Teacher+Effectiveness


 * How Do We Judge Teacher Effectiveness? **

I. Description of Problem or Issue
Lead Editor: Melissa Abbate

The issue presented here is how to judge teacher effectiveness in different situations, such as a teacher with a class of Special Ed students versus a teacher in a high-performing district. Our group touched upon the topics of teachers of classes with high concentrations in Special Education, ESL, low socioeconomic status, and teachers from average or high-performing districts to serve as a comparison. Teacher effectiveness and the methodology in judging these teachers is one of the bigger issues on the Rhode Island Strategic Plan, in which it is addressed by requiring teachers to be certified to a certain degree. Additional requirements for applications, competition for jobs, and tougher certification requirements all factor into what Rhode Island is doing to solve this issue.

Throughout the course of our research, we consistently use a myriad of acronyms. ESL (English as a Second Language), ELL (English Language Learners), TESOL (Teacher of English to Speaker of Other Languages), NCLB (No Child Left Behind), and AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) are the main acronyms discussed. However, students may grasp the logistics of other terms, such as achievement gap, but may not entirely know what it means. An achievement gap is a discrepancy amongst general performance (including test scores) between groups of students based on race and socioeconomic status. Another vital term to understand is Emergency Certification. An emergency certificate is delegated to a person who may not necessarily be qualified to teach so they are able to teach temporarily in lieu of properly certified teachers due to a lack of teachers. They are granted this certificate after completing a short course.

II. Research Questions and Reference Summaries
Lead Editor: Kerri Soscia


 * || **Research Question** || **Researcher** ||
 * 1. || @Judging teacher effectiveness in Special Education || Alyssa ||
 * 2. || Judging teacher effectiveness in ESL || Melissa ||
 * 3. || Judging teacher effectiveness in weaker and low-performing schools || Amanda ||
 * 4. || Judging teacher effectiveness in average and high-performing schools || Kerri ||

II. Relevance of Problem or Issue in Rhode Island Schools
Lead Editor: Kerri Soscia

Teacher effectiveness is a very important matter of concern in Rhode Island.The Rhode Island Strategic Plan directly addresses teacher effectiveness. Three of the goals of the Strategic Plan are strengthening standards, professional development, and evaluation systems. The effectiveness of the teachers around the state vary widely and all of the situations we studied are evident.

One of the most obvious school districts that portrays some of the situations at hand is Central Falls which is one of the worst performing schools in Rhode Island.The Central Falls school district often deals with students who are ESL learners and/or at a socioeconomic disadvantage. These schools have an approximate 50% dropout rate. It is made up of 55% of Hispanic students, which also leads to a very high rate of ESL students. Many of the teachers (3%) also possess an emergency certification provided by the state. They struggle to make an impression on their students and to significantly raise their test scores. While Tollgate High School in Warwick does not have a significant amount of students facing a socioeconomic disadvantage or trying to learn English as a second language, there are a large number (20%) of special education students. Rhode Island has the highest percentage of special education students in the country (17%) and Tollgate High School does its best to provide an adequate learning environment for them in order to help them advance. Tollgate successfully provides assistance for a variety of disorders, such as autism, deafness/blindness, speech or language impairments, emotional disturbance, and traumatic brain injury.Other schools, such as the schools in the Middletown and East Greenwich districts, are very successful overall. Both school districts boast students that are performing at an average and above-average level. East Greenwich High School is currently the top high school in the state with a 97% graduation rate. Middletown students basted extremely high scores on their NECAP tests and a student teacher ratio of 1-11. The teachers of Rhode Island are faced with a myriad of different situations and students that they must adapt to and deal with in their classrooms every day.

III. Research Summary
Lead Editor: Alyssa Dagenais

Through our research, we looked at the factors that can affect teacher effectiveness and student learning that cannot necessarily be controlled by the teacher. Research on "average" school systems identified many of the reforms we have discussed in class. Average schools must work on having certified teachers. Emergency certification is not recommended because the most highly qualified teachers should get the most positive results in the classroom. Because of this effort, many schools have increased the standards necessary for a teacher to get a job in their school system. Schools are also battling with the reforms that come along with No Child Left Behind. They all must make average yearly progress (AYP) in many areas based on test scores. With all of the challenges that the average school faces, it is very difficult to imagine the added challenges for teachers and students who must also deal with special circumstances.

