Delaware Hosts Workshop on Educator Evaluation Systems

Earlier this week the State Board of Education hosted a professional development workshop on educator evaluation systems, with a focus on different rubrics used to observe teachers. Attendees included local board members, charter board members, and other stakeholders. Panelists included:

  • Charlotte Danielson, architect of The Framework for Teaching, one of the most widely used teacher observation instruments across the country, including in most Delaware schools.
  • Amy Hammerle from TNTP, who showcased the Core Teaching Rubric, which TNTP uses to observe and evaluate novice teachers for purposes of licensure and certification.
  • Lamont Browne, principal of East Side Charter School, and Sarah Coon Rosskamm of Hendy Avenue Consulting, who shared an update on the work of four charter schools that have come together to collaborate on an alternate evaluation system approved by the Delaware Department of Education.

The workshop was helpful in providing an overview of these three tools and systems and was positioned as just the beginning of a discussion with potential future webinars and other meetings to continue the conversation over the summer and fall. All materials shared are available on the state board’s website; for the presentations shared by each of the panelists be sure to review the “Workshop Presentation” document.

Delaware Leads the Nation for Teacher Preparation

This past week marked two important developments in educator training and preparation – both at the federal and state levels.
First, President Obama directed the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to produce a plan by this summer that will strengthen teacher preparation programs. The plan will:

  • Encourage states to identify high- and low-performing teacher preparation programs; both traditional and alternate route;
  • Ask states to streamline current data requirements, incorporate more meaningful outcomes, and improve transparency of teacher preparation programs; and
  • Rely on state-developed ratings of programs to determine, in part, program eligibility of TEACH grants, which provide aid to students planning to teach in high-need fields or schools.

In addition, the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) proposed regulations to implement the passage of last year’s Senate Bill 51 (SB 51) aimed at improving educator preparation. The regulations provide additional direction on the following requirements for approved programs:

  • Rigorous entry requirements as prerequisites for admission into an approved program;
  • A clinical residency component, supervised by high quality educators;
  • Instruction for teaching childhood literacy and age-appropriate mathematics content for programs preparing early childhood and elementary school teachers;
  • Ongoing evaluation of programs’ candidates, aligned to the state-wide educator evaluation system;
  • Increased exit requirements for approved programs, including achievement of passing scores on a content-readiness exam and a performance assessment; and
  • Collaboration with the Department to collect and report data, including data on performance and effectiveness of program graduates by student achievement.

Once again, Delaware is ahead of the game. Few states have the legislative and regulatory skeleton in place to support USED’s proposed plan, and many could find themselves scrambling to be ready to implement such changes. In contrast, Delaware has spent the last two years laying the groundwork necessary to implement improvements in educator training & preparation, including passage of SB 51, a DDOE-led work group inviting preparation programs to discuss the regulatory changes necessary to implement the law, and additional forthcoming guidance for educator preparation programs that will provide more information as to how to best implement these changes. However, we can’t rest on our laurels. Strong implementation of these new regulations, as well as any plan proposed by USED, will be critical.

As we continue to work together to make Delaware’s schools truly “world-class,” we can learn from other countries that have made significant investments in the recruitment, training, and ongoing development of educators. Professor Lee Sing Kong, former director of Singapore’s National Institute of Education, and a member of our International Advisory Group, will be in Delaware on May 13th to discuss lessons from Singapore, a country with some of the highest outcomes on PISA over the last several years. Professor Lee’s presentation will explain the education system in Singapore, centering on the teacher and school leader experiences. Following the presentation, he will answer audience questions in a discussion moderated Joanne Weiss, former Chief of Staff to Secretary Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education and current member of our International Advisory Group.

We hope that you will be able to join this conversation!

Delaware’s Teacher Appraisal System: What Do We Know after Year One?

Last week, the Delaware Department of Education released a report on the results of the 2012-13 DPAS II implementation. A lot was written in the report and in The News Journal (article and editorial) about how the numbers played out in regard to what percentage of teachers were deemed effective or not, but a few important story lines got buried.

