PROGRESS TO 100% IN ILLINOIS

1. 100% Pass Rate by 2014 LECTURE WRITE QUESTION 1 PROGRESS TO 100% IN ILLINOIS NCLB In your view, what are some of the consequences of the rule for Adequate Yearly Progress that requires schools to progress to a 100% pass rate of all students in grades 3-8 in math and reading tests by the year 2014.

2. Professor Darling Hammond, Stanford University • A CALL FOR HIGHER ACCOUNTABILITY SHOULD MEAN “two way” accountability • In exchange for being held accountable, states should make sure that schools have the resources to improve.

3. Race to the TopFrom the BlueprintFull bill yet to pass Secretary Arne Duncan Plans to “soften sanctions” • Provide rewards • Raise bar—everyone ready for college • Link merit pay for teachers to test scores • Give teachers more autonomy • Drastic measures for bottom 1% of schools

4. Incentives and FlexibilityPromised by Race to the Top • All schools will be aiming to do their part to help us reach that ambitious goal, and for most schools, leaders at the state, district, and school level will enjoy broad flexibility to determine how to get there. (Race to the Top) • http://vimeo.com/7905225 Arne Duncan Incentives 2:28 seconds

5. Better assessments in R2T“Race to the Top” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan DUNCAN: Again, I think we need much better assessments. We need to be assessing not just your ability to fill in a bubble sheet but critical thinking skills. And I think we have a huge chance now to change….have state leaders really pushing very, very hard to have that next generation of assessments. We want to look at graduation rates -- how are students doing each year in terms of -- not just completing high school but are they truly college and career ready. And so, there are many things that we need to take into account. Test scores being one of them, but by no means the only one.

6. How does Darling-Hammond view testing?

7. How can assessments be used to improve student achievement? “If we are to achieve the noble goal of NCLB, the law must be amended so that states have flexibility and encouragement to use thoughtful performance assessments and that test are used diagnostically for informing curriculum improvements rather than punishing schools and students” (Darling-Hammond, 24)

8. How can assessments be used to improve achievement according to Darling-Hammond? • Value Added Assessments • Give achievement tests on read and math levels at the beginning of the year. • Test at the end of the year. • Assess advancement in grade levels. • Diagnostic tests that match to curriculum to target interventions for students. • Assess specific skills • Re-teach skills as needed.

9. What broader set of assessments should be used to monitor student achievement? Darling-Hammond • Progress should be evaluated on multiple measures— • Attendance • School progress (results on state tests, and results on improving other measures of progress) • Graduation rates • Passing courses by students • Classroom performance on tasks beyond multiple choice tests.

10. Darling-Hammond agrees with NCLB requirement: “One of the most important aspects of NCLB is that it requires all schools to provide “highly qualified teachers” to all students by 2006. • Fully certified • Show competency (states set standard of competency—state tests in subject matter, advanced training in subject matter, classroom assessment of skills)

11. Darling-Hammond recommends we focus on ways to keep more qualified teachers in the classroom.Looks to Federal Government for Leadership • Qualified teachers— • Recruit more candidates in high-need fields (math, science, special education) and locations (low performing schools, provide incentives). Provide scholarships and forgive loans to students who commit time in high-needs fields and locations. • Provide new teachers with mentors to reduce attrition (1/3 new teachers leave the profession in first five years)

12. Darling-Hammond recommends we focus on ways to keep more qualified teachers in the classroom.Looks to Federal Government for Leadership • Qualified teachers— • Schools should provide strong professional development to teachers • Increase teachers’ salaries • Improve working conditions (more planning time, encourage more teacher collaboration)

13. Duncan on qualified principals and teachers…. Great Teachers and Leaders in Every School • Effective teachers and principals. We will elevate the teaching profession to focus on recognizing, encouraging, and rewarding excellence. • We are calling on states and districts to develop and implement systems of teacher and principal evaluation and support, and to identify effective and highly effective teachers and principals on the basis of student growth and other factors. • These systems will inform professional development and help teachers and principals improve student learning.

