Tag Archives: best practices

The Making of the Principal

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In the latest edition of the Wallace Foundation’s Perspective, the focus is again on school leadership.  In “The Making of the Principal: Five Lessons in Leadership Training,” the authors seek to discover what it will take to ensure that all public schools have leaders equal to the challenges facing the public school system.

The report finds that more districts, particularly large urban districts most in need of good leaders, have been investing in principal preparation programs and more rigorous mentoring and other supports to new principals.  States have also been tightening accreditation rules and adopting new standards to push universities and other principal training providers to improve their programs.

However, though some steps have been taken to better prepare principals, the authors note that there is still “a long way to go” before principal preparation programs are adequate to meet the challenges facing principals.  From the research culled by the authors, they suggest districts heed the following five lessons:

  1. A more selective, probing process for choosing candidates for training is the essential first step in creating a more capable and diverse corps of future principals.
  2. Aspiring principals need pre-service training that prepares them to lead improved instruction and school change, not just manage buildings.
  3. Districts should do more to exercise their power to raise the quality of principal training, so that graduates better meet their needs.
  4. States could make better use of their power to influence the quality of leadership training through standard-setting, program accreditation, principal certification and financial support for highly qualified candidates.
  5. Especially in their first year on the job, principals need high-quality mentoring and professional development tailored to individual and district needs.

To read the full report, please visit http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/effective-principal-leadership/Pages/The-Making-of-the-Principal-Five-Lessons-in-Leadership-Training.aspx

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Progress and Promise with Baltimore’s Portfolio Reforms

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An analysis of reforms in the Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) finds that the district has come a long way in a short time in terms of improving student achievement, granting schools more autonomy, and creating an environment friendly to innovators and new school providers.   Baltimore and the Portfolio School District Strategy, a new report from the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) lays out several ways in which the district’s reforms over the last five years should serve as examples for other districts attempting a portfolio strategy.

The “portfolio” strategy adopted by Baltimore and more than 25 other urban districts nationwide allows families to choose from a range of schools, some of which are run by the district and some of which are run by outside operators. No matter their organizational structure, the schools are part of a single system and are held accountable based on the same performance standards. Continuous improvement is a fundamental tenet of portfolio districts; schools that fail to improve are restructured or closed, and promising schools are opened in their place.

BCPS has been among the leading portfolio districts in several areas:

  • Comprehensive school choice:  The district has moved from neighborhood-based assignments to a system where nearly all high school and middle school students actively choose their schools.
  • Performance-based accountability:  BCPS wasted no time closing schools with chronically poor student outcomes–26 so far. Pupil-based funding, where dollars weighted based on student need follow students to the schools they attend, adds an extra layer of accountability, encouraging schools to attract and keep students.
  • Talent development strategy: The district has developed a pipeline of new teachers through nontraditional programs, Teach for America and the Baltimore City Teaching Residency.
  • Community engagement: The city has made great strides in notifying families about school choice, refining the school selection system, communicating broad goals and specific policies, and energizing parent councils at the school level.

As the district moves into the next phase of portfolio reform, the report recommends it should focus on the areas where it is in greatest danger of losing traction and getting stuck:

  • The information provided to parents about individual schools lacks the student achievement data needed to make a truly informed choice.
  • While the district has shifted many decisions about hiring, spending, curriculum, and professional development to the school level, principals report that that autonomy is inconsistently granted across schools and school types.
  • The district has not communicated clearly enough the expectations and consequences of its accountability system; educators do not always have a clear understanding of what kind of student outcomes will result in district intervention or school closings.
  • The school choice system is limited: elementary assignments are still mainly neighborhood-based, students from closed schools can’t always participate fully in the choice process, and there are too few successful middle schools to ensure that everyone has a good choice.

Baltimore has moved quickly and dramatically toward a system of schools that are varied, accountable, and desirable. Along the way, pass rates on tests have increased and the dropout rate has fallen. The district also appears poised to address some of the challenges listed above, which would ensure a more cohesive portfolio strategy, and move the district toward even better outcomes for its 84,000 students.

To read the full report, please visit http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/view/csr_pubs/502

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Tips for Supporting, Preparing Culturally Diverse Teaching Force

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Rural administrators who want to better prepare and support a culturally diverse teaching force need to vary recruitment strategies, seek partnerships, and promote a culture of collaboration, according to a new study.

Those are among a list of suggestions in “Teacher Identity in a Multicultural Rural School: Lessons Learned at Vista Charter,” published in the Journal of Research in Rural Education.  The study involved over two years of research at a high-poverty, bilingual, elementary charter school in rural eastern Oregon.  Seven of the 12 teachers at the school (called “Vista Charter” in the report, though not the real name) are bilingual.