One of the types of classrooms that struggles with added challenges is a classroom with a high population of ESL students. Though the amount of teachers who are getting dual-certification in ESL and another subject is increasing, there are still special challenges that must be taken into account when assessing teachers who have ESL students. A special method is used to assess teachers with ESL certification because of the high population of ESL students in their classrooms. There is no method for judging those teachers who do not have ESL certification but do have a lot of ESL students in their classrooms. *** Furthermore, no improvement is ever shown in ESL or ELL students because once their scores increase and they are considered fluent in English, they are no longer considered ELL students. This is very demoralizing for ESL and ELL students and teachers. A new method must be put into place to judge these special students and their teachers.

There are also problems with judging teacher effectiveness in schools with a high population of students at a low socioeconomic level. This is an especially difficult situation because the teachers are often of a lower quality often in these poorer districts. This creates an even bigger achievement gap between disadvantaged schools and their wealthier counterparts. High quality teachers have the ability to make an impact on their students and can offset some of the negative factors that face them. Unfortunately, many future teachers hear that no one can make a difference in low-performing schools, so many teachers go into these jobs with a negative mindset. Luckily for these schools that have consistently been doing poorly, because of the limited job opportunities available in this economy, schools, even in poorer areas, can be more selective about who they hire, which will help them to get more effective teachers. Teachers and students at schools at a lower socioeconomic level face many unique challenges, which can not be evaluated by a standardized test.

Teachers who have a high population of students with learning disabilities are also being judged unfairly by the new education standards. Many special education students are put into inclusion classrooms where they can be among their peers and still get the services they need. Inclusion teachers then have a heavier workload and must differentiate their instruction for all of their students. Special education students often do not perform as well as their peers and this is often blamed on poor teaching. This does not take into account the unique struggles these students face. Some schools have decided to service their students to the best of their abilities, but this often keeps them from making AYP. This should not be the answer to serving special education students. Clearly, here and in the other special circumstances just discussed, the system is not working and additional methods of assessment for teachers and students should be implemented.

IV. Group Product Overview
Lead Editor: Alyssa Dagenais

In our presentation, we will be presenting lessons that are hampered by several challenges, such as high populations of ESL, special education, or poor children. These lessons will demonstrate to the class the challenges both teachers and students face in these special circumstances. The lessons will conclude with a brief quiz to show the class how ineffective testing can be when a student cannot understand the question or does not have a positive learning environment in their classroom. We will follow up this activity with a discussion of our findings and some possible solutions we have come up with.

VI. Research Questions and Reference Summaries
Lead Editor: Kerri Soscia


 * || **Research Question** || **Researcher** ||
 * 1. || @Judging teacher effectiveness in Special Education || Alyssa ||
 * 2. || Judging teacher effectiveness in ESL || Melissa ||
 * 3. || Judging teacher effectiveness in weaker and low-performing schools || Amanda ||
 * 4. || Judging teacher effectiveness in average and high-performing schools || Kerri ||

VII. Group Reaction/Opinion(s) about Issue
Lead Editor: Amanda Taylor

During our group discussions, we have all agreed on a similar conclusion. While we do believe that there are external factors that teachers cannot control, we also think the teacher's role is vital in shaping a student and his/her success. Some external factors that teachers cannot influence include if the student has special needs, speaks another language, or is at a socioeconomic disadvantage. However, we agree with Kati Haycock (President of The Education Trust), who states that having quality teachers can consistently offset a socioeconomic disadvantage. A teacher can help shape a student's self-discipline, which is one of the most important factors that students need to achieve. Overall, we believe that having high quality teachers presents the potential to impact a students life academically, no matter the circumstances.

The next issue we addressed as a group was how to determine the quality of teachers within different situations. We all absolutely agree that standardized testing is //not// the best way to assess teacher effectiveness. Our discussion became more complex as we delved into finding a solution. Policy makers are trying to find one generalized method to judge teachers on without taking the impact of student discrepancies into account. We believe you cannot compare two teachers in the same way when they have two different types of students in completely different environments with one another. Possible criteria that could be considered to replace (or supplement) standardized tests would be teacher interaction with students and students' improvement throughout the year. Ways to implement this would be taking an initial and final assessment that could report a student's improvement. As a whole, we believe that teachers and students cannot all be accurately assessed in the manner that the government has implemented, but school districts are starting to take steps in the right direction.