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Opening Statement: Chairman Todd Rokita (R-IN)

Summary: Over the next few months the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will renew its efforts to address challenges facing K-12 schools. No Child Left Behind's Highly Qualified Teacher provisions forced schools to value and educator's credential over his or her ability to effectively teach children. A teacher's excellence can't be measured by degrees alone. Tennessee is one of the first states to implement a comprehensive student-outcomes based evaluation system using teacher observations and personal conferences with an emphasis on student achievement data. The system addresses tenure policies and last-in first-out policies to ensure that all teachers get the support they need to succeed. As part of ESEA reform efforts he hopes 113th Congress will consider such innovation.

Representatives present: Todd Rokita, R-Indiana (Chairman); John Kline,R- Minnesota; Virginia Foxx, R-North Carolina; David P. Roe, R-Tennessee; Glenn Thompson, R-Pennsylvania; Carolyn McCarthy, D-New York (Ranking Member); Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Virginia; Susan A. Davis, D-California; Jared Polis, D-Colorado; Gregorio Sablan, D-Northern Mariana Islands

Dr. Steve Cantrell
Chief Research Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Co-Director of the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project

Summary: MET looked at data on teaching practice, student assessments, classroom observation protocols, teachers' ability to increase student's conceptual understanding and they surveyed students to assess how they experience instruction. Preliminary MET findings demonstrated that three measures—student assessments, classroom observations, and student surveys—helped predict whether teachers would raise the performance of future groups of students. The combination of these measures does a far better job predicting which teachers will succeed in raising student performance than master's degrees and years of teaching experience. Findings provided nine principles that fall into three categories: Measure Effective Teaching, Ensure High Quality Data, and Invest in Improvement. The data led us to conclude that most teachers are average, but for different reasons. This means that school systems need to share the responsibility to improve teaching by providing targeted, high quality support. Better evaluation and feedback systems are essential to improving teaching and learning. If done well, in ways that teachers can trust, these systems will enable better teacher supports which, in turn, will lead to better student performance.

MET referenced reports:

Ensuring Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching: Culminating Findings
Feedback for Better Teaching: Nine Principles for Using Measures of Effective Teaching

Dr. James P. McIntyre, Jr.
Superintendent of the Knox County Schools, Tennessee

Summary: Over the past five years, Tennessee has implemented education reform and improvement including higher academic standards, support for performance-based pay, fundamentally restructured teacher tenure, and the introduction of an interest-based labor dialogue called “collaborative conferencing.” The new teacher performance evaluation system (Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model or TEAM) requires a performance evaluation of every teacher, every year; and at least 50% of that evaluation must be based on student academic outcomes. The evaluation is based on multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, incorporating elements of student academic results, multiple observations of classroom practice, and indicators of teacher professionalism. This includes a pilot program of student feedback. Teachers are not eligible for tenure until after five years of service, allowing them more time to develop. Lead teachers are compensated to act as mentors. Among the many successes, from 2011-2012, the percentage of teachers scoring in the highest category of teacher value-added performance, those making the greatest impact on student learning, increased from 27% to 36%.

Reference: Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model or TEAM

Dr. Rodney Watson
Chief Human Resources Officer for the Houston Independent School District

Summary: Houston School District has learned that better teacher evaluations are not an end goal. They are one part of a solution to the most critical challenge schools face today: how to find and keep teachers who can prepare students for success in today’s ultra-competitive economy. Recruiting and selecting teachers earlier is a priority because research shows that teachers who are hired earlier have high student achievement results in the classroom. Recruitment season starts in October to campuses likely to yield high performing teachers. They offer potential teaching candidates early contracts so they can hire teachers in the winter and spring instead of late in the summer. As part of the Effective Teachers Initiative, Houston is rethinking compensation and career pathways to retain and reward the best teachers. Using data from their evaluation system, they identify best teachers and use a multi-pronged approach to retain them. This past year, Houston School District engaged teachers and principals from around the district to develop teacher leader roles and a career pathway framework that is currently piloted in 23 schools. All teachers have the opportunity to work with one of 130 Teacher Development Specialists, master teachers in specific subject areas whose only job it is to offer advice and connect teachers with resources that can help them improve. This is paid out of existing funds.  Houston School District is offering signing bonuses of up to $5000.00 in the hardest-to-staff subject areas and schools. They found that teachers who reported that their appraiser consistently applied the expectations articulated in the rubric and who received useful feedback about their practice from their appraiser were 10 times more likely to report that the evaluation system was “fair” and believed their rating to be an accurate reflection of their performance. Likewise, teachers who received feedback about their performance from their Teacher Development Specialist more frequently during the year were more satisfied with the evaluation process as a whole.

