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Annenberg Institute for School ReformBrown University Box 1985Providence, Rhode Island 02912

www.annenberginstitute.org Twitter: @AnnenbergInst

at brown university

Fall 2011

Closing the Revolving Door: Understanding the Nature and Causes of Disparities in Access to Effective TeachingLisa Quay

A Comprehensive Human Capital Management Strategy for Teacher EffectivenessJane Hannaway

Delivering on the Promise of Public SchoolingSusan Moore Johnson

Effective Teaching as a Civil Right

Annenberg Institute for School Reform | Voices in Urban Education

Voices in U

rban Education Effective Teaching as a Civil Right

Fall 2011

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Effective Teaching: What Is It and How Is It Measured?Steve Cantrell and Joe Scantlebury

Teacher Performance in the Context of Truly Disadvantaged Schools in ChicagoElaine Allensworth

Effective Teaching as a Civil Right: How Building Instructional Capacity Can Help Close the Achievement GapLinda Darling-Hammond

Effective Teaching as a Civil RightNumber 31, Fall 2011

Co-sponsorChief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, University of California Berkeley School of LawWeb: www.warreninstitute.org

Executive EditorPhilip Gloudemans

Guest Editor Warren Simmons

Managing EditorMargaret Balch-Gonzalez

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Annenberg Institute for School ReformBrown University, Box 1985Providence, Rhode Island 02912Tel: 401 863-7990Fax: 401 863-1290Web: www.annenberginstitute.org Twitter: @AnnenbergInst

© 2011 Annenberg Institute for School Reform

The Annenberg Institute for School

Reform gratefully acknowledges the

support and collaboration of the

Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on

Law and Social Policy, University of

California Berkeley School of Law, for

this issue of Voices in Urban Education.

The issue was inspired and informed by

research on equitable access to effective

teaching presented at the Warren

Institute’s Civil Rights Research Round-

table on Education of March 10–11,

2011, along with discussions in response

to the presentations. The lead article,

by Lisa Quay, is based on the Warren

Institute’s research brief Closing

the Revolving Door: Understanding the

Nature and Causes of Disparities in

Access to Effective Teaching. For more

information and the full research brief,

see <www.warreninstitute.org>.

2 What Will It Take to End Inequities in Access to Effective Teaching?Warren Simmons

7 Closing the Revolving Door: Understanding the Nature and Causes of Disparities in Access to Effective TeachingLisa Quay

Significantrace-andincome-baseddisparitiesinaccesstoeffectiveteachingpersistandhavebeencontinuallyreinforcedovertime,butwell-craftedstateandfederalpoliciescouldhelpendthem.

17 A Comprehensive Human Capital Management Strategy for Teacher Effectiveness

Jane Hannaway

Afullhumancapitalmanagementstrategyisneededtoselect,train,retain,andrewardteachers.

20 Delivering on the Promise of Public SchoolingSusan Moore Johnson

Thoseseekingtoimproveteachingeffective-nessmustrecognizethatthecomponentsofeffectiveteachingarecomplexanddependonschoolenvironmentaswellasindividualteachercharacteristics.

Perspective:Joseph Bishop

28 Effective Teaching: What Is It and How Is It Measured?Steve Cantrell and Joe Scantlebury

Robust,transparentfeedbackandevaluationsystemsareneededthatrecognizetheinevitabilityofclassificationerrorsbutworktoreducethemasmuchaspossible.

Perspective:John Deasy

36 Teacher Performance in the Context of Truly Disadvantaged Schools in ChicagoElaine Allensworth

Bettermethodsofidentifyingindividualteacherperformanceinschoolswithweakorganizationalstructuresareunlikelytoleadtoimprovementwithoutcollaborationandsupportsforteachersaroundinstruction.

Perspective:Anne Hallett

44 Effective Teaching as a Civil Right: How Building Instructional Capacity Can Help Close the Achievement GapLinda Darling-Hammond

Betterwaysofmeasuringandrecognizingteachereffectivenessmustbeintegratedwithsystemsthatdevelopgreaterteachercompetenceandprovideincentivesforteachingthehighest-needstudents.

Perspective:Hal Smith

VUE’swebsiteat<www.annenberginstitute.org/VUE>offersmoreinformationaboutVUE,includingexcerptsfrompreviousissues,audioandvideoclips,andorderinginformation.

AnnenbergInstituteforSchoolReform | Voices in Urban Education


2 Annenberg Institute for School Reform

ThispastMarch,IparticipatedintheCivilRights

ResearchRoundtableonEducation,oneofaseries

convenedbytheWarrenInstitutedesignedtoprovide

accesstothelatestresearchoncriticalissuesinedu-

cationtocivilrightsadvocacygroupssuchasthe

MexicanAmericanLegalDefense&EducationalFund,

theNAACP,theUrbanLeague,andtheNational

CouncilofLaRazaandfundedbytheBill&Melinda

GatesandFordfoundations.

TheRoundtablefocusedonequitableaccessto

effectiveteachingandwasstructuredaroundaseries

ofresearchpresentationsondefining,measuring,and

analyzingeffectiveteaching,specificallyinhigh-minority,

high-povertyschools,andwhatsupports,practices,

andpoliciesareneededtoendtheintractableachieve-

mentandopportunitygapbetweenaffluentWhite

studentsandtheirlow-incomecounterpartsofcolor.

AsIlistenedtotheresearchpresentations,it

struckmethattheywereinformedbytwobroadand

verydifferenttheoriesofactionthatwerenotexplic-

itlyidentifiedbytheparticipants.

Anumberoftheresearchers–particularlythe

economists–usedaperformance managementlens

todescribeteachereffectiveness.Thislensemphasizes

theimportanceofteachers’educationalbackground

(e.g.,SATscores,collegeclassranking)andperformance

characteristics(e.g.,value-addedcontributionstostu-

dentachievement,basedonstandardizedtestscores

andcompensationandevaluationhistories)todescribe

teachereffectiveness.Furthermore,theperformance

What Will It Take to End Inequities in Access to Effective Teaching?

Warren Simmons is executive director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.

WarrenSimmons

V.U.E. Fall 2011 3

managementperspectivetendstotreateffectiveteach-

ingasanindividualendeavorandthusseekssolutions

focusedonenhancingtheidentificationanddistribu-

tionofeffectiveteachersinhigh-minority,high-poverty

schools.Withthislens,thesocial,racial,cultural,cog-

nitive,andlinguistichistoriesandcharacteristicsof

students,practitioners,andcommunitiesaresecondary,

ifnottertiary,considerationstounderstandingvaria-

tionsinteachereffectiveness.Thereasoningofthe

performancemanagementtheoryofactionsuggests

thatifcompensationandevaluationaretiedtostudent

achievementdata,andschoolsaregiventheflexibility

andauthoritytohire,assign,andfireteachers,anddis-

trictsorsystemsarefreedtorewardeffectiveschools

andcloselow-performingschools,thenteachereffec-

tivenesswillincrease,alongwithstudentperformance.

Theotherresearchvoiceandtheoryofaction

presentatthemeetinggrewoutofanemphasisonthe

importanceofinstructional capacity buildingandthe

useofpractice-centeredcriteriagroundedinresearch

onteachingandlearningtodefinethecharacteristics

ofeffectiveteaching.Thisresearchunderscoresthe

importanceofpedagogicalcontentknowledge;class-

roommanagementskills;understandingofstudents’

social,cultural,andeconomicbackgrounds;under-

standingofcognitiveandhumandevelopment;ability

tocollaboratewithpeers;andabilitytocultivatepart-

nershipswithparentsandthebroadercommunity

ascriticalcomponentsofeffectiveteaching.

Theinstructionalcapacity-buildingtheoryofaction

wouldstatethatifschoolsandschooldistrictsprovide

supportsthatbuildthecapacityofteacherstoaddress

theelementsofeffectiveteaching,thenstudentperfor-

mancewillincreaseandachievementgapswillnarrow.

Whilethesetwotheoriesofactionarenotincom-

patible,thedominanceoftheperformancemanage-

mentperspectiveinameetingofcivilrightsadvocates

wasstriking,asthisperspectivetreatsculture,race,

ethnicity,gender,andeconomiccircumstancesas

demographicbackgroundfeaturesratherthanforces


thatshapeindividualandinstitutionalactionsdiffer-

entially.Byconfiningitsattentiontocompensation,

evaluation,data,accountability,andproxiesforthe

qualityofteacherpre-servicepreparation(e.g.,SAT

scoresandclassrankings),performancemanagement

theoryappearstomaintainthatraceandculturewon't

matterandthateffectiveteachers(bytheirdefinition)

willbeequallycompetentacrossgroupswithverydif-

ferentneedsandbackgrounds.Inthisview,excessively

focusingonthesefactorsissometimesseenasunac-

ceptably“makingexcuses”forlowperformance.One

couldalsoarguethattheinstructionalcapacitybuild-

ingtheoryofaction,byfailingtofocusontheways

districtsevaluate,compensate,hire,andassignteach-

ers,ignoreshowsystemactionsandlackofcapacity

undermineinvestmentsininstructionalcapacitybuild-

ingattheschoollevel.

Ratherthanviewthesetwotheoriesofactionas

mutuallyexclusiveoptionsthatadvocatesmustchoose

between,Ibelievethesocialjusticecommunitywould

bebetterservedbyexaminingtheunderlyingvalues,

strengthsandweaknessesofeachtheoryandhow

systemreformmightbeadvancedbyathird,orwhat

BostonCollege’sAndyHargreaveswouldargue,a

“fourth”way.

Whenthesepost-Roundtablethoughtswere

postedonourwebsiteandwidelydistributedinour

webcommentary,AISRSpeaksOut,theygenerated

numerouscommentsthatreflectedthepolarizeddis-

courseaboutteachereffectivenessthatissoprevalent

todayinthefieldofeducationreform.Thisissueof

Voices in Urban Education,producedincollaboration

withtheWarrenInstitute,isdesignedtoprovidea

forumtoexploretherespectivedifferencesinvalues

andapproachesbetweentheperformancemanage-

mentandinstructionalcapacity-buildingtheoriesof

action,alongwiththeimplicationsforequity.

V.U.E. Fall 2011 5

•LisaQuaydescribestherace-andincome-based

disparitiesinaccesstoeffectiveteaching,the

waysthesedisparitiesarecreatedandreinforced

overtime,andthepotentialforstateandfederal

policytohelpendthem.

•JaneHannawaymakesthecaseforafullhuman

capitalmanagementstrategytoselect,train,

retain,andrewardteachers.

•SusanMooreJohnsonoutlinesthecomplexcom-

ponentsofeffectiveteachingandtheimportance

oftheschoolenvironmentinteachingquality.

•SteveCantrellandJoeScantleburyadvocate

forrobust,transparentfeedbackandevaluation

systemsthatrecognizetheinevitabilityoferrors

butworktoreducethemasmuchaspossible.

•ElaineAllenswortharguesthatbettermethods

ofidentifyingindividualteacherperformance

inschoolswithweakorganizationalstructures

areunlikelytoleadtoimprovementwithout

collaborationandsupportsforteachersaround

instruction.

•LindaDarling-Hammondunderscorestheneed

tointegratebetterwaysofmeasuringandrec-

ognizingteachereffectivenesswithsystemsthat

developgreaterteachercompetenceandprovide

incentivesforteachingthehighest-needstudents.

Thisissueisalsoenrichedbytheperspectives

ofJosephBishopoftheNationalAssociationofLatino

ElectedandAppointedOfficialsEducationalFund;

JohnDeasy,superintendentoftheLosAngelesUnified

SchoolDistrict;AnneHallettofGrowYourOwn

Illinois;andHalSmithoftheNationalUrbanLeague.

Thereisbothcommongroundanddisagreement

amongtheauthorsinthesepages.Wehopethatthis

VUEissuewillhelpbalancethedebatebetweenpro-

ponentsofperformancemanagementandcapacity

buildingperspectivesoneffectiveteaching.Ultimately,

however,weaimtoidentifynewalternativesfor

expandingaccesstoopportunitywiththegoalof


helpingeducationreformersachieveequityand

eliminatedestructiveracialdisparitiesineducation.

WeendtheissuewiththischallengefromHalSmith

oftheUrbanLeague:

Weareconfidentthateducationreformerslargely

believethatweareallworkinginthebestinterestof

childrenandyouth.Butweareequallyconfidentthat

thecurrenteducationalnarrativeleaveslittleroomfor

purposefullyupendingassumptionsandexpectations

aboutstudentsandcommunitiesofcolor.. . .The

UrbanLeaguehasanumberofquestionsastothe

qualityandfidelityofreformimplementationtaking

placeinschoolsanddistrictsacrossthecountry.

Whatwewanttohighlight–andavoid–istheways

thatreformssimplyreinforceorfollowpathsofhis-

toricinequityratherthanexplicitlyconfrontthem

andopenadditionalpossibilitiesforurbanchildren

andyouth.

V.U.E. Fall 2011 7

Overthepastthreeyears,anew

focusonteachersasthecriticalunitof

changehasbecomeaclamorfordramatic

movementatalllevelsofpolicy,withsub-

stantialsupportbytheObamaadminis-

tration,stategovernors,andleadersof

severalmajorschooldistricts.Thecurrent

setofpolicyproposalsarefocusedon

universalreformsdesignedtoincreaseall

students’achievementlevelsinaneffort

toensurethenationremainseconomi-

callycompetitiveinternationally.

Muchlessemphasishasbeen

placedonhowtheseproposedreforms

mightimpactthepersistentgapin

academicoutcomesbetweenlow-

incomestudentsandstudentsofcolor

andtheirmore-privilegedpeers.If

newreformsdonotaddressrace-and

income-basedgapsinachievementand

inaccesstoeffectiveteaching,theyrisk

perpetratingorexacerbatinghistoric

inequitiesthatstandinstarkcontradic-

tiontoournation’svaluesofjustice,

democracy,andopportunity.

Thisarticleexaminesthenature

andmagnitudeofdisparitiesinaccess,

thewaysinwhichthesedisparitiesare

createdandreinforcedovertime,and

thepotentialforstateandfederalpolicy

toplayaroleinprovidinggreateraccess

toeffectiveteachingamongstudentsof

colorandlow-incomestudents.

Lisa Quay was formerly an education policy associate at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, University of California Berkeley School of Law and is now an independent education consultant.

Closing the Revolving Door: Understanding the Nature and Causes of Disparities in Access to Effective Teaching

LisaQuay

Significant race- and income-based disparities in access to effective teaching persist

and have been continually reinforced over time, but well-crafted state and federal policies

could help end them.

What Are the Disparities in Access?Iftherewerelittlevariationinteaching

effectiveness,itwouldn’tmattermuch

whetherastudentwereassignedto

Mrs.Gonzales’sclassorMr.Anderson’s

classforthirdgrade–thegrowthintheir

academicachievementthatyearwould

looksimilarineithercase.Unfortunately,

thereisagooddealofvariationin

teachingeffectiveness,raisingthestakes

associatedwiththeassignmentofstu-

dentstoteachers,especiallyforthose

studentswhoneedthemostsupport.

Giventhisvariation,thequestion

arisesofwhetherthereisapatternto

thedistributionofeffectiveteaching.

Iftherewerenosystematicdisparities

inaccess,therewouldbenocorrelation

betweenastudent’sracial/ethnicor

classstatusandtheirlikelihoodof

receivingeffective(orineffective)teach-

ing.Unsurprisingly,researchsuggests

thisnottobethecase.Disparitiesin

accesstoeffectiveteachingbothbetween

andwithinschoolssystematically

disadvantagestudentsofcolor,low-

incomestudents,andthosestudents

whoarefurthestbehindacademically.1

Note: Excerpted and adapted, with permission, from the research brief ClosingtheRevolvingDoor:UnderstandingtheNatureandCausesofDisparitiesinAccesstoEffectiveTeaching, published by the Chief Justice Earl Warren Insti-tute on Law and Social Policy, University of California Berkeley School of Law. The full research brief, available at <www.warreninstitute.org>, contains a comprehen-sive literature review and more detail about the research studies and statistical methods mentioned in this article.

1 Forafullstatisticalexplanationandcitationsregardingvariationinteachereffectivenessanddisparitiesinaccess,seetheresearchbrief.


Themagnitudeofthesedisparities,

however,variessubstantiallydepending

onthemeasureusedandthecontext

inwhichitisapplied.

Disparities between Schools

Studiesthatcomparethequalityof

facultiesinschoolsthathavehighpro-

portionsofstudentsofcolororlow-

incomestudentsandthoseserving

more-privilegedstudentsfinddisparities

rangingfrommodesttolargethat

systematicallydisadvantagestudents

attendingschoolsservingless-privileged

populations.

teacher characteristics and qualifications

Largedifferencesinaccessdisfavorstu-

dentsofcolorandlow-incomestudents

acrossanumberofstudiesthatuse

teachercharacteristicsandqualifications

asproxiesforeffectivenessintheclass-

room.Theseresultshavebeenrepli-

catedusingavarietyofmeasuresand

indistrictsandstatesthatrepresent

awidearrayofgeographic,political,

economic,andunionenvironments.2

Researchhasshownthattheinexperi-

enceofnoviceteacherswithonlyoneor

twoyearsintheclassroomhasanega-

tiveimpactonstudentachievement.3

Studiesfindthatthefacultiesofschools

servingstudentsofcolorandlow-

incomestudentstendtohaveagreater

shareofnoviceteachersthanthoseserv-

ingmore-privilegedstudents(Clotfelter

etal.2007).

Asimilarpatternofinequity

emergesintheprevalenceofteachers

wholackpriorexperienceandexpertise

intheirsubjectarea,particularlyat

themiddleandhighschoollevels.

Nationwide,nearlyathirdofthemath

classesinsecondaryschoolswithat

least75percentstudentsofcolor

weretaughtby“out-of-field”teachers,

comparedwithjustone-sixthofmath

classesinschoolswith15percentor

lessstudentsofcolor(EducationTrust

2007).AstudyinIllinoisaddsfurther

evidenceofrace-andincome-based

inequities.Rankingschoolsaccording

toa“teacherqualityindex”aggregates

individualteachers’characteristicson

multipledimensions.Thestudyrevealed

thatthereisasubgroupof“trulydisad-

vantaged”schoolswithextremelevels

ofracialisolationandseverepoverty

thatarefarmorelikelytohavefaculties

withlow-qualityrankings(Presley,

White&Gong2005).4

value-added methods

Studiesusingvalue-addedmethods

findmodesttomoderatedisparities

inaccessthatdisadvantagestudents

ofcolorandlow-incomestudents,

dependingonthedistrict,grade,and

subject.Arecentstudycomparedthe

averagemathandreadingvalue-added

scoresofteachersinhigh-poverty

andlower-povertyelementaryschools

inNorthCarolinaandFlorida.The

greatestdisparity,foundinmathvalue-

addedinNorthCarolina,wasapproxi-

matelyequivalenttothedetrimentof

havingateacherwithonlyoneortwo

yearsofexperiencecomparedtoone

withthreeormoreyearsintheclassroom.

Theresearchersalsoobservedthatthe

weakestteachersinthehigh-poverty

schoolswereconsiderablylesseffective

thantheweakestteachersinthelower-

povertyschools,eventhoughthestron-

gestteachersinhigh-povertyschools

appearedaseffectiveasthestrongest

teachersinlower-povertyschools.This

wasnotduetodifferencesineffective-

nessofincomingnoviceteachers,

2 Forcitations,seethefullresearchbrief.

3 SeeRice2010,forexample;morecitationsareincludedintheresearchbrief.

4 Formoredetailedstatisticsandcitations,seethefullresearchbrief.

Lisa Quay | V.U.E. Fall 2011 9

however,butratherbythepresence

ofextremelyineffectiveexperienced

teachersinthehigh-povertyschools

(Sassetal.2010).

Theextentofdisparitiesinaccess

toeffectiveteachingvariesagreatdeal

acrossdistricts.Arecentstudyoften

districtsfoundlarge,statisticallysignifi-

cantdisparitiesinaccessthatdisadvan-

tagedthepoorestschoolsinhalfofthe

districtsincludedintheanalysisatthe

middleschoollevel,andone-fourthat

theelementarylevel.Inoneofthedis-

tricts,thepoorestelementaryschools

actuallyhadadisproportionatelyhigh

shareofthemosteffectiveteachers

comparedtotheirbetter-offpeerinsti-

tutionsinthedistrict(NCEERA2011).

ResearchinFultonCountySchools

(Georgia)alsofoundsignificantvaria-

tionintheprevalenceinschoolsofthe

district’smosteffectiveteachers;how-

ever,thedisparitiesdidnotfallalong

traditionallines.Theyfound“little

difference”intheprevalenceofthe

district’smosteffectiveteachersinhigh-

versuslow-povertyschoolson average,

butobservedalargeamountofvaria-

tionbetweenschoolswithineachofthe

school-povertyquartiles.Lookingonlyat

schoolsinthehighest-povertyquartile,

4percentofthemathteachersinone

schoolrankedamongthedistrict’smost

effectiveteachers,comparedto68per-

centinanotherschoolinthehighest-

povertyquartile(CEPR2011).

practice-based measures

Thereislessresearchusingpractice-

basedmeasuresofteachingeffectiveness

onschool-leveldisparitiesinaccessto

effectiveteaching.Buta2010analysis

ofdatafromtheDistrictofColumbia

PublicSchools’IMPACTevaluation

system(whichincludedmultipleclass-

roomobservationsforallteachers)

revealedlargedisparitiesinthepreva-

lenceofhighlyeffectiveteachersthat

favoredtheschoolsinmore-privileged

neighborhoods.Thebestratioofhighly

effectiveteacherstostudents(one

highlyeffectiveteachertoeverythirty-

fourstudentsattendingschoolsinthe

ward)wasfoundinWard3,oneofthe

District’swealthiestandmostpredomi-

nantlyWhitewards.Incontrast,the

worstratioofhighlyeffectiveteachersto

students(onehighlyeffectiveteacher

to250students)wasfoundinWard8,

oneofthewardswiththegreatestpro-

portionofBlackresidentsandlowaver-

agehouseholdincome(Turque2010).

