Closing the Achievement Gap by Ensuring Equity

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Closing the Achievement Gap byEnsuring Equity
Teacher Quality
Principal Quality
School Board
District Office
Title II Leadership Ron Taylor, Administrator
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Housekeeping

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  listed on Slide 38
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  klarsen
• The event is being recorded and will be available
  afterwards at http//www.cacompcenter.org/title2

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Equity
One of the fundamental principles of the No Child
Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 is that teacher
quality is the single most important
school-related factor in student success.
Therefore, a crucial step in closing the
achievement gap for all students is to ensure
access to fully credentialed teachers.
In order to truly meet the needs of all students,
we must take the additional step of guaranteeing
that every child has the same opportunity to be
taught by fully credentialed, highly qualified,
and experienced teachers, regardless of which
school in a district a child attends.
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Equity
As required by the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (Title I, Part A, Subpart 1, Section
1111b8C), the Local Educational Agency
(LEA) must ensure that poor and minority children
are not taught at higher rates than other
children, by inexperienced, under-qualified, or
out-of-field teachers.
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The Quality of the Teacher Matters
Good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost
more. 
Bob Talbert
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The Quality of the Teacher Matters

• An important first step in closing the
  achievement gap for all children is determining
  teacher quality on the basis of effectiveness in
  the classroom, rather than simply on the basis of
  qualifications for entry into the teaching
  profession.

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The Quality of the Teacher Matters

• An effective teacher is an individual who knows
  both their subject matter and has the
  instructional skills to deliver that content
  powerfully and well. Research, as well as common
  sense, suggests that an effective teacher is
  critical in the academic development of students.

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Percent of Under-Prepared and Novice Teachers by
API Achievement Quartile, 2005-06
The Quality of the Teacher Matters
Low-performing schools have a disproportionate
number of under-prepared and novice teachers. In
addition, the subject areas with the most
out-of-field teaching assignments are frequently
core subject areas, such as mathematics and
science, which already have large percentages of
under-prepared teachers.
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Distribution of Interns by Poverty Decile Data
drawn from on-going 10 year study of Californias
teacher workforce for the Future of Teaching and
Learning
Percent of interns in the state
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Distribution of Interns by School-level API
Deciles Data drawn from on-going 10 year study of
Californias teacher workforce for the Future of
Teaching and Learning
Percent of interns in the state
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
"Anyone can steer the ship when the sea is calm."
-- Publilius Syrus
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
As is the case for teachers, administrators must
be able to demonstrate their effectiveness by
showing results in student achievement at their
schools. Current public policy holds schools, not
individual classroom teachers, accountable.
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
The next best thing to having a highly qualified
teacher in the classroom, is having a highly
effective principal at the helm of the school. We
know that principal quality is a major factor in
school achievement and in a schools ability to
attract and retain effective teachers. To this
end, researchers and stakeholders are now
focusing on how to measure and reward good
principals.
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
Research shows that leadership matters in
improving student achievement. In fact, among
school-related factors over which policy makers
have some control, effective leadership practices
rank second only to the quality of teaching in
influencing student learning (Leithwood, Louis,
Anderson Wahlstrom, 2004). Quality leadership
is particularly important in urban schools
serving high-poverty students (Scheerens
Bosker, 1997).
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
School improvement research shows that leadership
practices directly and indirectly influence
organizational culture and conditions.
Researchers found that having a student-centered
learning climate and ambitious instruction were
critical to improved achievement (Sebring,
Allensworth, Bryk, Easton, Luppescu, 2006).
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The Quality of the Principal Matters
Similarly, a stress on academic achievement from
both students and teachers, resource support, and
principal effectiveness, highly correlated with a
schools math and reading achievement scores
(Sweetland and Hoy, 2000). Both studies found
teachers professional capacity, their
empowerment to make curriculum and instruction
decisions, and their view of the school as a
professional community, to be both critical and
under the influence of the principal.
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The Quality of the Principal Matters

• California will not solve staffing inequities by
  simply hiring more teachers or by moving current
  teachers from one school to another. Teachers are
  not troops recruited and deployed rather, they
  are professionals who respond to opportunities
  for employment within local labor markets.

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The Quality of the District Matters
You can't build a reputation on what you're going
to do.
-- Henry Ford
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The Quality of the District Matters

• The goal must be to improve so-called
  hard-to-staff schools by making all schools,
  including high-poverty and low-performing
  schools, the kinds of places where our most
  effective teachers and administrators will want
  to work.
• Additionally, districts must develop policies,
  practices and procedures to ensure that
  under-qualified, inexperienced and out-of-field
  teachers are not assigned to teach at these
  schools.

