Compliments of the American Institutes for  Research (AIR).  Glad that growing your own (GYO) teachers is mentioned, as well as collaborating with teacher preparation programs, supporting new teachers, and increasing teacher salaries.  We definitely need systemic, comprehensive approaches rather than piecemeal ones.  Outsourcing it as we do to organizations like TFA is not a solution and is even harmful to the profession overall.  Not that there aren't some good teachers that come out of this, but for most TFA-ers, teaching is a pass though and not a destination.  They also average here in Texas little more than two years in the classroom.  Hence, our revolving door.

To this AIR report, I'd like to add the importance of having teachers that are culturally relevant and bilingual.  So very needed if our profession is to be responsive to current demands.  Fortunately, they cite these pieces that should be helpful to those of us concerned with such things of great importance. A whole bunch to digest here, my friends.

Angela Valenzuela

6 Apr 2016

Blog Post

August0603.jpg

What Will ESSA Mean for English Learners?

English learners (ELs) are an increasingly significant student population, outpacing the demographic growth of non-EL students by more than 40 percent nationwide, and growing by as much as 800 percent in some states. In this blog post, Diane August and Erin Haynes take a look at how the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) helps or hinders this critical student population.

Topic: 

P-12 Education and Social Development, English Language Learners, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

13 Apr 2016

Blog Post

Haynes Erin.jpg

ESSA and Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawai'ian Students

A large body of research supports the idea that Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawai'ian students thrive in instructional environments that honor their unique cultural and linguistic heritages. In this blog post, Erin Haynes says the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) promises unprecedented opportunities and funding for incorporating our nation’s many indigenous cultures and languages into public schools if implemented properly.

Topic: 

P-12 Education and Social Development, Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

 

22 May 2017

Blog Post

Teacher Shortages: Top 10 Ideas from the First State ESSA Plans

Earlier this month, the first deadline for states to submit their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Consolidated State Plans passed. Seventeen state education agencies submitted their plans, laying the foundation for states’ educational priorities for years to come. American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting an analysis of the state plans as they are submitted, and this is the first in a series of summaries and analyses.

Here are the first 17 state to submit ESSA plans. Click on the state to see their plan:

·       Arizona
·       Colorado
·       Connecticut
·       Delaware
·       Illinois
·       Louisiana
·       Maine
·       Massachusetts
·       Michigan
·       Nevada
·       New Jersey
·       New Mexico
·       North Dakota
·       Oregon
·       Tennessee
·       Vermont
·       Washington, DC
Note: Vermont did not include strategies for filling teacher gaps.

"Teacher ownership."  Wonderful words!  I'm seeing this happening in our own district in AISD and it makes me really happy to see it.  Long overdue and surely the outcome of our advocacy at local, state, and national levels. 

To this, I would add the vital importance of parent and community ownership of public education, too.

-Angela

Teacher Ownership and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

Op-Ed

Published on March 30, 2017

By Marisa Saunders

Discussions of educational reform often turn to the influence, competence, and accountability of teachers. While a highly capable and effective teacher workforce is understood as critical for improving student outcomes, teachers are too often viewed as “implementers” rather than as experts who are best positioned to identify and meet the needs of their students. The result is growing teacher dissatisfaction and a mounting teacher shortage, especially within underserved communities.

A recent study conducted by AISR suggests that the conditions that support teacher ownership – a teacher’s sense of alignment with an improvement effort and their agency to influence it – are associated with a range of positive outcomes including greater teacher satisfaction. Teachers who indicate that they have an opportunity to both shape and spread school improvement plans – through shared decision-making, collaborative practices, and leadership – are more likely to indicate positive teacher relationships and an increased sense of accountability. Teachers with a sense of ownership feel invested in their profession, in their schools, and in their students’ learning.

The study was part of the Time for Equity project, funded by the Ford Foundation and carried out by AISR from 2012-2016, with the goal of building the capacity of schools, districts, communities, and partner organizations to improve educational opportunities in the nation’s most underserved school systems through expanded and reimagined learning time.

PDFs: full report, summary, sample survey, handout 

Focused on a network of schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District, our study paid close attention to the conditions and practices that contribute to teachers’ sense of ownership of their school improvement efforts. We found that teacher ownership develops:

•  in environments where space and time is provided for them to work with other teachers to co-construct knowledge and to influence and lead school improvement efforts; and
• when supports and practices are in place that enable teachers to break down barriers and work collectively to build system coherence.

In other words, teacher ownership is not built in isolated classrooms; it is nested within a school culture that values teachers’ expertise, knowledge, and deep understanding of schools as social and cultural institutions.

Teacher ownership is a powerful construct with the potential to create meaningful change in schools and systems. And, as state departments of education revise accountability systems to meet the new requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), we have an opportunity to support and strengthen teacher ownership.

ESSA signals an important move toward a more holistic approach to accountability by encouraging multiple measures of student and school success. This shift creates new opportunities to develop approaches to accountability and improvement that move beyond test scores to include the resources and conditions that matter most for student success, including measures of school climate. Many districts and states are working to integrate school climate measures as a critical non-academic indicator of school quality into their school accountability systems, and these measures should also include how teachers and other staff experience the school as a work environment. Schools must cultivate a healthy and positive workplace that promotes collaboration, professional learning opportunities, and growth through leadership – all contributors to teacher ownership.

