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Published by the VASS NEWS Published as a Service of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents P. O. Box 400265 as between-school variance component at grade 2 and over three times as large at grade 3. This suggests that naturally occurring teacher effects are typically larger than naturally occurring school effect (Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004). Palardy and Rumberger (2008) further pointed out that when we separate teacher effects from school effects, the effect size estimates for the teacher are substantial. The leadership, school climate, and other non-teacher factors. But the reality is that teachers are not randomly assigned to schools. The cream of the teacher population is usually attracted difference in the mean effectiveness of teachers across schools also contributes to the between-school variance. Another interesting finding is that the variation in student SES cannot explain the variance of teacher effectiveness within schools (Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004). This means an effective teacher is effective with all students, regardless of their SES background, while an ineffective teacher is ineffective with all students. Given these findings regarding the powerful impact of teacher effectiveness, and since teacher effects are found to be larger than school effects, educational policies focusing on teacher effects suggest that students placed with high-performing teachers will pro- gress three times as fast as those placed with low-performing teachers (Barber & Mourshed, 2007, p. 12). As demonstrated in multiple studies, teacher effectiveness can be captured by measured student achievement gains, with studies yielding similar effects on student learning for effective versus ineffective teachers. Consider the outcomes of teacher effectiveness on student achievement drawn from a sampling of studies presented in Table 1. (Note: Table 1 can be viewed on Page 4) Where Do Student Achievement Differences Occur – at the School or Teacher Level? There are large differences among schools in their impact on student achievement. “School quality is an Page 3 on student achievement will be more promising than policies focusing on school effects (Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004). A Case Study of Teacher Impact on Student Achievement In a study of three school districts from a state in the Southeastern United States, a group of colleagues and I assessed teacher effectiveness in terms of student learning gains (Stronge, Ward, Tucker, & Grant, In review). We defined effective teachers as those teachers whose students made gains in the top quartile on reading and mathematics standardized achievement tests and less effective teachers were defined as those teachers whose students made gains in the bottom quartile. The measures of student achievement were the math and reading scores from the selected state’s end-of-grade tests. We estimated the growth for all students included in the sample using improvement. Why? Because teachers Figure 1. Scatterplot for 5th-Grade Student Predicted Versus Actual Mathematics Achievement Indices 240250260270280290 Actual Math 250 260 270 280 Distribution for Mathematics 30.0040.0050.0060.0070.00 Math TAI 20 30 o u n t Table 1. Summary Findings of Teacher Effects on Student Achievement from Selected Studies Study Key Findings Emmer & Evertson (1979) Study results indicated strong teacher effects on pupil attitudes in both mathematics and English. Teacher effects on pupil achievement varied depending upon subject matter and class means for initial achievement level. Sanders & Rivers, (1996); Wright, Horn, & Sanders, (1997) Table Referred to on Page 2 Page 4 In the 2011 Session, the Governor and General Assembly had approximately $630 million more GF revenue to spend than was appropriated last year for the 2010-12 biennium. With these new this trend, the new health care law will require an additional 400,000 Virginians to be covered by Medicaid in 2014. Even though the federal government will cover most of this expanded coverage, the new law will still cost the state an additional $1.5 billion over 10 years. 3) State contributions to th e Virginia Retirement System for state employees and teachers will have to rise sharply in future years – funding is currently only about 60 percent of liability. State VRS contributions could easily increase $300 million more per year than It will face higher debt service costs in the future. 5) The recession has also caused pent up demands for other state programs, such as water quality programs, higher education, VITA centralized computer contract increases, and state employee raises to name a few. The state also Page 6 By James W. Mahoney, Executive Director, Battelle for Kids Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, I loved collecting baseball cards. Laying out the 1960 New York Yankees cards on my bed by position still resonates. I read about each player on the back of his card. There previous performance data and highlights that included RBIs, batting average, home runs, fielding percentage and hits. There was also descriptive information about where he had played before coming to the big leagues, that he batted right- handed and threw left-handed, and for individual students. Progress measures are critical because all students start at different points. Measuring the observed scores against the predicted scores across students and time give us a valid measure of previous Page 7 There are several, rubric-style instruments that observers can use to give classroom and teacher observations. Charlotte Danielson’s and Robert Pianta’s models are great