Teacher Education Accountability: Impact on States and Teacher Preparation Programs

1. Teacher Education Accountability: Impact on States and Teacher Preparation Programs Sophia McArdle, Ph.D.Office of Postsecondary Education

2. During this decade, 1.6 million teachers will retire.At least that many will be needed to take their place. SY10-11 SY12-13 SY14-15 SY16-17 SY18-19 SY20-21 = 160,000 teachers

3. The Challenge Preparation: More than 3 in 5 new teachers report that their education school experience left them feeling unprepared for “classroom realities”

4. The Challenge Teacher recruitment: • America is not recruiting the best and brightest into teaching • Only 23% of all teachers, and only 14% of teachers in high poverty schools, come from the top third of college graduates

5. The Challenge Rigorous training: • After admission, too many programs do not provide a rigorous clinical experience • Only 50% of current teacher candidates receive supervised clinical training

6. The Challenge High-need areas: • Education schools often do not respond to school district teacher needs in high-need subjects • Over ½ of all districts have trouble recruiting highly qualified teachers in science and special education • Over 90% of high-minority districts have trouble recruiting highly qualified math and science teachers

7. The Challenge Diversity: The teaching workforce is predominantly white and does not reflect the diversity of the nation’s students that is increasingly black or Hispanic

8. Teacher Preparation Program Performance Out of the over 1,400institutionspreparing teachers, only 38 programswere identified by states as low-performing or at-risk 27 states have never identified a low-performing program 12 states have identified 1-5 low-performing programs have identified 6+ low-performing programs 12 states SOURCE: Chad Aldeman, et al., A Measured Approach to Improving Teacher Preparation (Washington, DC: Education Sector, 2011).

9. The Federal Role • Support States in their work using federal policies and investment to accelerate and support progress • Create conditions for reform • Provide for targeted investments

10. Our Future, Our TeachersThe Obama Administration’s Plan for Teacher Education Reform and Improvement

11. Teacher Initiatives HEA Title II Regulations Presidential Teaching Fellows Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence

12. HEA Title II Regulations The issue: Existing reporting and accountability requirements have not led to meaningful change partially because the data collected is generally on program inputs rather than program outcomes

13. HEA Title II Regulations Goal is to: • Revise federal reporting requirements to reduce burden and focus on the most important measures of quality • Provide prospective teacher candidates, hiring school districts, and teacher preparation programs with meaningful data on program quality

14. HEA Title II Regulations Goal would be achieved by: • Reducing input-based reporting elements and • Focusing on 3 categories of outcome-based measures instead

15. HEA Title II Regulations The Measures: • Student growth of elementary and secondary school students taught by program graduates • Job placement and retention rates • Surveys of program graduates and their principals as to whether they were provided with the skills needed for classroom success in their first years

16. HEA Title II Regulations Outcomes: • The data would create a feedback loop with meaningful information and would empower all stakeholders to make better decisions • Teacher Candidates: Teacher candidates will be able to make more informed decisions when choosing a program to attend.

17. HEA Title II Regulations • Employers:School districts will have more information about the relative performance of new teachers from different teacher preparation programs that will aid in hiring decisions • Teacher Preparation Programs: New data will supply programs with meaningful impact information they can use to drive program change and self-improve

18. HEA Title II and TEACH Grant Program Regulations Establish a link between a State’s classification of a teacher preparation program under the Title II reporting system and that program’s identification as “high quality” for TEACH Grant eligibility purposes

19. Presidential Teaching Fellows A new $190 million program to support rigorous state-level policies and provide scholarships for students to attend top-tier teacher preparation programs Would replace the TEACH Grant Program while maintaining the program’s core purpose to recruit teachers to work in high-need schools in high-need fields

20. Presidential Teaching Fellows State Policies: • Funds would be allocated by formula to states that commit to establishing rigorous teacher certification and licensure and teacher preparation program accountability • A set-aside of up to 20% would be used for state implementation of activities

21. Presidential Teaching Fellows State Policies: • A set-aside of up to 20% would be used for state implementation of activities • An additional 5% (beyond the 20%) could be set-aside by states to develop a “master teacher” designation in consortia with other states. Master teachers would receive portable certification.

22. Presidential Teaching Fellows Scholarships: • The majority of PTF funds would provide scholarships of up to $10,000 for high-achieving, final year students enrolled in high-quality traditional or alternative teacher preparation programs with a priority for students with financial need

23. Presidential Teaching Fellows Scholarships: • Students would have to teach for at least 3 years in a high-need field in a high-need school • Current TEACH Grant recipients would be grandfathered for the duration of their academic program

24. Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence Disadvantaged students benefit academically and socially from teachers with whom they can identify Such teachers are underrepresented in the workforce

25. Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence • 14% of teachers identify as African-American or Hispanic compared to 38% of students • Only 2% of teachers are African-American men • Only 2% of teachers are Latino men • MSIs collectively prepare more than 50% of all minority teachers

26. Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence • Provides for $30 million in first-time funding for a competitive grant program supporting teacher preparation at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) • Project activities would involve teacher preparation reform

27. Augustus F. Hawkins Centers for Excellence The minimum grant award would be $500,000 Award would be for 3 years, with an additional 2 years continuation funding available conditioned on meeting performance targets

28. In sum: The ultimate goal of all these teacher initiatives is that every student will have the effective teacher they deserve

29. Thank you!

30. Contact Information: Sophia McArdle, Ph.D. U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education 1990 K St. NW Room 8019 Washington, DC 20006 sophia.mcardle@ed.gov (202) 219-7078