PR Newswire: Evaluation Requirement Proves
Hurdle for School Principals
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
before you arrived to work, which appeared in the online evening
edition of the State Journal. It’s 8:15 am and 75 tweets related to
the story have already appeared.
August 2014, Capitol City, State. Next week, Willie Gittet finds out if he can
continue in the job he’s had the past 8 years. A new state law requiring
principals to demonstrate proficiency observing teachers in classrooms may
now cost some school principals their jobs. The teacher evaluation law,
passed in 2011, requires school principals to complete classroom
observation training and pass a test demonstrating that they can accurately
assess teachers’ classroom performance.
According to Ima Tellingyoo, spokesperson for the Department of Education,
only 328 principals have passed the evaluator training, now required by
state law to be certified as a school principal. Those principals who have not
passed the requirement may lose their principal certification and possibly
their jobs.
State Commissioner of Educator, Dr. Howie Struggles commented,
“Whenever you implement a system requiring a demonstration of
competence, you don’t expect everyone to demonstrate proficiency on the
first assessment. We will work with the principals who didn’t pass the
proficiency part of the assessment to improve their skills.”
Over 400 principals have gone through the training. The Executive Director
of the Principals Association, U.R. Joshenmee, questioned the accuracy of
the proficiency assessment. “Most of the principals who have not passed the
assessment are experienced school administrators who have observed and
evaluated teaching for years. If they are unable to pass a test, we will have
to look long and hard at the test and what it requires. Nobody is going to
lose their job over a test!”
A meeting of the State Board of Education is scheduled for next week to
discuss the issue. They must decide the fate of the 72 principals who have
yet to pass the observations certification test. It is a critical one to solve,
with both federal and state dollars at stake. Principals’ reviews of teachers
1
are required for compliance with the state’s ESEA waiver, to inform
educators’ professional development, to make teacher tenure decisions and
determine which teachers receive compensation for their effectiveness.
The past two years have already seen a dramatic decline in the number of
educators seeking positions as principals. This latest glitch may exacerbate
that problem.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether all
principals will certify as teacher evaluators.
SCENARIO: Local HS Principal Willie Gettit can’t pass test to
evaluate teachers and among 72 principals state board may opt to
fire. @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
2
PR Newswire: State Supreme Court to rule on
wrongful termination claim of 47 teachers.
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
which appeared in the online evening edition of the State Journal. It
is 9:30 am and already there are 150 tweets about the pending
ruling.
August 2015, Capitol City, State. The nation’s eyes are on the state capitol
as the Supreme Court is expected to rule whether 47 public school teachers
were wrongfully dismissed based on the teacher evaluation system launched
in 2011.
The teachers in the suit claim that while they consistently received
“ineffective” ratings from 2011 through 2013, the decisions to revoke their
state teaching license and subsequently terminate their contracts with local
school boards were based on a defective system. According to the lawsuit
records, the teachers claim that the research about the indicators used in
the evaluation system cannot reliably and fairly evaluate effective teaching
practice.
On behalf of the teachers, attorney Thaya Cudbeskrewed argued that the
state ignored reports of serious flaws from schools implementing the process
along with research that questioned the use of adopted measures in the
system. “Since the beginning of the system pilot testing, researchers have
cautioned that the use of value-added measures as a definitive indicator of
an effective teacher is flawed. The student assessments, which form the
basis of this system, were not designed for this purpose and have
limitations.
Many of the teachers in this lawsuit had evaluations prior to the
implementation of the new system rating their practice as “satisfactory” or
as “meets expectations”. Common sense says someone’s performance
doesn’t change that dramatically.”
The State board of education attorney claims that the system was built, not
only to be professionally credible and publically acceptable, but also to be
legally defensible. “These teachers were not dismissed in a capricious
manner for political or personal reasons. The termination decision was
based on three years of evidence demonstrating a pattern of ineffectiveness,
3
including their own students’ performance on standardized tests. We are
sympathetic that the loss of employment is traumatic to the individual, but
these decisions are not only defensible but necessary to uphold a student’s
state constitutional right to a good education.”
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether states
will be sued for wrongful termination based on the new evaluation
system.
SCENARIO: Shaky evidence, inconsistent evaluations and poor
research make the case for teacher firings. @#Statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
4
PR Newswire: No One at the Helm: A Record
Number of Schools Start the Year without a
Principal
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
which appeared in the online evening edition of the State Journal.
