Judging Teachers, Judging
Schools – Accountability in
Education
EDN 200
October 30, 2006
Today’s Plan
• Discuss School Visit
• Article Reflection – Teacher Evaluation
• Judging Teachers, Judging Schools - Pt 1
– Presentation
– Activities
• Book Report Check Up (Due Nov. 6th)
• Final Research Paper Presentation (10:30)
Middle School Visit
• Physical Facility
• Students and Teachers
• Curriculum and Pedagogy
• Surprises
Article
• Teacher Evaluation
– Your comments and questions
Judging Teachers, Judging
Schools: The Current Climate
• Parents are very positive about the public
school their child attends:
– Using the A, B, C, D and FAIL scale what
grade would you give the school your
oldest child attends?*
• Parents of Public School Children:
– A&B = 72%, C = 16%
*Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, 2005
The Current Climate
• People Are Less Positive About
Public Schools in their Own
Communities
• Students are often given the grades A,
B, C, D and FAIL to denote the quality of
their work. Suppose the public schools
themselves, in your community, were
graded in the same way. What grade
would you give the public schools here
– A, B, C, D or FAIL?*
– The Public in General:
» A&B = 47%, C = 33%
– Parents of Public School Children:
» A&B = 61%, C=24%
*Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, 2005
The Current Climate
• The Public Views the Nation’s Public
Schools Negatively
– How about the public schools in the nation
as a whole? What grade would you give
the public schools nationally- A, B, C, D or
FAIL?*
• The Public in General:
– A&B = 26%, C = 45%, D = 13%, Fail = 4%
• Parents of Public School Children:
– A&B = 22%, C=44%, D= 13%, Fail = 6%
*Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, 2005
The Current Climate
• Policymakers and the public have concerns
about the nation’s teachers, the schools that
prepare them, and the standards they must meet
– A majority of parents (53%) believe that people
who choose teaching as a profession tend to be
just average compared to other college graduates.
- Reality Check, 2000
– Forty-seven percent of the general public think
lack of good teaching contributes a great deal to
why students fail to learn. (2003 Phi Delta
Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public)
– “Schools of education and formal training
programs are failing to produce the types of high
quality teachers that No Child Left Behind
Demands” – Rod Paige, 2003 (Secretary of
Education)
The Current Climate
• But, parents are very positive about
teachers in their child’s school:
– An overwhelming 85% of parents agree that, in their
child’s school, most teachers are committed to their
profession and really care about their students.
(Reality Check, 2000)
– Three out of four parents (75%) say that all or most of
their child’s teachers know their subject matter very
well. (Reality Check, 2000)
Judging Teachers, Judging Schools
• Regardless of how their viewed, teachers
are vitally important for the success of
students.
– “Within grade levels, the single most dominant
factor affecting student academic gain is
teacher effect.” - Wright, Horn, and Sanders, 1996
So What is Good Teaching?
• “I know it when I see it.”
– Justice Potter Stewart, 1964
• Not talking about education, focus was
pornography
Efforts to Define Good Teaching
• Kratz (1896) asked 2,411 students to describe
characteristics of their best teachers
– 87% Helpfulness
– 58% Personal Appearance
• 20th Century is full of presage-product research
– Characteristics of Teachers-Effect on Student
Learning
• Teacher physical, intellectual traits, teacher training
examined (1,000’s of studies)
– Found very few links - teacher verbal ability (SAT,
GRE) seems to be only characteristic that has
survived multiple studies*
Stronge, 2002
Efforts To Define Good Teaching
• So, how do we know if our schools are
staffed with effective teachers?
– Test scores may tell us which teachers are
adding value but they do nothing to tell us
what effective teachers are doing.
– 500+ published classroom observation
systems
– Your Turn
• A look at teachers in action
– Effectiveness 1-7 (based on what?)
Flanders (1970)
1. Accepts feelings
2. Praises or encourages
3. Accepts or uses student’s ideas
4. Asks questions
5. Lecturing
6. Giving directions
7. Criticizing or justifying authority DATA:
8. Pupil talk -response
10, 5, 5, 5, 5,
9. Pupil talk - initiation
5, 4, 10, 10, 4,
10. Silence or confusion
8, 8, 8, 8, 7, 7,
6, 6, 10, 10, 9,
9, 7, 7, 6, 6, 4,
4, 8, 8, 10, 5,
5, 5, 5, 5, 2, 2,
4, 4, 10, 10
Flander’s Analysis
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x
1
x x
2
3
4
x xxx xxx x
5 xx xx
xxx xxx
6 xx
x
7
xxx x
8
x
9
xxx
10 xx
Goldhammer (1969)
• Classroom evaluation • Two column running-
is a collaborative record
process. • Left column - what’s
happening in the
• Pre-observation, classroom
observation, post- • Right column, time,
observation questions
conference • Review notes and filter
• Highlight areas of information
practice on which to • Cluster items and rank
focus order
Kounin (1970)
• Four pupils - one in each quadrant
• Supervisor selects pupils - teacher
identifies atypical students
• 5 seconds per pupil
• Attention and behavior ratings (1-3)
• Three minute observation cycles
• Average attention and behavior scores
North Carolina
TPAI
Value-Added Modeling
• William Sanders
• Tennessee Standardized Assessments
• 3-Years of Pupil Standardized Tests
• Expected gain scores Student Performance
100
80
Scores
60
40
20
0
• Concerns 1 2 3 4
Teachers
– Based on results of one test in May
– Teachers are penalized for following exceptional teachers
– Teachers are rewarded for following poor teachers
We Should Care Because
Change is Here
• Fla. to Link Teacher Pay To Students'
Test Scores - Washington Post, 2006
• Ehrlich Outlines Plan to Pursue Merit
Pay for Teachers if Reelected - Washington
Post, 2006
• Teacher Merit Pay Tied to Education
Gains - New York Times, 2006
• Denver Voters Approve Merit Pay for
Teachers - 2005