The report focuses heavily on the teachers’ backgrounds and exploring the five core beliefs they shared: all teachers were valued and valuable, all teachers expected to learn from the diverse student body and teaching staff, all expected to collaborate for professional development, that “we teach who we are,” and that the school was a safe place to grow as a teacher.  In addition to these, the researchers also culled tips for both rural school administrators and teacher educators.  Some of these tips include:

  • Vary recruitment strategies—try to “homegrow” diverse teachers, including targeting good second-career candidates from the local community, rather than pursuing more traditional routes for teacher recruitment.
  • Support teachers in the multiple roles they serve.
  • Evaluate the school mission so that it incorporates students’ multicultural competencies.
  • Provide teacher-selected professional development.
  • Know the community, the families, and get them involved.  This includes tapping the vast knowledge of the paraeducator network established—many paraeducators have intimate knowledge of both the community and the students they serve.

To read the full study, please visit http://www.jrre.psu.edu/articles/27-5.pdf

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Managing Talent for Coherence: Learning from CMOs

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A new report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) finds that leaders in the charter sector hire teachers based on their fit with a school’s mission, not just their individual characteristics and talent, as a way to build strong schools.  The report, Managing Talent for Coherence: Learning from Charter Management Organizations, details how some CMOs have created personnel systems focused on hiring, developing, and rewarding teachers who best suit their approach and mission.

“As reformers continue to push public education away from compliance-driven human resource policies and toward performance-driven approaches, they need to ask not only how they can hire and reward effective teachers, but also how they can build talent management systems…and create coherent work environments that develop and support their performance,” write the authors of the report.

The CMOs in the study used three broad strategies to find and develop their teachers:

  1. Recruiting and hiring for fit.  CMO leaders sought out teachers with the skills they valued, used focused recruitment messages to communicate their mission and expectations for teachers, and watched candidates teach and interact with members of the school community.
  2. Intensive socialization on the job.  Teachers were continually socialized toward the school’s particular goals and strategies.  This was largely done through teachers and principals watching each other work and constantly sharing information about the schools’ expectations.
  3. Purposeful pay and career advancement opportunities.  Exceptional teachers were given chances to work as staff developers or start new schools.  Some CMOs use flexible, performance-based compensation rather than traditional step-and-lane models.  The promotions and rewards were often determined by a combination of student performance and the professional judgment of leaders, rather than by hard-and-fast performance metrics or assessments.

Most CMOs are non-unionized, which gives them flexibility to try more creative approaches to hiring and compensation.  As a result, the authors acknowledge that not all of these practices can be easily transferred to traditional school districts and union contracts.  However, there are a few things districts could do to develop a more intentional, coherent approach to personnel management.  For example, districts could:

  • Press schools to decide what skills and values their teachers need to be successful
  • Help to create recruiting messages that communicate those priorities
  • Build relationships with different training programs that deliver the right teachers
  • Incorporate demonstration lessons and other assessments into the hiring process
  • Develop classroom-based teacher supports aligned to each school’s values and practices
  • Provide career opportunities and financial rewards for teachers who exemplify the type of teaching the district wants, beyond raising test scores

To read the full report, please visit http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/view/csr_pubs/500

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Shared Vision for the Next Generation of Teaching

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U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined seven fellow national education leaders last month in signing a shared vision for the future of the teaching profession during the opening 2012 Labor Management Conference in Cincinnati.

“Lessons and best practices from talented teachers is the driving force behind this shared vision for transforming the teaching profession,” said Duncan.  “The principles outlined in the document represent ways to strengthen and elevate teaching as one of our nation’s most valued and respected professions.”

The shared vision, Transforming the Teaching Profession, focuses on three main goals:  1) high levels of student achievement judged by multiple measures; 2) increased equity through narrowing achievement and opportunity gaps; and 3) increased global competitiveness.  Seven core principles make up the elements of achieving these goals. They include:

  1. A culture of shared responsibility and leadership;
  2. Recruiting top talent into schools prepared for success;
  3. Continuous growth and professional development;
  4. Effective teachers and principals;
  5. A professional career continuum with competitive compensation;
  6. Conditions that support successful teaching and learning; and
  7. Engaged communities

U.S. education leaders developed the shared vision following the 2012 International Summit on the Teaching Profession held in New York City in March. The event gathered teachers, union leaders, and education ministers from 23 high performing and rapidly improving countries and regions to share ideas and best practices for elevating teaching and improving student performance.

The 2012 Labor Management Conference brought together state and district teams nationwide to spotlight local work around the next generation of great teaching. Over a dozen state and district presenters showcased their work, which includes elements illustrated in the vision document such as collaborative working environments, career ladders, differentiated compensation, college and career ready standards, and community engagement to support classroom instruction.