Disparities within Schools

Whilemuchofthepolicydiscussion

todatehasfocusedonthesedisparities

betweenschools,theempiricalliterature

suggeststhatwemustlookdeeper

withintheschoolbuildingtouncover

thefullextentofthedisparitiesin

access.Researchershaveconsistently

documentedthatwhileitdoesindeed

mattertowhichschoolastudentis

assigned,itmattersevenmoretowhich

classroom(s)theyareassignedonce

placedinthatschool(Rivkin,Hanushek

&Kain2005;Buddin&Zamarro

2009b).Onestudyofelementary

schoolsinLosAngelesfoundtwiceas

Studiesthatcomparethequality

offacultiesinschoolsthathavehigh

proportionsofstudentsofcoloror

low-incomestudentsandthoseserving

more-privilegedstudentsfinddisparities

thatsystematicallydisadvantage

studentsattendingschoolsserving

less-privilegedpopulations.


teacherswiththeleastexperienceand

thosewithdegreesfromtheleast

competitiveundergraduateinstitutions.

Incontrast,NationalBoardCertified

teachersinstructstudentswithhigher

levelsofpriorachievementandwhose

parentsaremoreaffluentandmore

likelytobecollegeeducated(Clotfelter,

Ladd&Vigdor2005,2006).

What Produces the Disparities? Recognizingtheexistenceofmean-

ingfuldisparitiesinaccesstoeffective

teachingisacrucialfirststep,butalone

itisnotenoughtocraftthoughtful,

evidence-basedpoliciesthatcanrea-

sonablybeexpectedtoaddressthe

observeddisparities.Tothisend,itis

essentialthatweunderstandtheways

inwhichthesedisparitiesarebeingpro-

ducedandreinforced.

Movement of Teachers out of Schools

Whengiventheopportunitytoleave

theircurrentschoolassignment,a

lengthybodyofresearchdemonstrates

thatteachersofalldemographic,edu-

cational,andprofessionalprofilestend

toleaveschoolsservinghigherpropor-

tionsofstudentsofcolor,low-income

students,andthosestudentswhoare

furtherbehindacademicallyforposi-

tionsinschoolsservingmore-privileged

andhigher-performingstudents.This

tendencyisparticularlytrueamong

thoseteacherswiththestrongestchar-

acteristicsandqualifications;these

teachersarealsomorelikelytoexitthe

professionaltogether.6

Incontrast,researchusingvalue-

addedmethodscontradictsthebelief

thathigh-needschoolsdisproportion-

atelylosetheirmosteffectiveteachers.

Whiletheseschoolsexperiencefar

greaterturnover–or“churn”–on

6 Foracompletelistofcitations,seetheresearchbrief.

muchvariationinteachingeffective-

nesswithinschoolsasbetweenschools

(Buddin&Zamarro2009a).

Thelimitedbodyofresearchthat

exploresdisparitiesinteacher/student

matchingwithinschoolssuggeststhat

thesematchingprocessesfurtherdisad-

vantagetheverystudentswhoneedthe

mostsupport–thosestudentswhoare

furthestbehindacademically.Arecently

releasedstudybyKalogridesandcol-

leagues(2011)usinglongitudinaldata

acrosselementary,middle,andhigh

schoolsinMiami-DadeCountyPublic

Schools,revealedthatwithinschools,

teacherswithhighervalue-addedscores

andmaster’sdegreesareassignedless-

difficultclasses–thosewithstudents

whohavehigheraveragepriorachieve-

ment,fewerpriorsuspensions,and

higherattendancerates,aswellashigher-

level,advancedcourseswitholder,more

maturestudents.Incontrast,teachers

whohavelowervalue-addedscores,or

whoarelessexperienced,BlackorLatino,

orfemaleareassignedtostudentswith

lowerprioracademicachievement,

morepriorsuspensions,andlowerprior

attendanceratesthantheirexperienced,

White,andmalecolleagues.5

ResearchusingdatafromNorth

Carolinademonstratesthatwithinindi-

vidualschools,teacherswiththelowest

licensuretestscoresaremorelikelyto

beassignedtoclassroomswithabove-

averageproportionsofstudentsof

colorandstudentswhoseparentsare

notcollegeeducated.Furthermore,the

studentsintheselow-scoringteachers’

classeshavelowerpriorachievement

thanthoseenrolledinclassestaught

byteacherswithhigherlicensuretest

scores.Similarpatternsemergefor

5 Therelationshipsbetweenexperience,race/eth-nicity,gender,andclassassignmentsremainedevenaftertheresearcherscontrolledforhumancapitalfactors(e.g.,value-addedscores,teachereducationlevel).


averagethanthoseservingmore-affluent

andWhitestudents,thevalue-added

literaturesuggestshigh-needschoolsare

actuallymostlikelytolosetheirleast

effectiveteachers.7WestandChingos

(2009)foundthatthefour-yearreten-

tionratesofnewteachersinFlorida

schoolsinwhichatleasttwo-thirdsof

theenrolleeswerestudentsofcolor

favoredthemosteffectiveteachers–

teachersinthetop-thirdofthevalue-

addeddistributionhadretentionrates

morethantenpercentagepointshigher

thanthoseteachersinthebottomthird

ofthedistribution.

TheWestandChingosstudymakes

clearanothermoretroublingpoint.Even

iftheseschoolsmanagetohangonto

theirhighest-performingteachersata

higherratethantheirlowest-performing

teachers,theyarenonethelesslosingfar

toomanyhigh-performingteachers–

teacherswhohavealreadyproventhey

areeffectiveintheseenvironments.

Indeed,barelyoneinthreeofthemost

effective(topthird)Floridateachers

remainedintheiroriginalschoolsfour

yearsafterstartingwhentheproportion

ofstudentsofcolorintheirinitialschool

wasatleasttwo-thirds.Theresearch-

ersobservedasimilarstoryinschools

servinghighproportionsofstudentsin

povertyandlow-performingstudents.8

Schoolswithhigh-performingstudents,

bycontrast,demonstratemore“desir-

able”patternsofretentionandattri-

tion.Whiletheseschoolsretainnearly

oneintwo(45percent)oftheirmost

effectiveteachersfouryearsin,barely

oneinfour(27percent)oftheirleast

effectiveteachersstillremain(West&

Chingos2009).

Acrossregionsanddistricts,

researchersfindthatteachersarefar

morelikelytoleaveschoolsthathave

poorworkingandlearningconditions

becausetheseschoolenvironmentsdo

notenableandencouragetheirsuccess

aseducators.9Teachersareespecially

sensitivetothequalityofsupportpro-

videdbyadministrators,thedegreeof

collegialityandcollaborationamong

theirpeers,thebehavioralandlearning

climateoftheirschools,theirown

autonomy,classsizes,tiestoparents

andthecommunity,andthequalityof

facilitiesandschoolresources,among

others(Brown&Wynn2009;Berry

2008).Andhigh-needsschoolsare

morelikelytosufferfrompoorworking

andlearningconditions.Forexample,

investigatorsattheConsortiumon

ChicagoSchoolResearchfoundthat

mostofthedifferencesinattritionrates

thatdisadvantageschoolsservinglow-

incomeBlackstudentsintheChicago

PublicSchools–someofwhichtend

tolosemorethanone-fourthoftheir

teacherseachyear–areduetoteachers’

relationshipswithparentsintheelemen-

tarygradesandteachers’perceptions

7 Themajorityofthesedepartingteacherstendtostayemployedasteacherswithintheeducationsystem,however,whethertransferringtoschoolswithintheirdistrictortransferringdistricts,givingfueltothewidespreadnotionofthe“danceofthelemons.”Foracompletelistofcitations,seetheresearchbrief.

8 AdditionalanalyseswereprovidedbyMartinWest,February2011.

9 Seeresearchbriefforfulllistofcitations.


experiencehighratesofprincipal

turnoverandthattheseschoolshave

difficultyfillingtheresultingvacancies,

leadingthemtohirelessexperienced

andlessqualifiedreplacements.Predict-

ably,principaldeparturesaretiedto

higherratesofteacherturnoverand

lowerratesofstudentperformance,

withmoredevastatingeffectsonhigh-

needschoolsinparticular(Béteille,

Kalogrides&Loeb2011).

Filling of Vacancies

with Replacements

Thewaysinwhichteachersfillopen

positionsexacerbatestheattrition

patternsdescribedabove.High-need

schoolsaremorelikelytohirenovices,

whomanumberofstudieshaveshown

tobelesseffective,onaverage,than

theircolleagueswithacouplemore

yearsofexperience(Clotfelteretal.

2007;CEPR2010).Inadditionto

theirobviouslackofexperienceinthe

classroom,thevariousprogramsand

pathwaysdesignedtorecruitandtrain

noviceteachersalsofailtosystemati-

callypreparetheirteacherstoteach

successfullyinschoolsservinghighcon-

centrationsofpoorstudents,students

ofcolor,andthosestudentswhoare

behindacademically.10Researchsuggests

thisistrueacrossboth“traditional”

undergraduateandgraduate-level

programsandalternativepathways

(Boydetal.2008).

Furthermore,asresearchin

NewYorkCityandFloridafound,the

ofstudents’behavioratthehighschool

level(West&Chingos2009).

FengandSass(2011)underline

theparticularsensitivityofteachersto

thequalityoftheircolleagues.Teachers

whosevalue-addedscoresrankthem

higherthantheircolleaguesaremore

likelytotransferschoolsandexitthe

profession;thegreaterthegapbetween

theireffectivenessandtheaverageof

thatoftheircolleagues,themorelikely

theseteachersaretoleavetheirinitial

school.Furthermore,theincreased

presenceofcolleagueswithmoreexpe-

rienceandadvanceddegreesorpro-

fessionalcertificationdiminishedthe

likelihoodthatateacherwouldleave

hisorherschool.

Administratorsplayakeymediat-

ingroleinshapingtheworkingcon-

ditionsthatarecentraltoteachers’

decisionstoleaveorremainintheir

schools.Unsurprisingly,then,many

studiessuggestthatschoolleadership

isthemostimportantdriverofteacher

retentionand,conversely,attrition

(Boydetal.2009;Brown&Wynn2009).

Intoomanycases,administratorsare

unabletoincubatethetypeofschool

environmentsthatwillretainteachers.

Thisisparticularlytrueinhigh-need

schools.Toooften,principalsareinade-

quatelytrainedinthespecificskillsand

competenciesrequiredtoleadsuch

schoolssuccessfully(Berry2008).Recent

researchsuggeststhathigh-needschools

10 Seeresearchbriefforalistofcitations.

Whiletherehavebeenafairamountofprogrammaticeffortsat

theschoolanddistrictlevelstoaltertheconditionsthatreproduce

theinequitabledistributionofeffectiveteaching,makingthelink

tostateandfederalpolicyhasproveddifficult.


mosteffectiveexperiencedteachersare

drawnto–andhiredby–schoolswith

greatersharesofhigherperformingand

moreprivilegedstudentsthantheirless

effectivecolleagueswhoalsodeparted

theirinitialschoolsfornewpositions

(Boydetal.2008;Feng&Sass2011).

Inshort,the“richgetricher”andthe

“poorgetpoorer.”

The Experience of Replacement

Teachers in Their New Schools

Oncetheyarriveinthesehigh-need

schools,newteachersarenotsetupto

succeedintheclassroom.Asdescribed

above,theyareoftenassignedclassesof

studentswhoarethefurthestbehind

academically.Thustheteacherswho

needthemostassistanceareplaced

withthestudentswhorequirethemost

supportaswell.Inmanycases,new

teachers“receivelittletonoguidance

aboutwhattoteachorhowtoteachit”

(Kauffmanetal.2002).Totheextent

thatthereareinductionprograms

available,manyareinresponsetostate

mandatesbutfundedwithmeager

districtresources(Berry,Hopkins-

Thompson&Hoke2002).Thosethat

arefarmoresubstantialinscopeand

durationandhavebeenrigorouslyeval-

uatedhaveshoweddelayedimpactson

academicachievementinsomecases

buthavehadnoimpactonretentionof

newteachers(Isenbergetal.2010).

Therecentanalysisofdatafrom

NorthCarolinaandFloridabySassand

colleaguesunderscoresthechallenges

facedbynewteachersinhigh-need

schoolsandtheimportanceofpeer

effectsamongteachers.Whileinexpe-

riencedteachersappearsimilarlyeffec-

tiveinitiallyinlower-andhigh-poverty

schools,theteachersinhigh-poverty

schoolsimproveataslowerrateover

timethantheircolleaguesinschools

servingmoreprivilegedstudents–and

thesegapsinreturnstoexperiencegrow

withadditionalyearsintheclassroom.

Theresearchershypothesizethatteach-

ersintheseschoolsmay“burnout”at

afasterrate,orthatthisphenomenon

reflectsteacherpeereffectsinthese

schools(Sassetal.2010).Givenallthis,

itisnotsurprisingthatmanyofthese

high-needschoolsexperiencechronic,

highlevelsofchurnthatundermine

effortstoprovidestudentsofcolorand

low-incomestudentswithaccesstothe

essentialresourceofeffectiveteaching.

Whengivenchallengingassignments

thattheyfeelunqualifiedtotakeon,

newteachersaremorelikelytoleave

theirschoolortheteachingprofession

altogether(DonaldsonandJohnson

2010).Likemostpeople,teacherswant

tofeelthattheycanbeeffectiveintheir

workandwillseekoutthoseenviron-

mentsthatencouragetheirsuccess.

Recommendations for Federal and State Policy Theresearchpresentedabovesuggests

thechallengeforthoseworkingat

thestateandfederallevelstoincrease

accesstoeffectiveteachingamongstu-

dentsofcolorandlow-incomestudents

issignificant.Theirtaskistocraftpoli-

ciesthatsuccessfullyimpactindividual

andorganizationalbehavioratthedis-

trictleveland,evenmoreimportantly,

withinschoolsthemselves.Whilethere

havebeenafairamountofprogram-

maticeffortsattheschoolanddistrict

levelstoaltertheconditionsthat

reproducetheinequitabledistribution

ofeffectiveteaching,makingthelink

tostateandfederalpolicyhasproved

difficult.Giventheresearchtodate,we

recommendthreeareaswherestateand

federalpolicycantakeactiontoincrease

theaccessofstudentsofcolorandlow-

incomestudentstoeffectiveteaching.


Emphasize Solutions

at the Organizational Level

Muchoftheemphasisinthepolicy

communitytodatehasappliedanindi-

vidualisticlenstotheissueofproviding

equitableaccesstoeffectiveteaching

–forexample,proposingtheuseof

financialincentivestochangeteacher

behavior.Researchsuggeststhatteach-

ersdorespondtosalarydifferentials

indecidingwheretoteach(Lankford,

Loeb&Wyckoff2002).However,the

literatureontheefficacyofbonuses

intendedtoincreaseteacherperfor-

manceandretentioninhigh-need

schoolsdoesnotsupportthehypoth-

esisthatteacherswillrespondtosuch

incentivesasdesiredintheabsenceof

othersupports(Springeretal.2010).

Evidencecitedinthisarticle,the

researchbrief,andelsewhere(see,for

example,Bryketal.2009)makesclear

thatastrong,intentionalemphasison

theorganizationalcontextofschoolsis

essentialtobothinfluencingteachers’

decisionswheretoteachandimproving

theirsuccessintheclassroom.Further-

more,asBrykandcolleaguesdemon-

strateintheirrecentbookonschool

improvementinChicago,suchanorga-

nizationalperspectiveisnecessaryto

realizethepotentialofthepresenceof

ahigh-qualitystaff(Bryketel.2009).

Thus,thoughadmittedlyfarmoredif-

ficultthansupportingmoreindividual-

orientedpoliciesaroundteacher

recruitment,evaluation,pay,tenure,

anddismissal,stateandfederalpolicy

mustfindwaysofeffectivelysupporting

suchanorganizationalfocus.

Threeorganizationalelements

haveanotableimpactonteaching

effectiveness:(a)theroleofateacher’s

colleaguesinmediatingherowneffec-

tivenessandherdecisiontoremainin

orleavehercurrentposition;(b)strong

schoolleadershipinareassuchas

establishingaflourishinglearningcom-

munityamongteachersandstudents,

settingculturalnormsthroughoutthe

school,determiningtheassignmentof

teachersandstudents,andbuilding

connectionswithandmarshaling

resourcesfromthesurroundingcom-

munity;and(c)atthestatelevel,estab-

lishingandmonitoringstandardsfor

workingconditions.

Recognize the Variation across

“High-Minority, High-Poverty” Schools

Asdescribedabove,thereisagreatdeal

ofvariationwithinthegroupofschools

oftenclassifiedas“highminority,high

poverty.”Specifically,astheresearchin

Illinoiscitedpreviouslysuggests,hyper-

segregated,hyper-impoverishedschools

appeartobearavastlydisproportion-

ateshareoftheburdenintermsof

inequitableaccesstoeffectiveteaching.

Maskedinthelargebandofschools

withhighratesoffreeandreduced

priceluncheligibility,suchschools

aresituatedinneighborhoodswith

extraordinarilylowaveragehousehold


incomes,lowsocialcapital,andhigh

ratesofcrimeandinvolvementinfoster

care,amongothercharacteristics.As

seenintheimplementationofTitleI

oftheElementaryandSecondaryEdu-

cationAct,federalandstatepolicies

tendtousebluntmeasuresthattreat

schoolsservinghighproportionsof

poorstudentsasahomogeneousgroup

intermsofneedandresponse.While

thisentirebodyofschoolsclearlyisin

needofgreatereducationalresources

–includingeffectiveteaching–the

uniquechallengesfacedbyasubsetof

theseschoolsarenot,andwillneverbe,

adequatelyaddressedunderthecurrent

policyframework.Rather,asuccess-

fulpolicyresponsewilllikelyneedto

distinguishamongstthisbroadergroup

ofschools,targetingresourcesand

specificinterventionsatthese“truly

disadvantaged”schoolsthatservea

disproportionate,concentratedbodyof

studentswithseverechallengesoutside

ofschool,suchasasubstantiatedhis-

toryofabuseandinvolvementwiththe

childwelfaresystem(Bryketal.2009).

Theseconsiderationsareparticularly

relevantincurrentpolicydiscussions

around“turnaround”schools.

Build Equity into Reform

Inthistimeofsignificantchangeto

ourpubliceducationsystemandlarger

politicalandpolicylandscape,itwillbe

essentialtoinsertequityintobroader

reformsthataffecttheteachingprofes-

sion,eitherbyintentionorimplication.

Whenconsideringpoliciestargeting

everythingfrompre-servicetrainingto

pensions,policymakersandadvocates

willneedtocarefullyanalyzethese

policies’potentialimpactonthedis-

tributionofeffectiveteachingand

proactivelyusetheseopportunitiesto

improveequitableaccessatalllevels.

Asanexample,ratherthanapplyinga

generalstrategyofpay-for-performance

programsforurbandistricts,suchan

equitylenswouldprioritizemeritpay

specificallytargetedtothoseeducators

teachinginclassroomswithdispropor-

tionatenumbersofhigh-needandlow-

performingstudents.

Finally,itisimportanttoremem-

berthatachievinganequitabledistri-

butionofeffectiveteachingwill,atbest,

perpetuatetheunderlyingachievement

gapsthattrackalongracial/ethnicand

socio-economiclines.Tofullyclose

thegap,wewillneedmore:froman

intentionallyinequitabledistributionof

effectiveteachingthatfavorsthosestu-

dentsfurthestbehindacademicallyto

acomplementarysuiteofpoliciesand

programmaticinterventionsdesigned

toamelioratethebroaderdisparitiesin

ourcommunities.

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V.U.E. Fall 2011 17

Jane Hannaway is director of the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER) and vice president of the American Institutes for Research.

A Comprehensive Human Capital Management Strategy for Teacher Effectiveness

JaneHannaway

A full human capital management strategy is needed to select, train, retain, and

reward teachers.

What is the best way to achieve equitable

access to high-quality instruction?

jane hannaway:Weneedtothink

aboutafullhumancapitalmanage-

mentstrategy.Thiswouldbeginwith

selection.Theentrybarintoteachingis

currentlylow,considerablylowerthan

thatofmanyothercountrieswhere

itoftenoccursatthepointofhighly

selectiveentryintoateachertraining

program.Thenextstepisthetraining

itself.Teachertrainingishighlydecen-

tralizedintheUnitedStateswithdiffer-

entteachertraininginstitutionsdoing

verydifferentthings.Someprograms

maydoamuchbetterjobthanothers,

andwehaveverylittleunderstanding

ofthetrainingdimensionsthatmake

adifference.Evenwiththesametrain-

ing,evidenceshowsthatthereisstill

considerablevariationintheeffective-

nessofteachers.Thiscallsforasecond

pointofselection–tenure.Hereevi-

denceonactualeffectivenesscanbe

takenintoaccounttodeterminewhois

retained.Rewardsforthehighperform-

erscanbeusedtoensuregoodrates

ofretentionofstrongteachers.Using

thefullsetofhumancapitalmanage-

mentinstrumentswouldgreatlyhelp

ensurethatallstudentshaveaccessto

high-qualityinstruction.

Value-added models have become

increasingly popular as a way to evaluate,

reward, and dismiss teachers. Some

researchers argue that these models

are not precise enough for high-stakes

decisions. What are your views?

jane hannaway:Everyresearcher

Iknowwhohasconductedresearch

usingvalue-addedunderstandsitslimi-

tationsanditsvirtues.Thefactisthat

itisthebestmeasurewecurrentlyhave

topredictfutureteacherperformance.