This is one of the trending topics on Twitter today.
August 2015, Capitol City, State. As school doors set to open in the coming
weeks, local school districts are experiencing the impact new school
leadership trends emerging from the past few years. There’s a vacant desk
in the principal’s office.
Since 2011, several new reforms rolled out in school districts across the
state, increasing the complexity of the principal’s work. This has led to a
number of school leaders deciding to take a step back.
Ima Outtaheir remains in her school, but as a teacher. “Each year we faced
new initiatives. Common Core standards to implement. The transition last
year to new assessments. This led to personalized learning plans for each
student. On top of an ever-evolving teacher evaluation system that
addressed student achievement scores and teacher performance, including
student growth measures. All of these changes, especially the evaluation
system, increased professional development needs.”
Outtaheir continued by saying she welcomed the shift of her role as principal
to one of instructional leader. “The problem stemmed from the fact that
these different elements were piled on top of an already demanding job.
Suddenly I found myself needing to be a community liaison; a child advocate
often mediating between parent and teacher; a facilities manager with dayto-day operations and bus schedules; a discipline officer; and much more. I
felt I had no support from the district or the state to carry out the
compliance work needed for federal programs like Title I and special
education. It’s not only too much, but these were sometimes priorities that
worked against each other.”
Director of the city’s School Leadership Academy, Iva Option, says a
contributing factor to the decline in school leaders is that there was no
systemic plan for re-thinking the role of the principal. In addition, districts
5
lack the means to support individuals willing to transform their work to
support all the new—and old—initiatives.
Another factor in the principal exodus is the federal turnaround strategy for
low performing schools of “firing the coach when the team doesn’t perform.”
“We’re in a downward spiral that we must reverse. There has been a
dramatic decline in educators applying for school leadership roles and
entering universities or academies preparation programs like ours. It’s
leaving teachers to figure out how to do new work on their own, which
leaves student success to happenstance.”
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether schools
will face a severe principal shortage.
SCENARIO: Who’s in the principal’s office? A closer look reveals an
empty desk with no one clamoring for the job @#statejournal.
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
6
PR Newswire: Teacher Training Program Closes Its
Doors As Alumni Call for State Superintendent’s
Resignation
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
which appeared in the online evening edition of the State Journal.
Tweets are starting.
August 2015, Capitol City, State. An announcement yesterday that the
College of Education program at Flagship State University will soon shut
down due to the poor performance of its graduates has spurred alumni to
action. Led by state board of education chair, Les Canthandleit, a petition
was launched today calling for the governor to appoint a new superintendent
of public instruction.
Insiders were not surprised by the news surrounding the College of
Education as the state had worked with the College of Education dean since
2012 on a list of changes to make sure the graduates of the teacher-training
program could demonstrate success when employed as teachers. Hugo
Furst, state superintendent, was an early adopter of the recommendations of
the influential CCSSO Task Force Report on Educator Preparation and Entry
into the Profession and a participant in a Gates Foundation initiative to
implement the report’s recommendations. That drove much of the changes
required of the College of Education.
“We put a stake in the ground signaling we were serious about ensuring
teachers were well prepared and learner-ready by the time they entered the
classroom. All of our teacher education programs were well informed of the
criteria and had three years to ensure full implementation. We anticipated
political heat if unpopular decisions like this one were made, but we assert
that the greater risk is to continue to allow teachers to enter classrooms ill
prepared for the job ahead of them.”
Les Canthandleit agrees that information was available, but that’s not the
same as giving teacher prep programs the kind of guidance needed to
improve. “No one wants to underprepare teachers, but College of Education
didn’t receive specifics regarding steps needed for improvement. If we knew
how, we would have done it. Where was the support from the state? Where
is the recognition that we place our graduates into the hard to staff schools
7
in the rural communities as well as urban schools throughout the state?
Who is going to step in and do that work?”
Flagship State University president, Hans Onlurning stated that this news is
devastating to the university, as the College of Education was the
university’s largest program. “The loss of staff and tuition will hurt other
programs that provide professionals to communities in need, such as social
work, occupational therapy and counseling programs. The decision seems
dramatic and politically driven, nothing more.”
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether a
teacher education program will be closed as a result of higher ed
reforms.
SCENARIO: State put the locks on Teacher University doors due to
poor performance; alumni protest action @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
8
PR Newswire: State Teacher of the Year’s Practices
Rated Ineffective
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
which appeared in the online evening edition of the State Journal.