14. Duncan on qualified principals and teachers…. • In addition, a new program will support ambitious efforts to recruit, place, reward, retain, and promote effective teachers and principals and enhance the profession of teaching…… • “R2T” How will states implement? • How will districts negotiate with unions?

15. Race to the Top--Qualified TeachersHow do you read this statement about teachers? Your thoughts? • Teachers are the single most important resource to a child’s learning. President Obama will ensure that teachers are supported as professionals in the classroom, while also holding them more accountable. • He will invest in innovative strategies to help teachers to improve student outcomes, and use rewards and incentives to keep talented teachers in the schools that need them the most. President Obama will invest in a national effort to prepare and reward outstanding teachers, while recruiting the best and brightest to the field of teaching. • And he will challenge State and school districts to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom.

16. Race to the Top Includes having states and districts adopt plans to change the reward structures for teachers. Pay for Performance of Teachers has many different options. Pay increases: 1.Assess teachers’ instructional skills in the classroom. 2. Use test results % of students to grade level, % students with value added improvements 3. Combination

17. Race to the Top Includes changing reward structures for teachers. Pay for Performance of Teachers has many different options: 4. Bonus Pay Some teachers receive bonus pay based on higher test results. Recently Chicago Teachers’ Union agreed to a bonus system, see Chicago Tribune Article by KEILMAN, J. “School districts retooling how they evaluate teachers” In recent study of this bonus pay system in Chicago showed no difference between bonus teachers and non-bonus teachers.

18. School Districts Retooling How They Evaluate TeachersChicago Tribune, Nov. 2009 John Keilman Teachers are rarely fired for poor performance, rarely rewarded for excellence. • Elgin School District is using observation of practice • Clarity of lesson • Classroom management To provide feedback to improve teaching. • PROCESS OF TEACHING, NOT SCORES

19. School Districts Retooling How They Evaluate TeachersChicago Tribune, Nov. 2009 John Keilman Evanston-Skokie School District— • Highest increases in pay will depend on classroom teaching style and student test scores, compare test results in September and again in May.

20. Evanston-Skokie School District—teaching style plus test scores Teachers earn excellent if: • Move one low scoring child to grade level • And most of the class shows one full year of growth no matter where they start. • Allows some scores to be excluded if child has extended absences due to illness Scores of tests are combined with traditional evaluation to produce a final appraisal of excellent, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. Teachers must earn one excellent over several years to earn the highest pay boost.

21. In Chicago 30 schools are trying incentives for higher test scores • Bonus pay • Unions will agree if scores are a small piece of the evaluation of teachers.

22. Pay for performance Many educational professionals see this trend as “unstoppable.”

23. Work with teachers • R2TT raising concerns that too many good teachers are driven out of the profession because they aren’t rewarded for the great strides their students make. • DUNCAN: Let me be clear. Teacher compensation should never be based on just one test score. That absolutely makes no sense whatsoever.

24. Work with teachers • Duncan has been careful to emphasize that performance pay systems are complex, and need to be developed in cooperation with teachers, not imposed on them. Researchshows that “involving key stakeholders in any pay-for-performance effort is vital to future success,” says Susan Freeman Burns, program manager at the National Center on Performance Incentives in Nashville, Tenn.

25. Would you work harder for a $15,000 bonus if you raised your students’ test scores?

26. Texas merit pay program did not improve achievement • A recent attempt at merit pay failed in Texas. In 2006, the Texas Educator Excellence Grant was established with the hope that it would produce academic improvement. However, by Nov. 2009, the $300 million spent on merit pay for teachers in 1,000 schools serving low-income students had not achieved its goal, and was quietly retired. • Supporters of TEEG maintained that bonuses were too small and were awarded to groups of teachers at a particular school, rather than to individual teachers. This strategy vitiated competition between teachers that was deemed by supporters to be indispensable to improved performance. • http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/2010/04/skepticism_about_dc_merit_pay_agreement.html

27. In the future, there is a chance that raises and job security could be based largely on some form of test scores. All salary increases Job termination