-

ing up in classrooms or many years even i

they do not improve student outcomes. Less

than 1 percent o teachers with more than

two years o experience leave involuntarily,

even though there are more than 1 percent

o teachers who are ineective. This trend is

urther exacerbated by dismissal processes

that oten are underused or teachers not

meeting perormance standards.

Many o these sites are evaluating how

to overhaul their tenure process, which

may require overcoming political or legal

constraints. (See Brie 3, or thcoming, or

a detailed examination o policy barriers.)

Principals will need signicant support

rom their human resources departments,

particularly in implementing a robust

evaluation and eedback process to identiy

and intervene with struggling teachers.


One site is planning to abolish

automatic tenure and instead create

a tenure review board with highly

respected and credible members to

assess teachers eligibility or tenure

ater at least two years, based on

teacher eectiveness measures linked

... virtually automatic tenure can result in

poor-perorming teachers ending up in

classrooms or many years even i they do

not improve student outcomes.


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to student outcomes. The intended

result is to give signicantly more

teachers a probationary third or ourth

year beore oering them tenure.

One site is planning to create a new

human resources unction that will

help principals conduct regular

teacher evaluations and have the

sometimes dicult conversations

about ineective perormance, includ-

ing clear and direct recommendations

on how to improve or discussions o

possible dismissal.

Differentiated compensa-tion and career pathwas

The compensation structure in most sites

is based on level o education and years o

teaching, despite little evidence o linkages

between student achievement and these ac-tors. Even in sites with pay-or-perormance

plans, these programs oten are viewed as

an add-on to the base salary, rather than the

undamental compensation structure.

For those teachers who are identied as

eective, sites currently have ew opportu-

nities to increase substantially the teachers

roles or salaries unless they agree to leave

the classroom. Oten, teachers achieving

the greatest student gains are not beingrewarded or their perormance, either

nancially or with leadership opportunities.

Eective teachers can be rewarded both

career advancement opportunities and

nancial incentives. Creating a dened

career progression provides a means to

recognize teachers who have developed a

certain level o perormance, encourages

teachers to continuously improve, and

oers additional roles that develop a

teachers capabilities in mentoring, evalua-

tion, and instructional leadership.

Further, teacher compensation must

align with the dened career progres-

sion to ensure that sites retain their nest

teachers and attract a new generation o

talented proessionals to the eld. Pay-or-

perormance should compensate teachers

or their demonstrated perormance and,

as such, motivate them to continuously

improve their teaching practice and ulti-

mately move student outcomes. For most

sites, this means a move rom an experi-

ence- and degree-based salary system to

a salary system driven by demonstrated

teacher eectiveness.


Create perormance-based and

role-based career steps, with each

step providing eective teachers

with increased responsibilities and

compensation.

One site is planning to create

perormance-based career steps start-

ing rom apprentice teacher to career

teacher to advanced teacher to master

teacher, with additional compensation

ranging rom $5,000 to $15,000 at each

step. The site also plans to create new

roles o mentor, evaluator, and instruc-

tional leader that also will have addi-

tional compensation at each step.

Eective teachers can be rewarded both career

advancement opportunities and fnancial incentives.


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Compensation for pace-ment in priorit schoos

Many sites ace the same challenge: mak-

ing hard-to-sta schools or classrooms

compelling places to teach. Too oten a dis-

proportionate number o eective teachersare assigned to high-perorming schools

instead o schools with greater needs.

Teachers requently require additional sup-

port as well as incentives to teach in lower-

perorming schools or classrooms in which

working conditions can be more dicult.


Provide nancial incentives or teachers

to teach in high-need schools. One site,

or example, is planning to provide a$10,000 annual stipend (guaranteed or

three years i the teacher is eective

in the role) or teachers in high-need

schools. These teachers will observe,

give eedback, and serve as a model or

their team o our to seven teachers in

addition to meeting with them weekly

to have data-driven discussions and

strategy sessions. Proessional learning

team leaders, along with the principals,

will be held accountable or ensuringimplementation o the practices

learned in team meetings and modeling

sessions.

Provide teachers with additional

support and resources. One site

plans to provide unique proessional

development opportunities by creating

teacher academies housed in high-

need schools to provide teachers in

these schools with additional, custom-ized proessional development, which

teachers view as a benet.


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It would be a mistake to conclude romthis report that these 10 partnershipsites know how to ensure an eective

teacher in every classroom. They know

much more than they did at the beginning

o summer 2009 as the result o rigorous

data analysis and planning, and they areprepared to learn even more as they move

to implement their careully constructed

plans. The intent in sharing this early

learning is to point to possibilities and to

identiy some paths to progress, not to say

take this road or the next 50 miles. It also

would be a mistake or a school system

to wait until these districts have more

to share beore embarking on a teacher

eectiveness agenda. Too many districts

have detoured around teacher eective-

ness, making it the road less traveled or

too long. It is time or school districts andcharter management organizations to

pursue a course o action that builds on

the existing knowledge base and improves

teaching and learning in every classroom.

CONCluSION


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1 Steven G. Rivkin, Eric A. Hanushek, and John F. Kain, Teachers, Schools, and Academic

Achievement, Econometrica, Vol. 73, No. 2 (March 2005), pages 417458.

2 Robert Gordon, Thomas J. Kane, and Douglas O. Staiger, Identiying Eective Teachers

Using Perormance on the Job, Hamilton Project Discussion Paper, (March 2006), The

Brookings Institution.

3 C. Clotelter, H. Ladd, and J. Vigdor, How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter or

Student Achievement? (2007b), National Center or the Analysis o Longitudinal Data in

Education Research; Clotelter et al. (2007a).

ENDNOTES


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STRATEGIES FOR IMPlEMENTING REFORMS 17Editoria and design b KSA-Ps Commnications

2010 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. All Rights ReservedBill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a registered trademark

in the United States and other countries.

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