Mr. Emanuel Harper
French teacher at Herron High School, Indianapolis, Indiana; adjunct faculty member for Best Practices in World Language for Marian University’s Master of Arts in Teaching program

Summary: Remedies to ending the achievement gap include implementing stronger evaluative tools for teachers, appropriately weighing student performance and student voice, and giving more local flexibility.  Indiana has a newly implemented Senate Act 1 which strengthens teacher evaluations. Teachers are continually assessed on effectiveness, maintaining a constant loop of evaluation, critical feedback, and actionable next steps. In the evaluative process, non-tested subjects (such as French) undergo the same amount of scrutiny as tested subjects with curriculum and assessments analyzed for their fidelity to AP exams. Teachers who continually meet the high instructional bar are rewarded with leadership opportunities and salary increases. Teachers who do not are removed from the classroom. Recruiting and retaining top talent translates to educating and preparing all students. Local flexibility in staffing and in-house Friday student data analysis generates cross-curricular interventions for students. This time together is an eagerly anticipated opportunity to hone the mission of closing the achievement gap.

Questions from Committee Members

The Committee members stated they are looking for guidance from these practitioners regarding teacher evaluation systems.  Some of their questions:

Rep. Thompson (R-PA) asked how teachers view the evaluation systems. Are there better student outcomes? The panelists agreed that overtime, the majority of teachers see the value of evaluation systems for their own teaching. When the teachers see the strong student outcomes, it motivates them to be better teachers. Rep. Thompson asked what the barriers to implementation were.  The panelists noted that schools systems need to be thoughtful about implementation; have buy-in; and information and training available.

Rep. Davis (D-CA) asked what the federal role should be in this. Dr. McIntire answered, with agreement from the other panelists, that the federal role should be to set broad parameters and allow flexibility at the local level. Rep. Davis asked how school districts carve out the resources to do this. Dr. McIntyre said that a lot of professional development is teacher led and very powerful. He noted that teacher evaluation is not professional development; professional development is a process of improvement that is a result of the evaluations.

Rep. Roe (R-TN) asked how one differentiates evaluations between teachers who teach kids from troubled backgrounds. Mr. Harper answered that the background of students is taken into consideration and those teachers look for ways to support these students.

Rep. Polis (D-CO) asked what we at the federal level can do to help more districts do what you have done. Dr. McIntyre answer: encourage and support evaluation systems for every teacher every year. The federal government should encourage states to do this.

Rep. Scott (D-VA) asked about better pay to attract better teachers. Panelists said this would be valuable in competing with other industries that attract good teachers away from teaching. Rep. Scott asked what incentive does a teacher have, under these evaluation plans, to teach in a high-need school? Panelist Dr. Cantrell responded that teachers are rewarded for growth and good teachers want to help the kids most in need.

In conclusion, Rep. Rokita (R-IN) asked the panel if teachers should take a professional oath (Panelist Rodney Harper had mentioned this.) The panelists felt this is a good concept.

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Opening Remarks by Sen. Harkin (IA)

Senator Harkin sees the need to understand the status and scope of state waiver plans being implemented across the country; consider the conditions and activities of states that do not have approved waivers; ensure that the policies and programs we support are effective in meeting the needs of our most vulnerable students.

