developing effective teaching: when assessment is a gift
TRANSCRIPT
Developing Effective Teaching: When Assessment
is a Gift
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
The Need for More Powerful Teaching
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
What Do Effective and Equitable
Teachers Know and Do?
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
Effective Teachers…
Engage students in active learningCreate intellectually ambitious tasksUse a variety of teaching strategiesAssess student learning
continuously and adapt teaching to student needs
Create effective scaffolds and supportsProvide clear standards, constant feedback, and opportunities for revising workDevelop and effectively manage a collaborative classroom in which all students have membership.
So How Should We Assess and Support Effective Teaching?
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Effective Teaching Qualities are Embedded in Teaching Standards
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (1987)
-- Portfolio used to certify accomplished teaching
Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) (1990)
-- Adopted in > 40 states
-- Basis of new licensing assessments-- Recently revised to reflect Common Core Standards
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Standards-Based Evaluations
Use structured observations of teaching, based on professional standards, along with other evidence of practice (e.g. lesson plans, student work) Are related to student learning gains Help teachers become more effective when they are the source of feedback (Milanowski, Kimball, & White, 2004).
Why Focus on Performance Why Focus on Performance Assessments?Assessments?
In order to improve teaching we need to:• Move beyond limited measures of
teacher qualifications for personnel decisions
• Create means for examining teaching that are related to effectiveness
• Develop systems that are reliable, consistent, and powerful in shaping preparation, professional development, and practice
What Performance Assessments Offer
• Valid and stable evidence to evaluate teacher effectiveness
• A lever for improving teacher learning • An adjunct or alternative to student test score
measures that are-- volatile across years, courses, tests-- associated with student differences as much as teaching differences
Concerns about Value-Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness
The research base is currently insufficient to support the use of VAM for high-stakes decisions about individual teachers or schools. – RAND Corporation
VAM estimates of teacher effectiveness … should not used to make operational decisions because such estimates are far too unstable to be considered fair or reliable. – National Research Council
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% of Teachers Whose Effectiveness Ratings Change …
By at least 1 decile
By at least 2 deciles
By at least 3 deciles
Across models* 56-80% 12-33% 0-14%
Across courses* 85-100% 54-92% 39-54%
Across years* 74-93% 45-63% 19-41%
*Depending on the model
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One Extreme Case: An English language arts
teacher
02468
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Decile Rank Y1 Decile Rank Y2
0
20
40
60
80
% ELL % Low-income
%Hispanic
Y1Y2
Not a beginning teacherTeaching English I both yearsEstimates control for students’:
Prior achievementDemographicsSchool fixed effect
This is not unusual: Teacher ratings change for most
teachers
Consider classification of teachers into 5 categories (A-F) in two consecutive years.
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Grade in first year:
A
F
Grade in second year:
FDCBA
FDCBA
Average across 5 districts. Grades A-F correspond to quintiles 1-5. Source: Sass (2008).
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
How Should we Evaluate Teacher Effectiveness?
Combine Evidence of Practice, Performance, and Outcomes in an Integrated Evaluation System that looks at
Teaching practice in relation to standards, curriculum goals, and student needs Student learning / growth at the classroom and school level in relation to teaching practices, curriculum goals, and student needs.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
Examine What Matters
Standards-based observation examining practices that matter for effectiveness
Examination of curriculum plans, assignments, and student work samples
Evidence of practices that support student learning both in and outside of the classroom (including work with parents & colleagues)
Evidence of student learning examined in relation to curriculum, teaching, and student needs
Predictive Validity of Performance Assessments
National Board Certification-- Effect sizes of .04 to .20 (pass/fail)Connecticut BEST portfolio -- Effect size of .46 (4 point scale)California PACT assessment-- Effect size of .15 (44 point scale)20 percentile point difference in student achievement for the highest - and lowest-scoring teacher
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
The Teacher Performance Assessment (PACT)
Subject-Specific Completed at end of student teaching/internship“Teaching Event” includes-- Plans for a standards-based unit of instruction-- Adapted for special needs students and ELs-- Videotaped instruction with commentaries -- Evidence of student learning during unit-- Overall analysis of learning and teachingReliably scored by trained assessors
A Focus on Student LearningA Focus on Student Learning
• Justification of teaching plans for different Justification of teaching plans for different learners, including ELL and special education learners, including ELL and special education studentsstudents
• Attention to specific learning needsAttention to specific learning needs• Video of candidate/student interactionsVideo of candidate/student interactions• Analysis of how students are learning both Analysis of how students are learning both
content and academic languagecontent and academic language• Commentaries explaining teaching outcomes Commentaries explaining teaching outcomes
and decisions in relation to student learningand decisions in relation to student learning• Evaluation of student learning during unit Evaluation of student learning during unit
taughttaught• Strategic changes in practice based on Strategic changes in practice based on
assessmentassessment
What Programs Learn from the PACT Analyses
How candidates do: On different aspects of teachingIn different subject areasIn comparison to other programsOver timeWith different kinds of supports
Scores by Teaching Dimension and Institution
2.953.03
2.832.92
3.00
2.78
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
Total MIS Planning Instruction Assessment Reflection Acad Language
Sco
re
BCDEFGHIJKL
PACT Scores by Subject Area
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
English/ Lang.Arts Math History/Soc. Sci. Science World Language
Total MIS Planning Instruction Assessment Reflection Language
Teacher Education Programs Learn … And
change:CoursesThe learning sequence Clinical practice opportunitiesSupports for candidates
Resulting in…Resulting in…
A more shared vision of A more shared vision of teachingteaching
Increased articulation across Increased articulation across courses, clinical work, and rolescourses, clinical work, and roles
Structural changes to support Structural changes to support coherence and connections coherence and connections
Teacher Educators Learn
This [scoring] experience…has forced me to revisit the question of what really matters in the assessment of teachers, which – in turn – means revisiting the question of what really matters in the preparation of teachers.
Cooperating Teachers Reflect on Practice
[The scoring process] forces you to be clear about “good teaching;” what it looks like, sounds like. It enables you to look at your own practice critically/with new eyes.
Induction Programs ExtendTeacher Learning
As an induction program coordinator, I have a much clearer picture of what credential holders will bring to us and of what they’ll be required to do. We can build on this.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
Policy Uses of Teacher Performance Assessments
• Create robust indicators of effective teaching practices across the career
• Create a means to manage, analyze, and report data about teacher outcomes over the career continuum
• Guide teacher education improvement and more focused induction, PD
• Strengthen accreditation
Policy Uses of TPA Data
• Provide an evidence-based method for making personnel decisions regarding licensure, hiring, promotion to mentor / lead teacher status
• Support license reciprocity• Support a National Teacher License
and recruitment incentives for effective teachers
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010
If We Took Teaching Effectiveness Seriously,
We Would…
Ensure high-quality, fully subsidized preparation and mentoring for all beginners
Use teacher performance assessments to improve preparation, licensure, and accreditation + induction
Study features of successful programs & create incentives for other programs to adopt these features
Establish an infrastructure for sustained, practice-based collegial learning opportunities for all teachers
Provide equal access to teachers who are prepared, certified, and supported in these more effective ways.