Teaching for Equity and Excellence: What it Will Really Take to Leave No Child Behind

1
Teaching for Equity and Excellence What it Will
Really Take to Leave No Child Behind
2
A Changing Economy Makes Education More Important
3
The Consequences of Under-Education

• A high school dropout in 2000 has less than a 50
  chance of getting a job 20-25 of students in
  the U.S. dropout of school
• That job will earn less than ½ of what the same
  job earned 20 years ago
• Wages are increasing only for those with at least
  a college education
• Lack of education is ever more strongly
  correlated with welfare dependency and
  incarceration

4
Education vs. Incarceration?

• Over the last decade, prison enrollments tripled,
  with largest increases for high school dropouts
• Funding for jails increased 600 while funding
  for schools increased 25
• More than 50 of inmates are functionally
  illiterate
• 40 of adjudicated juvenile offenders have
  learning disabilities never identified in school
• Graduation rates are going down for the first
  time in our history

5
Sources of Inequality

• The achievement gap has widened in the 1990s.
  Nationwide, schools serving minority and
  low-income students have
• Lower funding levels
• Larger class sizes
• Less well-qualified teachers
• Fewer college preparatory or AP courses
• Larger school sizes
• Fewer computers, books, supplies
• Less access to information technologies

6
Equitable Achievement Depends on Curriculum and
Teaching
Holding SES constant, minority and white students
who have equally well-qualified teachers and
comparable curriculum perform comparably in
reading and mathematics. .
7
Influence of Teacher Qualifications on Student
AchievementGains in Math Achievement from 3rd to
5th Grade Due to
8
Access to Qualified Teachers Strongly Influences
Achievement

• Recent studies in CA, TX, NY, SC have found
  that, after controlling for SES, students scores
  and pass rates on state examinations in reading
  and math are significantly related to the
  proportion of fully certified teachers in their
  schools (Fuller, 1998 2000 Fetler, 1999 Goe,
  2002 Pastor, 2003 NYC BOE, 2002
  Darling-Hammond, 2003).
• A 1 increase in teacher quality (as measured by
  NTE scores) was related to a 3-5 decrease in
  student fail rates on North Carolinas state
  examinations (Strauss Sawyer, 1986)

9
Strauss Sawyer concluded

• Of the inputs which are potentially
  policy-controllable, our analysis indicates quite
  clearly that improving the quality of teachers in
  the classroom will do more for students who are
  most educationally at risk, those prone to fail,
  than reducing the class size or improving the
  capital stock by any reasonable margin which
  would be available to policy makers (Strauss
  Sawyer, 1986, p. 47).

10
Teacher Education Boosts Student Achievement
11
Schools that Support Powerful Learning for all
Students Teachers

• Small learning communities (300-500)
• Personalization - Students see fewer teachers and
  teachers see fewer students over a longer period
  of time
• Collective curriculum planning, teaming, peer
  coaching
• Continuous professional development as part of
  teachers work
• Performance based assessments of learning

12
Poor and Minority Children Get the Least
Qualified Teachers
13
NCLB requirements for Highly Qualified Teachers
Are Important

• Teachers must be fully certified and have subject
  matter competence
• BUT
• Standards for subject matter are confusing for
  elementary and middle school teachers
• Alternative Route teachers are considered highly
  qualified before they are trained
• Alternate Routes vary widely in quality
• Some have encouraged states to reduce standards
  for certification requirements to minimize or
  avoid teacher education

14
Evidence about Alternative Routes to Certification

• Short-term programs have had lower rated recruits
  and higher attrition rates (NH, MINT, NY Teaching
  Fellows, some CA internships) as well as lower
  effectiveness (Dallas AC) than traditional
  programs
• Programs that include strong clinical support and
  intensive coursework get comparable results in
  terms of ratings, retention, and effectiveness
  (Miller, McKenna, McKenna)

15
Evidence about Teacher EducationStudies have
found higher achievement in math and science for
students whose teachers

• Had more methods courses as well as greater
  content courses (up to a threshold) in their
  field (Begle, 1979 Monk, 1994)
• Had a major and were fully certified in their
  fields (Goldhaber Brewer, 1999)
• Had a major or minor and received teacher
  education or professional development in working
  with diverse learners, using hands-on methods,
  using strategies that focus on higher-order
  thinking skills (Wenglinsky, 2000)

16
What Kind of Teacher Knowledge Matters for
Literacy? Correlates of Reading Achievement on
4th Grade NAEP

• Students do better when their teachers
• Are fully certified and better educated
• Have more preparation in literature-based and
  integrated strategies for teaching reading
• Use texts including trade books, magazines,
  newspapers, not basal readers or reading kits
• Assess reading through extended writing, not
  multiple choice tests (NAEP, 1994)
• Have stronger preservice preparation to teach
  reading (IRA, 2003)

17
How Preparation Matters

• I could maybe have done a bad job at a
  suburban high school. I stood to do an awful job
  at a (city) school where you needed to have
  special skills. I just didnt ever know I needed
  them before I went in. I felt like, OK, I did
  the workshops I know science and I care about
  these kids You know, I had the motivation to
  help, but I didnt have the skill. Its sort of
  like wanting to fix someones car and not having
  any idea how to fix a car. I wasnt equipped to
  deal with it, and I had no idea.
• - A 1996 Teach for America recruit who left in
  the first year