Opening Remarks by Sen. by Alexander (TN)

Senator Alexander said Congress should "go back to work this year" on a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and "let the Secretary step back from waivers and let the states make their own decisions about whether students are teachers are succeeding or failing." He wants put into law "whatever needs to be put into law and let the Secretary step back from the waivers and let the states make their own decisions about whether students and teachers are succeeding or failing."

Opening Remarks by Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education

Duncan noted that NCLB unintentionally encouraged States to lower their standards so that more students would appear to be proficient. He indicated that providing waivers to the states was necessary to relieve them of some of the NCLB unintended consequences. The Federal role, he said, is to support states and districts, provide incentive and education research, and enforce the law. Federal government is not a national school board in charge of curriculum, assessment, and teacher contracts.

Duncan noted the waivers give states the flexibility they need to prepare America's students to graduate from high school prepared for college and a career. The waivers are allowing schools to be rated based on current achievement, graduation rates, dropout rates, and ACT scores. States are implementing improved support and evaluation systems to provide principals and teachers with better information about their practice and targeted professional development to improve that practice. Noted Duncan: Senator Alexander's home State of Tennessee has been a leader in this work, and is in its second year of implementing a new evaluation system that takes into account multiple measures of teacher practice and student learning and ensures that teachers receive regular feedback to inform their instruction.

Senator Harkin asked how waivers have helped expand focus beyond reading and math. Duncan noted that broader measures of assessment beyond test scores, such as college readiness and the indicators of increased IB, AP, dual enrolments, graduation rates and what kids do after K-12 are encouraged by the waivers, which have given states flexibility and they have been creative in solving their issues.

Senator Alexander asked about teacher evaluation, another big topic of the hearing. Duncan noted that Tennessee has done more on rewarding good teachers and we need to learn from what the states are doing well under the waivers. Arne Duncan spoke of alternative teacher certification offering more creativity and opportunity to bring in teachers such as men and men of color.

Senator Franken (MN) noted that every kid's growth should be measured and suggested that computers be used for evaluations to give teachers real time feedback on students so they can adjust curriculum for individual students immediately.

Senator Enzi (WY) asked about "invisible children" lost in the subgroups under "n-size," and expressed dismay that this was not in the past understood by the Committee as fallout of NCLB. He commended Arne Duncan on the flexibility of the waivers.

Senator Sanders (VT) was concerned about the lack of money and attention being sent to rural communities saying that Race to the Top funds did not proportionally reach rural areas. Duncan defended the record saying that additional pools of funds and attention are directed to rural areas.

Senator Roberts (KS) noted that Kansas system is having trouble with the evaluation criteria for teachers and principal evaluations. His state people are telling him there are too many regulations and the locals need more control.

Senator Bennet (CO) asked Duncan what is next and "how can we support you." Duncan suggested that the state superintendents could best answer that question. It was also noted that T-II professional development money needs to be more flexible.

Senator Paul (KY) pitched for vouchers and choice, but Duncan said he will only support choice within the public school community and that the way to reach more needy students is to improve early childhood education and continue to better measure the outcomes of education.

Senator Whitehouse (RI) asked about supporting the highly gifted and if we do enough for these kids. Duncan wants more kids to graduate with college credit, allowing kids of all levels to learn at their own pace.

Panelists Terry Holliday, Kentucky Commissioner of Education, and John King, Jr., New York Commissioner of Education, favor fast reauthorization of NCLB to give states a clear road map of how to proceed. Kati Haycock, President, The Education Trust, wants the law reauthorized but with enough time and flexibility built in for states to make the transition to the new law's requirements. Panelist Andrew Smarick, Partner, Bellwether Education Partners suggested tabling the reauthorization for the time being and learning from the states and their efforts under the waivers.

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Read Education Week's article on the hearing.

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Overview of Issues

The new Congress has convened and is completing its organizational phase, for example not all of the subcommittees related to education have been finalized. The 113^th Congress has nine major education measures to rewrite. One of them, the Workforce Investment Act, which includes adult basic education, has been pending since 2004. The other bills include the Higher Education Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA has been due to be rewritten since 2007 and was the subject of House and Senate action in the last Congress. 