Itdoesnotmakesensenottoinclude

Thereisnodoubtthatteachersandteachingarethemostimportantschool-level

influencesonstudents’learning.However,todate,schoolreformmeasuresaimed

atimprovingteachingqualityhavedonenomoretoconsistentlyimprovestudent

performancelevelsthanotherreforms.VUEexecutiveeditorPhilGloudemansasked

organizationalsociologistandeducationresearcherJaneHannaway,directorof

theNationalCenterforAnalysisofLongitudinalDatainEducationResearchanda

notedexpertoneducatoreffectiveness,accountability,andfederalandstatereforms,

aboutherideasonteachereffectiveness.


thisinformationwhenmakingperson-

neldecisionsaboutneededtraining

andretention.Atthesametime,thereis

commonagreementthatitshouldnot

beusedalonetomakehigh-stakesdeci-

sions.Value-addedshouldbeusedin

conjunctionwithotherinformation–

forexample,principalratingsorexpert

classroomobservations–tohelpensure

thatgoodteachersarenotpenalizedby

thelimitationsofvalue-addedmeasures.

What features of the present labor

regulations governing the teaching

profession would you modify?

jane hannaway:Teacherpayiscur-

rentlyheavilybasedonexperienceand

degrees.Theevidenceisclearthat

experienceaffectsteacherperformance,

butonlyforthefirstfewyears.Theevi-

denceisalsoclearthatdegreesdonot

affectteacherperformance,withsome

exceptions,suchastheamountof

mathtrainingbymathteachers.

Some districts reward teachers with

tenure after just two years of service,

which you’ve characterized as premature.

What would be a better approach to

teacher tenure?

jane hannaway:Afteronlytwoyears,

wedonothavesufficientinformation

tomakereliablevalue-addedestimates

ofteachereffectiveness.Inaddition,

teachersarestillmovinguptheirlearn-

ingcurveintermsofhowtoteach.In

short,wehaveexceedinglylittleinfor-

mationwithwhichtomakealifetime

commitmenttoateachingjob.Iwould

liketoseedecisionsabouttenuremade

after,say,fiveyears.Withregardtothe

valueoftenure,Ithinkitisstillsome-

thingweneedtoinvestigate.Itcould

beaveryimportantjobconsideration

forteachers.Ifitaffectsretentionrates

forgoodteachers,weshouldkeepit.

What supports do teachers and students

in high-minority, high-poverty schools

need in order to improve the working and

learning environments there?

jane hannaway:Thisisanareawhere

weneedfurtherresearch.Forexample,

anargumentcouldbemadethat

schooldistricts(orstates)shouldpro-

Wehavepreliminaryevidencethatitisthemostexperienced

teachersinhigh-povertyschoolswhoaretheleasteffective.Itis

unclearwhetherthisisduetothewayteachersaresortedinto

andsortthemselvesintoschoolsorwhetheritisduetoburnout.

Jane Hannaway | V.U.E. Fall 2011 19

periodoftime.Weshouldcelebrate

andrewardthosewhoaresuccessful.

Thebottomlineisthestudents.We

needafullydevelopedandfairstrategy

toselect,train,retain,andreward

teachers.Nooneelementofthestrat-

egyissufficient.

Note:

TheNationalCenterforAnalysisofLongitudinalDatainEducationResearch(CALDER)hasanumberofworkingpapersonthesetopicsat<www.caldercenter.org/publications.cfm>.

videincentivesforstrongteachersto

movetoschoolswheretheyaremost

needed.Incentivescouldbeindiffer-

entforms–forexample,pay-based,

smallerclasses,moreinstructionalsup-

port,etc.Butthisassumesthatteachers

effectiveinonesetting(say,aschool

servingadvantagedstudents)aresimi-

larlyeffectiveinanothersetting(say,a

schoolservingdisadvantagedstudents).

Wehavepreliminaryevidencethata

teacher’svalue-addedisportable–it

goeswiththeteacherevenindifferent

settings–butmoreworkisneededto

confirmthesefindings.Wealsohave

preliminaryevidencethatitisthemost

experiencedteachersinhigh-poverty

schoolswhoaretheleasteffective.Itis

unclearwhetherthisisduetotheway

teachersaresortedintoandsortthem-

selvesintoschoolsorwhetheritisdue

toburnout.Ifthelatter,high-poverty

schoolsmayneedtohaveestablished

mechanismsthattransferteachersafter

someperiodoftimetosettingsthatare

lessdemanding.

Are the performance management and

instructional capacity-building perspectives

mutually exclusive in their implications

for policy and practice?

jane hannaway:Theyshouldgo

hand-in-hand.Butweneedtorecognize

thatteachingishighlycomplexand

demandingwork.Itcallsonhighlevels

ofbothcognitiveandinterpersonal

skills,ofteninunpredictableways.

Withgoodpre-serviceexperienceand

focusedsupportonthejob,notall

teachersmaybeabletoperformathigh

levels,despitetheirbestefforts.And

itisoftenonlyclearwhocandoitafter

theyhaveactuallytaughtforsome


Evidenceaboundsthatpublic

educationintheUnitedStateshasnot

yetbecomethegreatequalizermany

hadhopeditwouldbe.TheBlack-

Whiteachievementgappersistswithin

districtsandschools.Studentsinhigh-

povertydistrictslagbehindtheirpeers

inaffluentdistricts.Andresultsfrom

theinternationalPISAexaminations

(OECD2010)showthattheUnited

Stateshasafarlowerproportionof

“resilient”students–thosewhosuc-

ceedatschooldespiteadisadvantaged

background–thanmostotherdevel-

opedcountries.Inpart,theseinequities

resultfromforcesbeyondthecontrol

ofthepublicschools,suchasracially

segregatedhousingorschoolfunding

basedonthelocalpropertytax.Still,

publicschoolsintheUnitedStatescan

andshoulddomuchmoretoensure

successforallstudents.

Formanyyears,thoseintenton

equalizingtheopportunitiesandsuccess

ofunderservedstudentsfocusedon

theinequitabledistributionofresources,

suchaslibraries,textbooks,orscience

equipment,tocommunitiesandto

individualschools.Theyintroduced

federallyandstate-fundedprograms,

suchasTitleI,toprovidespecialized

instructionalopportunitiesforlow-

incomestudents.Althoughsuchinitia-

tivesalldependedonteachersfortheir

delivery,reformersdidlittletodistin-

guishamongthoseteachers.Anyone

withtherightlicensewasassumed

capableofdoingthejob.

Withinthepastdecade,however,

policymakersandpractitionersincreas-

inglyhavefocusedonindividualteach-

ersasresources,recognizingthatsome

aremoreeffectivethanothersinequal-

izingbothopportunityandsuccessfor

disadvantagedstudents(e.g.,Boydetal.

2008).AttherecentWarrenInstitute

CivilRightsResearchRoundtable

onEducation,inwhichIparticipated

alongwithotherswritinginthisissue

ofVUE,AndyBaxteroftheCharlotte-

MecklenburgSchoolsposedaquestion

thatreflectedthisnewperspective:

“Howismeasuringthedistributionof

effectiveteacherstoschoolsdifferent

frommeasuringthedistributionof

computerstoschools?”

Parentsandteachershavelong

knownthatsometeachersaremore

effectivethanothers–notsimplyby

abit,butbyalot.Withinanyschool,

savvyparentsusetheirpersonalinflu-

encetoseethattheirchildrenare

assignedtocertainteachers,butnot

others.Teachers,themselves,arewell

awarethatmanyoftheircolleagues

servestudentseffectively,whileothers

Susan Moore Johnson is the Jerome T. Murphy Professor in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and director of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers.

Delivering on the Promise of Public Schooling

SusanMooreJohnson

Those seeking to improve teaching effectiveness must recognize that the components

of effective teaching are complex and depend on school environment as well as individual

teacher characteristics.

V.U.E. Fall 2011 21

contributelittletostudents’learning

andafewmayevencauseharm.Yetit

wasnotuntilabout2000thatscholars

clearlyestablishedthatteachersare

thesinglemostimportantschool-level

factorinstudents’achievement,as

measuredbystandardizedtestsandthat

withinschools,thereiswidevariation

fromclassroomtoclassroominteach-

ers’effectiveness(Rivkin,Hanushek&

Kain2005;Rowan,Correnti&Miller

2002;McCaffreyetal.2003).

JaneHannawayandhercolleagues

attheUrbanInstitute(Sassetal.2010)

foundthisvariationtobeespecially

greatwithinschoolsservingthestudents

withgreatestneed.Shereportedatthe

Roundtablethatalthoughthemost

effectiveteachersinhigh-povertyschools

comparefavorablywiththemosteffec-

tiveteachersinlow-povertyschools,

thereisawiderrangeofeffectiveness

inhigh-povertyschools.Similarly,

TimDalyofTheNewTeacherProject

reportedonresearchbytheTennessee

DepartmentofEducation(2007)

showingthatpoorandminoritystu-

dentsarelesslikelytogetthemost

effectiveteachersandmorelikelytoget

theleasteffectiveteachers.

InourworkattheProjecton

theNextGenerationofTeachers,1we

havefoundthatmanyteacherschoose

schoolsthatserveminorityandhigh-

povertystudentpopulationsandthat

theystayinthoseschoolswhenthey

functioneffectively.Indiscussing

teachermobilityandeffectivenessat

theRoundtable,MartyWestofthe

HarvardGraduateSchoolofEducation

notedtheimportanceofimproving

teacherretentionathigh-poverty/

minorityschools,notasanendinitself,

butasastrategytoimproveteacher

effectiveness.Itmakesnosenseto

assignsuccessfulteacherstodysfunc-

tionalschools–poorlyled,unsafe,

isolatingenvironmentsforteachers

andstudentsalike–inthehopethat

skilledindividualswillovercomeserious

organizationallimitations.Studentsand

teachersalikedeservetohaveschools

thatencourageandsupportfocused

teachingandlearning.

Althoughitisnowwellestablished

thatteachersdifferintheireffectiveness,

itisnotyetclearwhatexplainsthose

differences.Untilthatiswellunder-

stood,effortstoequalizeopportunity

andensuresuccessforallstudents

willdependonpolicymakers’best

guessesaboutwhatworksratherthan

onsolidevidence.Theanswermaylie

inwhatteachers,themselves,bringto

theirteaching–priorcourseworkand

degrees,specialcertification,oryearsof

experience.Alternatively,differencesin

pedagogymaydistinguishbetweensuc-

cessfulandunsuccessfulteachers.Or

thecontextoftheschoolmayincrease

ordiminishteachers’effectiveness.

Thepresentationsanddiscussionatthe

Roundtablesuggestthatallthreeplay

aroleandthatprogressinachieving

equitywilldependonunderstanding

howeachworksandhowtheyinteract.

1 See<www.gse.harvard.edu/~ngt>.


ontheMeasuresofEffectiveTeaching

(MET)project,sponsoredbytheBill&

MelindaGatesFoundation,inwhich

researchersareexaminingvideosof

teachers’mathandliteracyclassesto

identifyanddescribetheinstructional

practicesofteacherswhosestudents

makelargeachievementgainsand

thosewhosestudentsdonot.

Theseandsimilarstudieseventu-

allywillinformandguideawiderange

ofpolicies,programs,andpractices.

However,lackingclearevidenceabout

whatpedagogiesaremosteffective,

somelocaldistrictsarerelyingonvalue-

addedscores–statisticalestimatesof

individualteachers’contributionsto

studentachievement–asproxiesfor

measuresofteachingquality.Withsuch

estimates,theycanredistributeteachers

evenhandedlywithinandacrossschools.

Forexample,AndyBaxterreportedthat

Charlotte-MecklenburgSchoolshas

adoptedpoliciesdesignedtoensure

thateveryschoolhassomehighlyeffec-

tiveteachersandthatwithinschools,

everystudenthasaccesstothoseteach-

ers.Elementaryprincipalsinthedistrict

nowarerequiredtoassignstudentswho

havebeentaughtbyaless-effective

teacheroneyeartotheclassroomofa

more-effectiveteacherthenext.However,

inhispresentation,Baxterraisedan

importantquestion:“Aretopteachers

‘top’forallstudents?”Althoughthere

isnoclearresearchtoanswerthisques-

tion,routineschoolpracticewouldsug-

gestthattheansweris“probablynot.”

Incurrentandfutureresearch,itwillbe

importanttolearnwhetherparticular

pedagogiesaremoreorlesseffective

withcertainsub-groupsofstudents.If

districtsandschoolsdecidetoreassign

teachersinordertoachieveequity,they

mustensurethatthestudentswho

aremeanttobenefitfromsuchtrades

actuallydo.

Teachers’ QualificationsEffortstoidentifywhat,ifany,role

certainteachers’qualifications–their

teacherpreparation(orlackofit),hold-

ingamaster’sdegree,oryearsofexpe-

rienceteaching–playintheirsuccess

have,asyet,yieldedmixedfindings.This

hasledsomereformerstoconclude

thattherearenoimportantdifferences

intheeffectsofpedagogicaltraining

orpriorexperienceforteachers–that

anyonewithsubject-specificcourse-

workandpersonalcommitmentcan

succeed.However,itseemsclearthat

thefinalwordonthislineofresearch

isnotyetin.AttheRoundtable,Linda

Darling-HammondofStanfordUniver-

sityreportedonresearchshowingthat

variouspreparationprogramshave

differentialeffectsonteachers’success.

Also,HelenLaddofDukeUniversity

reportedonanalysesofNorthCarolina

data(Clotfelter,Ladd&Vigdor2006)

showingthat,infact,differencesin

certainqualifications–licensuretest

scores,graduationfromacompetitive

college,yearsofexperience,andcer-

tificationbytheNationalBoardfor

ProfessionalTeachingStandards–

actuallydomatterandthattheireffects

arerelativelylarge.Notably,Laddand

hercolleaguesfoundthat“poorand

minoritystudentstendtohaveteachers

withweakerqualificationsthanWhite

ormoreaffluentstudents.”

Pedagogy Theresearchshowingthatdisadvan-

tagedstudentsaredisproportionately

assignedtoineffectiveteachersiscon-

vincing,butittellsusnothingabout

thekindofinstructionalpractices

studentsexperiencewitheithereffec-

tiveorineffectiveteachers.Wedonot

yetknowwhatsometeachersdoto

achievegreatersuccessthanothers.At

theRoundtable,SteveCantrellreported

Susan Moore Johnson | V.U.E. Fall 2011 23

incentives)areunlikely,inthemselves,

toequalizeopportunityforstudents,

largelybecausetheyreinforcethe

centuries-old“egg-crate”modelof

schooling,inwhichtheschoolfunc-

tionsasanaggregateofunits,rather

thanasaninterdependentorganization.

Withinanyschool,therearealways

someteacherswhoaremoreeffec-

tivethanothers,whetherasaresultof

preparation,subjectknowledge,experi-

ence,orpedagogicalskill.Inanegg-

crateschool,studentsmayormaynot

benefitfromtheexcellentpedagogy

oftheschool’sbestteachers,depend-

ingonwhotheirassignedteacheris

atanytime.Althoughstudentsmove

throughtheegg-crateschoolfrom

gradetogradeandclassroomtoclass-

room,theirteachersmayknowlittle

aboutwhattheyexperienceinother

gradesandclasses.Egg-crateschools

arenotdesignedtoensurethatteach-

erslearnfromoneanotherbysharing

Context Evenifresearchersagreeaboutthecom-

binationofcharacteristicsandpractices

thatmakesometeachersmoreeffective

thanothers,itisincreasinglyclearthat

teacherswhosucceedinonesetting

maynotsucceedinanother.Allschools

arenotequalinthecontexttheypro-

videforteachingandlearning.Jane

HannawayreportedthatNorthCarolina

andFloridastudentsinhigh-poverty

schoolsachievefarlessthanstudents

inlow-povertyschools.However,she

andhercolleaguesalsofoundthat

thedifferenceswerenotsufficiently

explainedbyteachercharacteristicsor

value-addedscores.Thereweresmall

differencesintheaverageteacher

value-addedscoresbetweenhigh-and

low-povertyschools,althoughvariation

waslargerwithinhigh-povertyschools,

whichoverallhadtheweakestteachers.

Theresearchersconjecturedthathigh-

povertyschoolsmightbelesssuccessful

inattractingandretainingmore-effective

teachers.However,highratesofmobility

amongteachersinhigh-povertyschools

didnotsufficientlyexplaintheirstu-

dents’lowerlevelsofsuccess,leaving

Hannawaytoobservethatequalizing

teachers’experienceacrossschools“may

notdomuch”toensurethatstudents

inhigh-povertyschoolsareeffectively

taught.Thisworksuggeststhatschool

contextmattersandthat,therefore,

reformerswhoseektoincreaseoppor-

tunityandresilienceamongdisadvan-

tagedstudentswoulddowelltothink

beyondtheindividualteacherand

addressthedifferencesinschoolsas

placesforteachingandlearning.

Howeverwell-intentioned,swap-

outstrategies,whichreplaceweak

teacherswitheffectiveones(whether

directlybyassignmentorindirectlyby

Itisincreasinglyclearthatteachers

whosucceedinonesettingmaynot

succeedinanother.Allschoolsarenot

equalinthecontexttheyprovidefor

teachingandlearning


theirbestpractices.Norareteachersin

suchschoolslikelytoholdoneanother

accountableforthequalityofservices

tostudents.

ElaineAllensworthreportedon

herworkwithcolleaguesattheChicago

ConsortiumofSchoolResearch(2010)

abouttheeffectofschoolcontexton

teachers’mobility.Theyfoundthat,

overall,schoolswithchronicallyhigh

teacherturnovertendtoservemore

disadvantagedandAfricanAmerican

studentsthanschoolswithlowteacher

turnover.However,basedonsurveysof

teachers,theyalsolearnedthatschools

withgreaterstaffingstabilityaremore

interdependentorganizations.These

work(Johnson&Birkeland2003).

Theschoolwasthecenteroftheir

experience,andwhethertheystayed

orleftdependedonasetofrelated

organizationalfactors–theirrelation-

shipswithcolleagues,whethertheir

teachingassignmentwasappropriate

andmanageable,whethertheschool

providedasupportiveenvironmentfor

teachingandlearning,andwhetherthe

principalmanagedtheschoolfairlyand

effectively.Thislineofresearchsuggests

thatifschoolsservinghigh-poverty

studentsaretorecruitandretaineffec-

tiveteachers,theymustbecomeplaces

whereexcellentinstructionisnotonly

possiblebutlikely.Toreassigneffective

teacherstohigh-needschoolswillnot

succeed,unlesstheschoolsthemselves

functionwell.Ifeffectiveteachersare

notvaluedandsupportedintheirwork,

theyareunlikelytostay,creatingpersis-

tent,problematicinstability.

Ladd(2011)findsthatNorth

Carolinateachers’perceptionsoftheir

workingconditionspredictboththeir

plannedandactualmovementaway

fromtheirschool;thosewhoaredissat-

isfiedreportthattheyintendtoleave,

andtheydo.Thecharacteroftheir

schoolstronglyinfluencesnotonly

teachers’currentperformancebutalso

theirdecisionsaboutwhethertostay

orgo.Thus,policiesdesignedtomake

allschoolsplaceswhereteacherscanbe

effectivemaywellhavegreaterpayoff

thananyschemetoreassignthem.

AttheRoundtable,Ireported

onourrecentresearchattheProject

ontheNextGenerationofTeachers,

exploringteachers’viewsoftheirschool

asaworkenvironment.Usingstatewide

surveydata,weexaminedtherelation-

shipbetweenMassachusettsteachers’

satisfactionwiththeirworkingcondi-

tionsandstudents’academicgrowth

(Johnson,Kraft&Papay,forthcoming).

Toreassigneffectiveteachersto

high-needschoolswillnotsucceed,

unlesstheschoolsthemselvesfunction

well.Ifeffectiveteachersarenot

valuedandsupportedintheirwork,

theyareunlikelytostay.

schoolshavestrongleaders,andthe

teachersworktogetherinprofessional

communities.Theschoolsalsohave

highlevelsofparentalinvolvement

andaresafespaces,withfewdisciplin-

aryproblems.

Allensworth’sconclusionthat

“teachersleaveschoolswherethey

feelineffective”isconsistentwithour

earlierworkattheProjectontheNext

GenerationofTeachers,wherewe

foundthatnewteachers’careerdeci-

sions–whethertostayintheirschool,

transfertoanother,orleaveteaching

altogether–werelargelydetermined

bywhethertheythoughttheycould

achievea“senseofsuccess”intheir


Teaching Effectiveness Strategies and Latino Children

Joseph Bishop is director of educa-

tion at the National Association

of Latino Elected and Appointed

Officials Educational Fund.

Equitablelearningsystemsto

supporthigh-qualityinstruc-

tioncannotbehaphazardly

throwntogetherwiththehope

ofimprovingstudentlearning.

Local,state,andfederalefforts

toimproveteacherquality–a

criticalpieceoflearningsystems

–havebeenrandomandincon-

sistentatbest.Forexample,

stateandfederalinvestmentsin

publiceducationandtheteach-

ingprofessioninthe1960sand

1970sstoppedinthe1980s,just

asschoolswerestartingtoshow

progressinlow-incomecom-

munities(Darling-Hammond

2010).Agenerallackofpatience

andcommitmenttoeducational

equityonapolicyandpolitical

levelhasputusinthisposition.

What Is Teacher

Effectiveness?

Weneedtothinkofteaching

effectivenessasaspectrum:

recruitingadiversepoolofthe

mosttalentedteacherstowork

inlow-incomecommunities,

preparingteachersusingrigor-

ousstandardsinaresidency

setting,andprovidingsupport

forteachersoncetheyenterthe

classroom.Eachcomponentof

theeffectivenessspectrummat-

ters;wecan’tfocusononepiece

withouttheothersandexpect

studentlearningtotakeplace.

Factorssuchasschool

financechallengesandlackof

incentivestoteachinhigh-need

communitiescanleadtoan

inequitabledistributionofhigh-

qualityteachers.However,a

highlyqualifiedteacherdoesnot

necessarilyensurestudentlearn-

ingwithouttheproperpositive

conditionstopromotestudent

success,includingclearalign-

mentbetweenhighereducation

institutionsandfeederK–12

systems,outstandingprincipals

andadministrators,parentaland

familyengagementstrategies,

andhealthystudents.