For more information on the core principles, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/documents/labor-management-collaboration/2012-shared-vision.pdf

 

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Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through 8

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The What Works Clearinghouse has released a new guide focused on improving math skills in students in the middle grades.  The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), part of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), functions as a central repository for education research on “what works” in education.

Periodically, IES releases a “practice guide” based on the most recent research, to describe best practices for a particular area of education.  The new practice guide, Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through 8, describes five strategies to improve students’ mathematical problem-solving skills.  The guide recommends that teachers:

  1. Prepare problems and use them in whole-class instruction.
  2. Assist students in monitoring and reflecting on the problem-solving process.
  3. Teach students how to use visual representations.
  4. Expose students to multiple problem-solving strategies.
  5. Help students recognize and articulate mathematical concepts and notation.

Along with presenting the recommendations, IES indicates how much high-quality evidence backs up the publication panel’s recommendation.  For those above, the first has minimal evidence, the second and third strong evidence, and fourth and fifth moderate evidence.  “Despite the varying levels of evidence, the panel believes all five recommendations are important for promoting effective problem-solving skills in students.”  Particularly addressing recommendation one, the panel notes that few studies have actually focused on the effects of teacher planning on achievement, in any subject area.  However, it is clear that a teacher’s intentional construction of particular types of problems is integral for improving students’ skills.

To download the guide and see these recommendations in detail, including implementation ideas and examples, summaries of supporting research, and solutions to common roadblocks, please visit http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide.aspx?sid=16.

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“Deeper Learning” for College and Career Readiness

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State applications for waivers under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act vary in the degree to which “deeper learning” skills are reflected in the standards, accountability systems, professional development, and teacher evaluations proposed by states, according to a new report from the Alliance for Excellent Education (“the Alliance”). The report, Providing Greater Opportunities for Deeper Learning in NCLB Waivers, finds that state plans tend to generally reflect deeper learning competencies in their college- and career-ready standards but not in their teacher professional development and evaluation systems. It argues that deeper learning provides students with the deep content knowledge they need to succeed after high school and the skills that today’s jobs demand.

The report notes that the term “deeper learning” may be new, but its basic competencies are routine educational practice for many accomplished educators as well as some high-performing schools.  To determine the extent to which states are coordinating standards, teacher professional development, and teacher evaluations with deeper learning, the Alliance reviewed waiver applications from the eleven states that recently received waivers under NCLB and the twenty-seven additional waiver applications now pending approval from the U.S. Department of Education. In the report, the Alliance chose to feature six states-Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington-to ensure balance in geographic location and between states that earlier received Race to the Top grant funding and those that did not.

In conducting its analysis, the Alliance focused on three main components: (1) whether state waiver applications define college- and career-ready standards in a way that encourages deeper learning; (2) the extent to which state plans for teacher professional development include instructional strategies for deeper learning competencies; and (3) the extent to which teacher evaluations encourage opportunities for deeper learning.

Regarding the first component, the report finds that most states define college- and career-ready standards in a way that encourages deeper learning.  When it comes to the second and third components—the extent to which deeper learning competencies are reflected in the professional development and teacher evaluation systems proposed by states—the report finds several variations. In Massachusetts, for example, deeper learning competencies are reflected in teacher evaluations, including district-determined measures of student learning across grades and subjects, such as student portfolios and project-based learning. At the other end of the spectrum is Oregon, where deeper learning is reflected in standards for students, but it is not reflected in the state’s plan for professional development and teacher evaluation. Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington fall somewhere in the middle.

The report cautions that the waiver applications only provide an indicator of states’ plans in regard to deeper learning, but they “can serve as a starting point for encouraging states to evaluate how, and to what extent, they are supporting deeper learning as they implement the policies and practices outlined in their applications.”  To ensure that deeper learning competencies are better reflected in state plans, the report recommends that policymakers consider the following recommendations:

  • Include the five competencies of deeper learning in the state definitions of college and career readiness.
  • Provide professional development that focuses on instructional strategies for developing deeper learning competencies.
  • Create and implement teacher evaluation systems that measure instructional practices in support of deeper learning such as teacher observations and assessment of student work and performance, including portfolios, project-based learning, and higher-order tests designed to measure these competencies.

To read the full report, please visit http://www.all4ed.org/files/DeeperLearningInNCLBWaivers.pdf

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Special Education Approaches Go Mainstream

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Instructional approaches usually associated with special education are gaining traction as states and districts are faced with implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), reports Education Week. Two strategies, universal design for learning (UDL) and response to intervention (RTI), have been frequently cited in NCLB waiver requests for CCSS implementation in the section about how the state will implement the standards.