It’s 8:15 am and this is the top trending Twitter topic in the country.
May 2015, Capitol City, State. The ABC District celebrated last month when
our very own Stella Paforma was named State Teacher of the Year at a gala
attended by 800 people. Today, Paforma tweeted that her teaching
practices were rated ineffective in her annual evaluation. This evaluation
could be the first in a series of steps leading to her removal from the
classroom if her rating does not improve next year.
The evaluation system that resulted in Stella Paforma's ineffective rating was
designed through the state’s Race to the Top Grant and ESEA Flexibility
Waiver Request.
ABC District fully adopted the state’s model evaluation system. Student
results on the state tests account for 50% of a teacher’s effectiveness rating,
along with other measures including observations by the principal and
student surveys. Even though Stella Paforma’s observations and student
surveys place her at the top of her peer group, a teacher in the state can’t
be ranked effective if their student growth scores are low.
A spokesperson for ABC District referred calls to the State Department of
Education because they “used the state’s model.”
The spokesperson for the State Department of Education said, “Evaluating
personnel is the responsibility of the district.”
While these two parties aren’t saying much, the Twittersphere has plenty to
say about the issue. At last count, Stella Paforma’s tweet has been
retweeted 8,107 times, and she has 2153 replies to her tweet.
One of the most popular responses to Stella Paforma’s tweet came from the
frontrunner in the race for the state’s upcoming U.S. Senate seat.
Onmywayto Washington is calling for the repeal of the ESEA Flexibility
Waiver and Race to the Top evaluation system requirements, stating to
media, “Clearly, these new evaluation systems are not doing the job
intended. The requirements must go.”
9
Other opponents of the new evaluation system are also calling into question
the value of a system that rates the teaching practices of the State Teacher
of the Year as ineffective. Stella Paforma states, “The biggest challenge to
my rating is that there is no feedback about how to improve, only a mandate
to ensure students score higher on state tests.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whose practice
will be rated ineffective through new evaluation systems.
SCENARIO: Educator named State Teacher of the Year declared
ineffective by the new teacher evaluation system @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
10
PR Newswire: State Chief Elections Come on the
Heels of the Release of Student Results on the New
Common Core Test
Your communications director sent you this story from PR Newswire,
which appeared in the online evening edition of the State Journal.
Tweeter feeds are starting.
May 2015, Capitol City, State. The month of May has historically been a
time for noting milestones in a student’s education career as graduations,
college acceptance and other honors and recognitions are celebrated. With
the anticipated release of student results on the new Common Core State
Standards assessments for math and literacy, our state adds another
milestone. It is anyone’s guess as to the outcomes of these new
assessments.
Students took the test for the first time this past spring, along with 21 other
states using the same set of exams. When the results are released, states
will likely use student outcomes to compare their education systems across
the country as well as assess differences from previous results on statespecific tests in the same areas.
This information could impact upcoming local and state elections across the
country. In our state, all eyes are on this year’s chief state school officer
election race. Incumbent Rhea Lea-Tuff’s first term was wrought with
challenges related to implementing the Common Core State Standards and a
new educator evaluation system. But the dust has settled. The number of
teacher retirements and resignations has declined from the two previous
years and parents, students and teachers increasingly report positive
outcomes from the adoption of the new standards.
But challenger Luca Bacwerd is polling higher than expected. Bacwerd is
committed to “turn the calendar back to 1989” if elected. Many believe
Bacwerd’s grassroots campaign led by recently retired teachers is
responsible for the polling numbers.
When asked what it means to “turn the calendar back to 1989,” Bacwerd
responded, “The first order of business for my administration will be to
return to a time before federal standards and tests dictated what teachers in
our state had to teach, what the government thinks students need to learn,
11
and end this high-stakes standardized testing for students and teachers. I
want the money we put into all this testing mess to pay for the supplies
students need so teachers can quit spending their own money on basics.”
Critics say Bacwerd doesn’t understand both the limitations of the role of the
chief state school officer and the policy structure of federal mandates and
state board regulations.
How the state’s students compare to others across the nation may be a
factor in this hotly contested Election will reveal whether or not the people of
this state want to continue the path or return to the policies of a former era.
The results from the new assessments may be a factor in that decision.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of student results
compared to other states on new Common Core tests and consider
impact on the chief’s campaign.
