Race to the Top: Great Teachers and Leaders

1. Race to the Top:Great Teachers and Leaders Presented to: Massachusetts Superintendents Presented by: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education October 21, 2009

2. Agenda Review federal guidance on criteria for Great Teachers and Leaders (5 minutes) Introduce our vision and emerging priorities for the proposal (25 minutes) Solicit your feedback on key questions for the proposal (20 minutes) Open the discussion for Q&A (10 minutes)

3. The challenge: States must create comprehensive strategies on four assurances Assurances Great teachers and leaders criteria Standards & assessments State reform conditions • Providing alternative pathways for aspiring teachers and principals • Differentiating teacher and principal effectiveness based on performance • Ensuring equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals • Reporting the effectiveness of teacher and principal preparation programs • Providing effective support to teachers and principals Data systems to support instruction Great teachers & leaders Reform plan criteria Turning around struggling schools STEM competitive preference priority DRAFT GUIDELINES

4. District partnership is a key component of MA’s RTTT approach The ED provides guidance on determining which districts participate… … and how funds should be distributed “To be eligible to participate in a State’s Race to the Top proposal, a district must explicitly agree to implementing the plans in the State’s proposal.” Joanne Weiss, Director of the Race to the Top Fund, U.S. Department of Education At least 50% of funds will be passed on to participating districts using the Title I formula Remaining 50% may be used by the State or distributed to any participating districts Additional guidance on district participation will be provided in the final draft of RTTT criteria (expected late Oct or early Nov) Source: Race to the Top ED.gov site; Additional comments from Joanne Weiss 9/10

5. Core propositions for teachers and leaders • The effectiveness of classroom teaching is the top school-based factor in raising student achievement • The quality of an education system can not exceed the quality of its educational workforce • Massachusetts has many great teachers but every child deserves a great teacher every year • The proficiency gap and the teacher effectiveness gap are related and must be addressed together • Effective instructional leadership is critical to developing conditions for effective teaching

6. The long-term vision of success will drive priorities for RTTT State’s goal for teachers and leaders:All classrooms in the Commonwealth are staffed by effective educators in schools and districts organized to support student achievement and success The Dept. of ESE seeks to build an integrated state-wide system for teacher and leader development that: • Ensures a strategic and aligned system of educator development, support, and accountability • Incorporates multiple measures of effectiveness (including student achievement and professional growth) into key program approval, licensure, and personnel decisions • Uses national and international best practices as benchmarks

7. MA aims to develop an aligned educator career continuum Recruitment Preparation Testing and Licensure Selection And Hiring Induction Ongoing PD Licensure Renewal Compensation Evaluation

8. PRELIMINARY Emerging priorities for Race to the Top Define and assess teacher and leader effectiveness via multiple measures, anchored in student achievement 1 Use effectiveness measures as the foundation to drive additional initiatives Identify, pilot and scale innovative models to recruit, prepare and develop teachers and leaders Develop a performance-based, tiered licensure system for teachers and leaders Pilot district evaluation and P.D. models that incorporate measures of effectiveness Develop and pilot new models for compensationand equitable distribution 2 3 4 5 Address equitable distribution and turnaround strategies through incentives, improved conditions, leadership, and capacity development Identify and develop turnaround leaders and teacher teams for chronically low-performing schools 6

9. PRELIMINARY Emerging priorities for Race to the Top 1 2 3 4 5 6 Measures of effectiveness Recruitment, prep and development Performance-based tiered licensure Evaluation/ P.D./induction models Compensation and equitable distribution Turnaround teacher and leader teams

10. Today, we seek your input in three key areas How do the State’s emerging Race to the Top priorities align with your district’s human capital needs? Which priorities will have the greatest impact? Are there are other critical areas you would like to see addressed? What examples do you know of, in your own district or elsewhere in the State, of innovations or approaches that we should seek to highlight or include?

11. Questions or suggestions? After the webinar, please also feel free to email questions to: rttt@doe.mass.edu Subject: Great teachers and leaders webinar