The first 30 pages of the report focus on valuable data regarding the distribution of ratings on each component and on summative ratings. Similar to other states in the early phases of implementing new teacher evaluation systems, the report found a lack of differentiation among educators in components 1-4 (primarily based on administrator judgment in observations of classroom practices), while component 5 (the student growth component based on measures of student achievement) showed more varied performance. The focus in the media on the lack of differentiation among teachers raised some important questions, but in case you didn’t make it past the first 30 pages, it’s worth taking another look because there was some essential feedback collected from teachers on the system itself that didn’t get the attention it deserved.

Educators identified some significantly positive experiences with the system, while also identifying some key areas for growth.

Positive results:

  • An overwhelming majority of teachers (over 80%) found that the feedback they received through the DPAS-II process is “useful and applicable” and that their feedback conferences were valuable. A majority (64%) also believe the overall system has “some” or “major” impact on improving their teaching.
  • 64% also believe the student improvement component (Component 5) has “some” or “major” impact on improving their teaching.

Room for improvement:

  • 3 out of 4 teachers think the current system needs improvement, particularly as it relates to the burden of paperwork associated with the system and the lack of flexibility in observations. The majority of teachers (58%), administrators (71%), and specialists (64%) do not believe that the time to complete the paperwork required by the system is reasonable.
  • Teachers also identified a need for more peer observations. 78% of educators feel that peer observations are either “valuable” or would provide “some value.”

Overall, the majority of educators gave the DPAS system a grade of “C.” Given this report focused on the very first year of a brand-new, complex system, a “C” provides optimism that Delaware is on the right track, though the system is by no means perfect. Our takeaways from this report are that the process has some serious logistical challenges, but that a) there seems to be some real potential to help teachers and principals do their jobs better; and b) there may be some real opportunities to improve the system by incorporating new components like peer feedback. However, for this system to improve and be more effective, the continued feedback by educators is going to be critical in refining it and continuing the hard work of implementation.

Introducing Mamie Doyle

It’s week two into my tenure here at the Rodel Foundation and I couldn’t be more excited to join the remarkable efforts going on in the Delaware education landscape. I’m happy to share a little bit about myself and my background but look forward to having more one-on-one meetings over the coming weeks and months to get to know and learn from all of the talented people across Delaware engaged in this important work.

I grew up St. Louis and come from a family of life-long educators. Both my parents taught in public schools for a combined number of over 50 years. Growing up in a family of teachers, I saw how hard of a job it truly is – every family vacation, my mother was planning lessons well in to the evening hours and my father’s English literature classes seemed to be a never-ending stream of papers and grading; they were up early, worked late, and never compensated for this extra time. Given this perspective, I wasn’t always convinced I would enter the field of education. However, fast forward 10 years or so, and after spending a year in college working in a rural elementary school in Indiana, alongside families, students and a team of dedicated educators, I understood the many rewards of such a career. It was my senior year and I decided to join Teach For America.

I taught 6th grade in North Philadelphia at a bi-lingual school. It was the hardest experience of my life, but I learned two incredibly valuable lessons that I carry with me today – 1) the opportunity gap in education between children growing up in poverty and their more affluent peers is absolutely surmountable, and 2) great teachers and leaders are an integral part of the solution.

After my time in the classroom, I spent five years working on staff at Teach For America (TFA) in Philadelphia, supporting nearly 1,000 teachers and alumni leaders across Greater Philadelphia, ensuring we had the local community support to continue to expand our efforts. Following my time at TFA, I went on to the New Jersey Department of Education overseeing the office of Educator Recruitment, Preparation, and Recognition. In that role, I worked with institutes of higher education, teachers, administrators, and alternate route providers to develop new policies for entry into the teaching profession and the development of a framework for accountability for educator preparation providers.

I’m absolutely thrilled to join the team here at Rodel as Senior Director for Policy. I look forward to supporting the efforts of the DDOE, advocacy organizations, and the community of engaged stakeholders to advance our mission to create a world-class education for every Delaware student by 2020.