Broadly, UDL involves creating lessons and classroom materials flexible enough to accommodate different learning styles. The RTI approach can identify learning problems early and introduce focused lessons (interventions) to address those problems. The instructional methods have gained popularity because otherwise, educators are faced with narrow mandates and a broad population.

“Without a system to be responsive to student need, we’re back where we started with standards: aiming at the middle. There was going to be nothing intrinsically new unless we seized upon an opportunity to make this about every kid,” explains Emilie Amundson of the Wisconsin Education Department.

Districts already using one or both of these approaches believe they are best-suited for helping them implement the CCSS.  Though new approaches to instruction won’t erase the challenges of implementing standards that are more rigorous than current state standards, it may make implementation more responsive and mitigate fears that the standards will once again turn students with disabilities into scapegoats for poor performance.

To read the full story, please visit http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/25/29cs-speced.h31.html?tkn=RSBFzoH5F9GTJL57UTdUa%2BcVqA06%2BesABqRF&cmp=clp-ecseclips

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Preparing Teachers to Meet the Needs of ELLs

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As states begin to implement the Common Core, there has been an increased focus on English Language Learners, or ELLs, in the classroom.  An estimated 25% of children in America live in households where a language other than English is spoken.  How can “regular” classroom teachers support the needs of these students?  A new report by the Center for American Progress tries to answer this question.

The report leaves aside the argument over pedagogical aspects of teaching ELLs (immersion versus native language instruction, etc.), and focuses on the “foundational knowledge about ELLs that might serve general education teachers…these include the importance of attending to oral language development, supporting academic language, and encouraging teachers’ cultural sensitivity to the backgrounds of their students.”  The authors argue that these areas should be “purposefully and explicitly integrated” into teacher preparation, certification, evaluation, and development to improve ELL outcomes.

The report also summarizes key findings drawn from other literature on promising practices that all teachers can use when working with ELLs, and examines gaps in policy and practice.  They compare five key states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas) to help identify essential knowledge and skills that can be used to address these gaps.  Specifically, the authors recommend that consistent, specific guidelines on the oral language, academic language, and cultural needs of ELLs be addressed in:

  • Reauthorization of ESEA
  • Revisions to NCATE standards
  • State regulations
  • Teacher preparation programs
  • State certification programs
  • Teacher-observation rubrics
  • PD linked to teacher evaluation

 

In a related piece of news, the U.S. Department of Education announced last week the award of nearly $24.4 million for 73 grants to improve instruction for English learners. Located in 28 states and the District of Columbia, the grants support a variety of professional development activities for teachers and other educational personnel who work in in elementary and secondary school classrooms with English learners.

The grants are awarded to higher education institutions that partner with local school districts or state education agencies, and are dispersed over five years.  The majority of the grants include PD for science and math teachers of ELLs.  “These funds will help upgrade the content and instructional skills of new and veteran teachers working with English learners, as well [as] provide career ladder programs for paraprofessionals,” said Rosalinda Barrera, assistant deputy secretary and Director of the Office of English Language Acquisition.

To read the report from the Center for American Progress, please visit http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/teachers_ell.html

For more information on the DOE grants, please visit http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-awards-244-million-73-grants-promising-teacher-training-pro

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Proven Strategies for Designing Principal Evaluations

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What makes for an effective principal, and how can effectiveness be measured?  Thirty states have recently passed legislation to improve principal evaluation systems and are now grappling with these questions. New legislation recognizes that leadership is the second most influential factor in student achievement, after classroom teaching, but there is a lack of agreement about how principal evaluation systems can be designed to be fair, supportive, and legally defensible.

Now, after years of study, researchers at American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center) have developed a cutting-edge, free resource for principal design.

The online resource, Practical Guide to Designing Comprehensive Principal Evaluation Systems:  A Tool to Assist in the Development of Principal Evaluation Systems, begins by comparing different models in use in districts and states across the country (state-level, elective state-level, and district systems with required parameters).  The authors then explain eight components that must be in place to have an effective principal evaluation system.  These components are:

1a)  Specifying evaluation system goals

1b)  Defining principal effectiveness and establishing standards

2)  Securing and sustaining stakeholder investment and cultivating a strategic communication plan

3)  Selecting measures

4)  Determining the structure of the system

5)  Selecting and training evaluators

6)  Ensuring data integrity and transparency

7)  Using evaluation results

8)  Evaluating the system

Online resources include interactive guides and additional resources to support development of principal evaluation systems.

To view these resources, please visit http://www.tqsource.org/PracticalGuidePrincipals/  

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