As many people know, TN received $500 million to support education. As a part of our effort at the United Way, we've been trying to use this as an opportunity to ask people to think about how THEY can be a part of helping to directly supporting teachers in the classroom, as they're often the key to ensuring that children receive an excellent education.
This morning, I attended a meeting that was called by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission in order to help higher education think about how they can support the "Race to the Top" and "First to the Top" reforms happening in TN.
Think of it like this...
Students will be up against higher standards. Teachers are the ones teaching students the higher standards. Colleges and universities teach the teachers. They need to help teachers learn about the new standards.
About 50 higher education leaders today, from Roane State Community College to Lincoln Memorial University to the University of Tennessee, came together to think about how higher education can help through these transitions. There were several concrete things that were shared...(which goes back to the question, "How is this money being spent?")
- Integrating Common Core Standards into Pre-Service Teacher Training (Training college professors to teach the new standards): $1,350,000
- Integrating TVAAS (value added assessment system) into Pre-Service Teacher Training: $1,350,000
- School Leaders Supply and Demand Study (looking at what kind of demands will be on Tennessee's education and what kinds of teachers we need to meet those demands): $172,800
- UTeach Program Replication (getting college students studying math and science connected with teaching EARLY, like as freshmen or sophomores): $4,104,000 (find out more here http://www.state.tn.us/thec/Divisions/AcademicAffairs/uteach/uteach.html)
- College Access and Success Network (creating a college-going culture in Tennessee): $3,240,336 (there's a conference Nov. 4 and 5 in Chattanooga, if you're interested--linked above)
- Teacher Preparation Program Effectiveness Report Card (trying to design a helpful tool for colleges so they can know how well they're preparing teachers): $432,000
- STEM professional development (to help teachers get better at teaching Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math areas): $6,480,000
- Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation, and Development (to help guide education policy based on research-based practices): $3,240,000. Being run by Vanderbilt's National Center for Performance Incentives.
Find more details here: http://www.state.tn.us/thec/Index/rttt/THEC%20&%20RTTT.pdf
Some more information can be found here: http://www.tn.gov/firsttothetop/programs.html
I'm saying all this to prove that HIGHER EDUCATION has been asked to step up their involvement in helping support teachers and overall educational improvement.
Who will be the leaders who step up in higher education to make sure that these things get done? The community should encourage these important institutions to really take leadership on helping teachers be the best they can be and to be accessible to school systems.
Wanted to pass on a news clipping that talks about how a faith-based effort in Knoxville, the Emerald Youth Foundation, got involved in supporting schools and making a difference: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/sep/25/after-school-program-leading-to-results/
Keeping the conversation going...
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
PTAs, teachers, and the grassroots of "Expect More, Achieve More"
Over the last several weeks, I've been working with a coalition of local groups (the Chamber, Urban League, the PTA, Tennessee Voices for Children) to go out and do presentations about the higher standards and its impact on parents, students, and teachers. I'm writing this because I wanted to share some thoughts after going out to these meetings. Just my 2 cents...not trying to take myself too seriously...
1. Parents, teachers, and school administrators are receptive to the higher standards movement in Tennessee--as long as it's for real this time. They are worried this is another "fad" in education. Will it be here today and gone tomorrow? Hopefully not.
2. PTA and PTO involvement is pretty low. Being a part of the board of Knox County's Council of PTAs, I assumed that many PTAs (and PTOs) had tremendous attendance. But I realized that, especially in middle and high schools, parental involvement is low. Now more than ever, administrators, teachers, and students NEED PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. Having spoken off line with some of these parents, it seems like they question whether or not they actually are welcomed in schools. Even if they traditionally haven't been welcomed to the table, the stakes are now too high. I think a nagging parent may be the best thing to help TN achieve these new standards (Disclaimer: Parents can't just assume they know more than the teachers). It's all about WORKING TOGETHER.
3. People just want to know what they need to do to help their children. It's up to schools, PTAs, and other community groups to instruct parents HOW THEY CAN HELP. When asked at a meeting the other night at a West Knoxville elementary school what a parent should be doing, the principal responded with some tried-and-true strategies.
- Ask your child about school
- Check after homework
- Don't be negative about school
- Support what teachers are teaching in the classroom
- Read with your children
- ETC
I think parents wonder, "Is this really what you need me to do?" The answer may well be YES, but it seems like nothing new. To help these children achieve these higher standards, I think there might be an expectation that something MORE is required.
4. What about the outlying counties? It seems like Knoxville, Maryville, Oak Ridge, Lenoir City, Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol, etc. are really working to get the word out about the higher standards. But what about the counties who don't have as many community groups who are interested in distributing information? Hopefully groups with regional reach (like United Ways, TN Voices for Children, etc.) should be working extra-hard to spread the word. Or else there may be some serious backlash from counties that are slipping off the radar.
5. Spill-over effects (drop-outs, mental health issues, etc.) of higher standards. What happens when my daughter, who has been told that she's above proficient, that she's no longer proficient in math or reading? She may get depressed. What happens when students who were already on the fringe get standards raised on them? Prepare for more drop-outs...or at least plan for how to deal with them. Some of these concerns are perfectly valid, but I'm not sure that we've gotten there yet. Groups like the K-Town Youth Empowerment Network are working to deal with children struggling with mental health issues. Credit recovery is there for students who are struggling. But I'm not sure these systems are built to deal with a serious flood of demand.
