Transcript The Policy Landscape for Higher Education and Teacher Education Edward Crowe Senior Consultant Carnegie Corporation of New York WACTE Spring Meeting APRIL 24, 2008

The Policy Landscape for Higher Education
and Teacher Education
Edward Crowe
Senior Consultant
Carnegie Corporation of New York
WACTE Spring Meeting
APRIL 24, 2008
Higher education
• Learning Outcomes--identification and
measurement by institutions
• Accreditation--teaching and learning issues
• Data systems
• Costs, student aid, state budgets
Spellings Commission
The Future of US Higher Education
Key Issues and Recommendations
 Access
 Cost and Affordability
 Learning
 Transparency and Accountability
 Innovation
www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports.html
Voluntary System of Accountability
for Public Higher Education
• NASULGC and AASCU
• FIPSE grant support--$2.4 million
• Key principles
o Demonstrate accountability and stewardship to the public
o Measure educational outcomes to identify effective educational
practices
o Accessible, understandable, and comparable information
• Lumina Foundation support
www.voluntarysystem.org/index.cfm
Federal and state investments
in data systems
• Institute for Education Sciences Program
• 27 state grantees
• $115 million awarded
• Longitudinal data systems and individual
identifiers
http://nces.ed.gov/Programs/SLDS/
Improved assessments of
teaching and learning
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NCLB-related draft initiative
Performance-based teacher assessment study
College and work ready standards and assessments
New student achievement assessments (states and
consortia of states)
• Consortia of foundations, states, universities and
others to develop performance assessments for
students (authorized in draft bills)
State budgets and fiscal policies
• 17 states face budget shortfall of $31 billion
• 11 more states expecting budget shortfalls later this
year or next
• Cuts in health and education services
• Impact on higher education (balancing the budget)
• Quarterly revenue projection down 2% for State of
Washington (www.ofm.wa.gov/news/release/2008/080215.asp)
(From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
www.cbpp.org/12-18-07sfp.htm
Teacher education
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Program quality
Teacher quality
Improved assessment practices
Striving for professional status
Title II Report Card
 Pass rates
 Program improvement
 Revisions to Higher Education Amendments by
Congress
 Low performance: 17/1200
Impact on quality?
https://title2.ed.gov/secReport06.asp
Policy support for alternatives
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•
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KIPP Schools (www.kipp.org)
Hunter College (www.hunter.cuny.edu)
Teach for America (www.teachforamerica.org)
Math for America (www.mathforamerica.org)
Improving outcomes,
strengthening the evidence base
 New York City--the Pathways Project
 California State University System
 University of Wisconsin--FIPSE and AASCU
 Louisiana Value-added system
 Ohio Teacher Quality Partnership
Key points
• Some initiated by states or feds for pure
accountability purposes
• Others begun by institutions or systems for
program improvement
• Still others developed by institutions and states
with 3 goals:
 Stronger candidates
 Better programs
 More robust and professional accountability processes
Effective Responses
to the Policy Landscape
 Focusing on outcomes
 Fostering collaboration
 Building capacity
 Building a profession
Response #1-Focusing on Outcomes
“Society reaps at this moment but a small fraction
of the advantage which current knowledge
has the power to confer.”
Abraham Flexner (1910)
[Bulletin No. 4, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching]
Response #2-Fostering Collaboration
“Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
Mark Twain
Response #3-Building Capacity
First Doctor: “I’ve forgotten all my science: what’s the use of my pretending I
haven’t? But I have great experience: clinical experience; and bedside
experience is the main thing, isn't it?”
Second Doctor: “Mere experience by itself is nothing. If I take my dog to the
bedside with me, he sees what I see. But he learns nothing from it. Why?
Because he's not a scientific dog.”
--George Bernard Shaw, The Doctor’s Dilemma
Examples of effective responses
• Sophisticated internal database
• Candidate pool, observation instruments, research
studies linked to program experiences, induction,
and professional development
• Pupil learning studies
Lessons from the examples?
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•
•
•
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Continuous improvement strategies
Capacity building to track and study outcomes
Mixed methods designs--qualitative and quantitative
Multi-site collaboration--shared resources and ideas
Work intended to generate knowledge and use it
locally
Response # 4-Building a profession
Key components
Who enters?
How are they trained?
How do they practice?
How are they regulated?
What’s the evidence of effectiveness?
Components of professional legitimacy
• Education
• Accreditation
• Licensure
Components of professional legitimacy
Education
Rigor and consistency of training provided to members of the professional
community--confers professional status on those who complete training
BUT….
Teacher education--almost systematic absence of shared values, ideas,
training methods, and outcomes
Huge variety of programs, pathways, course sequences, degree
requirements, battles over program content
Components of professional legitimacy
Accreditation
The process by which a profession sets and applies its own standards and
rules…
Rooted in rational and scientific ideas and …
Consistent with values embedded in education, licensure and other forms
of oversight
Components of professional legitimacy
Licensure
Standard vehicle for determining entry into a profession…
Professions employ licensure to control entry
BUT…
Many licensing categories, 600+ teacher tests, exceptions to rules…
every state with its own laws, rules and exceptions
Moving ahead as a profession
Outcomes
Assessment
Evidence
Continuous improvement