examples. The power of these models is to give teachers feedback on their practice. And the models are linked to improved student results, which is central to our goal of improving student achievement. The Greener Grass The grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence; the grass is greenest where it’s watered, according to Robert Fulghum, and he is correct. Having a set of vital power-ranking teachers, which then can lead to a misdiagnosis followed by misapplication. Daniel Pink argues in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us that mastery is a fundamental piece of intrinsic motiva- tion. When teachers receive regular feedback and coaching to improve their craft and they begin to see improved student results, it creates a success cycle. The reason multiple measures are so important is because teaching and learning are complex. It would be a disservice to the teaching profession if we thought the only contribution of a teacher could be measured by one annual student test converted to a simple score. Equally dishonorable, though, are those who believe test results should never be used as a measure. Of course they should — student results are part of a teacher’s performance. It’s an important piece of data — just not the whole story. Page 8 By Tony Bagshaw, Managing Director of Human Capital, Battelle for Kids Battelle for Kids is a national not-for- profit organization, with headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and a satellite office in Houston, Texas, that provides strategic counsel and innovative solutions for today’s complex educational-improvement challenges. Our mission-driven team of education, technology, communications and business professionals specializes in the creation and implementation of value-added analysis, formative assessment, strategies for recognizing and rewarding teaching effectiveness and performance management initiatives. We are partnering with school districts and education organizations across the country to strategize, develop and implement innovative ways to effectively transform America’s education system. Transforming our education system demands that every school has a principal who is empowered with the skills, knowledge, and information to lead effectively, and every Battelle for Kids has helped educators build their capacity to use value-added analysis for school improvement in districts within the states of Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. For example, in 2003, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation to adopt a value-added progress measure as part of the state’s education accountability system. Partnering with the Ohio Department of Education, Battelle for Kids was instrumental in the passage of this legislation and in developing and implementing a multi-year statewide professional development and awareness-building program to build capacity among Ohio’s 612 school districts and community schools to use this information to accelerate student progress. We have seen student success grow dramatically when educators have access to and the capacity to understand and use value-added information for school improvement. For example, since the Houston Independent School District (HISD) began using value-added information as part of its ASPIRE educational-improvement and performance-management model in 2007, the number of schools rated Recognized and Exemplary by the Texas Education Agency has grown from to 84 to 205. That means 73 percent of HISD’s schools are earning the state’s top ratings! Moving to measuring student progress and achievement versus the traditional accountability systems that have focused solely on achievement is a historically different focus—and requires a change in thinking. It is important to engage the entire school community—students, teachers, principals, guidance counselors, superintendents, school board members, community members, busi- Page 9 ness leaders, legislators, higher education leaders and others—to help them understand why measuring both is so important to provide the best and most relevant educational experi- ence possible for all students. Some Caveats around the Use of Value-added and growth models are sweeping the country because they are reasonable, fair and sensible. Those that advocate against the use of value-added analysis and suggest that the metric is not reliable and valid are advocating an extreme position. While the metric is not October 12 — 13, 2011 Legislative Conference Kirkley Hotel Lynchburg May 6 — 9, 2012 Annual Conference Hotel Roanoke In Summary With the proper professional development, value-added data provides consistent, reliable, actionable information for educators. No single measure tells the “whole story,” but value-added information certainly sheds light on a critical part of the story. That is, the degree to which educators are facilitating sufficient rates of progress for the students they serve. Value-added analysis is an effective measure for education leaders to consider, in combination with other data sources, in making high-stakes decisions, such as evolving accountability systems, and exploring strategic compensation, resource allocation or tenure for educators. However, it’s important to remember that the most powerful and important use of this data is to provide educators with the information they need to take students to the highest ground possible in their learning and increase their opportunities for success in their careers, the workplace, and beyond. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court once noted, “The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand, as in what direction you are moving.” Value-added analysis is the right direction.