Teacherswhoareeffec-

tiveinonecontextmaynot

beinanother.Latinostudents,

forinstance,needinstructors

withtheknowledge,skills,

andculturalcompetenceto

ensuretheirsuccess.ForEnglish

languagelearners,teachers,

administrators,andstaffneedto

havethelanguagedevelopment

expertisetosupportstudentsin

theirnativelanguageandassist

studentsintheacquisitionof

bothacademiccontentand

Englishintheprocess.Educators

alsoneedtohavethetraining

tomeaningfullyengageparents

andfamilies,includingnon-

native-English-speakingparents.

Thesestrategiesallneedtobe

integratedaspartofteacher

preparationprogramsforall

credentialedteachersand

shouldberequiredaspartof

teacherperformanceassess-

ments.Thesamerequirements

shouldbeappliedtoeduca-

tionalleaders,aswell,with

regardtopreparationandper-

formanceassessments.

What’s Missing from

the Current Debates on

Teacher Effectiveness?

Performancemanagementand

instructionalcapacity-building

strategieswillneedtocoex-

istaspartofcurrentdiscourse

onteachereffectivenessand

publiceducation.Discussion

onteachereffectivenessand

improvingpubliceducationwill

likelycontinuetofocusheavily

onperformancemanagement,a

reflectionofinterestfrompoli-

cymakersandtheirconstituents

whowanttoknowtheimpact

oftheirinvestmentinschools.

However,instructionalcapacity

buildinganddevelopinghuman

capitalinschoolsistheonly

possiblewaytoproducethe

typeofstudentlearningout-

comesthatperformanceman-

agementaimstoachieve.

Currentpublicdebates

onteachereffectivenessare

disconnectedfromtheglobal

citizenswearehopingwill

graduatefromourhighschools

andcolleges.Allstudentsneed

tohavenotonlycorecontent

knowledge,butalsotwenty-first-

centuryskillsandknowledge.

Thiswilldeterminetheirability

tothinkcritically,defendargu-

mentsbothorallyandinwriting,

andinteractwithpeersina

multilingual,multi-literate,mul-

ticultural,globalsociety.Teach-

ersneedtohavethepreparation

andmultifacetedlevelsof

expertisetosupportthedevel-

opmentofstudentswithallthat

isrequiredoftoday’sstudents

PERSPECTIVES:

(continued on page 26)


Wefoundthatteacherswhoviewtheir

schoolorganizationsfavorablyreport

beingmoresatisfiedandlesslikelyto

plantotransferorleaveteachingthan

theirpeersinschoolswithlessfavorable

conditions,evenaftercontrollingfor

studentdemographicsandotherschool

andteachercharacteristics.Wealso

foundthatschoolswithbetterwork

environmentsforteachersachieved

greatergrowthinstudentlearning.

Teachersreportedbeingaffectedbya

rangeofworkingconditions.However,

thosethattheysaidmatteredmost

weretheonesthatshapethesocial

contextofteachingandlearning:

schoolculture,theprincipal’sleader-

ship,andtherelationshipswiththeir

colleagues.Wearecurrentlyconduct-

ingcasestudiesinordertounderstand

howthesesocialfactorsplayoutinsix

urbanschools,allservinghigh-poverty,

high-minoritystudentpopulations.

Moving AheadThereismuchdebateandrhetoric

thesedaysabouttherightsofstu-

dentsandtheobligationsofteachers.

Proponentsoftheswap-outstrategyfor

redistributingeffectiveteacherssuggest

thatteachers’preferencesshouldmat-

terlittleintheirassignment.However,

researchaboutschoolcontextsuggests

thatifschoolsservinghigh-poverty

studentsaretoimprovesubstantially,

teacherscannotbetreatedasifthey

areitinerantworkersorreplaceable

parts.Instead,theseschoolsmustbe

organizedsothatthestrengthsofsome

servetheneedsofothers.Onlyinthis

waycaneffortstoimprovethequality

ofteachersandteachingadvance.

Oneapproachtoimproving

instructionandstudentlearningis

tocreatedensenetworksofinforma-

tionandexchangeamongteachers.

Recently,researchersJacksonand

Bruegmann(2009)foundthatstudents

havelargerachievementgainsinmath

andreading,bothinitiallyandover

time,whentheirteacherworkswith

moreeffectivecolleaguesatthesame

Teaching Effectiveness Strategies and Latino Children (continued from page 25)

inaglobaleconomy.Yetcurrent

conversationsonteachereffec-

tivenessarebeingrestrictedby

anoveremphasisontestscores,

encouragingtheisolationof

students,teachers,andlearning

andmakingstudentswiththe

greatestneedahugeliability

forschools.

Participantsinthedialogue

onteachereffectivenessneed

torememberwhowillbemost

directlyimpactedbytheirdis-

cussions.Fortheshortterm,it

maybeteachersandtheirpro-

fessionalaccomplishments.But

forthelongterm,itwillbethe

mindsandlivesofstudentswho

willbeaffectedmost.Students

ofcolorandlow-incomestu-

dentsaresoontorepresentthe

majorityofthestudentpopu-

lation,andU.S.Censusdata

suggestthatisalreadythecase

inmostcommunities.Discus-

sionsrelatedtostudentsuccess

mustacknowledgetherealities

ofwhothestudentsarethat

weserveandwhatroleteacher

effectivenesscanplaytosupport

theirachievement.

Reference

Darling-Hammond,L.2010.The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity will Determine our Nation’s Future. NewYork:TeachersCollegePress.


gradelevel.Further,theyfoundthat

these“positivepeerlearningeffects”were

especiallystrongforless-experienced

teachers.Notably,Sassetal.(2010)

foundthatnewteachersinhigh-poverty

schoolsimproveovertimemoreslowly

thantheydoinlow-povertyschools.

Manyfactorsmayexplainthis,butone

islikelytobetheisolationofteachers

inschoolsthatexperiencerepeated

turnover.Therefore,itmakessense

forpolicymakerstodevoteresources

tostructuresthatmaximizepositive

peereffectsthroughcollaborativework

structures,suchascommonplanning

time.Ratherthanseekingtoimprovea

schoolclassroombyclassroom,reform-

ersmightbetterinvestinstrategiesto

improvethegrowthofteachersacross

theschool.

Recognizingtheimportanceof

theschoolcontextmeansthatdistricts

alsomustassigntheirbestprincipals

tothemostchallengingschools,create

opportunitiesandincentivesforteam-

workwithinschools,providesufficient

resourcesforteachingandlearning,and

ensurethatschoolsservingstudents

withthegreatestneedsaresafe,orderly,

andresponsivetotheconcernsofpar-

ents.Institutingreformpoliciesthat

wouldincreasetheproportionofeffec-

tiveteacherswithinschools,without

attendingtotheoverallqualityofthe

schoolasacontextforthoseteachers’

work,isshortsightedandlikelywillbe

ineffective.Byimplementingacompre-

hensiveandcoherentapproach,U.S.

schoolscanbegintodeliverontheir

promiseofequity,opportunity,andsuc-

cessforallstudents.

References

Allensworth,E.M.,A.S.Bryk,andP.Sebring.2010.The Influence of Community Context and Social Capital on Urban School Improvement.Paperpresentedatthe2010MeetingoftheAmericanSociologicalAssociation.

BoydD.,H.Lankford,S.Loeb,J.Rockoff,andJ.Wyckoff.2008.“TheNarrowingGapinNewYorkCityTeacherQualificationsandItsImplicationsforStudentAchievementinHigh-PovertySchools,”Journal of Policy Analysis and Management27,no.4:793–818.

Clotfelter,C.,H.Ladd,andJ.L.Vigdor.2006.“Teacher-StudentMatchingandtheAssessmentofTeacherEffectiveness,”The Journal of Human Resources41,no.4:778–820.

Jackson,K.C.,andE.Bruegmann.2009.“TeachingStudentsandTeachingEachOther:theImportanceofPeerLearningforTeachers,”American Economic Journal: Applied Economics1,no.4:85–108.

Johnson,S.M.,andS.E.Birkeland.2003.“Pursuinga‘SenseofSuccess’:NewTeachersExplaintheirCareerDecisions,”American Educational Research Journal40,no.3:581–617.

Johnson,S.M.,M.A.Kraft,andJ.P.Papay.Forthcoming.“HowContextMattersinHigh-NeedSchools:TheEffectsofTeachers’WorkingConditionsonTheirProfessionalSatisfactionandTheirStudents’Achievement,”Teachers College Record.

Ladd,H.2011.“Teachers’PerceptionsofTheirWorkingConditions:HowPredictiveofPlannedandActualTeacherMovement?”Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis33,no.2:235–261.

McCaffrey,D.,D.Koretz,J.R.Lockwood,andL.Hamilton.2004.Evaluating Value-Added Models for Teacher Accountability.SantaMonica,CA:RANDCorporation.

OECD.2010.Against the Odds: Disadvantaged Stu-dents Who Succeed in School.Paris,France:OECD.

Rivkin,S.,E.Hanushek,andJ.Kain.2005.“Teachers,Schools,andAcademicAchievement,”Econometrica73,no.2:417–458.

Rowan,B.,R.Correnti,andR.J.Miller.2002.What Large-Scale Survey Research Tells Us about Teacher Effects.CPREResearchReportSeries.RR-052.ConsortiumforPolicyResearchinEducation.Philadelphia,PA:UniversityofPennsylvania.

Sass,T.,J.Hannaway,X.Zeyu,D.Figlio,andL.Feng.2010.Value Added of Teachers in High-Poverty Schools and Lower-Poverty Schools.CALDERWorkingpaper52.WashingtonDC:TheUrbanInstitute.

TennesseeDepartmentofEducation.2007.Tennessee’s Most Effective Teachers: Are They Assigned to the Schools That Need Them Most?ResearchBrief.Nashville,TN:TennesseeDepartmentofEducation.DownloadablePDFavailableat<www.tqsource.org/webcasts/addressingInequities/Tennessee_McCargar.pdf>.


Effective Teaching: What Is It and How Is It Measured?

Robust, transparent feedback and evaluation systems are needed that recognize

the inevitability of classification errors but work to reduce them as much as possible.

Attheheartofthestudent

achievementgapliesacredibilitygap.

Ourschoolsystemsarebasedona

premiseweallknownottobetrue:

thatstudentsareequallywellservedby

whoeverteachestheirclasses.Thecon-

sequences–tostudentsandtoteachers

–aregreat.Thegoodnewsisthatthis

opensecretisnolongerso;teachers

andschoolleadersaretalkingaboutit

andgrapplingwithit.Fewteachersnow

assertthatteachingcannotbemea-

sured(Scholastic&Bill&MelindaGates

Foundation2010).Designteamsmade

upofcourageouseducatorsinnumerous

districtsareengagedinthehardwork

ofhonestlyrethinkingtheirsupport

andevaluationsystemsforteachers.

Butamidthispromise,thereis

alsoperil.Ifwe’renotcarefulabout

howwegoaboutthiswork,wecould

replaceonecredibilitygapwithanother.

Ifteachershavereasonnottotrust

thesystemsputintoplacetosupport

andevaluatethem,thenthesesystems

cannotachievetheiraimsofimprov-

ingteachingeffectiveness.Ifso,wewill

havelostarareopportunity.

Asstatesandschooldistrictsadopt

systemstomeasureeffectiveteaching,

thereisagrowingconcernaboutaccu-

racy.Nobodywantsasystemthatrou-

tinelymisclassifiesteachers.Someeven

Steve Cantrell is senior program officer for research and evaluation and Joe Scantlebury is senior policy officer for U.S. Program Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

assertthatteachingcannotbemeasured:

thatteachingisanart,notascience,

anddedicatedteachersshouldnotbe

subjecttoadditionalaccountability

pressures.Buthowdowebalancethose

concernswiththeneedsofstudents?

Wecannotpretendthatstudentsare

equallywellservedbywhoeverteaches

them.Forgettingtobalancestudents’

concernswiththoseofteachershas

direconsequences–onesthataccrue

disproportionatelytoyoungpeople

alreadystrugglingtosucceed.

Havingthecouragetowalkthis

faultlinebetweenpotentiallymisclas-

sifyingsometeachersandnotclassify-

ingteachersatallrequiresconstant

attentiontotheconsequencesforboth

teachersandstudents.It’sabalancing

act,tobesure;butifwecannotavoid

error,weshoulderrinfavorofstudents.

Whenbuildingrobustfeedbackand

evaluationsystems,perhapsitisbestfor

ustoadmitthaterrorisalwayspresent

andbetransparentaboutwhereitexists.

Inthiswaywebuildtrustandlimitmis-

useoffeedbackandevaluationsystems.

Consequences for StudentsFindingsfromtheteachereffectiveness

literaturereinforcewhateducation

professionalsandthosewhohavespent

significanttimeinschoolsknowwell:the

SteveCantrellandJoeScantlebury

V.U.E. Fall 2011 29

assignmentofastudenttoateacher’s

classroomisnotatrivialexercise,but

ratheranactofgreatconsequence.

Thisresearchliteraturecanbe

reducedtothreebasicfindings.Student

performancediffersacrossdifferent

classrooms,indicatingthatthequality

ofteachingmatters(Rivkin,Hanushek

&Kain2005).Evidencefromrandom

assignmentstudiessuggeststhatthese

differencesareattributabletoteachers,

ratherthantothestudentcomposi-

tionoftheclass(Kane&Staiger2008).

Thesedifferencesaregreaterwithin

schoolsthanacrossschools,indicating

thatitisnotenoughtoprovidefeed-

backandaccountabilityattheschool

level(Nye,Konstantopoulos&Hedges

2004).Moreover,theperformancedif-

ferencesarelarge.Bysomeestimates,

havingatopquartileteacherversusa

bottomquartileteacheryieldsperfor-

mancegainsequivalenttoclosinga

quarteroftheBlack-Whiteachievement

gap(Gordon,Kane&Staiger2006).In

theBill&MelindaGatesFoundation’s

MeasuresofEffectiveTeaching(MET)

project,1thesedifferencesinstudent

performancebetweenthosetaughtby

topandbottomquartileteachersranged

fromone-thirdtooverafullyearof

learninggains.Thesearenotminor

differences.

Yetmostschoolsystemsdolittle,

ifanything,toensurethatstudents

haveanequalchancetoreceivethe

bestavailableinstructionortoprevent

studentsfrombeingassignedtothe

leasteffectiveteachersforyearafter

year.Inmanyschoolsystems,thestatus

symbolsandcontractualarrangements

worktogethertodecreasethelikeli-

hoodthatstudentswhostrugglethe

mostreceivethemosteffectiveinstruc-

tion.Toooften,teacherstatusisdeter-

minedbytheirstudents’performance

level.TeachersofAdvancedPlacement,

honors,orgiftedstudentsareaccorded

higherstatusthantheirpeerswhose

studentsstruggleinschool.Newteach-

ers,whoaredemonstrablylesseffective

thantheirmoreexperiencedpeers,

arenotonlygiventhelastchoiceof

assignment,butoftenhavetoteach

multipleclasses,eachrequiringseparate

preparation.Theseorganizationalfea-

turesincreasethedifficultyofclosing

theachievementgap.Inaddition,the

absenceofrobustmeasuresofteaching

effectivenessallowstoomanyschools

anddistrictstoignorethesesystemic

inequities.Whilestudents,theirparents

andcaregiversmaynotfullyappreci-

atethemagnitudeofthesesystemic

inequities,theimpactontheirlivesis

unmistakable.

Anecdotesarenumerousofindi-

vidualteacherswhomadeapersonal

differenceinastudent’slife.Weareall

familiarwiththeseaccounts.Ifweare

regularreadersofthisjournal,wecan

likelysharestoriesofourown.Con-

cludingthatindividualinterventions

1 FormoreinformationonMET,see<www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspx>.


whendifferencesareapparenttoteach-

ersandpatternsappeartodisparately

impactentirecommunities,schooland

districtleadersseldomhavethepolitical

courageorincentivestocalltheques-

tionaboutinstructionalpractices.The

measuresinuseseldominformteacher

assignment,professionaldevelopment

offerings,orpromotiondecisions.

Thedireconsequenceforteachers

isnofeedback.Toomanyteachersare

leftalonetoself-assesstheircompetence

andself-prescribeimprovement.The

difficultlyofthisbootstrappingeffort

isexacerbatedbytherelativeisolation

withinwhichmostteacherspractice.

Themetaphorofthe“egg-crate”school

remainsapt(Lortie1975).Without

accurateindicatorsandwithoutmean-

ingfulexposuretootherteachers’prac-

tice,self-improvementeffortsarefar

fromguaranteedtosucceed.Thisisnot

mereconjecture:thedataonreturns

toteacherexperienceshowslittletono

improvementbeyondateacher’sfourth

yearofpractice(Boydetal.2007).As

DeborahBall,deanoftheUniversityof

MichiganSchoolofEducation(2011),

said,“Anenormousfaithisplacedon

‘learningfromexperience,’despitesub-

stantialempiricalevidencethatexperi-

enceisanunreliable‘teacher’”(p.4).

Thelackofanyclearperformance

signalhasothernegativeconsequences

forteachers,includinguncertaintyabout

whethertheyhavesatisfactorilyaccom-

plishedtheirmission,ageneraldiscon-

nectbetweeneffortandreward,and

growinguneasewiththesystem’sfailure

toaddressteachingineffectiveness

(Rochkindetal.2007).Thelackofper-

formancesignalsfailstoencouragethe

rightteacherstostayintheprofession

andthewrongonestoleave.While

wecertainlyagreewithLindaDarling-

Hammondthat“youcan’tfireyour

waytoFinland”(UCLA/IDEA2011),

andinstructionalheroismisallthat

studentsandfamiliescanreasonably

expectelevatesthesestatusprivileges,

contractualarrangements,andmanage-

rialomissionsinwaysthatundermine

thehighaspirationsofstudents,their

families,andeducators.Moreover,the

absenceofanyclearorlegislatedrightof

studentstoaneffectiveteachercreates

noconflictoflawsorbalanceofrights.

Studentshavenoenforceablerightto

aneffectiveteacher,andthustheybear

theburdenofoursystemicinequities.

Studentshavenoenforceablerightto

aneffectiveteacher,andthustheybear

theburdenofoursystemicinequities.

Consequences for TeachersThemostrecentanalysesfaultteacher

evaluationsystemsfortheirinabilityto

differentiateamongteachers(Weisberg

etal.2009).Thetypicalsystemhas

twoorthreeperformancelevels,yet

assignsthelowestratingtolessthan

onepercentofallteachers.Teachers

reportthattheevaluationprocessis

oftenperfunctory.Schoolleadersoften

receiveminimalguidanceandevenless

trainingonmanagingandexecuting

teacherevaluation.Whenteachershave

apositiveexperiencewithevaluation,

itappearstobebasedonidiosyncratic

factors,highlydependentupontheskills

oftheevaluator.

Asaresult,theseweakfeedback

andevaluationsystemsarelargelyirrel-

evanttohowschoolsconductbusiness.

Seldomdofeedbackandevaluation

systemsinformconsequentialstaffing

andcentralofficedecisions.Evenif

thoseinchargeknowbetter,mostschool

systemsareorganizedasifdifferences

amongteacherswerenonexistent.And

Steve Cantrell and Joe Scantlebury | V.U.E. Fall 2011 31

wealsobelievethatteacherscometo

theprofessiontodogoodandhave

hopethatgivenstrongerfeedback,

thosefewteacherswhocannotsucceed

willleaveteachingandfindbetterways

todeploytheirtalents.

Increasing TrustWithouttrust,therecannotbefeedback

butonlyjudgment.Onlytrustworthy

informationwillbeusefultoteachers

seekingtoimprove.Validityandreli-

abilityaretheresearchstandardsfor

informationqualityandareusefulways

tothinkaboutbuildingtrustinthe

informationprovidedbyfeedbackand

evaluationsystems.TheFoundation’s

workwithourMETpartnershasledus

tofocusonfour“trustworthinesstests”

–facevalidity,coherence,scoringreli-

ability,andpredictivevalidity.

Face validityissimplythe“sniff”test.

Whenteachersencounterthesystem

forfeedbackandevaluationtheywantto

seeindicatorsthatreflectcompetencies

theyvalue.Topassthistest,teachers

mustbelievethatthesystemisdirected

towardaspectsofteachingandlearning

thattheybelievemakeadifferenceto

students.Ifthecompetenciesrequiredby

thesystemcouldbemetwithoutfunda-

mentallymeetingtheneedsofstudents

–“professionalappearance”comesto

mind–thenteacherscouldattendto

thecompetenciesrequiredbythesys-

temwithoutinfluencingtheirabilityto

enhancestudentlearning.

Coherencereferstotheintercon-

nectionsamongpartsofthesystem.

Ifthefeedbackandevaluationsystem

isunrelatedoronlylooselyconnected

tootherpartsofthesystemthat

impactteachingandlearning,suchas

professionaldevelopment,curriculum

andinstruction,ormentoring,then

opportunitiesforleveragingsynergies

acrosstheseareasarelostandthepos-

sibilityincreasesforconflictinggoals

andconfusionregardingoutcomes.

Importantly,thefeedbackandevalua-

tionsystemshouldreflectthetheory

ofinstructionespousedbythedistrict

lestthedisconnectbetweenthetwo

promotesconfusion.

Scoring reliability–unreliabilityin

scoringistheaspectoffeedbackand

evaluationsystemsthatmaymost

underminetrust.Fewschoolsystems,

however,routinelytrackorreportrater

reliability.Forteachers(andtheirunions),

itispatentlyunfairfortheirratingtobe

dependentupontheabilityoftherater

ratherthanthequalityofthelesson.