18
Teacher Preparation and Mentoring Reduce Attrition
19
Differences between NCTAF and the Market Approach

• Professional accountability Hold systems and
  teachers accountable for getting using
  knowledge about what works
• Ensure access to subject matter and teaching
  knowledge
• Ensure standards before and after hiring through
  licensing, induction, evaluation, professional
  development

• Market accountability Let almost anyone teach,
  then fire teachers close schools that do poorly
• Rely on verbal ability, (sometimes content
  knowledge), instincts about teaching
• Look for evidence of success after hiring based
  on student test scores

20
The Unregulated Market Experiment California is
an early test

• Few bars to hiring unprepared teachers
• 50,000 uncredentialed teachers almost exclusively
  in low-income communities
• 10 times more underprepared teachers in
  high-minority schools.
• Inequalities are increasing.
• High attrition rates for uncertified teachers
  (60-70 gone within 3 years)
• Significantly lower achievement in reading and
  mathematics for students taught by underqualified
  teachers, controlling for poverty

21
The Realities of School Recruitment Support

• Many districts do not or cannot hire qualified
  applicants for teaching positions even when they
  are available. Critical problems include
• Unequal pay, and working conditions across
  districts
• Preferences for low-paid personnel when funds are
  short
• Cumbersome screening processes delays in
  hiring
• Obstacles to teacher recruitment and mobility
  information, salary caps, pension portability
• Lack of licensing reciprocity among states.
• Districts that have the least well-prepared
  teachers are least able to offer preparation and
  professional development. The rich get richer,
  the poor get poorer.

22
Can we provide qualified teachers for every
child?

• There are 3-5 times as many credentialed teachers
  in the US as there are jobs
• Most shortages are a function of high attrition,
  unequal resources, and poor distribution rather
  than an overall shortage of qualified teachers
• Many states districts have surpluses in most
  fields.
• Districts and states have solved shortages with
  targeted policies that boost supply and stem
  attrition.

23
Districts that Have Solved Shortages (San Diego,
New Haven, NYC)

• Recruit aggressively and hire qualified teachers
  early
• Set competitive salaries
• Provide mentoring
• Ensure good working conditions, materials,
  administrative supports

24
Policy can Improve Teacher Quality The
Connecticut Case

• Over 14 years Connecticut
• Increased and equalized salaries for qualified
  teachers
• Raised licensing standards improved teacher
  education
• Provided scholarships for preparation in shortage
  fields
• Ensured mentoring for new teachers
• Invested in widespread professional development,
  e.g. Reading Recovery
• Gave extra aid to high-need districts

25
Student Achievement In Reading, 1994-1998
26
Differences in State Policies

• In the 1990s, high-scoring states had
• The best qualified teachers (full certification
  plus a major in the field taught)
• The fewest teachers out-of-field or on emergency
  credentials
• Student assessments that are standards-based and
  performance-oriented, and that are used for
  improvement not for school or student sanctions
  (avoiding unintended consequences for student
  teacher attrition)

27
Since 1994, Average Teacher Qualifications Have
Improved

• More teachers have content preparation (major or
  minor) for the fields they teach.
• More new teachers have had more extensive
  preparation
• More new teachers have had induction support
• More teachers have had professional development
  opportunities of greater length
• But more teachers are entering low-income schools
  without this preparation

28
More teachers have a background in their main
teaching field
29
But disparities in teacher preparation remainby
school location
30
By student race and income
31
More new teachers experience induction programs
32
But,some states are providing less help to
beginning teachers
33
More teachers have experienced extensive
professional development
34
But there are large differences in Professional
Development opportunities across states (2000)
35
No Child Left Behind What Needs to Happen?

• Change accountability provisions to focus on
  sensible measures of student progress
• Stand Firm on Teacher Quality Insist that that
  states define qualified teachers as those who are
  well and fully prepared
• Insist that Washington provide greater incentives
  for teacher training rather than lowering
  standards
• Address the bimodal distribution of qualified
  teachers with funding reforms
• Allocate resources to emphasize quality teachers
  and quality teaching

36
Strategies for Recruiting High Quality Teachers
for All Students

• For the cost of 1 of our recent tax cut or 1
  week of current U.S. costs in Iraq, we could fill
  all of the nations high need positions by
• Underwriting high-quality teacher preparation
  through service scholarships for fully certified
  teachers who are prepared to teach in shortage
  fields and locations. 35,000-50,000 scholarships
  annually at 15,000-20,000 each for undergraduate
  or graduate level training would fill high-need
  positions (700 million annually over 5 years).
• Enhancing reciprocity with common standards and
  assessments
• For the cost of another 3 days of Iraq
  investments we could provide 3,000 for every new
  teacher over the next 5 years to support
  mentoring that enables retention.

37
The Future We Need

• Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach.
• Those who can, teach.
• Those who cant go into a less significant line
  of work.