A Grand Bargain for Education Reform
The Giffin Model
2011 Regional Conference on
Strategic Compensation Awareness
Akron OH May 6, 2011
Ted Hershberg & Claire Robertson-Kraft
Operation Public Education
University of Pennsylvania
The Giffin Model

Matching teacher strengths with student
needs
 Measuring accurately before evaluating
 Increasing student achievement despite
larger class sizes
 Developing IEPs for every student
 Building a layered curricula
Class size and fiscal austerity

School districts everywhere will increase
class size to reduce costs
 Reducing class size was never a good
investment, but everyone liked it:
– Parents
– Teachers
– Teachers Unions
– Builders
– Construction workers
Reducing class size is a poor policy
choice to increase student learning

It ranks 40th among 46 options

Feedback and direct intervention are the
highest (effect sizes of 0.81)

Where the average is 0.40, the effect size of
reducing class size is 0.12
Source: John Hattie, Keynote, International Conference on Class Size,
University of Hong Kong, May, 2005
The Giffin Model

Increasing class size now will decrease
student learning and lower teacher morale
 Unless we make major changes in how we
group our students and assign our teachers
 Let’s review the background
Growth as a Classroom Diagnostic





It provides teachers with data on the focus and impact of
their instruction
It ensures a clearer understanding of a teacher’s strengths
and weaknesses
It provides a means to maximize teacher and student
success
Discussed in chapter 9 in A Grand Bargain for Education
Reform
John Schacter has elaborated these issues in his work with
former TN middle-school principal, Joel Giffin
Diagnostics 1
The Focus of Instruction
Shed Pattern
This pattern – high growth for the lowachievers at the expense of others – is
common in low-income communities.
Low
Average
Previous Achievement
High
Reverse Shed
In this pattern – frequently found in
suburban districts – the teacher is
teaching to the high achievers at the
expense of other students.
Low
Average
Previous Achievement
High
Tent
In this pattern, the
teacher is teaching
right down the
middle.
Low
Average
Previous Achievement
High
Diagnostics 2
The Impact of Instruction
Value-Added:
Three Results
Above
100%
No Detectable Difference (NDD)
}
Below
(using 3-year running averages)
One
year’s
worth of
growth
Diagnostics 3
Combining the
Focus and Impact of
Instruction
Example:
Four 5th Grade Classrooms
}
100%
Reading
Language Arts
Math
Social Studies
No
detect
differe
Example:
High School English Dept.
}
100%
9
Adv9
10
Adv10
11
Adv11
12
AP12
No
detect
differe
Shed Pattern
Using Previous Academic Achievement Levels
}
No
Detectable
Difference
100%
Low
Average
High
Reverse Shed Pattern
Using Previous Academic Achievement Levels
Example
}
No
Detectable
Difference
100%
Low
Average
High
Growth Model
three categories of instructon



Highly Effective: by providing their students with high
growth, teachers earn higher salaries, move up the career
ladder faster, and serve as coaches and mentors
Effective: these teachers provide their students with a year’s
worth of growth in a year
Ineffective: by failing to provide their students with
adequate growth, these teachers undergo mandatory
remediation, which can result in improvement or dismissal
Observation protocols should provide parallel ratings
Value-added instructional results:
Attach 2 Standard Errors to those Below the District Avg.
Teacher Effectiveness
Attach 1.5 Standard Errors to those Above the District Avg.
Highly Effective
Effective
Ineffective
District Average or
Growth Standard
Standard Errors are a function of:
•Number of students taught
•Number of data points for each student
Tent Pattern
Using Previous Academic Achievement Levels
Example 2
}
No
Detectable
Difference
100%
Low
Average
High
Teacher #4 Math Scatter Plot (-70 Mean VAM)
23%
20%
82%
21
How growth was used in
Tennessee’s most successful school

Achievement data is used to form
homogeneous groups of students
 Growth data are used to identify the specific
group of students teachers are most
successful with: previously low, average or
high achievers
Maryville Middle School’s (MMS)
TVAAS Test Scores
Subject
National
MMS Scores MMS Scores
(Grades 6,7,8)
(Benchmark)
Norm
3 yr. Average
1997-99
10 yr. Average
1993-2002
Math
100%
143.2%
156.0%
Reading
100%
154.7%
135.6%
Language Arts
100%
230.0%
183.6%
Social Studies
100%
108.3%
107.5%
Science
100%
143.4%
137.0%
School Average
100%
155.9%
143.9%
The Philosophy of the Giffin Model

Every student, no matter where she starts, should make
learning progress from one year to the next
 Teachers should teach the subjects and students they are
most successful with
 Students enter any grade level with vastly different
achievement levels
 Students learn at different rates and in different ways
 Each individual student excels in some disciplines more
than others
 All students can experience success when they have the
opportunity to feel challenged and successful in every class
Not Tracking

Fluid groupings: students are moved to other
classrooms, slower paced or advanced, at any
point in the school year

IEPs promote maximum growth, and

Projections make possible academic interventions
to raise performance trajectories
Strengths of the Giffin Model

Maximizes teacher effectiveness and student learning
Reduces behavioral problems: students “in synch” with
their curriculum means less acting out because of boredom
or frustration
 Saves money through larger classes for average and highachieving students
 Permits very small class sizes for students most in need
 Raises educator morale despite introduction of new
individual-level accountability

The New Support Structure

Driven by data (Integrated Assessment, Value-added Training,
Value-added as a Diagnostic)

Job-embedded (Mentoring, Professional Learning Communities)

Aligned with evaluation systems (Peer Assistance and
Review, Strategic Review)

Teacher-led (Professional Unionism)
For additional information on our
comprehensive school reform model, please contact:
tedhersh@upenn.edu
or (215) 746-6477
Or see our website at http://operationpubliced.org