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?

6

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

10

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.