Teacher Quality Matters

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Teacher Quality Matters
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Good Teachers Matter Most

• The latest research confirms what we first
• reported in Good Teaching Matters that
• effective teachers are hugely importantthe
• single biggest factor in student learning.

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Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Math Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Finish 5th Grade Math at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Students Who Start 3rd Grade at About the Same
Level of Reading Achievement
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Finish 5th Grade at Dramatically Different
Levels Depending on the Quality of Their Teachers
Source Heather Jordan, Robert Mendro, and Dash
Weerasinghe, The Effects of Teachers on
Longitudinal Student Achievement, 1997.
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Students Assigned to Effective Teachers
Dramatically Outperformed Students Assigned to
Ineffective Teachers
Source William L. Sanders and June C. Rivers,
Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on
Future Students Academic Achievement, University
of Tennessee Value-Added Research and Assessment
Center, 1996.
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• Even though we know
• that teachers can literally
• make or break a
• childs progress for years
• to come

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No matter what measure you use

• Years of experience
• Certification status
• Major in field
• Effectiveness

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low-income, minority, and low-performing
students DO NOT get the same access to good
teachers.
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Nationally
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Poor and Minority Students Get More
Inexperienced Teachers
High poverty Low poverty
High minority Low minority
Teachers with 3 or fewer years of experience.
High and low refer to top and bottom
quartiles.
Source National Center for Education Statistics,
Monitoring Quality An Indicators Report,
December 2000.
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More Classes in High-Poverty, High-Minority
Schools Taught By Out-of-Field Teachers
High minority Low minority
High poverty Low poverty
Teachers lacking a college major or minor in the
field. Data for secondary-level core academic
classes. Source Richard M. Ingersoll, University
of Pennsylvania. Original analysis for the Ed
Trust of 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey.
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In Texas
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More African-American Students, More Uncertified
Teachers in Freshmen Courses
Source Fuller, Ed (2004) University of Texas at
Austin
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More African-American Students, More Novice
Teachers
Source Fuller, Ed (2004) University of Texas at
Austin
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More Low-Income Students, More Novice Teachers
Source Fuller, Ed (2004) University of Texas at
Austin
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More Low-Income Students, More Out-of-Field
Teachers
Source Fuller, Ed (2004) University of Texas at
Austin
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Low-Achieving Students are More Likely to be
Assigned to Ineffective Teachers than Effective
Teachers
Source Sitha Babu and Robert Mendro, Teacher
Accountability HLM-Based Teacher Effectiveness
Indices in the Investigation of Teacher Effects
on Student Achievement in a State Assessment
Program, AERA Annual Meeting, 2003.
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Low-Achieving Students are Less Likely to be
Assigned to Effective Teachers Than Their
Higher-Achieving Peers
Source Sitha Babu and Robert Mendro, Teacher
Accountability HLM-Based Teacher Effectiveness
Indices in the Investigation of Teacher Effects
on Student Achievement in a State Assessment
Program, AERA Annual Meeting, 2003.
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In Tennessee
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More African-American Students Assigned to Least
Effective Teachers
Source William L. Sanders and June C. Rivers,
Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on
Future Students Academic Achievement, University
of Tennessee Value-Added Research and Assessment
Center, 1996.
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Access to Teacher Quality Project Funded by the
Joyce Foundation
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Do low-income and minority students have equal
access to quality teachers as their peers?
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What do the data say?What do we propose to do
to change patterns?
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The Access to Teacher Quality Project

• State-level working groups in Illinois, Ohio, and
  Wisconsin
• District-level working groups in Chicago,
  Cleveland, and Milwaukee
• Multiple stakeholders at the table
• A 2-year project, guided by a working group in
  each site in partnership with The Education
  Trust

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Stage 1 Understanding the Data

• The working group defines what we need to know.
• What are the important dimensions of teacher
  quality? Examples experience, education,
  certification, licensure scores, value-added
  effectiveness measures
• Site-based staff and Ed Trust staff analyze the
  data

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Stage 2 Analyzing the Problem

• Guided by what the data tell us
• If the current distribution of teachers isnt
  aligned with the goal of closing the gap, why not?

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Stage 3 Building Consensus for Change

• Based on the data analyzed in Stage 1, and the
  information gathered in Stage 2, what new choices
  can we make to provide equal access to quality
  teachers for all students?
• Data, analyses, final results reported publicly.

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Moving Forward

• Need for precision, rather than proxy

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Value-Added Measures
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Expanding Use of Value-Added

• Measure effectiveness but cannot answer these
  questions
• Where teachers are effective, what do their
  practices look like?
• How did these teachers become effective?

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A Study of Effective Teachersfunded by the
Kauffman Foundation
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Purpose

• To study instructional practice to
• see what teachers do to help their
• students make significant academic
• gains.

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We plan to

• Work with 30 Middle School Math Teachers in two
  districts in Kansas City Metropolitan Area
• Videotape 2-3 lessons per teacher
• Collect instructional materials
• Survey teachers
• Interview teachers about their lessons

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What are our questions?

• What do effective middle school math teachers do
  in their classrooms to produce significant gains?
• What factors contribute to middle school math
  teachers abilities to produce significant gains?
• According to effective middle school math
  teachers, what factors contribute to their
  ability to be effective?

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Uses of the Project/What will we gain

• Better insight into the instructional practice of
  effective middle school math teachers
• Videos for use in professional development
• Other products??

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The Education Trust

• Heather Peske
• [phone] ext. 314
• hpeske_at_edtrust.org
• Candace Crawford
• [phone] ext. 355
• ccrawford_at_edtrust.org
• www.edtrust.org