Teacher Quality and Professional Development

Region VII Schoolwide InstituteCreating a Culture of Achievement

May 11, 2004

What we want to accomplish… To create an understanding of how Kansas

defines Highly Qualified Teachers

To share Kansas’ professional development model

To expand the conversation around the qualities and components of high quality professional development for the 21st century

Our Learning Today

Plan for this session Reflection Inquiry Dialogue

No Child Left Behind and Teacher Quality

Federal level - NCLB defines what it means to be a highly qualified teacher

State level - States can add to this minimum requirement

Local level – District leaders, principals, and teachers decide what makes a highly effective teacher, in addition to highly qualified

Subject Matter is important:

“Good teachers…need to know— deeply—the subject they teach…

You can’t teach what you don’t know well.”

-Sandra Feldman, President of the American Federation of Teachers

Teacher Quality

Teacher quality is the single most important factor in determining the success of children in school, more than race, poverty, or any other outside influence.

Effect of Home and School SupportSnow, Catherine. (1991). Unfulfilled Expectations.

Percentage of Children Who Achieve Success

With Varying Levels of Home and Classroom Support

High Home Support Low Home Support

High Classroom Support 100% 100%

Mixed Classroom Support 100% 25%

Low Classroom Support 60% 0%

Good Teaching Matters.Sanders, W. & Rivers. J. (1996).

Study shows that fifty elementary students who had three years of teachers evaluated as “ineffective” score 54% to 60% lower in achievement.

Effects carried forward for two years. Effect is cumulative and residual. It affects the future of the students.

November 1996, University of Tennessee, Value-Added Research and Assessment Center.

A bad teacher for one year hurts.

A bad teacher for two years puts students in jeopardy.

How Kansas made “Highly Qualified Teacher” decisions:

Consulted with Kansas Master teachers and National Board teachers

Determined we did not want veteran teachers to have to take a test.

Development of a rubric to determine content knowledge based on their assignment

USDE came out and provided input

Rubric underwent several stages of revisions Determined the process and how the rubric would be used

Challenges

Gathering the Data

Teacher’s Fears

Highly Qualified Process

Teachers received licenses after 1982 KSBE approved individual programs

Based on standards and had a connection to national standards

Certified Personnel Review Committee

Nationally Board Certified Teachers

All other teachers had to complete the Kansas Content Area Rubric

The Rubric: How it worksIt was applied only to those who received their license prior

to 1982.

Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education

Hold a valid standard Kansas teaching certificate

Plus one of the following: Hold National Board Certification in the content area of

the teaching assignment

Achieve 100 points on the “Kansas Content Area Rubric”

Kansas Content Area Rubric

Teachers targeted from the Certified Personnel

Report must complete the rubric.

Years of experience

College level coursework

Activities related to the Content Area

Service to the Content Area

Awards, Presentations, Publications in the Content Area

Kansas Highly Qualified Teacher Data

34,000 Kansas Teachers

7,000 rubrics distributed

6,500 estimated as HQT using the rubric

500 teachers not HQ needing plans

Highly Qualified Plans

Provisionals

Coursework

Follow-up Assignment Check

Highly Qualified Coursework

Online courses through various institutions

Summer classes at IHE

KSDE sponsored Academies in major content areas located throughout the state

Kansas Professional Development Program

A Comprehensive Guide to Quality Professional Development

Creating a Culture of Achievement

District Professional Development Plan

School Results-Based Staff Development Plan

Individual Professional Development Plan

A Foundation for Planning Quality Staff Development

Leadership

Standards

1. National Staff Development Council’s revised Standards for Staff Development

2. Kansas Professional Education Standards

The Kansas Legislature The State Board of Education Individual Schools Local Professional Development

Council Licensed Professionals

Leadership

Needs Assessment

1. Gauge where the school/district is in relation to each of the standards.

2. Don’t speculate, use “specific evidence” that have been directly observed or documented.

3. Once the rubric is completed, consider what needs to be done to move to the next level.

Needs Assessment Student Performance

Data

Student Targets or Goals based on State Curriculum

Standards

Actual Student Performance Identified Student

Learning Gaps

Staff Skills Needed to close Student Learning Gaps

Actual Staff Skills

Identified Staff Development

Needs

Improved student/staff/teacher learning identified and written using SMART goals.

Specific,

Measurable,

Attainable

Results-oriented and,

Time-bound

SMART GOAL:

At Fairfax Middle School 70% of our students will perform at or above the proficient level on the Kansas State Reading Assessment at all grade levels in which the assessment is given by spring 2005.

At High Hill Elementary School our students will perform at or above the proficient level on the Kansas Mathematics Assessment at all grade levels in which the assessment is given.

Student Learning SMART GOALS

Jan O’Neil of Quality Leadership by Design

Specific There will be significant improvement in all students’ (grades K-3) reading comprehension performance

Measurableon the Kansas State Reading Assessment, the ITBS Reading Assessment K-3, and the District CRT Reading Assessment K-3.

Attainable This goal is possible in the time and percentage indicated..

Results-Oriented

70% of our students will perform at or above proficient level on the Kansas State Reading Assessment at all grade levels in which the assessment in given.

Time-Bound By Spring 2005

Staff Development SMART Goals

Jan O’Neil of Leadership by Design

Specific Teachers will consistently use cues, questioning, predicting and summarizing, and graphic organizers as instructional tools to facilitate students’ learning.

Measurable This use will be verified through peer observation and written feedback at least 2 times during each nine-week period of the school year.

Attainable Reaching this goal is possible in the time indicated.

