Teacher Effectiveness and the Equitable Distribution of Effective Teachers

1. Teacher Effectiveness and the Equitable Distribution of Effective Teachers 2009 National Forum on Education Policy Education Commission of the States July 10, 2009

2. NCLB and Equitable Distribution of Teachers • Sec 1111 State Plans, (b)(8)(C) • Requires states to identify the specific steps they will take to ensure that: • both schoolwide programs and targeted assistance schools provide instruction by highly qualified instructional staff • poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers” • States must publicly report on the measures used to evaluate progress with respect to such steps • Sec 1112 Local Education Agency Plans, (c)(1)(L) • Requires LEAs to provide an assurance that “through incentives for voluntary transfers, the provision of professional development, recruitment programs, or other effective strategies, that low-income students and minority students are not taught at higher rates than other students by unqualified, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers”

3. ARRA and Equitable Distribution of Teachers • Title XIV State Fiscal Stabilization Fund: Sec 14005: State Applications, (d)(2) Assurances, Achieving Equity in Teacher Distribution • States applying for State Fiscal Stabilization Funds must provide an assurance that they will “take actions to improve teacher effectiveness and comply with section 1111(b)(8)(C) of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(8)(C)) in order to address inequities in the distribution of highly qualified teachers between high- and low-poverty schools, and to ensure that low-income and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers.” • State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Guidance • As part of its application for Stabilization Funding, a State must assure that it will implement strategies to: • Increase teacher effectiveness and address inequities in the distribution of highly qualified teachers

4. Proposed Teacher Effectiveness Assurance Metrics • Number and percentage of teachers in highest-poverty and lowest-poverty schools in the state who are highly qualified • Number and percentage of teachers and principals rated at each performance level in each LEA’s evaluation system • Number and percentage of LEA teacher and principal evaluation systems that require evidence of student achievement outcomes • Note: Metrics will be made available for public comment in the Federal Register. In Phase Two applications for stabilization funds, states must provide plan for collecting and reporting metrics.

5. Teach For America Teachers: Highly Qualified and Effective • Teach For America teachers are highly qualified (Title I regs) • Teachers participate in an alternative route to certification program where they • receive high-quality professional development that is sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused in order to have a positive and lasting impact on classroom instruction, before and while teaching; • participate in a program of intensive supervision that consists of structured guidance and regular ongoing support for teachers or a teacher mentoring program; • assume functions as a teacher only for a specified period of time not to exceed three years; and • demonstrate satisfactory progress toward full certification as prescribed by the State • Teach For America teachers are effective • Most rigorous research has found that corps members’ impact on student achievement exceeds that of experienced and certified teachers in the same schools. • Evidence of corps members’ positive impact spans all subject areas and grade levels, from pre-K through high schools.

6. Researchers used NC end-of-course student exam data from 2000 through 2006. Researchers found that Teach For America corps members were, on average, more effective than non-Teach For America teachers in allsubject areas, especially in math and science. That was true even when Teach For America corps members were compared with experienced, fully certified teachers. These findings were confirmed in a 2009 update of the study, which employed a larger sample of corps members and additional comparison groups. In all cases, the positive impact of having a Teach For America corps member was at least twice that of having a teacher with three or more years of experience relative to a new teacher. Effectiveness at the high-school level Making a Difference? The Effects of Teach For America in High School The Urban Institute/CALDER (2008-2009)

7. Researchers used random assignment of students to teachers—research methodology widely regarded as the gold standard. Researchers found that students of Teach For America corps members attained greater gains in math than did students of other teachers, including veteran and certified teachers, and scored about the same as students of other teachers in reading. The study also found that corps members were working in the highest-needed classrooms in the country, where students begin the year, on average, at the 14th percentile against the national norm. Effectiveness at the elementary- and middle-school levels The Effects of Teach For America on Students Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (2004)

8. Teach For America Regions In the 2009-10 school year, over 7,300 first- and second-year Teach For America corps members will teach in 35 regions across the country.

9. Growing Our Scale and Impact: Corps Members Teach For America is striving to reach even greater national scale, more than doubling our corps member and alumni base by the year 2015. Corps Growth 2000 2005 2010 2015 By 2015 we project that we will have 13,000 corps members reaching more than 800,000 students across 48 communities. 9

10. Growing Our Scale and Impact: Alumni As we strive to strengthen our alumni network and achieve our leadership initiative goals, we are even more compelled by the prospect of what our alumni will accomplish when we begin to see the impact of a larger, more successful corps with greater support as alumni. Alumni Growth 2010 2015 2000 2005 At the same time, we will have built an unprecedented pipeline of leadership advocating for low-income students, with over 40,000 alumni driving change from inside and outside the education system.

11. For More Information Michele McLaughlin Vice President for Federal and State Policy Teach For America michele.mclaughlin@teachforamerica.org (202) 962-0287 www.teachforamerica.org