SCENARIO: Release of students’ results on national Common Core
test expected to be a factor in upcoming election for state chief
school officer @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
12
PR Newswire: Despite millions of dollars spent on
education reform, student performance at an alltime low
Your communications director has just sent you this story from PR
Newswire that appeared in the State Journal evening edition and as
an online story on the daily’s website. Tweeter feeds are starting.
August 2015, Capitol City, State. In 2009, Forefront state ushered in
sweeping reforms. Fueled by an infusion of federal dollars, changes were
made to raise standards for everyone, create more effective evaluation and
accountability systems, reform educator preparation, and offer innovative
models of schools supported by technology. Six years later, the first results
of those efforts are not reassuring.
A major undertaking was the state’s adoption of new assessments of student
performance that claim to assess deeper levels of student learning as a
result of the Common Core standards implementation and other college and
career readiness initiatives. These tests were developed with funds from the
federal government and require 8 hours to complete on a computer. As the
test results show, students are performing worse than they did in 2010, the
first year of the major reforms. This is not only the case in Forefront, but
also in the other states using the same assessments.
Pundits are quick to explain what these results mean. Telly Uso,
representing the state teacher association, remarked that it is too early to
measure results of new standards and innovative instructional practice only
in place across the state for the past 18 months. “A more effective predictor
of student learning on these new tests would be to follow the districts that
piloted this effort in 2013 and have been at it a few years. You see
continuous growth as students, teachers, and parents become more familiar
with the different demands of these more challenging assessments.”
Community advocate, Sayit Aintso begs to differ. “The millions of dollars
spent on the test development, training on the system, cost of a technology
infrastructure and scoring, wasted time of students should have been spent
on giving each student a laptop, access to internet and unleashing them to
learn the way they do in the real world. These results just show that we are
dumbing down our students, not helping them.”
13
State superintendent Caugh Tinthemiddle is hosting a press conference
tomorrow at the City Economic Club to explain what this means for
education reform going forward.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of the first results
on the new PARCC or Smarter Balanced Assessments.
SCENARIO: Does the new common core test prove students are
learning less and our education system is worse off? @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
14
PR Newswire: Independent Report on State Educator
Evaluation System Proves its Ineffectiveness
Your communications director sent you this story from the PR
Newswire, which appeared in the online evening edition of the State
Journal. Its 8:30 and this is the top trending topic on twitter in your
state.
January 2015, Capital City, State. The bottom line from an independent
evaluation report released by the state Department of Education on its’
educator evaluation systems adopted over three years ago can be summed
up in three words: It’s not working.
Senator Ina Theforefront, chair of the state education committee that
requested the evaluation, remarked, “After years of struggling to come to an
agreement about what the evaluation system should be, then three years
and millions spent on curriculum, training, assessment development, and
technology, we are no closer identifying teachers that are improving—or
preventing-- student outcomes than before we started down this path.” The
reason, she claims, is that the evaluation systems didn’t go far enough to
document student outcomes and hold educators accountable.
The report looks at student achievement gains in state-tested areas over
that past decade, and with the “non-tested grades and subjects” over the
past three years. While there is a modest increase, the report notes it is not
statistically significant and student achievement in the state has been
stagnant.
The evaluation system looks at two sets of data to determine an educator’s
performance rating. 50% of the evaluation of teachers and principals is
based on student growth; the other 50% is classified as “professional
growth.” The system was built as part of the state’s ESEA waiver and a
purpose is to identify top talent and get rid of ineffective teachers.
Theforefront continued, “We have over 30,000 teachers in the state, and
only a couple of hundred were rated ineffective, and only 1000 earned the
top rating. This is not the workforce we need to accelerate student
achievement.”
15
Senator Ina Theforfront believes a contributing problem is the “meaningless
measures of professional growth”. “The measures include attendance at
professional development events, a portfolio of teacher claims about their
accomplishments, and classroom observations linked to complicated
professional development plans.” He stated that these components led to
nothing that helped identify the contributions educators make because the
real measure of effectiveness is student outcomes that should include
attendance, discipline, graduation rates and more test scores.
While it is true that 50% of the evaluation is based on student growth, only
25% of that includes student achievement based on a complicated matrix of
test results, student learning objectives, and other measures.
District FGH representative Sue Stands stated, “The problem is not the
evaluation system itself, but that there wasn’t enough guidance provided for
how we implement the different pieces, including the design and delivery of
targeted professional development for educators on areas identified that are
directly linked to student achievement.”