Ourteacheradvisorypanel,ourunion

partners,andthedistrictadministrators

workingcloselywithusallagreethat

unevenraterreliabilityisprevalent.In

responsetothisneed,wehaveplansto

disseminatethetrainingandmonitor-

ingmethodsusedbytheMETproject

researcherstoensurereliability.

Predictive validityindicateswhether

thesystemhastherightfocus.Itrefersto

theassociationbetweencompetencies

measuredbythefeedbackandevalua-

tionsystemsandthedesiredoutcomes.

Ifthereislittleornoassociationbetween

theactionsbeingtrackedandtheout-

comesofvalue,thenthesystemisbro-

ken.Ifthisconnectiondoesnotexist,

thenitishardtosupporttheclaimthat

doingwhatthesystemrequireswill

leadtothedesiredoutcomes,suchas

increasedstudentlearning.

TheMETprojectisanexercise

inbuildingtrustworthyfeedbackand

evaluationsystems.Itisnotandnever

hasbeenanattempttobuild“theone

bestsystem.”Instead,itservestotest

theideaofamulti-facetedfeedback

andevaluationsystembycombining

promising,yetemerging,indicatorsof

teachingandlearning.AsMETserves

totestanincreasinglypopularidea–

multiplemeasures–itfullyrecognizes


thatthepromiseofmultiplemeasures

isnotthattherearemoremeasures,

butthatthesemeasuresrepresentdif-

ferentfacetsofteachingandlearning

thatindividuallyandcollectivelysup-

portstudentlearninggainsonoutcome

measuressuchasstateperformance

assessments.

Reducing Error and Building CredibilityThereisaconnectionbetweenreduc-

ingerror,ormisclassification,and

increasinguse.Teacherswillusefeed-

backonlywhentheybelieveitwill

improvetheirpractice.Otherwise,they

willseekwaystogamethesystem.

Passingthe“trustworthiness”tests

goesalongwaytowardreducingerror.

Feedbackismorelikelytobeused

whenthesystemisalignedwithwhat

teachersviewasbestpractices;the

partsofthesystemconnectlogically;

scoringprocessesarereliable;andthe

indicatorsdo,infact,indicatewhat

helpsstudentslearnbetter.

Thereareothertypesoferror

thatsimilarlylimitordistorttheuse

ofafeedbackandevaluationsystem.

Agreementaroundoutcomestopsthe

list.Whenwhatismeasuredisdiscon-

nectedfromwhatisvalued,effortsto

increasescoresonthemeasurewill

bemetwithlittleenthusiasmand

evenresistance.Stateassessmentsare

routinelycondemnedasinsufficient

The Superintendent’s View

John Deasy is superintendent

of the Los Angeles Unified

School District.

What is the best way to address

the objective of equitable access to

high-quality instruction?

Toraisetheperformancelevels

ofnon-White,low-income

students,parentsinthosecom-

munitiesneedtobegivenviable

educationaloptions.Theirchil-

drenmustnolongerbeforced

toattendchronicallyunder-

performingschools.Ifanother

operatorcomesforwardwitha

betterplantoeducatestudents

inalow-incomecommunity,

thenitshouldbegiventhe

opportunitytodoso.Onlyin

thiswaycanwebegintobreak

thecycleofeducationfailure

thatplaguestoomanyofour

students.

From the administrators’ point

of view, are the performance

management and instructional

capacity-building strategies

mutually exclusive? What else

needs to be part of the discussion?

Administratorsandotherprac-

titionersmustworkcloselywith

teacherstoexplainthemeaning

ofteacherrecommendations,

particularlythosethatarebased

onnewdataandresearch.

Teachersneedtounderstand

bothstrengthsandweaknesses

suggestedbythedata.Inaddi-

tion,teachersneedtobemade

awarethatValueAddedand

AcademicGrowthOverTime,

amongothermeasurements,are

intendednottothreatentheir

jobs,buttogivethem–plus

parentsandadministrators–a

betterguideastohowtheyare

doingtheirjobs.

We[also]focuson

instructionalcapacitybuilding

strategiestoimprovestudent

outcomes.Consequently,these

strategiesgohandinhandwith

performancemanagement.The

purposeofperformance-based

managementistoensurethatan

organizationachievesitsgoals.

Asthesuperintendent,itismy

responsibilitytofacilitatehuman

performancethatleadsto

improvedstudentachievement.

Performancemanagement

allowsustousedatatodeter-

mineinwhichinstructional

strategiestoinvest.Aswecon-

tinuetopushforusingdata

tofosteraccountability,weneed

toalsousedatatoensurethat

wetrulybecomealearning

organization.

PERSPECTIVES:


(orevenunfair)measuresofschool

outcomes.Thereisreasonforoptimism

onthisfront,astheconsortiatasked

withdevelopingassessmentsaligned

totheCommonCoreStandardswill

likelyimprovethesubstanceandstatus

ofstatetests.Still,itwouldbetooeasy

tousetheneedtoimprovetestsas

areasontoavoidaccountabilityand

feedback–iftheoutcomeisimportant

tostudentsuccess,measureit.

Attributionisathornyproblemthat,

leftunresolved,alsowillunderminethe

feedbackandevaluationsystem.Atthe

mostbasiclevel,thereistheadminis-

trativechallengeofensuringthatthe

datasystemslinktherightstudentsto

therightteachers.Thissoundsdecep-

tivelysimple,yetitisquitecommonfor

theteacherofrecordtobedifferent

fromtheteacherwhoprovidedthe

instruction.Inmanyelementaryschools,

studentsarere-groupedformathand/

orEnglishlanguagearts.Whilethe

schoolmayknowperfectlywellwhich

studentsaretaughtbywhichteachers

andforwhatduration,thecentraloffice

recordsmaynotbeaccurate.Itiseasy

toseethedamagetothesystem’scred-

ibilityshouldateacherreceivefeedback

(orberewardedorsanctioned)based

onstudentstaughtbyanotherteacher.

Relatedtotheattributionprob-

lemiswheretoplaceaccountability.

Accountabilityforeffectiveteaching

cannotsitsolelyupontheshouldersof

teachers.Ifsupportsaredeployed,as

aschoolsystemseekstoclosethegap

betweenthemostandleasteffective

teachers,thentheeffectivenessofthese

supportsshouldbesubjecttothesame

rigorousfeedbackandevaluationpro-

cesses.Ifaparticularprofessionaldevel-

opmentorcurricularinterventiondoes

notimproveperformanceforthose

whohavereceivedit,thenthesystem

cannotclaimtohavesupportedteacher

development.Similarly,iftheworking

conditionsataschooldonotincrease

thelikelihoodthatthoseteachers

whostrugglearesupportedbytheir

moresuccessfulcolleagues,thenthe

administrationofthatschoolisfailing

tosupportteachergrowthandneeds

assistance.Thefactthatmeasuresare

preciseattheteacherleveldoesnot

limittheirusetothatlevel.

Finally,wereturntomisclassifica-

tion.Sofar,researchershavenotbeen

abletoexplainwhatappearstobe

ananomalyintheempiricalfindings

–persistentandconsequentialdiffer-

encesinstudentperformancefortop

andbottomquartileteachersalongside

apparentlyunstableteacherrankings.

Itappearsinconsistenttoholdboth

findingsastrue.Ifteachersareroutinely

misclassified,why,whencomparedto

similargroupsofstudents,dothestu-

dentsofpreviouslyidentifiedtopand

bottomquartileteacherspersistently

outperform(fortopquartileteachers)

orunderperform(forbottomquartile

teachers)theirpeers?

Wecanonlyspeculatewhymis-

classificationexists:itcouldbethata

majorityofteachersprovidesimilar

instructionandonlythetopandbottom

15percentmeaningfullydifferfrom

theaverage;oreventhetopandbottom

5percentor10percent.Wedon’t

know.Itmattersbecausemanyofthe

stateanddistrictevaluationsystems

assumethatitispossibletoaccurately

assignteacherstooneofthreeorfour

ratingcategories.

Tobuildtrustmeansnoteliminat-

ingerror,butcommittingtoreduce

it.Wecanreducetheerrorofmisclas-

sificationifwefocusonwherewethink

wehavethebestinformation.Ifnot,

again,wecouldreplaceonecredibility

gapwithanother–pretendingthat

teachersfallneatlyintofourormore


categoriesofeffectiveness–whenwe

donotknowhowmanycategories

existorwhetherourmeasuresaregood

enoughtomakesuchfinedistinctions.2

TheMETprojectwillexplorethis

anomalyinanupcomingreportbased

onover12,000lessonscapturedon

video.Theanalysisofteacherpractice

willprovideanestimateofobservable

differencesamongteachersandprovide

someevidencetosuggesthowlargethe

“messymiddle”ofteacherpracticeis.

Implications for Civil RightsMostAmericanssharethevaluethatall

studentsdeserveanequalopportunity

toreceiveahigh-qualityeducation.We

understandthatindividualstudenteffort

andmotivation,coupledwithfamily

andcommunitysupportandexpecta-

tions,mayplayapartinthesuccessof

anindividualstudent.Wealsounder-

standthatevenwithoutthosesupports,

studentscangraduatereadyforcollege

andcareers,iftheyhaveteachersdedi-

catedtothismission.Thus,anequal

opportunitytoahigh-qualityeducation

should,atminimum,affordeverychild

achancetobetaughtbythebest

teachersthataschoolsystemhasto

offer.Ifforsomereasonwholegroups

ofstudentsweredeniedthischance,

oriftheopportunitytobetaughtbya

greatteacherwerenothingmorethan

chance,wewouldcollectivelydemand

thatsuchasystembechanged.

Thescenarioisnothypothetical.

Weknowthatmanystudentsarerou-

tinelyprovidedwiththeleasteffective

instruction.Thisdirectlyimpactsand

perpetuatestheso-calledacademic

achievementgap–agapthatW.E.B.

DuBois(1903)wroteabouteloquently

inThe Souls of Black Folk.Inthisseminal

work,Duboisdescribededucation’s

potentialtoliftapeoplenewlyemanci-

patedandstrivingtoovercomethe

perniciouseffectsofJimCrowlawsand

starkracism.Heobservedthateducation

wasessentialbothforsustenanceand

citizenshipandhopedthat“Education

[would]setthistanglestraight”(p.91).

Hechargededucatorsattheturn

ofthelastcenturytoembracethat

missionandunflagginglypreparethe

nextgeneration.

DuBoiswouldbepleasedto

knowthatsucheducatorsexistamong

thecurrentgeneration.Asweworkin

partnershipwithteacherstodetermine

2 Onepathforwardistoincreaseourunder-standingofthetrueperformancedistribution–it’snotlikelynormal.Thesizeofthemiddlepartofthedistributionmatters.Apurelyhypotheticalexamplewillhelpillustratethepoint.Assumethat70percentofteachersconstituteamiddlewhereitisdifficulttofindobservabledifferencesinteachingpractice.Inthiscase,theunderlyingdistributionofteacherpracticewouldbe15per-centobservablyweakerthanaverage,70percentaverage,and15percentobservablystrongerthanaverage.Ifthecategoriesusedtodifferentiateteachingqualitydonotreflecttheunderlyingdis-tribution,butusedquartilesinstead,themisclassi-ficationrateisbydefinitionatleast40percentatboththehighestandlowestquartiles.Moreover,sincetheseteachers’practiceisindistinguishablefromaveragepractice,thosemisclassifiedateitherthetoporbottomquartilecouldbecategorizedintheoppositequartilethefollowingyear.While40percentwouldindicateanunacceptablelevelofmisclassification,iftheremaining60percentofteachersineachofthesequartileswereidentifiedcorrectly(therealtopandbottomperformers),largeperformancedifferencesbetweenstudentsoftopandbottomquartileteacherswouldpersistfromyeartoyear.


whatitmeanstobeeffective,weare

increasinglyawarethatcurrentteachers

arenotmonolithicintheirviews,or

blindtothedeleteriousimpacton

studentsofteacherassignment,distri-

bution,evaluation,andsupportprac-

ticesthatrelegatetheneedieststudents

toinstructionalsettingswiththeleast

potentialforsuccess.Theseteachers,

consciousoftheclassroomandlife

challengesthatstudentsface,seekways

tosupportandspreadgreatteaching

practices,improveinstruction,andfairly

transitionoutoftheprofessioncol-

leaguesforwhomitisnotagoodfit.

Wesupportandseektoinformtheir

efforts.Together,weareclearthatclosing

achievementgapswillnothappenby

chanceorbyavoidingseriousconver-

sationsaboutwhatweowestudents,

whoseuncodifiedrightsdonotinclude

therighttoaneffectiveteacher.

Whileitmaynotbearight,fair-

nessdictatesthatschoolsystemsatthe

veryleastknowwhichofitsstudents

receiveinstructionfromtheleasteffective

teachersandtakemeasurestoensure

thatthisdoesn’thappentoparticular

studentsyearafteryear.Inthelonger

run,closingtheteachingeffectiveness

gap–andtherebyreducingtheconse-

quencesaccompanyingassignmentto

theleasteffectiveteachers–isperhaps

thesinglemostimportantstepwecan

taketowardclosingtheachievement

gap.Thisrequiresmeasuresthatwe

cantrust,sothatsystemsknowwhich

teachersaremostinneedofsupport

andwhichstudents,havingsuffered

inadequateinstruction,requirespecial

handlingtoensurethatthisdoesnot

happeninconsecutiveyears.Most

importantly,thesemeasuresshould

providetrustworthyfeedback.Foritis

throughfeedbackthatwegettoFinland.

Thepathtoimprovementcannotpos-

siblyleadthroughignorance.

References

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DuBois,W.E.B.1903.The Souls of Black Folk.Chicago:A.C.McClurg&Co.;Cambridge,MA:UniversityPressJohnWilsonandSon.

Gordon,R.,T.J.Kane,andD.O.Staiger.2006.Identifying Effective Teachers Using Performance on the Job.DiscussionPaper2006–01.Washington,DC:BrookingsInstitution,HamiltonProject.

Kane,T.J.,andD.O.Staiger.2008.Estimating Teacher Impacts on Student Achievement: An Experi-mental Evaluation.NationalBureauofEconomicResearchWorkingPaper14607(December).Cambridge,MA:NBER.Availablefordownloadat<www.nber.org/papers/w14607>.

Lortie,D.1975.Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study.Chicago,IL:UniversityofChicagoPress.

Nye,B.,S.Konstantopoulos,andL.V.Hedges.2004.“HowLargeareTeacherEffects?”Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis26:237–257.

Rivkin,S.G.,E.A.Hanushek,andJ.F.Kain.2005.“Teachers,Schools,AndAcademicAchievement,”Econometrica73,no.2(March):417–458.

Rochkind,J.,A.Ott,J.Immerwahr,J.Doble,andJ.Johnson.2007.They're Not Little Kids Anymore: The Special Challenges of New Teachers in High Schools and Middle Schools.LessonsLearned:NewTeachersTalkaboutTheirJobs,ChallengesandLong-RangePlans,Issueno.1.NewYork:NationalComprehensiveCenterforTeacherQualityandPublicAgenda.

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UniversityofMichiganSchoolofEducation.2011.“TheWholeIsGreaterThantheSumoftheParts,”Innovator41,no.1(Spring).Availablefordown-loadat<www.soe.umich.edu/information_for/alumni_friends/innovator_magazine/volume_41_spring_2011>

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Teacher Performance in the Context of Truly Disadvantaged Schools in Chicago

Better methods of identifying individual teacher performance in schools with weak

organizational structures are unlikely to lead to improvement without collaboration and

supports for teachers around instruction.

Imaginetryingtobeaneffective

teacherataschoolwheretheaverage

studentmissestwomonthsofclass

timeoutofninemonthsoftheschool

year–acommonsituationinurban

highschools.Further,imaginethat

yourfellowteachersandschoollead-

ersrefusetoworktogethertoprevent

studentsfromskippingclassorsupport

strugglingstudentsinacoordinated

way.Youmaystay,butprobablynotfor

long,andnotifyouhaveotheroptions.

Teacherstendtoleaveschoolswhere

theyfeelineffective.Atthesametime,

it’shardertobeeffectiveinschools

withthelowestlevelsofstudentperfor-

mance,schoolsthataremostinneed

ofeffectiveteaching.

Thereisapressingneedto

improvethequalityofinstructionin

urbanschoolstoreducelong-standing

inequitiesineducationalperformance

byraceandeconomicstatus.Thecur-

rentpolicycontextacknowledgesthe

importanceofteachingqualityfor

studentachievement,butthemost

popularpolicystrategiesforimproving

teachingfocusonindividualteachers,

usingincentivestoattractandreward

strongteachersanddevelopingmeth-

odstoidentifyandremovethosewho

areweak.AsIdiscussinthisarticle,our

workattheConsortiumonChicago

Elaine Allensworth is senior director and chief research officer at the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.

SchoolResearchshowsthatthecontext

inwhichtheteacherworkssetsthe

stageforthemtobeeffectiveandwant

tostayintheirschool.Itdoeslittle

goodtoputhighlyqualifiedteachers

inaweakschooliftheyareunlikelyto

staythere,oriftheyarenotabletoput

theirskillstogoodusebecauseoflarger

problemsinthatschoolenvironment.

Thereisaroleforexaminingindividual

teachers’performance,andforusing

performancemanagementtobuildthe

professionalcapacityofaschool,butit

isunlikelytobeeffectiveifitnarrowly

focusesonindividualteachers.Without

broaderworkontheschoolasanorga-

nization,schoolsservingthemostdis-

advantagedstudentswillfacehighrates

ofteacherturnoverandlittlechanceof

sustainedinstructionalimprovement.

Teacher MobilitySometeachermobilityisnormal,but

toomuchinstabilityintheteaching

staffcanbeproblematic,particularlyif

itischronic.Onaverage,about85per-

centofteachersinthenationremain

teachingintheirschoolfromoneyear

tothenext(Keigher&Cross2010).

InChicago,anurbanschooldistrict

thatpredominantlyserveslow-income

ElaineAllensworth

V.U.E. Fall 2011 37

AfricanAmericanandLatinostudents,

about80percentofteachersremain

teachingintheirschooleachyear.On

thesurface,thatmaysoundfine.But

one-yearstabilityrateshideasobering

statistic:withinfiveyears,thetypical

Chicagoschoollosesmorethanhalf

itsteachers(Allensworth,Ponisciak&

Mazzeo2009).

Teachersareparticularlyunlikely

toremainteachingatschoolswithlow

levelsofstudentachievementandhigh

concentrationsofpoorandminority

students.1InChicago,about100schools

loseaboutathirdoftheirteachingstaff

everyyear.2Theseareschoolswithvery

lowlevelsofachievement,wheremore

than90percentofstudentsqualify

forfree/reducedpricedlunchandthe

studentbodyismorethan85percent

AfricanAmerican,ormixedAfrican

AmericanandLatino.

Highturnoverratesproducea

rangeoforganizationalproblemsfor

schools,suchasdiscontinuityinprofes-

sionaldevelopment,shortagesinkey

subjects,andlossofteacherleadership.

Principalsandschoolstaffmustdevote

extensivetimeannuallytorecruitingnew

teachers,takingattentionawayfrom

othervitalschoolimprovementactivities

suchasimplementingandsustaining

newinitiatives.Teacherinstabilitycan

thwarteffortstocreateaprofessional

learningcommunityamongteachers

andmakeitdifficulttodevelopsus-

tainedpartnershipswithparentsand

thelocalcommunity.Moreover,schools

withhighturnoveraremorelikelyto

haveinexperienced,lesseffectiveteach-

ers(Kane,Rockoff&Staiger2006;

Clotefelteretal.2006;Hanushek,Kain

&Rivkin2004).

Work EnvironmentWhileteachersaremorelikelytoleave

more-disadvantagedschools,notall

low-incomeAfricanAmericanschools

havehighratesofteachermobility.Itis

theworkingconditionsinschoolsthat

explainwhyteachersleave,andwhy

teachersaremorelikelytoleaveschools

withlowlevelsofstudentachieve-

mentthatserveracial-ethnicminority

students(Allensworth,Ponisciak&

Mazzeo2009).

Inourstudyonteachermobility

inChicago,The Schools Teachers Leave

(Allensworth,Ponisciak&Mazzeo2009),

wefoundthatthequalityofthework

environmentwasstronglypredictive

ofwhetherteachersremainedintheir

school.Onekeyelementinteacher

retentionisteachers’perceptionsof

theircolleaguesascollaborators.Teachers

aremorelikelytostayinaschoolif

theyseethemselvesasapartofateam

thatisworkingtogethertowardmaking

theirschoolbetter,supportedbyschool

leadership;theyarelikelytoleave

schoolswherecolleaguesareresistant

toschoolwideinitiatives,whereteach-

ers’effortsstopattheirownclassroom

door(Allensworth,Ponisciak&Mazzeo

2009).Teachersarealsomorelikely

tostayinschoolswheretheyfeelthey

haveinfluenceovertheirworkenviron-

mentandtheytrusttheirprincipalas

1 A2007studyinIllinoisshowedthatnoviceteachersweresystematicallylesslikelytoremainiftheytookajobinaschoolthathadlowlevelsofstudentachievement;theywerelesslikelytoremainteachinglong-terminschoolswithhighpercentagesoflow-incomeorminoritystudents(DeAngelis&Presley2007).StudiesinNewYorkandTexasfoundthatstudentachieve-mentlevelswerethemostimportantpredictorofturnover(Boydetal.2007;Hanushek,Kain&Rivkin2004),whileastudyinGeorgiafoundthatpreferencesforteachinginlow-minorityschoolsaccountedfornearlyallofthedifferencesinturnoveramongschools(Scafidi,Sjoquist&Stinebrickner2007).Likewise,thestudyofFloridateachersbyWestandChingos(2009)suggeststhatteacherstendtomoveintohigher-performingschoolswithmore-advantagedstudents.

2 Onaverage,theseschoolslose31percentoftheirteacherseachyear(Allensworth,Ponisciak&Mazzeo2009).


aninstructionalleader(Allensworth,

Ponisciak&Mazzeo2009).

