Educator Quality and Quantity

a CEAAC Project

with PartnersNEA Alaska and Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc.

Charles Wohlforth director@ceaac.netJerry Covey jscc@gci.netBarbara Adams badams.ak@gmail.com

EQQ Context

• 2004: CEAAC Board files the constitutional Moore suit to address low performance in rural schools.

• 2009: Judge Gleason orders teacher and principal training to meet state’s constitutional obligation.

• 2012, January: CEAAC settles Moore suit without a specific teacher preparation component.

• 2012, April: CEAAC Board adopts a three-year plan, taking on teacher quality and quantity beginning in 2014.

• 2014, April: CEAAC Board retains Jerry Covey and Dr. Barbara Adams to study and make recommendations.

• Today: Covey/Adams Report to CEAAC

EQQ Project Goals1. Identify statewide issues that negatively impact

Alaska’s certificated education workforce.

2. Identify effective practices in educator recruitment, development, and retention.

3. Engage stakeholder groups in a collaborative effort to prioritize improvements that will strengthen Alaska’s certificated workforce.

4. Secure policy, regulatory, and statutory changes to improve the quality of Alaska’s certificated education workforce.

Issues & Impetus• From 2008-2012 an average of 64% of teachers were hired from outside (ISER,

2013).

• District teacher turnover ranged from 7-52% in 2012 (ISER, 2013).

• Turnover rate for teachers prepared outside is double that of teachers prepared in Alaska, regardless of years of experience. For example, 23% vs. 12% turnover of early career teachers 0-3 years (ISER, 2013).

• Half of Alaska students are minority but 90% of teachers are white (ISER, 2013).

• Only about 40% of Alaska’s high school graduates attended postsecondary institutions in 2012 (ACPE, 2013).

• 49% of first-time UA freshman required remedial courses in 2013. Of that group 81% of them required remedial math and 50% required remedial English (ACPE, 2014).

Strengthen K-12 Certificated Workforce

Systemic Approach

Expand the Alaska grown Workforce

Develop and Keep the Workforce

Train 60% of new hires in state by 2020

Develop 90% to proficiency level

by 2020

Preparation & Recruitment

Prof Development & Retention

Measurable Outcomes

EXPAND DEVELOP & KEEPPreparation

Raise standards for entry into and exit from educator preparation program in state

Increase university capacity for teacher education by 66%

Increase and strengthen pre-service field experience

Provide a systemic process for improving teacher preparation using stakeholder and outcome feedback

Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers

Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities

Professional Development

Add 10 professional development days Add 5 days to school year Add 5 days to quality in-service

allocation Select 2 or 3 curricular programs for

major content areas – if districts choose to use them state will purchase them and EED will provide on-going staff development

Fully fund and implement Alaska Statewide Mentor Project

Recruitment

FEA program in every school district, aim for 5% of high school student population for a total of 2,000 students

Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers

Loan forgiveness for Alaskans who are trained outside and return to teach

Incentivize hard to fill jobs Revisit salary and benefits package

Retention

Incentivize hard to fill jobs Revisit salary and benefits package Establish laboratory schools in urban

and rural hub communities Continue teacher retention grants to

districts Note: this systemic approach should

support increased retention as a whole

Preparation Raise standards for entry into and exit

from educator preparation program in state

Increase university capacity for teacher education by 66%

Increase and strengthen pre-service field experience

Provide a systemic process for improving teacher preparation using stakeholder and outcome feedback

Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers

Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities

STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #1:TRAIN 60% OF NEW HIRES IN STATE BY 2020

Recruitment FEA program in every school district,

aim for 5% of high school student population for a total of 2,000 students

Increase and strengthen bridge programs to attract minority groups into education careers

Loan forgiveness for Alaskans who are trained outside and return to teach

Incentivize hard to fill jobs Revisit salary and benefits package

STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #1:TRAIN 60% OF NEW HIRES IN STATE BY 2020

Professional Development

Add 10 professional development days Add 5 days to school year Add 5 days to quality in-service

allocation

Select two curricular programs for major content areas – if districts voluntarily choose to use them, state will purchase them and EED will provide on-going staff development

Fully fund and implement Alaska Statewide Mentor Project

STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #2:DEVELOP 90% TO PROFICIENCY LEVEL BY 2020