Results-Oriented

Teachers use cues and questioning to provide students with a preview of what they are going to experience through reading or being read a particular text. Teachers use Predicting and Summarizing to facilitate students linking text to meaning. Teachers use graphic organizers for the purpose of facilitating students’ understanding.

Time-Bound Beginning the week of Sept. 3 and throughout ’04-05.

Professional Development Strategies

Tools of support used by professional development councils to support staff in reaching the identified staff development goals.

Observation

Study Groups

School Improvement Committee Work

E- learningJournaling about

teaching practices Coaching others

Visiting other schools

Curriculum Planning

Focused on Student Learning

See reg. 91-1-216

Post-It Activity

What staff development activities have we traditionally done in our schools?

Are there activities indicated on the chart that we haven’t considered as staff development? Why?

Do we think of staff development as a system within our school/district?

Collaborate with those around you and create model chart of your current staff development system.

Categories

Levels

“What do you ‘know’ now that you didn’t know before”?

(1 point = 1 contact hour) (1 point = 1 contact hour) (1 point = 1 contact hour)ONLY

“What can you ‘do’ now that you couldn’t/didn’t do before”?

(2x Knowledge-level points) (2x Knowledge-level points) Additional points not available at this level.

“What’s the result of your newly acquired knowledge and skill in terms of impact on students, other adults (i.e. mentorship) or program or policy development?”

(3x Knowledge-level points) (3x Knowledge-level points) Additional points not available at this level.

District Professional Development Plan

School Results-Based Staff Development Plan

Individual Professional Development Plan

Traditional Approaches “For many years, professional development was

thought of only in terms of formal education activities, such as courses or workshops. Several times a year, school administrators would release

students for a half or full day so faculty could attend professional development programs that may or may

not be relevant to teachers' professional development needs.” - Brian Sullivan

Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place – Craig Jerald

Scattershot Curriculum, Unequal Expectations The pass down Some do and some don’t Delivery vs. Content Good teaching

Dallas Story (test scores and attitude) Never worked in another system

Beyond the Rock and the Hard Place – Craig Jerald

Districts and schools Must Take the Lead Develop a Common Curriculum Learn from Student Assessment Data Create a Culture of problem Solving

Make a connection!

A Plea for Strong Practice

NCLB’s Design Flaws- Overinvestment in testing, under-investment in

capacity building- Ungrounded theories of improvement- Weak knowledge about how to turn around

failing schools- Perverse incentive for quality and performance- Policymaking by remote control

- Richard Elmore

A Plea for Strong Practice

Who Inherits NCLB’s Problems?- Superintendents- Principals- Teachers- Eventually students and parents

- Richard Elmore

A Plea for Strong Practice

What Can Educators Do?- Internal accountability precedes external

accountability- Improvement is a developmental process that

proceeds in stages; it is not a linear process- Leadership is a cultural practice- Powerful leadership is distributed because the

work of instructional improvement is distributed- Knowledge is not necessarily where you think it is- The task of developing powerful theories of

school improvement is urgent

Make a Connection!

Traditional Approaches

12 percent of the teachers report that professional development activities helped improve classroom teaching “a lot”

80 percent report that these activities helped only “moderately” or “somewhat” (NCES, 1999).

typically lack connection to the challenges teachers face in their classrooms

usually provide only short-term results

Scenario Building

Purposeful

Random

Delivery

Organizational

Organizational

III

III IV

One size fits all & Purposeful

Purposeful & Customized

Random & One size fits all

Customized & Random

One

siz

e fit

s al

lC

ustomized

Delivery

Scenario Building

Delivery System

III

Random & One size fits all

Scenario Building

I

Purposeful & Customized

What Has Become Clear to you at this point?

More Than Traditional Approaches

Unless professional development programs are carefully designed and implemented to provide continuity between what teachers learn and what goes on in their classrooms and schools, these activities are not likely to produce any long-lasting effects on either teacher competence or student outcomes. -Fullan with Steigelbauer, 1991

More Than Traditional Approaches "Staff development not only must

affect the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of individual teachers, administrators, and other school employees, but it also must alter the cultures and structures of the organizations in which those individuals work" Dennis Sparks and Stephanie Hirsh (1997, pp. 1–2) of the National Staff Development Council (NSDC).

More Than Traditional Thinking

Internal accountability precedes external accountability.

Improvement is a developmental process that proceeds in stages; it is not a linear process.

Leadership is a cultural practice.

More Than Traditional Thinking Powerful leadership is distributed

because the work of instructional improvement is distributed.

Knowledge is not necessarily where you think it is.

The task of developing powerful theories of school improvement is urgent.

3 Key Components to Professional Development Coherent Researched-based Capacity-building

by Claudette Rasmussen, Susan Hopkins and Michele Fitzpatrick

3 Essential Qualities For Professional Development Results-driven Standards-based Focused on daily work

by Stephanie Hirsh

Good Professional Development Practices

"are student driven, provide learning outcomes, are standards based, and provide an environment for student learning." –Dennis Sparks

High Quality Professional Development (Procedures) Leading Supporting Planning Implementing Monitoring Sustaining

by John Edward Porter

A Measure of Capacity

School Survey for Professional Development Capacity John Edward Porter

The only power we really have is to change the

conversation.

Patrick Dolan

The 2003-2004 Kansas Professional Development Program Guidelines document is posted on the KSDE web: www.ksde.org. Go to News/Hot Topics and scroll down to The New Kansas Licensure System and the Kansas Professional Development Program.

Sue King email: sking@ksde.org

Mark McBeth email: mmcbeth@ksde.org

2003-2004 Kansas Professional Development Program Guidelines