Thesearethesameelements

ofschoolsthataremostpredictiveof

improvementsinstudentlearning;

schoolsthatshowthelargestimprove-

mentsinstudentlearningovertimeare

thosewhereteachersworkcollectively

onimprovinginstruction,andwhere

schoolleadershipisinclusiveandfocused

oninstruction(Bryketal.2010).Thus,

schoolsthatlackthemostimportant

elementsforimprovinginstructionalso

lackkeyconditionsthatmaketeachers

wanttostay.

Twofurtherworkingconditions

accountformostofthedifferencesin

teachermobilityratesbyschoolracial

composition.Oneisteachers’relation-

shipswithparents.Especiallyinelemen-

taryschools,teachersaremorelikely

tostayinschoolswheretheyfeelthat

parentssupporttheirworkaspartners

ineducatingstudents(Allensworth,

Ponisciak&Mazzeo2009).Thesecond,

whichisparticularlycriticalinhigh

schools,isthelearningclimateatthe

school(Allensworth,Ponisciak&Mazzeo

2009).Teachersaremorelikelytostay

atschoolswherestudentsfeelsafe,and

wherestudentsreportthattheirclass-

roompeersengageinappropriateaca-

demicbehavior.Teacherstendtoleave

schoolswherestudentsfrequentlyface

disciplinaryproblemsandmanystu-

dentsfeelunsafeinschool.Thereare

classroomsthroughoutChicagowith

exemplaryteachingandorderlyclass-

rooms,butinthelowest-performing

schoolsinthedistrict,therearemany

classroomsinchaos.Itisdifficultto

imaginehowateacherwouldreturn

dayafterdaytoaworkenvironment

thatissodisruptivealmostnolearning

canoccur.

Researchinplacesoutsideof

Chicagohaslikewisefoundthatwork-

ingconditionsseemtoaffectwhether

teachersremainteachingintheir

school.AsSusanMooreJohnsonnotes,

noviceteachersaremorelikelytostay

intheirschoolwhentheyareengaged

inacollaborativewaywithmoreexpe-

riencedcolleagues(Johnson2009).

A2008–2009follow-upstudytothe

SchoolsandStaffingSurvey(SASS)

foundthatteacherswhochanged

schoolstendedtoreportbetterwork-

ingconditionsintheirnewschoolthan

theiroldschool:moresupportfrom

administrators,moreopportunitiesfor

workingwithcolleagues,betteravail-

abilityofresourcesandmaterials,and

moreinfluenceoverworkplacepolicies

andpractices(Keigher&Cross2010).

Otherstudieshavefoundthatstrong

principalleadershipreducedturnover

(Clotfelteretal.2006,Grissom2008).

School and Classroom ContextIn2010,mycolleaguesandIdocu-

mentedthefindingsfromalargestudy

inChicagothatexaminedthewaysin

whichschoolpracticesandschooland

communityconditionspromoteor

inhibitimprovementsinmathematics

andreadinglearning(Bryketal.2010).

Wefoundthatschoolsthatareeffec-

tiveinimprovingstudentlearning

tendtohavestrongorganizational

structuresacrossfiveareas:leadership,

professionalcapacity,partnershipswith

parentsandcommunity,learningcli-

mate,andinstruction.Whenexamining

professionalcapacityintheschool,we

foundthattheindividualqualifications

ofteacherswerenotnearlyasimpor-

tantasthewaysinwhichteachers

workedtogether.Whentiedtostrong

instructionalpractices,theextentto

whichteacherstookcollectiveresponsi-

bilityfortheschoolandformedapro-

Elaine Allensworth | V.U.E. Fall 2011 39

fessionalcommunitywerethemost

importantelementsforimproving

learninggains.Schoolswithstrong

collaborationweremoreeffectiveas

awholethanschoolswithstrong

individualsandlittlecollaboration.

Whileastrongprofessionalcom-

munityseemedtoleadteacherstobe

moreeffectivethantheywouldbeon

theirown,apoorlearningclimatelim-

itedeventhemostqualifiedteachers

frombeingeffective.Anotherstudy

inChicagofoundthattheassociation

betweenteacherqualificationsand

learninggainsdependedcompletely

ontheschoolcontext(DeAngelis&

Presley2011).Ingeneral,learninggains

werehigherthemorethattheteaching

staffhadhighlevelsofhumancapital–

higherACTscores,moreteacherswho

passedthebasicskillstestonthefirst

try,andfullcertification.Buttherewas

noassociationbetweenteacherquality

andlearninggainsatschoolswithpoor

learningclimates–studentsatthese

schoolswereunlikelytoshowsubstan-

tialgainsregardlessofthequalityofthe

teachingstaff.

School ClimateItisdifficulttoenacthigh-quality

instructioninadisorderly,unsafeenvi-

ronment.Butdevelopingasafe,orderly

climateismorechallengingwhena

schoolservesdisadvantagedstudent

populations.Schoolstendtobesafer

whentheirstudentscomefromcom-

munitieswithlesspovertyandcrime,

andespeciallywheretherearesocial

resourcesinthecommunity(Steinberg,

Allensworth&Johnson2011).In

Chicago,theschoolsservingstudents

fromneighborhoodswiththehighest

Community-Based Solutions to Teaching Effectiveness

Anne Hallett is director of

Grow Your Own Illinois.

InlateJune2011,theChicago

Tribunerananeditorialabout

assessingteachersandsupport-

inghighstandardsfordeter-

mining“whodoesanddoesn’t

havetherightstufftobea

professionaleducator.”Everyone

wantsthemosteffectiveteachers

inclassrooms,especiallyclass-

roomsattendedbythelowest-

incomestudents,whoneedthe

bestpubliceducationhasto

offer–butoftengettheworst.

TheTribuneeditorialmademe

ask:whatis“therightstuff”

andhowdoweknowifaprofes-

sionaleducator-to-behasit?

Researchtellsusagreat

dealabouttherightstuffneeded

toteachwhatSoniaNieto(2005)

callsthe“newmajority”of

publicschoolstudents–students

ofcolorwhoarepoorand

fromculturallyandlinguistically

diversebackgrounds.Effective

teacherswhoincreaseachieve-

mentfortheseandother

students(Darling-Hammond

&Sykes2003;Payne2008):

•knowthecontenttheyare

teaching;

•havepedagogicalskillsand

abilitytoteachinmultipleways;

PERSPECTIVES:



•knowhowtomotivate,

engage,andassessdiverse

students;

•nurturestrongrelationships

withparentsandcommunity

members;

•teachinculturallycompatible

andresponsiveways;

•haveexperience.

InIllinois,everypotential

teacherhastopasstheBasic

Skillstest,anentranceexam

intotheCollegeofEducation.

Thistestdoesnotassessanyof

thecharacteristicsabove–nor

doesitcorrelatewitheffective

teaching.InSeptember2010,

theIllinoisStateBoardofEdu-

cationraisedthepassingscores

onthistestsignificantlyhigher

thanthescoresrecommended

byanexpertpaneltheyhad

assembled.Theresults?Dev-

astating.Usingthestate’sown,

perhapsoptimistic,data,nine

monthsoftestresultsshow

thatwithover11,500testtak-

ers,only37percentarepassing.

AmongCaucasians,fewerthan

half(43percent)arepassing;

amongAfricanAmericans,

13percentarepassing;among

Latinos,19percentarepassing.

Eventhoughteachercandidates

willhavetopassmultipleother

testsbeforetheycanbecome

teachers,thistestisnowdeny-

ingalmostallpeopleofcolor

entryintocollegesofeducation

inIllinois.

Illinoisshareswithother

statesaveryseriousproblemin

preparingandretainingminor-

ityteachers.Inthepastdecade,

minoritystudentsinIllinois

haveincreaseddramaticallyto

40percent,whileminority

teachershavedecreasedto

13percent!Thenationalfigures,

recentlyquotedbyU.S.Secretary

ofEducationArneDuncanare:

studentsofcolor,40percent;

teachersofcolor,16percent.

Ifwebelieveteachersofcolor

areimportanttothesuccessof

studentsofcolor,letaloneto

equityandsocialjustice,serious

commitmentandintentional

strategiesareneeded(Clotfelter,

Ladd&Vigdor2007).

Chicagocommunity

organizationscreatedone

suchstrategy,GrowYourOwn

(GYO)Teachers,toprovide

apipelineofhighlyeffective

teachersofcolor,wholivein

thelow-incomeneighborhoods

wheretheywillteachand,once

prepared,stayinteaching.GYO

investsinnon-traditionalcandi-

dates:85percentarepeopleof

colorwhoworkinorvolunteer

intheirschools.GYOisstate

lawandisstatefunded.There

aresome350candidates,with

averageGPAsof3.1,andalmost

fiftygraduates,withanotherfifty

projectedtograduatebythe

endofnextyear.Almosthalfare

preparingforhard-to-fillposi-

tions,suchasbilingualandspe-

cialeducation.Earlyassessment

databearsoutthatGYOcandi-

datescombinetheircommunity

connectionsandassetswith

solidpreparationandbecome

excellentteachers.Theyknow

contentandhowtoengage

students.Andtheyunderstand

theculture,language,andcom-

munitiesofthestudentsand

theirfamiliesbecausetheylive

there,too.

Ifwecareaboutdiversity

intheteachingforce–andif

weareseriousaboutresolving

thechallengeofrecruitingand

retainingeffectiveteachersin

low-incomeneighborhoods

ofcolor1–weneedstrategies

suchasGYOthatsupportand

encouragepotentialteachersof

colortolearntheircraft,prepare

themselvestobehighlyeffec-

tive,andthenprovetheyhave

therightstuffasteachers.

1 SeeMcAlister,Mediratta&Shah2009.

References

Clotfelter,C.T.,H.F.Ladd,andJ.L.Vigdor.2007.How and Why Do Teacher Credentials Matter for Student Achievement?WorkingPaper2.Washington,DC:UrbanInstituteandNationalCenterforAnalysisofLongitudinalDatainEducationResearch.

Darling-Hammond,L.,andG.Sykes.2003.“Wanted:ANationalTeacherSupplyPolicyForEducation:TheRightWayToMeetThe‘HighlyQualifiedTeacher’Challenge,”Education Policy Analysis Archives11,no.33(September17).Availablefordownloadat<http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v11n33>

McAlister,S.,K.Mediratta,andS.Shah.2009.Chicago ACORN: Rethinking the Teacher Pipeline for an Urban Public School System.Providence,RI:BrownUniversity,AnnenbergInstituteforSchoolReform.Availablefordownloadat<www.annenberginstitute.org/WeDo/Mott_Chicago.php>

Nieto,S.2005.“SchoolsforaNewMajority:TheRoleofTeacherEducationinHardTimes,”The New Educator1,no.1:27–43.

“Pass/fail/fail/fail.”2011.Editorial.Chicago Tribune(June25).

Payne,C.2008.So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools.Cambridge,MA:HarvardEducationPress.

Community-Based Solutions to Teaching Effectiveness (continued from page 39)


crimeratesandthefewestsocial

resourcespredominantlyserveAfrican

Americanstudents;thus,thereare

manyhigh-povertyAfricanAmerican

schoolswithsubstantialproblemswith

safetyandorder(Steinberg,Allensworth

&Johnson2011).

Furtherresearchthatweconducted

inChicago(Steinberg,Allensworth&

Johnson2011),showedthatcrime

andpovertyarerelatedtoschoolsafety

largelybecausestudentslivinginhigh-

poverty,high-crimeneighborhoodsare

morelikelythanchildrenfromother

areastoenterschoolwithhistoriesof

lowacademicachievement(Steinberg,

Allensworth&Johnson2011).Schools

thatenrollmorestudentswhohave

struggledinschoolinthepastaremore

likelytohaveproblemswithsafety

andorder.Studentswithlowlevels

ofachievementarelesslikelythan

high-achievingstudentstobeengaged

academicallyandmorelikelytofeel

frustratedbytheirperformance.This,in

turn,makeslower-achievingstudents

morelikelytoactoutandlesslikelyto

respondtoacademicpunishments.

Itismuchmoredifficultfor

schoolstodevelopstrongclimatesfor

instruction,andgoodpartnershipswith

parents,whentheyservecommunities

thatarehighlydisadvantaged.Themost

disadvantagedschoolsinChicagoserve

familiesthatliveinneighborhoodswhere

maleunemploymentratesareover

60percent,thereisonecrimereported

forevery2.4people,andthereislittle

participationincommunityorganiza-

tionsorreligiousinstitutions.Inmany

oftheseschoolsaquarterormoreof

studentshavesubstantiatedhistories

ofabuseorneglect(Bryketal.2010).

Schoolsthatservehighlydisadvantaged

populationsfinditdifficulttodevelop

theclimate,thecollaborativerelation-

shipswithfamilies,andprofessional

communitiesthatmakeiteasyfor

teacherstobeeffective.Teachers’com-

fortinreachingouttofamilies,and

theirknowledgeofhowtodoso,is

mademoredifficultbyculturaland

economicdifferencesbetweenthem.

Itisalsohardertohavecoherentand

consistentattendanceanddiscipline

policieswhenservingastudentbody

withhighratesofresidentialand

schoolmobility,andmoreproblems

withattendance.Atthesametime,our

researchshowsthatschoolsserving

highlydisadvantagedstudentsthatdo

managetodevelopstrongorganiza-

tionalsupportsforteachingarejustas

likelytoshowlearningimprovements

andtoholdontotheirteachingstaff,

asareschoolsservingmoreadvantaged

studentpopulations(Bryketal.2010;

Allensworth,Ponisciak&Mazzeo2009).

The Focus on Individual TeachersStrategiesaroundteachingthatfocus

onthequalitiesandperformanceof

individualteachersassumethatinstruc-

tionalqualityisinherentintheteacher.

Ifteachersareworkinginthesame

contextthismightbetrue,butteachers

faceverydifferentworkingconditions

indifferentschools.Teacherevaluation

systemsthatjudgeteacherswithout

regardforcontextfurtherdisincentivize

teachinginthehardestenvironments.

Somevalue-addedmodelscon-

siderpeereffectsorstudentcomposi-

tion.However,manydonot.Theyoften

comparestudentswithsimilarprior

performancetoeachother–thisshows

whichschoolsandteachersproduce

thehighestlearninggains.Buttheydo

notadjustforthefactthatitisharder

tocreateastrongenvironmentinsome

contextsthaninothers.Teacherevalua-

tionsbasedonobservationsarenot

anymorefairforteachersinthemost


difficultcontexts–commonlyused

protocolsmakenoadjustmentsfor

thetypesofstudentsbeingserved.

Yet,weknowthatinstructionalqual-

ityisdeterminednotonlybytheskills

teachersbringtotheclassroom,butby

theinteractionofthoseskillswiththe

studentsbeingservedandthelarger

schoolcontext.3Ifwebaseincentives

andemploymentdecisionsentirelyon

performance,withoutregardforcon-

text,weriskincreasingturnoverratesin

schoolsthatalreadyhavelittlestability.

Atthesametime,itisnotfair

tostudentstolowerexpectationsfor

instructionalquality,especiallyforthose

withlowlevelsofachievementwho

mostneedhigh-qualityinstruction.

Thereisaroleforusinginformation

onindividualteacherstoimprovethe

overallinstructionalqualityinaschool.

Teacherqualificationsdomatter;ata

basiclevel,ifteachersdon’thavethe

contentknowledgeandpedagogical

skills,theycan’tbesuccessful.InChicago,

wherethedistricthassetagoalof

studentsreachingascoreof20on

theACT,therearehighschoolswhere

theaverageACTofteachersis17

(DeAngelis&Presley2007).Itishard

toimaginethattheseschoolswillbe

abletobringstudentstoreachachieve-

mentlevelsthattheteachersthem-

selvesdidnotmeet.

Moreimportantly,indicatorsof

instructionalqualityfromvalue-added

scoresorclassroomobservationscan

beusedtofocusteachers’andschool

leaders’collaborativeworkonthereal

instructionalproblemsthatexistin

theirschool.Especiallyinschoolsserv-

ingstudentswithweakskillsandlarge

socialproblems,itisoftenhardfor

teachersandschoolleaderstoacknowl-

edgewhentheirstudentsarenotbeing

servedwell.Itiseasytoblamelowlev-

elsoflearningonstudents’priorprepa-

rationandthemoredifficultcontext.

Dataonvalue-addedandinstructional

qualitycanbeastrongmotivatorwhen

comparisonsaremadewithinthesame

context.Itishardtoignoreproblems

whenaschoolorclassroomlookspoor

relativetoothersservingsimilarorless-

advantagedstudents.Dataonclass-

roomsandstudentperformancecan

beusedtostructureprofessional

developmentandbuildaprofessional

communityintheschool,focused

ontheinstructionandlearningthatis

actuallyoccurringinthebuilding.

ConclusionItseemsunlikelythatmuchwillbe

gainedfrombettermethodsofidenti-

fyingteacherperformanceinschools

withweakorganizationalsupports.

Tellingateacherthatsheneedsto

improveissufficientonlyforthose

teacherswhoarenotalreadytryingto

beeffective.Besideshavingthemotiva-

tiontochange,teachersneedtoknow

whattodo.Thatiswhyitissocritical

tohavesystemsthatsupportteachers

aroundinstructionandwhycollabora-3 BallandCohen(1999),forexample,notethatitisnotjusttheteacherthatdeterminesthequalityofinstructioninaclassroom,buttheinter-actionoftheteacherandthestudentstogetheraroundthematerialtechnologies.


tioncanprovideinsightintomethods

forbetterpractice.Likewise,ifateacher

isinaschoolwithapoorclimatefor

instructionwhereshefeelsshecannot

beeffective,pointingoutthatsheis

ineffectivemaydolittleexceptmake

hermorefrustrated.Strategiesthat

focusonindividualteacherscanonly

gosofarbythemselves.

Morecriticalthanidentifying

thosefewespeciallyeffectiveorineffec-

tiveteachersistodevelopcollaborative

relationshipsamongteachers,school

leaders,andfamiliessothatschools

arenotreliantonafewgoodteachers.

Withoutimprovingtheschoolcontext

sothatitisagoodworkingenviron-

ment,teacherswhocouldhavebeen

effectivewillleave.Manyschoolsare

stuckinacycleofteacherlossthatis

hardtobreak–teachersleavebecause

ofpoorschoolclimateandlowachieve-

ment,butthesearehardtoimprove

whenthereisconstantturnover.Unless

thiscycleisbroken,studentswhohave

historicallyunderperformedwillcon-

tinuetodoso.Schoolsthatstruggle

withlowachievement,especiallythose

servingthemostimpoverishedcom-

munities,faceextraordinarychallenges

indevelopingstrongorganizationsthat

canmaintainastrongteachingstaff.

Butbuildingthoseorganizationalsup-

portsiswhatisneededtoprovidea

high-qualityinstructionalenvironment

forallstudentsandimproveequityin

educationaloutcomes.

References

Allensworth,E.M.,S.Ponisciak,andC.Mazzeo.2009.The Schools Teachers Leave: Teacher Mobility in Chicago Public Schools.Chicago,IL:ConsortiumonChicagoSchoolResearch.

Ball,D.L.,andD.Cohen.1999.“DevelopingPractice,DevelopingPractitioners:TowardaPractice-BasedTheoryofProfessionalDevelopment.”InTeach ing as the Learning Professional:Handbook of Policy and Practice,editedbyL.Darling-HammondandG.Skyes,pp.3–32.SanFrancisco,CA:Jossey-Bass.

Boyd,D.,P.Grossman,H.Lankford,S.Loeb,andJ.Wyckoff.2007.Who Leaves? Teacher Attrition and Student Achievement.Workingpaper.Albany,NY:StateUniversityofNewYork,Albany.

Bryk,A.S.,P.B.Sebring,E.Allensworth,S.Luppescu,andJ.Q.Easton.2010.Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago.Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress.

Clotfelter,C.,E.Glennie,H.Ladd,andJ.Vigdor,2006.Would Higher Salaries Keep Teachers in High-Poverty Schools? Evidence from a Policy Intervention in North Carolina.NBERWorkingPapers12285.Cambridge,MA:NationalBureauofEconomicResearch,Inc.

DeAngelis,K.J.,andJ.B.Presley.2011.“TeacherQualificationsandSchoolClimate:ExaminingTheirInterrelationshipforSchoolImprovement,”Leadership and Policy in Schools10,no.1:84–120.

DeAngelis,K.J.,andJ.B.Presley.2007.Leaving Schools or Leaving the Profession: Setting Illinois’ Record Straight on New Teacher Attrition.IllinoisEducationResearchCouncilPolicyResearchReport:IERC2007–1.Edwardsville,IL:IERC.

Grissom,J.A.2008.But Do They Stay? Addressing Issues of Teacher Retention through Who Leaves? Teacher Attrition and Student Achievement.Workingpaper.Albany,NY:StateUniversityofNewYork,Albany.

Hanushek,E.A.,J.F.Kain,andS.G.Rivkin.2004.“WhyPublicSchoolsLoseTeachers,”Journal of Human Resources39,no.2:326–354.

Johnson,S.M.2009.How Best to Add Value? Strike a Balance between the Individual and the Organization in School Reform.EPIBriefingPaper#249.Washington,DC:EconomicPolicyInstitute.

Kane,T.J.,J.E.Rockoff,andD.O.Staiger.2006.What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City.NBERWorkingPaperNo.12155.Washington,DC:NationalBureauofEconomicResearch.

Keigher,A.,andF.Cross.2010.Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results From the 2008–09 Teacher Follow-up Survey.WashingtonDC:NationalCenterforEducationStatistics.

Scafidi,B.,D.L.Sjoquist,andT.R.Stinebrickner.2007.“Race,Poverty,andTeacherMobility.”Economics of Education Review26,no.2:145–159.

Steinberg,M.,E.Allensworth,andD.Johnson.2011.Student and Teacher Safety in Chicago Schools: The Roles of Community Context and Social Organi-zation.Chicago,IL:ConsortiumonChicagoSchoolResearch.