Much of the report covers the complicated implementation and reporting
requirements for building principals to the school district, which proved to
overburden already complex jobs and responsibilities. An unnamed source
stated, “There just wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything that was
required and some of the professional growth measures got short shrift.”
The State Board of Education is considering next steps as they review the
findings from evaluation system audit. State Superintendent, Dr. Stay
Thecourse said, “We need to take a moment to step back and regroup.
There has been a lot of change in a very short amount of time. These initial
findings may not adequately account for that.”
The report is on the Department of Education website and the public is urged
to comment.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
16
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of what the results
of an audit of the evaluation system—3 years into implementation—
reveal.
SCENARIO: Independent audit released by State DOE finds our
educator evaluation system fails to deliver. @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
4. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
5. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
6. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
17
PR Newswire: School Districts Misuse $158 million in
Teacher Developed Assessments
Your communications director sent you this story from the PR
Newswire, which appeared in the online evening edition of the State
Journal. Its 8:30 and this is the top trending topic on twitter in your
state.
February 2015, Major City, USA. At least sixty school districts have
misappropriated millions of dollars in funding intended to pay for teacher
developed assessments for non-tested subjects and grades, according to a
state Senate watchdog group.
The Department of Education has ordered districts to replace the nearly
$160 million in mismanaged funds back to their professional development
programs, the State Office of Oversight and Outcomes said yesterday. Two
urban districts are said to owe approximately $54 million each as a result of
these misappropriated and unallowable charges made over a three-year
period that began with the implementation of new evaluation systems in
2012.
In most cases, these funds were part of the school district’s professional
development budget restricted to the use of producing teacher-developed
assessments for all grades and subjects aligned to the state curriculum
guides. The tests were needed to implement the educator evaluation
system that uses student growth on tests as part of determining the
effectiveness of teachers and principals. School systems are charged with
redirecting the funds to pay for central office personnel, general
administration overhead, travel, refreshments and other expenses. The
districts maintain these are legitimate charges for the work.
The report also revealed the system put in place to monitor the spending of
those funds is complicated and the regulations governing the spending too
complex and vague. School districts, as a result, often disregard the rules
and frequently contest the violations auditors do find based on different
interpretations of the law.
10 state auditors who monitor the implementation of several federally
funded programs, including this one, in nearly 2,000 districts, carry out
oversight for these funds. As a result, auditors haven’t completed all
18
inspections since the new evaluation systems took effect in 2012 and when
they do “rarely take more than a cursory look at the books,” the report said.
The State Department of Education is in the process of hiring more staff and
re-designing and offering more training for auditors on how to flag
irregularities and other accounting issues. This controversy is yet another
that is unfolding in the statewide system of teacher-developed assessments
that has been calling the quality, rigor, and now the funding of these tests
into question.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether states
will experience district level mismanagement of funds earmarked for
evaluation purposes.
SCENARIO: Senate watchdog report finds school districts misused
$158 million in teacher-developed assessments. @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
19
PR Newswire: 94 Teachers can’t be hired as state agency
raises the bar on state licensing test.
Your communications director sent you this story from the PR
Newswire, which appeared in the online evening edition of the State
Journal. Its 8:30 and this is the top trending topic on twitter in your
state.
May 2015, Capital City, State. Last year, hands clapped as the state board
of education announced it was raising the minimum score teachers must get
to earn a license to teach to the national average cut score. This year,
hands are wringing, as 94 teachers didn’t make the cut, many of them
minority candidates.
Under the leadership of state superintendent Hugo Furst, the legislature,
board of education and the state agency began a series of reforms in late
2012 to strengthen the preparation for and entry to the teaching profession.
A comprehensive set of initiatives were designed to ensure a more diverse
teaching force well prepared to meet the challenges of all the learners in the
state with a focus on hard to staff schools.
“We worked hard on very targeted recruitment of minority students within
our undergraduate programs to teaching and dramatically increased
enrollment. That one test can derail three years of preparation work is
devastating” stated Furst.
The state board acknowledges this is a complicated issue. On the one hand,
the state has worked to align its licensing requirements with national
standards so that teachers earning a license in the state have greater
portability in our increasingly mobile society. But people are now
questioning whether the goal of serving the needs of a teaching workforce
comes at the expense of the states students.