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The Quality of the District Matters

• Nowhere is retention more important than in the
  school system. For example, a school system with
  roughly 10,000 teachers and an estimated turnover
  rate of 20, would stand to save approximately
  500,000.00 per year by reducing turnover by just
  one percentage point. Not only would reduced
  turnover provide monetary savings, more
  importantly, it would provide savings in our
  children's educational future. A motivated and
  experienced team of teaching professionals
  directly correlates with an improved educational
  system.

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Closing the Achievement Gap Using Equity

• LEAs must identify the underlying reasons that
  poor and minority children are being taught at
  higher rates than other children, by
  inexperienced, under-qualified, and out-of-field
  teachers. In order to close the achievement gap
  they must develop practices, polices and
  procedures to ensure that low-performing schools
  serving a disproportionate number of poor and
  minority students are recruiting, developing, and
  retaining highly-qualified teachers and
  principals.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity
The primary component of the Compliance
Monitoring, Interventions, and Sanctions (CMIS)
program is the development of an Equitable
Distribution Plan (EDP). The focus of the EDP is
the review, development, and implementation of
strategies to recruit, retain, and improve the
effectiveness of highly-qualified teachers and
administrators.
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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity
Additionally, the LEA will identify local
policies, practices, and procedures that aid or
hinder compliance with the NCLB teacher quality
requirements, and align their human and fiscal
resources with the objectives of the EDP.
Enclosed with the notification letter were the
requirements detailing specific steps needed to
complete the EDP.
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Level A
Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Failed HQT Met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
• LEA is responsible for completing the Teacher
  Experience Worksheets (TEW) - Table A.1 for each
  site that failed to achieve 100 percent highly
  qualified teacher (HQT) compliance.

• Include ALL teachers of NCLB core academic
  subjects at the site
• The LEA must be able to demonstrate that each
  non-compliant teacher will meet NCLB requirements
  by the end of the current school year or are
  working on VPSS

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• Equitable Distribution - Overview

Goal 100 highly-qualified teachers
Requirement 1
Benchmark Action plan for all non-compliant
teachers
Goal No under-qualified (less than
fully-credentialed) teachers at high-poverty or
low-performing schools
Benchmark Board policy
Requirement 2
EDP Requirements and Benchmarks
Goal Interns must be equitably distributed among
all sites
Benchmark Board policy
Goal Equitable distribution of experienced and
effective teachers
Requirement 3
Benchmark Teacher retention data, analysis, and
improvement plan
Goal Equitable distribution of experienced and
effective administrators
Requirement 4
Benchmark Criteria and plan for determining and
developing effective site administrators
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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Level B
• Failed HQT and AYP for two consecutive years

Qualifications for placement into Level B are
based on HQT 2007/08 CBEDS-PAIF
submissions AYP Academic Accountability Team
aau_at_cde.ca.gov 916-319-0863

• The LEA is responsible for the development of an
  EDP and will
• Collect data as required
• Develop an improvement plan to be submitted by
  June 15, 2009

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Closing the Achievement Gap Using Equity

• The NCLB HQT Revised State Plan requires LEAs to
  ensure that poor and minority children are not
  taught by inexperienced, under-qualified, or
  out-of-field teachers at higher rates than are
  other children in the district.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 1 NCLB requires that all public
  school teachers of NCLB core academic subjects be
  highly qualified. To be a Highly Qualified
  Teacher (HQT), and thus NCLB compliant, a teacher
  must 1) have a Bachelors Degree (in any area)
  2) hold a current, valid appropriate credential
  as determined by the California Commission on
  Teacher Credentialing and 3) demonstrate subject
  matter competency.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 2 To ensure that poor,
  underperforming students have access to
  experienced, effective teachers, LEAs may not
  assign Provisional Intern Permits (PIP) or Short
  Term Staff Permit (STSP) to schools with 40
  percent or higher poverty enrollment, or schools
  that have a statewide decile rank of one to
  three.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 2 continued Additionally, LEAs must
  ensure that interns are not placed in high
  poverty, low performing schools in greater
  numbers than in schools with low poverty or
  higher academic achievement.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 3 The Revised State Plan for NCLB
  HQT requires LEAs to ensure that poor and
  minority children are not taught by
  inexperienced, under-qualified, or out-of-field
  teachers at higher rates than other children in
  the district.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 3 continued To ensure poor
  underperforming students have access to
  experienced effective teachers, LEAs must
  demonstrate an ability to retain experienced and
  effective teachers in all schools.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Requirement 4 The NCLB HQT Revised State Plan
  requires LEAs to ensure that poor and minority
  children are not assigned to school sites with
  inexperienced or under-qualified site
  administrators in higher rates than low poverty,
  high performing sites.