Most observers are expecting that the Higher Education Act will be first to be considered for rewriting as the Pell Grant and Stafford Loan programs both have significant problems. The Pell Grant is a program that will have more people using it than there is money, and the Stafford student loan program’s interest rate is once again scheduled to go to 9%.

The Elementary and Secondary Act, which was last changed in 2001 and became No Child Left Behind, has been the subject of several attempts at being rewritten. Now the Senate, with a hearing on February 7, is looking at how the US Department of Education’s waiver program is going to be impacting any reauthorization attempt. Meanwhile the House is saying that they like what they produced during the last Congress (five bills to replace NCLB).

IRA is working to have literacy professional development included in several of these initiatives (using LEARN Act ideas) and to maintain funding for the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program.

As mentioned, there are other measures that are scheduled to be rewritten. The Workforce Investment Act, which includes Adult Basic Ed, has been awaiting action for years. It is said to be coming up soon. It would create a change in that states would have more flexibility in how to use the funds. Head Start is also up for being rewritten and as this is happening about 10% of their grantees are re-compete for their funds (this is the second wave of changes). In addition, the National Governors Association (NGA) has created an initiative to support six states to change to have early childhood programs with literacy components. IRA participated in these planning meetings with the NGA.

Gates Interviewed on Education Policy Changes – Measuring Teachers

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc_tv-morning_joe/#50654706

Funding – Sequestration & Continuing Resolution

The current buzz in DC is that the  sequester scheduled to take effect on March 1^st will not be stopped.  There is little political will to stop it. The assumed Republican drive to forestall  the sequestration because it includes a cut to military spending is being watered down by the tea party members who only want to see spending cuts. The other part of the sequester is that there is another spending measure, the continuing resolution, which is scheduled to expire on March 27. Thus, in reality these two issues are being merged into one.  It is possible that the sequestration cuts could be partially replaced by adding money into specific programs, by cutting other programs. Or  impacting the overall spending levels – the allocations, could change it.

The continuing resolution and the sequester could impact each other if the overall spending levels for areas like education, health, transportation, defense are changed.  If the overall spending levels are reduced, then the sequester will be eliminated because the money would have all ready been cut. If this happens then appropriators and/or executive branch managers would then allocate the funds they do have to specific programs. The difference is the sequester hits all programs, a change in the allocation would mean that programs will be impacted differently. 

As of right now, the sequester is expected cut to FY 13 funds to education by about 5.1%; but remember this will be from the funds that will be sent to schools beginning on July 1^st for the upcoming school year (we are forward funded).

It is also possible that some of the  sequesters impact/reduction via lowering allocations could be mitigated by increased revenues. This is part of the agenda of Senator Murray (D-WA) who is chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

Common Core

One of the things that has been noticed is that the Common Core State Standards are new to someone each day; and if you have been working on them each day for years you are discovering something new each day. The IRA Common Core State Standards Committee has set up a Q & A on the IRA website to help.

To see what others are asking, post a question, or just gather information:

IRA Common Core State Standards Page

Also, watch for a session for state councils at the upcoming IRA Annual Convention in San Antonio, April 19–22, 2013.

Looking for More Training on Advocacy?

The second IRA University of Advocacy course will begin on Tuesday night, February 5, at 8 PM EST, and run for six weeks (five sessions, skipping Tuesday, February 12, as it is the night of the State-of-the-Union address by the President to the Congress). This course will be on the Art of Advocacy.  The previous course Pol Sci 101: How it works can be found in the Advocacy section of the IRA website. It is not required that you sit in on all five of the sessions-feel free to “drop-in.” 

Also, the summer leadership academy is going to include a significant advocacy element… you will learn so much about making deals you will be smoking cigars in backrooms with the best of ‘em. Look for more information coming out shortly on this IRA event in Minneapolis June 27–29.

January 29, 2013
Rich Long, IRA Government Relations

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