Incorporating measures of teacher ownership into state accountability systems provides a mechanism for dismantling the isolation of classroom teachers; creating the space, time, and autonomy that teachers need to collectively define their schools; encouraging multiple roles for teachers, including leadership; and ensuring that adequate and equitable resources are available to support teaching and learning. By coupling measures of school climate (capturing levels of teacher collaboration, trust, and positive teacher relationships) with teacher ownership, we can begin to shine a light on the importance of creating learning environments that help both students and teachers thrive.

If we are serious about transforming our schools, then we must find ways to engage all teachers in the effort – not only as implementers, but as the creators and directors of change. Teachers have the capacity to transform their classrooms, schools, and educational systems. To promote positive and sustainable change, teachers must be included in the development of transformation efforts, have the opportunity to share their knowledge, and lead. In order for positive change to take hold, teachers need to feel ownership of their craft, of their profession, and of the efforts aimed to improve teaching and learning.

Marisa Saunders is a principal associate on the Research & Policy team at AISR.

On the subject of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements for state accountability, college readiness and ethnic studies...

On the subject of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requirements for state accountability and college readiness and ethnic studies (or critical multicultural education at the Pk-12 level)...  I always notice that cultural competence of the kind that critical ethnic studies affords is never a part of these metrics.  Especially on profoundly sad days like today in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida (50 dead, 53 injured by gunfire), I always think about how a critically conscious educator, pedagogy, and curriculum promotes tolerance and acceptance and how in our youth being so exposed if done well, this could have the ultimate positive consequence of diffusing extremism in our midst while simultaneously promoting college readiness.

I'm afraid that yet another re-articulation of accountability will continue to miss the mark in this regard. Thanks to AISD School Board President Kendall Griffith Pace​ for sharing. 

Angela Valenzuela

 

College and Career Readiness: Redefining Ready

April 12, 2016

Photo credit: Bill Selak via flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

"Most U.S. Students Are Not Ready for College, Career." Unfortunately, this is a common headline across the country with "U.S." interchangeable with any number of school, district, or state names.
Usually, it means students didn't perform as well on a standardized assessment as someone thinks they should have. But as educators know, that doesn't mean as much as politicians or the media imply that it does. One assessment does not reveal a student's entire knowledge base. All assessments have limitations. Students have off days.
When evaluating student progress for instructional purposes, educators use a variety of measures. Unfortunately, the idea of multiple measures on a systemic level has been largely ignored in favor of standardized test scores, which are relatively easy to collect and report and have been enshrined in federal policy for the last decade-plus as the measure of school quality.
But that could be changing. In addition to four academic indicators, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires state accountability systems to include one other indicator, such as student engagement, educator engagement, access to and completion of advanced coursework, postsecondary readiness, or school climate and safety. The idea? To broaden the definition of what it means to be a successful school.
And the pressure isn't only coming from Washington, DC. States and districts across the country are developing new ways of measuring student achievement, as well as tools to help redefine what it means to be a successful school -- or student.

National College and Career Readiness Indicators

One such tool comes out of a Chicago-area school district, and it aims to help educators better determine whether a student is college and career ready.
Township High School District 214 Superintendent David Schuler -- who also currently serves as president of AASA, the School Superintendents Association -- and his colleagues have conducted an extensive review of the work of leading research institutions to find out what really predicts student success in college or career.
Based on their research, they developed the National College and Career Readiness Indicators, a multi-metric index that offers a truer picture of whether students are ready for life after high school than you get from simply looking at standardized test scores. AASA has since endorsed the work and launched Redefining Ready! as a national campaign based on these indicators to change the conversation about readiness in our country.
Essentially, the indicators form a checklist for schools and districts -- and possibly even states -- to use to gauge whether students are prepared for their next step.

College Ready Indicators

Under this model, students are considered to be college ready if they have a GPA of 2.8 out of 4.0 and meet one or more of the following benchmarks:

• Advanced placement exam (3+)
• Advanced placement course (A, B or C)
• Dual credit college English or math (A, B or C)
• College developmental or remedial English or math (A, B or C)
• Algebra II (A, B or C)
• International baccalaureate exam (4+)
• College readiness placement assessment (ACT scores of 18 in English, 22 in reading, 23 in science, and 22 in math; SAT benchmark scores have not yet been determined given its recent redesign)

Career Ready Indicators

Students are considered career ready if they have identified a career interest and meet two or more of the following benchmarks:

• 90 percent attendance
• 25 hours of community service
• Workplace learning experience
• Industry credential
• Dual credit career pathway course
• Two or more organized co-curricular activities

In addition, students hoping to enter the military must meet the passing scores on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for each branch of the military.
Of course, these are just a sampling of the indicators associated with postsecondary success. Others include: earning As, Bs, Cs, FAFSA completion, enrollment in a career pathway course sequence, college academic advising, participation in college bound bridge programs, taking senior year math, and completion of a math class after Algebra II.
District officials did not consider the research base on those indicators strong enough to warrant inclusion in their final list, but it's important to note that this index is merely a starting point. As knowledge about what is tied to success increases, it can be easily adapted.

Changing the Conversation

So how can you use this information to change the conversation around readiness in your community?
If you are interested, you can sign on to personally endorse the Redefining Ready! initiative. You can also bring a resolution to your school board that your district adopt the framework of indicators to assess student readiness. Or you can use these indicators to create a school (or district) reporting system to ensure students are on track for success and shine a light on areas your school could focus efforts to improve readiness.
You can also use these indicators as a starting point for a broader conversation in your community. How does your community define ready?
*If you are interested in reviewing the background research on each of these indicators, it is available at Redefining Ready!

Anne OBrien's Profile