Ina Theforfront, a National Board Certified teacher and the first AfricanAmerican state teacher of the year, believes this is a short-term problem.
“Many outstanding lawyers don’t pass the bar the first time around. We
need to make sure that these teachers get feedback on what parts of the
test had low scores and allow them to continue to learn to improve and take
the test again. If this computer-based test is the ONLY evidence of where
their preparation fell short, it shouldn’t be viewed as a “one and done”. We
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need to keep investing in getting minority teachers with potential to produce
good results with students in our schools.”
The state NAACP and ACLU are asking if the exam, purchased and
administered from a commercial testing organization, has had sufficient
studies of validity, reliability and reviews for bias. They requested the
testing company provide any reports to the state education agency.
The State Board of Education is considering next steps as they review the
results from this year’s test, the reports from the testing and the overall
initiatives that have been put in place to prepare the teaching workforce.
Three years ago, the board rejected an opportunity to move to a
performance-based assessment that colleges of education would administer.
State Board of Education chair, Dr. Stay Thecourse said, “We need to take a
moment to step back and regroup. This includes looking at data from the
states that used the performance test, as well as the licensing exam scores
of our teachers rating highly effective. Is there a correlation? Our bottom
line is making sure our students have the best teachers possible”.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of whether raising
the cut score on the state licensing exam produces adverse impact
for minority candidates.
SCENARIO: New passing score requirements on teacher licensing
exam exacerbates minority teacher shortage. @#statejournal.
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
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PR Newswire: State’s Adoption of New Student
Assessment Derails ESEA Waiver and Education
Evaluation System
Your communications director has just sent you this story from PR
Newswire that appeared in the State Journal evening edition and as
an online story on the daily’s website. Tweeter feeds are starting.
August 2015, Capitol City, State. In 2011, Forefront state received one of
the first ESEA waivers, creating flexibility for how the state administered its
accountability system while driving the adoption of a new educator
evaluation system. Fueled by an infusion of federal dollars from winning the
Race to the Top competition, changes were made to raise standards for
everyone and create more effective evaluation and accountability systems,
including the transition to a new national student assessment. While
everyone predicted a bumpy road as all of these changes rolled out, no one
thought it would lead to a standoff between the state and the USDOE on
how the ESEA program be implemented.
At issue is the state’s request last year to amend “Principle 3”, which
governs the implementation of the evaluation system for teachers and
principals. The state evaluation plan uses student test scores from state
administered tests as 40% of the teacher evaluation data. In 2014, the
state used those results to dismiss 2% of the lowest performing teachers
and offer substantial “pay for performance” bonus to those teachers earning
the coveted “highly effective” rating.
Legal counsel advised the state board of education in 2014 to discontinue
using the evaluation results for personnel decisions for three years following
the introduction of the new assessments. Attorney Telly Uso remarked,
“These assessments have not had sufficient realibility and validity tests for
this high stakes evaluation purpose. Further, you cannot calculate a valueadded measure for teachers when you dramatically change the measure like
this. While the state can probably use the results for its overall
accountability work, there are a different set of issues in tying this to the
performance of the adults in schools.”
Last year, Forefront submitted a revised plan that eliminated using the
evaluation results for personnel decisions until 2018. According to the new
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plan, these three years will focus on using the results to improve teaching
strategies that are directly linked to the more sophisticated thinking and
application of content that the assessments now demand of students.
But the USDOE staff monitoring the state’s waiver says it’s a no-go ( ADD
USDOE response)
State superintendent Caugh Tinthemiddle is hosting a press conference
tomorrow at the City Economic Club to explain what this means for
education in the state going forward.
HOW WILL YOUR SEA RESPOND?
You have been asked to be part of a “first responder” team to assist
the state education agency with the uncertainty of the transistion
the new PARCC or Smarter Balanced Assessments on the state’s
waiver request .
SCENARIO: State asks for moratorium on using new student test
scores for educator evaluation but feds say no. @#statejournal.
(Note: This will be the header on the chart paper for the gallery walk for
this scenario)
Use the Prepping for Uncertainty protocol (found in the resources linked to
this general session) and engage in these steps with your table.
1. Engage in a 30- minute discussion to shape the scenario so the
event might be used to support momentum and progress toward
state education initiatives.
2. Spend 15 minutes consolidating the best guidance and strategies
from the group think.
3. During the final 15 minutes, chart your advice to the fictional SEA
on the template provided.
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