Retention Incentivize hard to fill jobs

Revisit salary and benefits package

Continue teacher retention grants to districts

Establish laboratory schools in urban and rural hub communities

Note: this systemic approach should support increased retention as a whole

STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT ACHIEVING GOAL #2:DEVELOP 90% TO PROFICIENCY LEVEL BY 2020

Next Steps

• Request consensus from CEACC board• Present Alaska EQQ Plan to stakeholder groups • Convene stakeholder group to begin developing

recommendations• Present plan to school boards, local governments,

statewide civic, community, and business groups• Present policy recommendations to legislature and

education agencies• Advocate for change

Methodology & Methods

• Approach– Long-term issue– Make change– Leaders from range of

stakeholders– Grounded Theory

• Data Collection– Interviews (16)– Two interviewers– Individual mostly and

some group– Structured protocol– Document review

Interview Data Collection • Alaska Dept. of Education & Early Development • Alaska Staff Development Network • Alaska Teacher Placement• Anchorage School District • Association of Alaska School Administrators• Association of Alaska School Boards • Education Matters• Fairbanks North Star Borough School District• Future Educators of Alaska • Institute for Social and Economic Research• NEA Alaska • UA Rural Campus Leaders• UA Schools of Education• UA Statewide Administration

Research Reports/Documents• Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) Documents • Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) • Education Matters, Inc. • Flexner Report on Teacher Preparation (Brookings Institution) • Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) Reports • Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Standards (inTASC) • National Board of Professional Teaching Standards • National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) 2013 State Teacher Policy

Yearbook • Shaping Alaska's Future (University of Alaska) • Stanford Social Innovation Review• TCC Interior Education Summit Draft Report• UA SOE Draft Plan for Revitalizing Teacher Education in Alaska

Coding & Analysis Process

open coding• Quality• Compensation• Mentoring• Perception

selective coding• Preparation• Recruitment• Retention• Professional development

Iterative Process: open coding, axial coding, selective codingAnalysis: frequency, co-occurrence, quotes

axial coding• Issues• Solutions• Changes

Resultsby frequency

Results for IssuesIssue: ideas suggested as problems, bottlenecks, difficulties.

Issue Change Solution Preparation 0.13 0.12 0.08 Recruitment 0.13 0.08 0.13 Retention 0.13 0.05 0.06 Compensation 0.10 0.05 0.05 Conditions 0.10 0.06 0.03 Governance 0.10 0.05 0.02 Quality 0.10 0.13 0.05

Results for SolutionsSolution: ideas suggested that address an issue or suggest change in a specific and actionable manner.

Solution Issue Change Recruitment 0.13 0.13 0.08 Funding 0.12 0.09 0.09 Partnerships 0.09 0.05 0.05 Staff 0.09 0.03 0.01 Mentoring 0.09 0.01 0.04 Preparation 0.08 0.13 0.12

Results for ChangesChange: ideas suggested for modification without providing a solution.

Change Issue Solution Perception 0.17 0.08 0.07 Quality 0.13 0.10 0.05 Preparation 0.12 0.13 0.08 Funding 0.09 0.09 0.12 Incentive 0.09 0.07 0.03 ProfDev 0.08 0.08 0.06 Recruitment 0.08 0.13 0.13

Results by Topic Preparation Recruitment ProfDev Retention Benefits 0.01 0.04 0.00 0.05 Certification 0.05 0.01 0.02 0.03 Communication 0.02 0.09 0.00 0.09 Compensation 0.03 0.06 0.00 0.05 Conditions 0.02 0.08 0.05 0.08 Data 0.17 0.14 0.05 0.07 Demands 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.00 Funding 0.03 0.10 0.08 0.02 Governance 0.08 0.01 0.10 0.00 Incentive 0.08 0.18 0.01 0.04 Leadership 0.01 0.00 0.06 0.06 Mentoring 0.01 0.04 0.11 0.00 Partnerships 0.10 0.03 0.10 0.04 Pay 0.01 0.05 0.02 0.05 Perception 0.09 0.02 0.00 0.06 ProfDev 0.06 0.02 0.00 0.03 Quality 0.30 0.07 0.03 0.04 Staff 0.02 0.03 0.12 0.14 Support 0.04 0.07 0.09 0.08