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ARRA and Teacher Quality:
Issues to Consider
Cary Cuiccio
July 18, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Learning Point Associates. All rights reserved.
Learning Point Associates
Our Vision
We envision an education system
that works for all learners.
Our Mission
We deliver knowledge, strategies, and results
so educators will make research-based decisions
that produce sustained improvements
throughout the education system.
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State Fiscal Stabilization Fund
 Requires states to provide assurances that they
will address these four academic areas:
• College- and career-ready standards and high-quality
assessments that are valid and reliable for all
students;
• Establishing pre-K-to college and career data systems;
• Teacher effectiveness and the equitable distribution
of qualified teachers;
• Effective interventions for the lowest-performing
schools.
www.learningpt.org
Funding to Support Teacher Quality
Existing funding sources:
ESEA Title I - $13 billion
ESEA Title II - $650 million
• Both can be used to support professional development
 Teacher Incentive Fund (ESEA Title V) - $200M
• Supports development of performance-based
compensation systems in high-need schools
 Teacher Quality Enhancement Act (HEA Title II) -
$100 million
• Supports teacher training and recruitment
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Funding to Support Teacher Quality
New Funds:
State Fiscal Stabilization Funds - $39.5 billion
• Supports equitable teacher distribution + improved
collection and use of data
Competitive Funds (Race to the Top)
• State Incentive Grants - $4.3 billion
• Innovation Funding - $650 million
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Funding to Support Teacher Quality
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Funding to Support Teacher Quality
Find that interactive map online at:
http://www.tqsource.org/arra
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Teacher Quality: 2 Major Issues
1. Highly Qualified or Highly Effective?
2. Inequitable Distribution: Why and how
does it happen?
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Highly Qualified or Highly Effective?
Requirement: Highly qualified teachers
Issue: Qualifications conflated with
effectiveness
More effective indicators:
• What produces effective teaching?
• To what extent are teachers engaged in
effective instructional practice?
• Where are the gaps?
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Highly Qualified or Highly Effective?
Highly Qualified Teacher
• Input-based
• Easy to determine whether a teacher is highly
qualified
Highly Effective Teacher
• Not demonstrated until after teacher is teaching
• Research does not elucidate the type of
preparation that predicts effectiveness
• Lack of research on type and extent of content
knowledge that may predict effectiveness
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Identifying and Targeting
Effective Teachers
Provide clear definitions of standards and
expectations for teachers
Tie evaluation to both professional
development and compensation
Develop quality evaluation systems, which
• Serve as a basis to inform educator support systems
• Provide career advancement opportunities
• Help determine the extent to which state efforts are
improving teacher effectiveness
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Some State Examples
 North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards.
(These standards form the basis of teacher
evaluations in the state.)
http://www.ncptsc.org/Final%20Standards%20Document.pdf
 Connecticut State Department of Education.
(The Department defines the qualities of an
effective teacher evaluation program in
Connecticut.)
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2641&q=320432
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More Resources on Evaluating
Teacher Effectiveness
 Approaches to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: A
Research Synthesis (2008)
http://www.tqsource.org/publications/teacherEffectiveness.php
 Improving Instruction Through Effective Teacher
Evaluation: Options for States and Districts (2008)
http://www.tqsource.org/publications/February2008Brief.pdf
 Methods of Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness:
Learning from the Research (2009)
http://www.tqsource.org/tqptopractice.php
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Equitable Distribution or
Equitable Retention?
 The goal: equitable distribution of highly
qualified, highly effective teachers, across states
and districts
 The reality: children in high-minority, highpoverty schools are more likely to be taught by
teachers with less experience and fewer
qualifications.
 Further reality: Teachers will leave schools they
don’t want to be in, regardless of money
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The Answer:
Recruitment and Retention
1. Greater numbers of teachers must be
recruited for at-risk schools and hard-tostaff districts
2. Working conditions must improve to entice
teachers to remain in those positions
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Teacher Recruitment:
Improving the Pipeline
 Create high-quality alternate routes for teacher
preparation and certification, focused on shortage
areas
• Grow your own
• Partner with local IHEs, including community colleges
 Examples:
• Urban Impact (Tennessee)
http://oneweb.utc.edu/~impact/about/mission.html
• Urban Education Collaborative (Philadelphia)
http://ed.temple.edu/UEC/index.html
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Teacher Recruitment:
Improving the Pipeline
 Revise transfer and hiring practices for high-need
schools
• Make it easy for highly qualified and effective teachers
to select these positions
• Give high-need schools priority in transfer policies
• Adjust budget timelines so high-need schools can make
earlier offers
• Give principals greater degree of autonomy in teacher
selection
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Teacher Retention:
Incentives to Stay
Provide high-quality induction and
mentoring programs
• Frequent and sustained interaction with mentor
• Professional development targeted to new
teachers
• Opportunities to observe skilled teachers
Example:
State of Illinois
http://intc.ed.uiuc.edu/documents/pilots/2009FINARPT-Public.pdf
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Teacher Retention:
Incentives to Stay
 Provide career options
• Create teacher leadership opportunities
• Utilize excellent teachers as mentors for new hires
• Give teachers opportunities for a voice in both policy
and practice
 Additional resource:
• Leading GenY teachers: Emerging Strategies for School
Leaders
http://www.tqsource.org/publications/February2009Brief.pdf
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ARRA Draft Metrics*
 Number and % of teachers in highest-poverty and
lowest-poverty schools who are highly qualified
 Number and % of teachers and principals rated at
each performance level in the LEA teacher
evaluation systems
 Number and % of LEA teacher and principal
evaluation systems that require evidence of
student outcomes
*Out for public comment in next 30 days or so
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Evaluating State and Local Plans:
Questions to Ask
What data are needed to inform efforts and
accomplishments?
• Do you have the data necessary to understand
specific challenges?
• Are you collecting the data you will need to
determine if strategies are successful?
• Will you create new data systems or modify
current practices and procedures?
What is your timeline?
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Evaluating State and Local Plans:
Questions to Ask
 What are the primary teacher-quality needs in
your state or district, based on the data?
• Overall shortage of HQT?
• Shortage of teachers in one geographic or content area?
• Inequitable distribution of teachers?
 If there is a shortage in a specific school, district,
or subject area, why does that shortage exist?
• Explosive population growth?
• Large cohort of teachers retiring?
• Issues with teacher attrition/retention?
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Evaluating State and Local Plans:
Questions to Ask
 What would success look like if these issues were
addressed?
• Identify measurable goals
• If success = increased retention, how many years
constitutes retention?
 Who are the stakeholders and partners involved in
supporting these efforts?
• Unions
• Colleges and universities
• Local communities
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Additional Resources
The American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act: Opportunities and Strategies to
Advance Teacher Effectiveness
http://www.tqsource.org/publications/specialE
ditionMarch2009Update.pdf
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Cary Cuiccio
P: 212-419-0417 > F: 212-419-0414
E-Mail: [email protected]
22 Cortlandt St., Suite 1625
New York, NY 10007
General Information: 800-356-2735
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