Improving Teacher Performance Assessments

The Obama Administration has repeatedly stressed the importance of measuring teacher effectiveness as part of a reform agenda for K-12 education. In both the Blueprint for Education Reform - Obama’s platform for K-12 education policy - and subsequent policy proposals, the Administration has made clear that they want to strengthen the federal government’s role in supporting teacher evaluation systems. The Administration’s focus on teacher evaluation makes last week’s report, Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness, by the Center for American Progress especially timely.  It discusses how rigorous teacher performance assessments could be used to measure teachers’ success in the classroom, including an in-depth look at one approach to improving the quality of teachers in every classroom, the Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium.

As the Consortium implements pilot programs and stakeholders begin to better understand how to assess teachers, the Obama Administration and state legislators should take note. States and school districts can use data from the assessments to improve teacher preparation and professional development programs. The federal government can use the data to target grant funds through new or existing federal programs to support effective teacher training and development programs.

The report by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond describes current efforts among 20 states to create a common teacher assessment system that could be used for teacher certification and evaluation. The teacher performance assessments (TPAs) used to evaluate teachers would be portfolio-based, similar to the National Board Certification process. Teachers would be assessed through classroom videos, teacher self-reflections, content reviews, and student and teacher feedback combined with data on student performance on different types of tests. Pilot programs began in the 2010-11 school year and will be scaled up over the coming years. By 2015, the consortium hopes to have nationally available TPA systems for initial teacher licensing, professional licensing, and advanced certification. Current teacher in-take and evaluation systems do not provide enough information to properly assess teachers’ strengths and weaknesses, but the consortium hopes that with more advanced assessments, principals and other instructional leaders could better place, support, and reward teachers.

Not only can states and school districts use these assessments to make staffing decisions, but experience with the National Board Certification process suggests that teachers can also use the self-assessment process to improve their practice in the classroom. Because the program requires teachers to self-reflect on their own strengths and weaknesses, many who have gone through the National Board Certification program have used this process to improve their teaching strategies and be more responsive to the needs of students. Aggregated results from these evaluations can also help inform professional development and teacher preparation programs.

Darling-Hammond’s report has important implications for the Obama Administration’s proposal for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as described in the Blueprint for Education Reform. The Blueprint would attempt to streamline the teacher quality grant programs under current law under a broader, more flexible umbrella program. At present, there are 15 federal programs targeted at improving the quality of teachers in K-12 classrooms and making the teaching profession more attractive to both current and potential new teachers. In fiscal year 2010, these programs cost a total of $3.9 billion, or 5.9 percent of the U.S. Department of Education’s discretionary budget. The Improving Teacher Quality State Grants program, for example, is the largest federal program devoted to K-12 teachers. The $2.9 billion program provides states with formula grants to implement activities that increase the number of highly qualified teachers, principals, and assistant principals in high-need classrooms and schools. Local educational agencies (LEAs) can use funds for activities to improve teacher quality, including implementing and improving teacher assessment programs.

Under the Blueprint, federal support for K-12 teacher programs would be reorganized, combining programs with similar purposes under a few large pools of money. The Effective Teachers and Leaders formula grant program would replace Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, combining the program with others focused on strengthening teacher effectiveness. The Effective Teachers and Leaders grants would be flexible, so that states and school districts can use funds as they see fit to meet the needs of students in their communities.

As the TPA pilot programs progress and stakeholders better understand how to assess teachers, the Obama Administration and state legislators should pay close attention. States and school districts can use the TPA systems to develop teacher preparation and professional development programs, collect quality data on beginning teacher effectiveness, and create coherent assessment systems for all stages of a teacher’s career. The federal government could use new or existing teacher quality grant funds to support these assessments and the training and development programs they show to be effective.

Check back with Ed Money Watch for updates on the progress of these assessments and the data they provide on teacher effectiveness.