Human Capital in Education: State Strategies to Boost Teacher and Principal Effectiveness

1. Human Capital in Education: State Strategies to Boost Teacher and Principal Effectiveness Allan Odden, Co Director Strategic Management of Human Capital (SMHC)

2. Education Reform • Goal: Dramatically improve student performance, focusing initially on urban districts • Needed to attain goal: • Education improvement strategy • Budget plan to fund the strategy • People plan to implement the strategy • SMHC is focused on teacher and principal talent

3. SMHC Project SMHC addresses two basic questions: • How can urban districts acquire top teacher, principal and central office talent so that all schools and classrooms are staffed by highly effective individuals? • How can that talent be managed so it delivers the instructional practice that is successful in getting all children, especially children from low-income backgrounds and of color, to achieve to high- and rigorous-performance levels?

4. SMHC in 2008 • Defined SMHC (see Odden & Kelly, and Lawler papers on web site) • Created a National Task Force of 33 leaders, chaired by MN Governor Tim Pawlenty, and conducted 2 task force meetings • Conducted 1st annual SMHC Conference • Completed several case studies of leading edge SMHC practices around the country • Launched 2.0 Web site: www.smhc-cpre.org

5. Case Studies • Boston, Chicago, Fairfax County, Long Beach, New York City, Teach for American, The New Teacher Project, New Leaders for New Schools – www.smhc-cpre.org • State of many urban districts/turnaround schools: • Dysfunctional HR systems: • Paper and pencil systems; late and inaccurate salary checks; large numbers of teacher shortages; larger shortages in math, science, special education; lack of sufficient teacher quality, especially in high-needs schools; few recruitment strategies; opened school each fall with scores of vacancies • Other • Low levels of student achievement, large achievement gaps, disjointed educational improvement strategies

6. Case Findings • Big Finding #1: Urban districts can recruit top-quality teachers and principals by deploying a multi-faceted human resource strategy. • “If you recruit it, talent will come.” • Create multiple recruitment strategies simultaneously • Tap only the best traditional university pipelines • New pipelines--TFA, TNTP, NLNS, leadership academies (Chicago, New York) • “Grow own” programs and new university partnerships • Two pipelines for teacher talent – pre BA and post BA • Move up budget and hiring calendar • Revise bumping and seniority transfer – site selects staff • Hire mainly principals who go through a district training program

7. Case Findings • Big Finding #2:Urban districts that have developed the systems to recruit and retain high-quality teachers and principals and improve student performance have restructured and automated many human resources transactional processes. • Paper and pencil and dysfunctional HR systems are not in the DNA of urban districts; they can be modernized, automated and reformed.

8. Case Findings • Big Finding #3: Processes for strategic management of teacher and principal talent have barely begun to address the need to develop valid and practical measures of teaching performance, and use them to manage all aspects of HR decision making. • Need to identify and use a system of teaching standards and performance rubrics toserve as an “anchor” for all HR programs for teachers • Need a rigorous system for providing tenure • Major new emphasis of the Gates Foundation

9. Case Findings • Big finding #4:Stable leadership from the school district, often buttressed by strong support from city officials, is necessary to build and sustain an effective system for strategic management of human capital. • All five districts had stable leadership at the top for several years. • Strong ties between district chief executives and very powerful mayors

10. Case Findings • Big Finding #5:Union-management collaboration is requisite to many SMHC advances. • Issues commonly negotiated include transfer and assignment procedures, evaluation procedures, professional development, compensation levels and arrangements, and, in some cases, mentoring and induction—decisions related to teachers’ professional lives. • SMHC reforms cannot be accomplished without working with the teacher union or association.

11. SMHC in 2009 • Created both a District and State SMHC Reform Network focused on implementing appropriate, cohesive policies to acquire, develop, pay and retain top teacher and principal talent • Induce more urban districts to mount comprehensive teacher/principal recruitment strategies – webinars and supporting TNTP • Develop, pilot and begin using an assessment system that measures teachers’ instructional practice to various performance levels and begin using to anchor HR programs, with one level for tenure

12. SMHC in 2009 • Identify the practices and requisite skills and competencies for Principals as the human capital manager at the school site key so s/he can effectively recruit, screen, select induct, distribute fairly, develop and reward teachers in ways that boost levels of student learning • Identify key STATE level policies and practices that can enhance district SMHC, create model rules and regulations for those practices, and gets states to begin enacting them.

13. 7 Key State Implications • Develop student-teacher linked data systems to track effectiveness of various teacher and principal training pathways and programs – track impacts re producing student achievement – teachers and principals • Create understanding that there are two pipelines that produce teacher talent – pre BA traditional teacher prep, and post BA for early and mid career changers • Develop practical standards for post BA entrants • Track impacts of all post-BA and pre-BA programs to compare impacts

14. 7 Key State Implications • Provide state funding to any teacher recruitment/training organization that produces teachers effective generally and particularly in high need schools • Create a statewide system of measuring teaching practice that covers initial and professional licensure and performance levels for teachers in years 4-8 • Level 2 for licensure and level 3 for tenure to be earned after a minimum of 4-5 years in the system • Put the system online so it can function as a training and benchmarking platform as well as an external measurement of teaching practice

15. 7 Key State Implications • Enhance state/district/university policy and practice re developing teachers’ clinical skills in the first 3-5 years of teaching; perhaps provide professional license only after a significant residency period. • Include sufficient funds for effective professional development in the state’s school funding formula which would be: • At least 10 pupil free days for training • Instructional coach positions in schools at the rate of 2.0 FTE coach positions for every 400 or so students – require that these funds be used for coach positions • Funds for training for either district folks or consultants at the rate of about $100/pupil • This is adequate for both new teacher induction/residency and ongoing professional development

16. 7 Key State Implications • Provide state funding for developing new approaches to teacher salary schedules that trigger base pay increases for teachers on a validated measure of teaching performance, to link pay levels with practice levels • Augment with bonuses based on student learning gains, for both teachers and principals • Augment with incentives for teachers in subject shortage areas • Prime funding source is current teacher salary budget – it is there and want to transition all teachers to new system within 3 years.

17. SMHC Web site: www.smhc-cpre.org • Allan Odden • arodden @wisc.edu