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Level C
• Failed AYP and HQT for three consecutive years
• Section 2141 (c) State educational agency shall
  enter into an agreement with such local
  educational agency on the use of that agency's
  funds under this part

• The LEA is responsible for full implementation
  of approved EDP plan, and the development of
  Title II, Part A expenditure budget
• Budget must be developed in an agreement with the
  CDE

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Approved EDP Plan
• Most districts developed the EDP during the
  2007-08 school year
• Districts without an approved EDP must also
  develop the plan using requirements outlined in
  Level B
• Budget Agreement
• Target use of Title II, Part A funds on why LEA
  failed to meet AYP and HQT

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(No Transcript)
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Title II, Part A, Improving Teacher and Principal
Quality, 2141 Budget Instruction Page

• Professional Development
• Professional Development for teachers Including
  but not limited to activities that develop and or
  enhance content knowledge subject specific
  instructional strategies class management
  examination of student achievement data
• Administrators Including but not limited to
  development, articulation, implementation of
  school community, school culture, instructional
  programs, proper management of the organization,

• its operations, and its resources for a safe,
  efficient, and effective learning environment
  effective hiring practices effectiveness of
  contract language

• Subject Matter Project activities and similar
  content development activities. Does not include
  activities such as SB 472, CLAD/EL training and
  other pedagogical trainings

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• Exams and Test Prep
• Exam fees/ reimbursement
• Test preparation training and/or materials
  Including but not limited development and or
  purchase of training materials directly related
  to preparing for taking any exam directly related
  to acquiring Highly Qualified status purchasing
  of reading material directly related to the
  preparation for taking any exam directly related
  to acquiring Highly Qualified status.

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• Recruitment, Training and Retaining
• Recruitment Activities Including but not limited
  to payment for travel directly related to
  recruitment advertizing material/ radio air
  time directly related to recruitment
• Hiring Incentive, relocation allotment Including
  but not limited to directly paying a monetary
  amount for accepting certain position paying
  directly/reimbursement of relocation expenses
  directly related to accepting a position
  board-authorized incentive for hard-to-staff
  school sites

• National Board Certification and/or stipend
  Including but not limited to direct payment or
  reimbursement of training and material related to
  obtaining National Board Certification in
  assigned area payment of stipend related to
  holding National Board Certification in assigned
  area
• VPSS Including but not limited to direct payment
  or reimbursement of VPSS training directly
  related to obtaining HQT status
• Course Work Including and not limited to
  directly paying or reimbursement of
  university/college course work directly related
  to obtaining subject matter competency, clearing
  a credential, if said credential is directly
  related to acquiring Highly Qualified status

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• Class Size Reduction Typically Title II, Part A
  funds may be used for Class Size Reduction (CSR)
  however, districts placed in CMIS Level C have
  failed to meet AYP and HQT, therefore will need
  to provide evidence that CSR will positively
  impacted student achievement and improve
  retention of highly qualified teachers.
• Expansion of current (2008-09) CSR program is not
  allowed under this agreement

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Budget development will be done
• using Budget Template
• Due June 15, 2009
• Beginning in January 2010 budget will be
  submitted using the Consolidated Application
  (ConApp) Part II, page 34
• Due January 30th
• Expenditure reports will be done
• using Budget Template
• Due June 30th

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Closing the Achievement GapUsing Equity

• Level B EDP Plans and Level C Budget (and EDP if
  required) Due June 15, 2009
• Send To California Department of Education
• Attention Kelly Heffington
• 1430 N Street, Suite 4309
• Sacramento, CA 95814
• CDE will sign agreement and notify districts of
  approval
• Submission questions should be addressed to
  Kelly Heffington at Kheffington_at_cde.ca.gov
  916-324-5689

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Closing the Achievement GapContacts

• Lynda Nichols, Consultant
• 916-323-5822 lnichols_at_cde.ca.gov
• ConApp Questions
• Jackie Rose, Analyst
• 916-322-9503 jrose_at_cde.ca.gov

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Closing the Achievement GapContacts

• Thank you!
• Please visit the CA CC Title II Web page for
  resources and future Webinar announcements at
• http//www.cacompcenter.org/title2