Closing the Achievement Gap: The Role of Teacher Distribution

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Closing the Achievement GapThe Role of Teacher
Distribution
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PROJECT SPECIFICS

• Funded by grant from MetLife to study impact of
  teacher quality, how to improve teacher
  effectiveness/distribution
• ELEMENT 1 Policy Brief
• ELEMENT 2 Symposium (to inform brief)

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Teacher Quality The Key Lever

• Teacher quality matters most when it comes to a
  students academic performance in terms of what
  schools can control
• Effective teachers can dramatically change the
  course of a students life

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Teacher Quality The Key Lever
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Teacher Quality The Key Lever

• Unfortunately, the most effective teachers are
  not in the schools that need them most
• An Ed Trust study by Kevin Carey reveals that
  high-achieving students were assigned effective
  teachers at double the rate of low-achieving
  students (77 to 40).

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Teacher Quality The Key Lever

• Reverse was true for ineffective teachers
• Low-achieving students assigned to ineffective
  teachers at more than double the rate of
  high-achieving students (81 to 30).

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Why?

• SUPPLY
• Teacher preparation programs insufficient (lack
  rigor, breadth, context-specific training)
• Simply not enough math, science, special ed
  teachers
• Teachers prefer to work close to where they grew
  up (72 percent). This puts a strain on districts
  in regions that dont tend to produce teachers
  (let alone effective ones).

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Why?

• RECRUITMENT/HIRING
• Loophole in NCLB comparability clause allows
  school districts to eliminate actual teacher
  salaries when reporting expenditures poorer
  school districts lose out on they otherwise
  would receive to provide equally effective (and
  usually more expensive) teachers

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Why?

• RECRUITMENT/HIRING
• Hiring policies and processes are often
  complicated and delayed in low-performing
  districts
• While such districts may initially attract plenty
  of highly qualified applicants, they lose them as
  the months go on to wealthier districts with more
  efficient processes

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Why?

• RETENTION
• Research shows that higher-quality teachers leave
  low-performing schools at a higher rate than
  their less qualified counterparts
• Almost 50 percent of new teachers leave the
  profession within the first 5 years
• Among the reasons lack of support, negative
  school environment, unattractive working
  conditions

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SOLUTIONS

• INCREASE THE SUPPLY
• Overhaul teacher prep programs, require
  accountability and feedback based on student
  achievement
• Quality alternative certification routes
• Grow-Your-Own programs

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SOLUTIONS

• RECRUIT TOP-FLIGHT TEACHERS
• Incentives for established effective teachers and
  National Board Certified teachers to teach in
  high-need schools
• Streamline hiring process, reform HR
• Look to programs with effective recruitment
  strategies (TFA, TNTP) to cull best practices

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SOLUTIONS

• HIRING
• Teacher Draft point system for schools
  principals with lowest student achievement get
  first pick. And EARLY.
• Educate principals on what effective or
  potentially effective teachers look like on paper

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SOLUTIONS

• PLACEMENT
• No out-of-field teachers
• Reverse-order challenges (most challenging
  classes get best teachers provide incentives)

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RETAINING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

• WORKING CONDITIONS
• Administer surveys to teachers in order to focus
  efforts on reforming working conditions at the
  school level
• Accountability with principals invest in
  measuring effectiveness/quality of principals

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RETAINING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

• INDUCTION
• Key in retaining teachers
• Good induction can translate to the same efficacy
  rates among new teachers as those with 4 years of
  experience who did not go through induction
  programs

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RETAINING EFFECTIVE TEACHERS

• CAREER LADDERS
• COLLABORATION/PD
• FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
• None of these can work on their own must be
  whole package

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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FEDERAL POLICYMAKERS

• IMPROVE DATA SYSTEMS
• TEACHER PREP ACCOUNTABILITY
• REAL STATE EQUITY PLANS
• COMPARABILITY LOOPHOLE
• TITLE II Teacher Quality (PD)
• Target funds toward schools that need them most,
  make funds dependent upon states meeting equity
  goals for teacher distribution

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UP NEXT FOR THE ALLIANCE

• Revise Policy Brief
• Release Policy Brief (March)

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THE GOOD STUFF

• Learning the whats and whys of current policy
  the hows of future policy
• Interacting with the experts
• Orchestrating the conversation about how we move
  forward to improve equity
• Learning to recognize good research, analyze it
  for the implications
• Witnessing a drive to collaborate, share
  information, make an informed case

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THE HARD STUFF

• Slow nature of change
• Inability to partake in the process of
  implementing change / Distance from the ground
• Not knowing how your efforts will actually impact
  the system
• Not being able to really use my teaching
  experience

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THANKS

• Alliance for Excellent Education
• Fordham
• Fellows