6. Teachers are doing their best to get on board and in line with all these new standards, but let's remember that their jobs (and the stakes surrounding their jobs) have been dramatically intensified. They're up against a lot, and the community needs to support them as they are also being expected to approach their jobs with a higher level of sophistication than ever before. As one district-level administrator said in a meeting the other day, "It's time to define clearly the roles that belong to the schools and which roles belong in the community."
Hopefully none of these things are offensive to any group.
It just seems like sometimes ground-level conversations get lost in translation...
Just keep swimming, and we'll be on our way to achieving more in Tennessee's education system.
1. Parents, teachers, and school administrators are receptive to the higher standards movement in Tennessee--as long as it's for real this time. They are worried this is another "fad" in education. Will it be here today and gone tomorrow? Hopefully not.
2. PTA and PTO involvement is pretty low. Being a part of the board of Knox County's Council of PTAs, I assumed that many PTAs (and PTOs) had tremendous attendance. But I realized that, especially in middle and high schools, parental involvement is low. Now more than ever, administrators, teachers, and students NEED PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. Having spoken off line with some of these parents, it seems like they question whether or not they actually are welcomed in schools. Even if they traditionally haven't been welcomed to the table, the stakes are now too high. I think a nagging parent may be the best thing to help TN achieve these new standards (Disclaimer: Parents can't just assume they know more than the teachers). It's all about WORKING TOGETHER.
3. People just want to know what they need to do to help their children. It's up to schools, PTAs, and other community groups to instruct parents HOW THEY CAN HELP. When asked at a meeting the other night at a West Knoxville elementary school what a parent should be doing, the principal responded with some tried-and-true strategies.
- Ask your child about school
- Check after homework
- Don't be negative about school
- Support what teachers are teaching in the classroom
- Read with your children
- ETC
I think parents wonder, "Is this really what you need me to do?" The answer may well be YES, but it seems like nothing new. To help these children achieve these higher standards, I think there might be an expectation that something MORE is required.
4. What about the outlying counties? It seems like Knoxville, Maryville, Oak Ridge, Lenoir City, Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol, etc. are really working to get the word out about the higher standards. But what about the counties who don't have as many community groups who are interested in distributing information? Hopefully groups with regional reach (like United Ways, TN Voices for Children, etc.) should be working extra-hard to spread the word. Or else there may be some serious backlash from counties that are slipping off the radar.
5. Spill-over effects (drop-outs, mental health issues, etc.) of higher standards. What happens when my daughter, who has been told that she's above proficient, that she's no longer proficient in math or reading? She may get depressed. What happens when students who were already on the fringe get standards raised on them? Prepare for more drop-outs...or at least plan for how to deal with them. Some of these concerns are perfectly valid, but I'm not sure that we've gotten there yet. Groups like the K-Town Youth Empowerment Network are working to deal with children struggling with mental health issues. Credit recovery is there for students who are struggling. But I'm not sure these systems are built to deal with a serious flood of demand.
6. Teachers are doing their best to get on board and in line with all these new standards, but let's remember that their jobs (and the stakes surrounding their jobs) have been dramatically intensified. They're up against a lot, and the community needs to support them as they are also being expected to approach their jobs with a higher level of sophistication than ever before. As one district-level administrator said in a meeting the other day, "It's time to define clearly the roles that belong to the schools and which roles belong in the community."
Hopefully none of these things are offensive to any group.
It just seems like sometimes ground-level conversations get lost in translation...
Just keep swimming, and we'll be on our way to achieving more in Tennessee's education system.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Teaching to the Test...what it means...what TN is doing about it...
It's been really busy in my project with the beginning of school, especially with all the "Expect More, Achieve More" campaign and the scores going down as a result. My apologies.
Recently, there was a lot of movement in Los Angeles around releasing INDIVIDUAL TEACHER value-added scores in the newspaper. See information on that HERE and how it drew support from Sec. of Education HERE. It may be a while before that happens in TN, if it ever happens, but it's been interesting to see all the different voices coming out of this conversation
In thinking about this, and as I go out and meet with a lot of people, there's usually someone who ends up asking, "Isn't this all about teaching to the test?" (especially with the new standards coming online in TN). Since news travels fast, I ended up trading a few e-mails with Dr. Stone from the Education Consumer Foundation, an organization that's very supportive of value-added data and testing as a way to hold educational leaders accountable.
I thought the exchange was interesting...I asked whether or not there was research that backed up value-added scores and how reliable they are, assuming you have some students who do not test well. If you're interested, read on...
-----------------------
There are some kids who are not good test takers. Moreover, on any given day, some students will have a bad day. This kind of problem exists with batting averages, passes completed, and all kinds of human phenomena that are measured, reported, and never questioned.