West,M.R.,andM.M.Chingos.2009.Teacher Effectiveness, Mobility and Attrition in Florida.Washington,DC:TheBrookingsInstitution.


Effective Teaching as a Civil Right: How Building Instructional Capacity Can Help Close the Achievement Gap

Better ways of measuring and recognizing teacher effectiveness must be integrated

with systems that develop greater teacher competence and provide incentives for teaching

the highest-need students.

Despitegrowingevidencethat

expertteachersarecriticaltoeducational

achievement,well-preparedandeffec-

tiveteachersarethemostunequally

distributededucationalresourceinthe

UnitedStates.Sincefederalsupports

forurbanschoolfundingandteacher

trainingweredramaticallyreducedin

the1980s,teachershortagesinschools

servinglow-incomestudentshave

increased.Sincethen,ithasbeenincreas-

inglycommonforstudentsinpoor

ruralandurbanschoolstoexperience

arevolvingdoorofinexperiencedand

underpreparedteachers.

Currentpolicydiscussionsfocus

ontwodistinctapproachestodevel-

opingamoreeffectiveteachingforce.

Oneapproach,articulatedmorethan

adecadeagobytheconservative

FordhamFoundation(1999),argues

thatteacherqualificationsdonotmat-

ter;theideaistoletanyoneintoteach-

ingandthenseehowitworksout.

Theapproachputslittlestockinefforts

tosupportteachers’learningthrough

pre-orin-servicedevelopmentand

seekstoimproveteachingbyattaching

hiring,promotion,andpaydecisions

totestscores,ontheassumptionthat

teacherswilltryharderiftheyknow

thatoutcomescount.Like“TheoryX”

inthebusinessliterature,thisview

Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles Ducommon Professor of Education at Stanford University School of Education.

assumesthatknowledgeandskillsare

notaproblem,andthatindividualsare

primarilymotivatedbyrewardsand

sanctionsattachedtoperformance

measures.Proponentsofthisviewargue

thatpoliciesshouldremove“barriers”

toentry,suchasteachereducationand

certification,andpersonneldecisions

shouldbemadebasedonstudent

testscores.

Asecondapproach,articulated

initiallybytheNationalCommission

onTeachingandAmerica’sFuture

(1996),arguesthatteacherknowledge

andskillsarecloselyrelatedtoteachers’

andschools’capacitytosupportstu-

dentlearningandthattheinequitable

distributionofteacherqualificationsis

aseriousprobleminU.S.education.

Schoolwidecapacitybuilding–building

collectivecapacity,developingamore

coherentcurriculum,andproviding

schoolwidestrategiesforstudentsup-

port–isemphasizedalongwithindi-

vidualcapacitybuilding.Like“TheoryY”

inthebusinessliterature,thisapproach

assumesthatmostpeoplewanttobe

competentandaremotivatedbysee-

ingthattheirworkmakesadifference.

Proponentsofthisviewargueforpoli-

ciesthatstrengthenteachers’instruc-

tionalknowledgeandskill,equalize

resourcestoschooldistricts,andpro-

LindaDarling-Hammond

V.U.E. Fall 2011 45

videincentivesforinvestmentsinteach-

ingcapacity–includingapproachesto

teacherevaluationanddevelopment

thatgiveteachersfeedbackaboutprac-

ticeandrewardthemforimproving

theirskillsandsharingexpertise.

ThisarticledescribeswhyIthink

test-basedincentivesareinadequate

tosupportteachingqualityandedu-

cationalequity,andwhyIbelievea

capacity-buildingapproachiscritically

importanttopromoteeffectiveteach-

inginallcommunities,particularly

thosewhereitiscurrentlymostlacking.

Components of Effective Instruction Tobuildausefulpolicysystemthat

encouragesexcellentinstructionand

strongstudentlearning,itisimportant

toconsiderbothteacherquality–so

thatthesystemrecruitstherightpeople

andpreparesthemeffectively–and

teachingquality–sothatthemost

effectivepracticesareencouragedand

themostsupportiveconditionsare

provided.

Effective Teachers

Teacherqualitymightbethoughtof

asthebundleofpersonaltraits,skills,

behaviors,andunderstandingsanindi-

vidualbringstoteaching.Researchhas

foundthatmore-effectiveteachersgen-

erallypossesshighverbalability;strong

contentandpedagogicalknowledge;an

understandingoflearnersandlearning;

anabilitytodesignusefulcurriculum,

engaginglearningtasks,andinforma-

tiveassessments;andanabilityand

willingnesstoreflectonandimprove

theirownpractice.1

Overthelastdecade,thesecapaci-

tieshaveincreasinglybeenbuiltinto

licensingandcertificationrequirements,

whichincludepreparationincontent

andteachingskills,aswellasbasic

skillsandsubjectmattertests.Certified

teachershavebeenfoundtobesig-

nificantlymoreeffectivethanuncerti-

fiedteachersforelementarystudents,

especiallyAfricanAmericanandLatino

students(Easton-Brooks&Davis

2009;Darling-Hammondetal.2005);

secondarystudents(Clotfelter,Ladd

&Vigdor2007;Goldhaber&Brewer

2000;Monk1994);andspecialeduca-

tionstudents,inbothmainstreamed

andspecialeducationsettings(Feng&

Sass2009).Inspecialeducation,asin

otherfields,certifiedteachersaretwice

aslikelytostayintheprofession,which

enhancestheiroveralleffectivenessstill

further(Boe,Cook&Sunderland2006).

1 Forasummaryofstudies,seeDarling-Hammond&Bransford2005;Darling-Hammond2000;andWilson,Floden&Ferrini-Mundy2001.

Ithasbeenincreasinglycommon

forstudentsinpoorrural

andurbanschoolstoexperience

arevolvingdoorofinexperiencedand

underpreparedteachers.

Incombination,teachers’qualifi-

cationscanhaveverylargeeffects.For

example,arecentstudyofhighschool

studentsinNorthCarolinafoundthat

students’achievementwassignificantly

higherwhenteacherswerecertifiedin

theirteachingfield;werefullyprepared

uponentry;hadhigherscoresonthe

teacherlicensingtest;graduatedfrom

acompetitivecollege;hadtaughtfor

morethantwoyears;orwereNational

BoardCertified(Clotfelter,Ladd&

Vigdor2007).Further,thecombined

influenceofhavingateacherwithmost


ofthesequalificationsratherthanafew

ofthemwaslargerthantheeffectsof

raceandparenteducationcombined.

AsimilarstudyofteachersinNewYork

Cityalsofoundthatteachers’certifi-

cationstatus,pathwayintoteaching,

teachingexperience,graduationfrom

acompetitivecollege,andmathSAT

scoresweresignificantpredictorsof

teachereffectivenessinelementaryand

middlegradesmathematics(Boyd,

Lankfordetal.2008).

Effective Teaching

Teachingquality–thatis,stronginstruc-

tionthatenablesawiderangeofstu-

dentstolearn–isinpartafunction

ofteacherquality,butitisalsostrongly

influencedbythecontextofinstruction.

Ateacherwhoiseffectivewithinher

ownfieldofpreparationorwithaffluent

studentsmaynotbeeffectiveinother

circumstances.Substantialevidencealso

pointstotheimportanceofclasssize,

specificcurriculumsupports,theavail-

abilityofinstructionalsupportssuchas

tutoring,andtheuseoftimeasstrong

predictorsofstudentachievement,along

withfactorslikestudentattendance.2

AsLisaQuay’sarticleinthisissue

documents,accesstogoodleadership

andtogoodcolleaguesmatters.In

fact,collectivepracticeisasimportant

asindividualskill(Berry,Daughtrey

&Wieder2010;Bryk,Nagaoka&

Newmann2000;Ingersoll&Perda

2009;Weietal.2009).Inonestudy,

economistsfoundthatmostvalue-

addedgainswereattributableto

teacherswhoweremoreexperienced

andbetterqualified,andwhostay

togetherasteamswithintheirschools.

Theresearchersfoundthatpeerlearn-

ingamongsmallgroupsofteachers

wasthemostpowerfulpredictorof

improvedstudentachievementover

time(Jackson&Bruegmann2009).

Unequal Access to Effective Teachers and Teaching Becauseofdisparitiesinschoolfund-

ingandrevenues,workingconditions

arepoorerandsalarylevelsarelower

forteachersinmostcitiesservinglarge

concentrationsoflow-incomestudents

ofcolorandinpoorruralareasthan

theyareinwealthiersuburbs,creating

problemsforrecruitmentandreten-

tion.Thepracticeofloweringcreden-

tialingstandardstofillclassrooms

inhigh-minority,low-incomeschools–

apracticethatisunheardofinhigh-

achievingnationsandinotherprofes-

sions–hasbecomecommonplacein

manyU.S.states,especiallyinstates

withlargeminorityandimmigrant

populations,likeCalifornia,Florida,

NewYork,andTexas.

Dramaticinequalitiesinaccess

tocertifiedteachershavebeendocu-

mentedinlawsuitschallengingschool

fundinginCalifornia,Massachusetts,

NewJersey,NewYork,SouthCarolina,

andTexas,amongotherstates(Darling-

Hammond2010b).Byeverymeasure

ofqualifications–certification,subject

matterbackground,pedagogicaltrain-

ing,selectivityofcollegeattended,test

scores,orexperience–lessqualified

teachersarefoundinschoolsserving

2 See,forexample,Oakes2003.

Linda Darling-Hammond | V.U.E. Fall 2011 47

greaternumbersoflow-income

andminoritystudents(NCES1997;

Lankford,Loeb&Wyckoff2002).

ArecentstudybyMathematica

illustrateswhathappenswhenschools

becomedumpinggrounds.Thestudy,

whichcomparedtheeffectivenessof

teachersfromshort-termalternative

certification(AC)programstothoseof

otherteachersintheirschools,found

thattheACteacherswereonlyhired

inthehighest-minority,lowest-income

schoolsinhigh-minority,low-income

districtswithinstatesthatoftenprohib-

itedthepracticeelsewhere.Notsurpris-

ingly,studentsofACteacherswhowere

stillfinishingtheircourseworklearned

significantlylessthanstudentsofother

teachers(Constantineetal.2009),

andthosetaughtbyteachersfromthe

“low-coursework”alternativeprograms

actuallydeclinedintheirreadingand

mathscoresbynearlytwonormalcurve

equivalentpointsbetweenfalland

springoftheacademicyear(Darling-

Hammond2009).Teachersfromthe

“high-coursework”programsdidsome-

whatbetter,andtheirtraditional-route

counterpartsdidbetterstill,indicating

thatbettertrainedteachersproduced

betteroutcomesforstudents.

Evenifthosewhostayinteaching

catchuptotheirpeerslater,students

whohavehadsuchteacherswhen

theywerenovicesmaynevercatchup,

especiallyifthestudentshaveaparade

ofsuchbeginnersyearafteryear.In

reading,forexample,thenegativeeffect

onupperelementarystudentstaught

byunderpreparednoviceshasbeen

estimatedasthelossofaboutone-third

ofagradeleveleachyear(Laczko-Kerr

&Berliner2002;Darling-Hammond

etal.2005).Nonetheless,defendants

inschoolfundinglawsuitshavegener-

allyarguedthatqualificationsdon’t

matter,and,therefore,disparitiesin

accesstotrained,certified,andexpe-

riencedteachersarenotaproblem

andshouldnotrequirechangestothe

unequalallocationofresourcestorich

andpoorschools.Thisargumenthas

alsobeenusedtosuggestthatESEA’s

rulestorequirestrongerqualifications

forteachersandtodistributethem

moreequitablyshouldbediscontinued

andreplacedbyposthocindicatorsof

teachereffectivenessbasedlargelyon

studenttestscores.Proponentsofthis

viewappearunconcernedaboutprotec-

tionsforstudentswhomaybetaught

foryearsbyarevolvingdoorofunquali-

fiedandineffectiveteacherswhoenter

andleavebeforetheireffectivenesscan

beascertained.

Recommendations for Developing – and Equitably Distributing – Effective Teachers and Teaching Statesanddistrictsthathavecon-

sciouslybuiltthecapacityofteachers

inhigh-needschoolshavereduced

achievementgapsbyinvestingin

teacherandprincipalpreparationand

development,buildingmorecollabora-

tiveschoolorganizations,andequal-

izingsalariesandworkingconditions.3

Whilethereisgrowinginterestin

movingbeyondmeasuresofteacher

qualificationstoevaluateteachers’

effectivenessbasedontestscoregains,

itiscriticallyimportanttodevelop

measuresofteacherandteaching

effectivenessthatsupport improvement

inindividualandcollectiveteaching

expertisealongwithprovidingaccurate

picturesofteachers’abilities.

Ultimately,thegoalofmeasuring

teachereffectivenessshouldbeto

3 Forareview,seeDarling-HammondandSykes2003.


improveteachers’capacitiesandthe

effectivenessoftheeducationalenter-

prise.Focusingonlyonevaluatingpoor

teachersoutoftheprofessionisunlikely

toproduceahighlyeffectiveteaching

forceiftherearenotequallystrong

effortstodevelopasteadysupplyof

effectiveteachersenteringandstaying

intheprofessionandbecomingmore

effectiveoverthecourseoftheircareers.

Theserecommendationsfocuson

suchstrategies.

Create a Steady Supply of

Prepared and Effective New Teachers

Basedonthefindingsdescribedearlier,

smartpolicysystemswouldprovide

incentivestorecruithigh-abilitystudents

intoteaching;ensurethattheycomplete

high-qualitypreparationbeforeentry;

supportrigorouslicensingstandards;

andinvestinsupportsforretaining

beginners,includinghigh-qualitymentor-

ing.Suchincentivescouldtaketheform

ofservicescholarshipsandforgivable

loansliketheNorthCarolinaTeaching

Fellowsprogramthatunderwritesthe

costsofcollegeandteacherpreparation

forhigh-abilitystudentswhocommit

toteachingforfouryears;incentives

andsupportsforpreparationandmen-

toringprogramsthatareengaging

andeffectiveinpreparingteachers;

andinvestmentsinrigorouscertification

standardsthatarecloselyrelatedto

theknowledgeandskillsneededto

teacheffectively.

Pre-serviceteacherpreparationand

mentoringenhanceteachereffective-

nessbothbytransmittingimportant

knowledgeandskillsandbyenabling

teacherstostayintheprofessionand

becomemoreeffectivewithexperience.

Whereas49percentofrecentcollege

graduateswhoenterteachingwithout

certificationleavewithinfiveyears,only

14percentoffullypreparedentrants

leave(Henke,Chen&Geis2000).

Teacherswhohavehadnostudent

teaching,andthosewholackedcourse-

workinchilddevelopment,learning,

curriculum,andotherknowledge

essentialtoteaching,leaveattwice

theratesofthosewithmorecomplete

preparation(NCTAF2003;Henke,

Chen&Geis2000).

Providingexpertmentorstocoach

beginnersalsoreducesbeginningteacher

attrition,withratesofleavingreduced

frommorethan30percentofbegin-

nerstoaslowas5percentinsomedis-

trictsthathaveintroducedhigh-quality

programs.Well-designedmentoring

programsimproveretentionrates,atti-

tudes,feelingsofefficacy,andrangeof

instructionalstrategiesfornewteachers

(Darling-Hammond&Sykes2003).

Federalandstateincentivesshould

leveragelocaleffortstocreatestrong

mentoringineveryschool,reducing

attritionandincreasingcompetence.

Thereare,ofcourse,substantial

differencesintherelativeeffectiveness

ofteachereducationprograms.Conse-

quently,policiestodevelopstronger

teachereffectivenessshouldleverage

programstoadoptthefeaturesofthe

mostsuccessfulprogramsandtocon-


Civil Rights Considerations

Hal Smith is vice president of

education and youth development

at the National Urban League.

TheNationalUrbanLeague

believesthatanyworkingdefini-

tionof“excellence”ineduca-

tionalperformancemuststate

clearlythatmoreisexpected

asanoutcomeforyouththan

minimumcompetency–or

adeepexposuretomediocre

teachingandcontent.“Excel-

lence”requiresmasteryand

proficiency–whichfullypre-

paresstudentsfortheworld

ofcollege,work,andlife.Our

visionofequityandexcellence

atscaleisthatdistributionsof

performancebydifferentgroups

ofstudentswillnolonger

neatlyfollowidentifierssuchas

race,language,socio-economic

status,orgender.Furthermore,

thosedistributionswouldevi-

dencelevelsofperformance

highenoughthatU.S.students

couldparticipateonaneven

footingwiththestudentsof

othernations.

Oureducationreform

approachisbuiltuponthe

premisethatwhileanyone

individualreformorinnova-

tionapproachholdssubstantial

potentialforsomestudents,true

promiseliesintheuntapped

potentialofusingthesereforms

ininformedanddeliberatecom-

binationtoaddresscomplex

questions.Singularapproaches,

eventhoseaspotentiallyvalu-

ableasthosethataimtoevalu-

atenarrowlydefinedindividual

teachereffectiveness,limitwhat

ispossible.Seeminglyintractable

andcomplexproblemssuchas

thosefoundinurbanschools

andcommunitiesrequiremul-

tifacetedandthoughtfulsolu-

tions.Therewillbenosingle

“silverbullet”approachtoedu-

cationreformandinnovationor

theimprovementofoutcomes

forurbanyouth.Ourprinciples

holdthataportfolio,orsuite,of

tools,strategies,andapproaches

arerequiredtodeliverbetter

outcomesforbothhistorically

underservedandunderperform-

ingstudentsandtheschoolsin

whichtheyareeducated.

Defining “Teacher

Effectiveness” More Broadly


holdsthatitiscriticallyimpor-

tanttoadjustthereformnarra-

tivetoincludemoreclearand

expansiveframes.Forexample,

manyreformersspendagreat

dealoftimeandenergyon

“teachereffectiveness,”buthave

limiteddefinitionsofeffective-

nessthatexcludeallindicators

andmeasuresofeffectiveness

savethosethataredirectlytied

tostandardizedtestscoresand

formalcredentialing.Surely

whenreformerspositteacher

effectivenessasacivilright,we

meanmuchmorethanthat.

Whatislargelyabsentisamore

holisticandcomplexinterroga-

tionofeffectivenessthatmight

revealhowteacherexpectations

oftheirstudentsorcontent

masteryandyearsofexperience

asaclassroomteachermight

impactstudentperformance.

Furthermore,onemightcon-

sidertheimpactofthequality

ofsettinginwhichteachers

teach–theadministration,

leadership,andsupport–ona

teacher’sabilitytobeeffective.

Inourview,educational

reformstrategiessuchasequi-

tableaccesstohigh-quality

instructiondonotseekidentical

outcomes,butratherequivalent

(equallyempowering)outcomes

asdesirableandofcriticalimpor-

tance.Thus,ahighscoreona

GEDisnotthesameas,nor

equitablecomparedwith,ahigh

scoreonstatetests,nomatter

thequalityofinstructioninthe

former.Equitytrulyexistswhere

allstudents,irrespectiveofclass,

race,income,gender,andother

socio-economicfactors,have

accessandgainentrytothe

high-qualityopportunitiesand

settingsthatmakethem“ready”

toenterandthriveinthemost

demandingandrewarding

educationalandprofessional

settingsthetwenty-firstcentury

hastooffer.

The Equity and

Civil Rights Lens

Establishingaclearsetofstan-

dardsiscriticalinensuringthat

allchildrenwithinunderserved

urbancommunitiesreceive

effectiveinstruction–andby

thatwemeanmorethanjust

commoncorestatestandards.

Whiletheintroductionand

adoptionofcommoncorestate

standardsarenecessaryand

importantsteps,therearetwo

outstandingconcernsrelated

tostandardsthatdeservesome

attention.

TheNationalUrban

Leagueisfullysupportiveofthe

commoncorestatestandards

PERSPECTIVES:



Civil Rights Considerations (continued from page 49)

andhaschampionedthemas

amemberoftheCampaignfor

HighSchoolEquitynationally

andwithouraffiliatesinlocal

communities,throughour

EquityandExcellenceProject.

However,wefeelthatequal

attentionandanalysisshould

alsobeappliedtoobtaininga

deeperandmorecomprehen-

siveunderstandingofstandards

ofinputandprocess.

Whatarethestandardsof

resources(human,fiscal,profes-

sionaldevelopment,technology,

etc.)necessarytoaccomplishour

aims?Whatarethestandardsof

pedagogy,ofclassroommanage-

ment,ofprofessionallearning

requiredtoimproveeducational

outcomesforstudents?Ifthere

arelegitimatequestionsabout

thequalityofcontentand

instructionevidencedbythe

needforcommoncorestate

standards–andwebelievethat

thereare–wealsobelievethat

similarlegitimatequestionsexist

aboutstandardsastheyrelate

totheentiresetofeducational

investments,opportunities,

priorities,andprocesses.


feelsthisisbestansweredviaa

thoroughandintentionalexami-

nationoftheunderlyingtheories

ofactionanddesignprinciples

ofeducationreform.Ineach

communityandnationally,what

isneededisforeducationstake-

holdersandpolicymakersto

clarifytheirassumptionsabout

thetheoryofactionguiding

educationreformssuchas

“effectiveteaching.”Ratherthan

confinetheconversationto

fittingnecessarychangeor

innovationontoexistingand

privilegedstructuresandframe-

works,attentionshouldbepaid

tooutliningthekindsofsup-

portsandguidancethatindivid-

ualschools,groupsofschools,

andthecommunitiestheyserve

mightactuallyneedtoreachthe

desiredandexpectedoutcomes

forstudents.Unfortunately,the

largernationaldiscussiontoo

oftenuncriticallyandunneces-

sarilydismissesthesequestions

asa“defenseofthestatusquo”

ratherthanaslegitimatecon-

cernsinthetwenty-first-century

pursuitofequityandexcellence

atscale.