But teacher effect scores are averages of repeated measurements of all students taught by a teacher over a 3-year period. Teacher performance quality is judged by how teachers compare to other teachers. No teacher is likely to have all of the poor test takers and ones having bad days over a period of years.
And if all of these precautions were not enough, there are statistical corrections in the data to prevent spurious outcomes and the results are interpreted conservatively, i.e., only the extremely effective or extremely ineffective are identified as such.
The problem with the question is that it accepts the notion that there exists some [unspecified] indicator of "teacher effectiveness" that is stable and accurately measured, and to which TVAAS teacher effect data can be compared. In truth, there are lots of intuitively appealing ways to assess what teachers do--like extended classroom observations--or to look at how students respond to instruction--like individual interviews with students or very long and thorough performance assessments--but all are fallible and most are far more fallible than standardized tests!
What you need to know is that the tests that are used are fallible but they are given repeatedly such that the false negative scores are canceled out by false positive scores. In the real world, the best estimate of the true quantity of anything is the average of repeated fallible measurements.
Teaching to the test may or may not be a problem--depending on how the testing is done. The problem with "teaching to the test" comes about when a test is constructed to sample a broader domain of knowledge or skill and teachers teach only the specifics of the sample, not the broader domain. Student performance on the sample might look good but the scores are misleading. But when the test items are written fresh every year or they are randomly drawn from some huge pool of items (TCAP does both), the chances of a teacher succeeding through teaching to the test are lowered substantially.
Broadly speaking, we need to get used to the idea that if we are going to get serious about holding teachers and students accountable, we are going to have to get serious about how we do testing. Just like we externally audit things like banks and corporations, we need to audit how testing is being done. Students have been known to cheat. Teachers have been known to behave unethically--doing things like teaching to the test. When the outcome is important and there are potential conflicts of interest, sensible people pay attention.
----------------------
Interestingly, the state of TN was just awarded money from the federal government to work on developing new tests... SEE THAT HERE. So, if we're making better tests, then that might help with the "teaching to the test" critique.
----------------------
By the way, the new Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee has offered its initial recommendations for the new evaluation system HERE.
Recently, there was a lot of movement in Los Angeles around releasing INDIVIDUAL TEACHER value-added scores in the newspaper. See information on that HERE and how it drew support from Sec. of Education HERE. It may be a while before that happens in TN, if it ever happens, but it's been interesting to see all the different voices coming out of this conversation
In thinking about this, and as I go out and meet with a lot of people, there's usually someone who ends up asking, "Isn't this all about teaching to the test?" (especially with the new standards coming online in TN). Since news travels fast, I ended up trading a few e-mails with Dr. Stone from the Education Consumer Foundation, an organization that's very supportive of value-added data and testing as a way to hold educational leaders accountable.
I thought the exchange was interesting...I asked whether or not there was research that backed up value-added scores and how reliable they are, assuming you have some students who do not test well. If you're interested, read on...
-----------------------
There are some kids who are not good test takers. Moreover, on any given day, some students will have a bad day. This kind of problem exists with batting averages, passes completed, and all kinds of human phenomena that are measured, reported, and never questioned.
But teacher effect scores are averages of repeated measurements of all students taught by a teacher over a 3-year period. Teacher performance quality is judged by how teachers compare to other teachers. No teacher is likely to have all of the poor test takers and ones having bad days over a period of years.
And if all of these precautions were not enough, there are statistical corrections in the data to prevent spurious outcomes and the results are interpreted conservatively, i.e., only the extremely effective or extremely ineffective are identified as such.
The problem with the question is that it accepts the notion that there exists some [unspecified] indicator of "teacher effectiveness" that is stable and accurately measured, and to which TVAAS teacher effect data can be compared. In truth, there are lots of intuitively appealing ways to assess what teachers do--like extended classroom observations--or to look at how students respond to instruction--like individual interviews with students or very long and thorough performance assessments--but all are fallible and most are far more fallible than standardized tests!
What you need to know is that the tests that are used are fallible but they are given repeatedly such that the false negative scores are canceled out by false positive scores. In the real world, the best estimate of the true quantity of anything is the average of repeated fallible measurements.
Teaching to the test may or may not be a problem--depending on how the testing is done. The problem with "teaching to the test" comes about when a test is constructed to sample a broader domain of knowledge or skill and teachers teach only the specifics of the sample, not the broader domain. Student performance on the sample might look good but the scores are misleading. But when the test items are written fresh every year or they are randomly drawn from some huge pool of items (TCAP does both), the chances of a teacher succeeding through teaching to the test are lowered substantially.
Broadly speaking, we need to get used to the idea that if we are going to get serious about holding teachers and students accountable, we are going to have to get serious about how we do testing. Just like we externally audit things like banks and corporations, we need to audit how testing is being done. Students have been known to cheat. Teachers have been known to behave unethically--doing things like teaching to the test. When the outcome is important and there are potential conflicts of interest, sensible people pay attention.
----------------------
Interestingly, the state of TN was just awarded money from the federal government to work on developing new tests... SEE THAT HERE. So, if we're making better tests, then that might help with the "teaching to the test" critique.
----------------------
By the way, the new Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee has offered its initial recommendations for the new evaluation system HERE.
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