Forexample,duringthe

WarrenInstitute’sCivilRights

ResearchRoundtableon

EducationofMarch2011on

equitableaccesstoeffective

teaching,Ihadadiscussionwith

apresenteratmytable.Hewas

askedtoprovideananalysisof

teachereffectivenessusingan

economicslens,andhepro-

videdthatmostcapably.How-

ever,aswewerediscussingthe

implicationsofhisfindingsand

ofthepresentationsthathad

precededhis,someoneasked:

whatarethegoalsofeducation

reformcenteredonteacher

effectiveness?Heresponded

thatourcollectiveaimwasto

getthebestpossibleteaching

wecouldatthelowestpricewe

could.Thisalarmedafewofus,

andIasked:shouldn’twebe

concerned,instead,withunder-

standinghowmuchitcoststo

provideahigh-qualityeducation

toallstudentsandthenargue

abouthowbesttopayforit,or

atleastbeexplicitaboutwhywe

thoughtaparticularsubsetof

studentswasn’tworththeinvest-

ment?Thegroupwentback

andforthoverthecourseofour

allottedtime,butwhatwasclear

wasthattherewereanumber

ofstartingpointsandanalytic

framesatplayintheroom.It

wasalsoapparentthatwhile

weweregatheredtogetherto

discussteachereffectiveness,we

weren’ttheretodiscussitcom-

prehensivelyorfromaninten-

tionalequityorcivilrightslens.

Unanswered Questions

Policymakersandeducational

advocacyorganizationssuch

astheNationalUrbanLeague

remainconcernedaboutthe

historicandgrowinggapsin

accesstohigh-qualityinstruc-

tionandcontentoverall–but

especiallyforlow-incomeurban

students.Whilethereisgrowing

knowledgeaboutthesources

ofthegapanditssolutions,

thereislimitedconsensusabout

theprioritiesandstrategiesin

whichtoinvest,andnobroad-

scalecommunityinvolvement

insettinggoals,measuringand

reportingprogress,andtaking

substantivestepstowardscon-

tinuousimprovement.

ThelargerUrbanLeague

movementbelievesthatitis

importanttounderstandhow

reformssuchasteachereffec-

tivenessandaccesstohigh-

qualityinstructionandcontent

arecommunicatedbypolicy-

makerstothewidercommunity

andtheextenttowhichthese

reformsareseenasappropriate,

equitable,andreflectiveofcom-

munityconcerns.Howthese

reformsplayoutinmattersof

race,gender,class,language,



tinuallyimprove.Astudyidentifying

teachereducationprogramswhose

graduatesproducedthestrongestgains

instudentachievementinelementary

readingandmathematicsinNewYork

Cityfoundthatthemosteffective

programshadwell-supervisedstudent

teachingexperiencesthatwerewell

matchedtothestudentsthatcandi-

dateswouldteach;morecourseworkin

readingandmathematicscontentand

teachingmethods;coursesthathelped

candidatesacquirespecificpractices

andtoolsthattheywouldthenapply

intheirstudentteachingorpracticum;

thespecificcurriculummaterialsthey

wouldteach;andarequiredcapstone

project,usuallyaperformanceassess-

mentorportfoliooftheirworkdone

inclassroomswithstudents(Boyd,

Grossmanetal.2008).

Thesereformsdependcentrally

oncreatingnewmodelsofclinical

practicethataretightlyintegratedwith

coursework.Manysuccessfulschools

ofeducationhavedonethisbycreating

professionaldevelopmentrelationships

withlocalschools,workingwiththese

sitestotrainnovicesintheclassrooms

ofexpertteachers.Highlydeveloped

modelshavebeenfoundtoincrease

teachereffectivenessandretention,

fosterinstructionalimprovement,and

raisestudentachievement.Justasthe

Civil Rights Considerations (continued from page 50)

etc.,iscritical,especiallysince

therehasbeensolittlenational

orstate-leveldiscussionabout

whatspecificallyhappensto

thosewhoarecurrentlyand

historicallyunderserved–not

theclassof2024whowill

havepotentiallyexperienced

twelvefullyearsofareform,

buttheclassesof2012,2013,

and2014,whowillbecaught

inthewhirlwindofchangein

strategy,investment,andimple-

mentation.Canwearticulate

toparentswhatchangestomor-

rowintheirchild’sclassroom

asaresultofthesereforms,as

opposedtogenerallanguage

andproclamationsabouthow

muchbetterthingsaregoingto

beinsomefar-offfuturewhen

reformsrealizetheirfullprom-

ise?Aretheseinterventions

robustandflexibleenoughto

meettheneedsofbothcurrent

andnear-futurestudents?

Furthermore,whatismiss-

ingisaclearanalysisofthe

implementationprocessaround

thesereforms.Evennow,state

legislaturesandgovernorsare

backingawayfromfullyand

equitablyimplementingcom-

moncorestatestandards,for

fiscalandphilosophicalreasons

–butthecallforimproving

equitableaccesstohigh-quality

teachinghasnotbeenadjusted

torecognizepoliticalrealities.

Thisdoesnotrequireachange

inprinciple.Butitdoesrequire

anacknowledgementthat

reformsarenotimplementedin

avacuumandstrategiesoften

dorequireadjustment.

Weareconfidentthat

educationreformerslargely

believethatweareallworking

inthebestinterestofchildren

andyouth.Butweareequally

confidentthatthecurrent

educationalnarrativeleaves

littleroomforpurposefully

upendingassumptionsand

expectationsaboutstudentsand

communitiesofcolorthrough

acomprehensiveanalysisof

theformulationofsolutions,

interventions,approaches,and

strategiesconsideredvalidand

appropriateatthismoment.

Whilewehavenoproblemwith

theunderlyingconceptsbehind

thesereformsandfullyrecog-

nizetheirpromise,giventhehis-

toryofurbaneducationreform

andthecurrentpoliticaland

economicrealities,theUrban

Leaguehasanumberofques-

tionsastothequalityandfidel-

ityofreformimplementation

takingplaceinschoolsanddis-

trictsacrossthecountry.What

wewanttohighlight–and

avoid–isthewaysthatreforms

simplyreinforceorfollowpaths

ofhistoricinequityratherthan

explicitlyconfrontthemand

openadditionalpossibilitiesfor

urbanchildrenandyouth.


federalgovernmenthasfundedteaching

hospitalsthatstrengthenmedicaltraining,

investmentsinprofessionaldevelop-

mentschoolscoulddramaticallyimprove

teachers’abilitiestobeeffectivefrom

theirfirstdaysintheclassroom.

Teacherresidencies,likethose

designedinChicago,Boston,and

Denver,useasimilarmodel.Mid-career

recruitsareplacedasapprenticesin

theclassroomsofhighlyexpertmentor

teachersforayearwhiletheycomplete

tightlylinkededucationcourseworkin

partnershipwithalocaluniversity.They

receiveastipendduringthisyearanda

master’sdegreeandcredentialatthe

endoftheyear.Theycontinuetoreceive

mentoringinthenexttwoyearsand

pledgetospendatleastthreetofour

yearsincityschools.Themodelhas

alreadyshownretentionratesofover90

percentinthefirstfiveyearsofteaching

andastrongperformancebygraduates.

Policiesthatcouldsupportthe

creationofthesemoreeffectivemodels

ofpreparationwouldincludechallenge

grants,likethefederalTeacherQuality

EnhancementPartnershipGrants,to

launchandexpandsuchprograms,

especiallyinhigh-needcommunities.

Statesshouldevaluatealltheirprograms

–bothtraditionalandalternative–

intermsofteacherretention,evidence

oflatereffectivenessintheclassroom,

andthegraduates’performanceon

validteacherperformanceassessments

(seenextsection).Statesshouldincorpo-

ratethesedataintoprogramapproval

andaccreditationdecisionsinorder

toexpandeffectivepreparationmodels

whileeliminatingthosethatarepoor

performing.

Use Teacher Performance

Assessments to Measure

Competence before Licensing

Beginningteachersshouldbelicensed

basedongreaterevidenceofteacher

competencethanmerelycompletinga

setofcoursesorsurvivingacertain

lengthoftimeintheclassroom.Current

teacherlicensingtests–generally

multiple-choicetestsofbasicskillsand

subjectmatter–donotpredictteachers’

abilitiestoeffectivelyteachchildren.

Furthermore,inmanycases,thesetests

evaluateteacherknowledgebefore

theyenterteachereducation,andthus

havelittleuseforteachereducation

accountability.

Movingthefieldforward,several

states,includingCalifornia,Connecticut,

NorthCarolina,andOregon,have

incorporatedperformanceassessments

inthelicensingprocess.Thesemea-

suresofperformancehavebeenfound

tobestrongleversforimproving

preparationandmentoring,aswellas

determiningteachers’competence.The

PerformanceAssessmentforCalifornia

Teachers(PACT),forexample,requires

teacherstodocumenttheirplansand

teachingforaunitofinstruction,adapt

themforspecialeducationstudentsand

Englishlanguagelearners,videotapeand

critiquelessons,andcollectandevalu-

ateevidenceofstudentlearning.Aswith

theNationalBoardassessments,begin-

ningteachers’ratingsonthesekindsof

assessmentshavebeenfoundtopredict

theirstudents’value-addedachieve-

mentonstatetests(Wilson&Hallum

2006;Newton2010).

Currently,morethantwentystates

havejoinedtogethertocreateacom-

monversionofaninitialperformance-

basedlicensingassessmentthatcould

beusednationwidetoleveragemuch

strongerpreparationandlicensing.A

moreadvancedversionoftheassess-


mentcouldalsobeusedatthepointof

theprofessionallicense(afterthethree-

yearprobationaryperiod)andusedto

guideteacherinductionandmentoring

(Darling-Hammond2010a).

Federalsupportfortheuseof

suchnationallyavailableperformance

assessmentswouldnotonlyprovide

ausefultoolforaccountabilityand

improvement,butalsofacilitateteacher

mobilityacrossstatesbycreatinga

portablelicense.Highscorersonthis

performanceassessmentcouldbe

grantedanationallicense,whichwould

makeiteasierforstatestoattracteffec-

tiveteacherstohigh-needschools.With

theadditionofincentivesforNational

BoardCertification,whichhasalsobeen

foundbothtomeasure4andimprove5

teachers’effectiveness,theseassessments

wouldprovideacontinuumofoppor-

tunitiestoidentifyandhelpstimulate

increasingeffectivenessacrossthecareer.

Somedistrictshaveevenused

schoolwideparticipationintheNational

BoardCertificationprocessasaturn-

aroundstrategytobuildteachingcapac-

ity,producingsuccesswherethereonce

wasfailure.Forexample,atMitchell

ElementarySchoolinPhoenix,Arizona,

schoolachievementhasdramatically

improved,andteacherturnoverhas

decreasedasaresultofthisapproach.

Asthedistrict’sassociatesuperintendent

SuzanneZentnernoted,“Webelievein

theNationalBoardCertificationpro-

cessasanapproachto. . .closingthe

achievementgap”(Berry,forthcoming).

Develop Integrated Measures

of Teaching Practice and Student

Learning to Evaluate Teacher

Effectiveness on the Job

Thereisnodoubtthatteacherevalu-

ationsystemsintheU.S.arebroken:

teachers,administrators,parents,and

policymakersagreethatmostdistricts

failtoeithermeasureteachingwell,

helpteachersimprove,ordismissthose

whoarefailing.Mostteachersareten-

uredwithoutarigorousexamination

oftheircompetence,andthosewho

arestrugglingareoftenlefttoflounder

indefinitelywhiletheirstudentssuffer.

Thevastmajorityofteacherswhoare

workinghardandwanttocontinueto

improvegetlittlehelptodoso.

Inareportbythegroup

AccomplishedCaliforniaTeachers,

JaneFung,anaward-winningtwenty-

yearveteranofLosAngelesUnified

SchoolDistrict,describedtheexperi-

enceofmanyteachers:

Ihavehadadministratorswhonever

cameintomyclassroomforformal

observationsoraskedmeforany-

thingmorethantheinitialplanning/

goalsheet.Ihavehadadministrators

observeaformallessonandputthe

feedbacksheetinmyboxwithout

everhavingspokentomeaboutthe

lesson,andIhavehadyearswhereI

amjustaskedtosigntheend-of-the-

yearevaluationsheet[withoutbeing

observed].(NBRC2010,p.iv)

Giventhissorrysituation,some

reformersareenthusiasticaboutmea-

suringteachers’effectivenessbasedon

theirstudents’testscoregainsusing

value-added methods(VAM),nowthat

suchdataarebecomingmoreavailable.

Afterall,ifstudentlearningistheprimary

goalofteaching,itappearsstraightfor-

wardthatitoughttobetakeninto

accountindeterminingateachers’com-

petence.TheVAMconceptisimportant,

4 See,forexample,Bondetal.2000;Cavaluzzo2004;Goldhaber&Anthony2005;Smithetal.2005;andVandevoort,Amrein-Beardsley&Berliner2004.

5 SeeSato,Wei&LindaDarling-Hammond2008;Tracz,Sienty&Mata1994;andTraczetal.1995.


asitreflectsadesiretoacknowledge

teachers’contributionstostudents’

progress,takingintoaccountwhere

studentsbegin.Furthermore,VAMare

valuableforstudyingprogrameffec-

tiveness,andIhavecitedsuchstud-

iesthroughoutthisarticle.Ironically,

though,relyingonsuchmeasuresis

unlikelytoimproveteachers’skillor

capacityandcouldactuallyundermine,

ratherthanimprove,theoverallquality

ofteaching–especiallyforthehighest-

needstudents.

Howcouldthisbe?

First,test score gains are not accu-

rate measures of teachers’ quality,even

adjustedforothervariablesorfactors.

Whentiedtoindividualteachers,they

arenotoriouslyunstableandproneto

widedegreesoferror.Onestudyoffive

districts,forexample,foundthatamong

top-rankedteachersinoneyear,only

about30percentweresimilarlyranked

ayearlater,whileacomparablepropor-

tionhadmovedtothebottomrankings.

Asimilarshareofteachersmovedfrom

thebottomtothetoprankingsover

thecourseofayear(Sass2008).6

Thisinstabilityislargelybecause

VAMratingsareaffectedbythecompo-

sitionofstudentsinaclass–whether

theyattendschoolregularly,havestable

homelives,andgethelpfromparents

ortutors,andwhatkindofeducation

theyhavehadpreviously.Itisnearly

impossibletodisentangletheeffectsof

anindividualteacherfromthesethings

ortheeffectsofcurrentandformer

teachers,curriculummaterials,class

sizes,andschoolleadershipdecisions.7

Out-of-schooltimematters,too.

Summerlearningloss,whichespecially

hurtslow-incomestudents,accounts

forabouthalftheachievementdiffer-

encebetweenrichandpoorstudents.

Itisnotsurprising,then,that

researchshowsthatthesameteacher

typicallylooksmoreeffectiveonvalue-

addedmeasureswhensheisteaching

moreadvantagedstudents–andless

effectivewhensheisassignedmore

studentswhoarelow-income,new

Englishlearners,orwhohavespecial

educationneeds(Newtonetal.,forth-

coming).Thisrealitycreatesdisincen-

tivesforteacherstotakeonstudents

whostruggletolearn,justasNew

YorkState’sshort-livedaccountability

schemethatratedcardiacsurgeonson

theirpatients’mortalityratescaused

doctorstoturnawaypatientswhowere

veryill.Someexcellentteacherswho

workwithspecialeducationstudents

andnewEnglishlearnerswillbeatrisk

ofbeingfired,andotherswillincreas-

inglyavoidthesestudentsbychoosing

schools,classes,andfieldswherethey

arelesslikelytoencounterthem.

Forthesereasonsandmore,the

country’smostprestigiousgroupof

researchers,theNationalResearch

Council,hasstated,“VAMestimates

Thesameteachertypicallylooksmoreeffectiveonvalue-added

measureswhensheisteachingmoreadvantagedstudents–andless

effectivewhensheisassignedmorestudentswhoarelow-income,

newEnglishlearners,orwhohavespecialeducationneeds.

6 SeealsoNewtonetal.(forthcoming)forsimilarfindings.

7 Forreviews,seeEPI2010;Braun2005;andMcCaffreyetal.2005.


ofteachereffectiveness. . .shouldnot

beusedtomakeoperationaldecisions

becausesuchestimatesarefartoo

unstabletobeconsideredfairorreliable”

(NYSUT2011).

Second,most U.S. tests are excep-

tionally narrow,focusedmostlyon

multiple-choicequestionsassessing

low-levelskillsinreadingandmath.

Placinghigh-stakesdecisionsonthese

testshasalreadycausedschoolsto

teachlesshistory,science,andthearts

andtoengagestudentsinlesswriting,

research,andcomplexproblem-solving

–theveryskillstheyneedtobecome

trulyreadyforcollegeandcareers.As

teachersfocusmoreintenselyonthese

tests,wecanexpectteachingandcur-

riculumtosufferfurther.

Finally,twomajorU.S.studies

haverecentlyfoundthatschemes pay-

ing teachers based on their students’ test

score gains do not raise student achieve-

ment overall–asignthatthisstrategy

doesnotbuildteachers’capacityand

effectivenessfurthermore(Springer

etal.2010;Fryer2011).Oneinter-

nationalstudyevenfoundadecline

inachievementinPortugueseschools

thattiedteacherpaytostudentscores

(Martins2009).Theresearchersug-

gestedthatrankingteachersagainst

eachothermayhavereducedthe

likelihoodthatteacherswouldwork

togetherandsharetheirexpertise.

Wherethishappens,studentsarethe

ultimatelosers.

Bettersystemsexist–liketherig-

orousperformanceassessmentsused

forNationalBoardCertification,which

havebeenfoundtopredictteachers’

effectiveness.Thesemeasureslookat

studentlearningincontext,linkingit

towhatteachersdointeachingspecific

curriculum.Observationsandfeedback

basedonprofessionalstandardsand

administeredbytrainedevaluators

aresuccessfullyusedinschoolsthat

arepartoftheTeacherAdvancement

Program(TAP)andincitieslikeDenver,

Colorado,andRochester,NewYork,

alongwithavarietyofmeasuresofhow

teacherscontributetostudentlearn-

ing.Thesestandards-basedevaluations

ofteachingpracticenotonlyprovide

moreusefulevidenceaboutteach-

ingpractice,butalsohelpteachersto

improvetheirpracticeandeffectiveness

(Milanowski,Kimball&White2004).

IntheTAPsystemof“instruc-

tionallyfocusedaccountability,”for

example,eachteacherisevaluatedfour

tosixtimesayearbymasterteachersor

principalswhoaretrainedandcertified

evaluatorsusingasystemthatexamines

designingandplanninginstruction,

thelearningenvironment,classroom

instruction,andteachers’broader

responsibilities.Theindicatorsofgood

teachingarepracticesthathavebeen

foundtobeassociatedwithdesired

studentoutcomes.Likeotherwell-

developedcareerladdersystems,TAP

providesongoingprofessionaldevel-

opment,mentoring,andclassroom

supporttohelpteachersmeetthese

standards.TeachersinTAPschools

reportthattheyvaluethissystemof

standards-basedfeedback,combined

withcollaborativeplanningtimeand

professionaldevelopment,andbelieve

itisresponsibleforimprovementsin

theirpractice(Solomonetal.2007).

Alongwithevaluationsofperfor-

mance,teachersinsomedistricts–like

thoseparticipatinginArizona’scareer

ladderprogram–assembleaportfolio

ofevidencethatincludesmeasures

oftheirpracticeandofstudentlearn-

ingaspartoftheoveralljudgmentof

effectiveness.Inadditiontoanalysisof

standardizedtests,whereappropriate,

suchevidencecanbedrawnfromclass-

roomassessmentsanddocumentation,


includingpre-andpost-testmeasures

ofstudentlearninginspecificcourses

orcurriculumareasandevidenceof

studentaccomplishmentsinrelationto

teachingactivities.Theevidencecanbe

usedtodemonstrateandexplainthe

progressofstudentsonawiderange

oflearningoutcomesinwaysthattake

students’startingpointsandcharacter-

isticsintoaccount.AstudyofArizona’s

careerladderprogramfoundthat,over

time,participatingteachersnotonly

becamebetteratcreatingassessment

toolstomeasurestudentlearning,but

alsoincreasedtheirfocusonhigher-

qualitycontent,skills,andinstructional

strategies(Packard&Dereshiwsky1991).

Thus,thedevelopmentanduseof

studentlearningevidence,incombina-

tionwithexaminationofteachingper-

formance,canstimulateimprovements

inpractice.

Giventheimportanceofteach-

ers’collectiveeffortstoimproveoverall

studentachievementinaschool,the

bestsystemsalsolookathowteachers

contributetotheexpertiseoftheircol-

leaguesandtheimprovementofthe

entireschoolbysharingpracticesand

materials,coachingpeers,andworking

collegiallytohelpstudents.Thekeyis

thatevaluationislinkedtoimproving

practice,sothatlearningalwaysimproves.

Integrating Both Measurement and Development of Effective Teaching Initiativestomeasureandrecognize

teachereffectivenesshaveemerged

asthepressforimprovedstudent

achievementhasbeenjoinedtoan

awarenessoftheimportanceofteach-

ersincontributingtostudentlearning.

Suchinitiativeswillhavethegreatest

pay-offiftheyreflectandstimulatethe

practicesknowntosupportstudent

learningandareembeddedinsystems

thatalsodevelopgreaterteachercom-

petencethroughstrongpreparation

andmentoring,coachinginrelationto

standards,andopportunitiesforteach-

erstohelptheircolleaguesandtheir

schoolsimprove.Policiesthatcreate

increasinglyvalidmeasuresofteacher

effectivenessanddevelopinnovative

systemsforrecognizing,developing,

andusingexpertteachers,whileprovid-

ingincentivesforthemtoworkwith

theneedieststudents,canultimately

helpcreateamoreeffectiveteaching

professionthatservesthenation’schil-

drenmoreequitably.

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Closing the Revolving Door: Understanding the Nature and Causes of Disparities in Access to Effective TeachingLisa Quay

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