Addressing Tough Questions about Assessment through a Statewide Career-Long Initiative that Begins with Teacher Preparation

Abstract prepared for roundtable discussion held at:

The 67th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

February 24, 2016

Sharon Brennan, University of Kentucky

Rosetta Sandidge, University of Kentucky

Donna Brockman, Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board

Amanda Ellis, Kentucky Department of Education

Background and Introduction:

For the last decade, PK-12 school administrators across the nation have felt increasing pressure to develop teacher performance measures that relate to those measures to assess student learning. This pressure stems largely from federal mandates to improve student achievement levels particularly the No Child Left Behind Act and Race to the Top (Knight, S. et. al, 2015). Although policy-makers, researchers and practitioners agree that teachers’ influence on student learning should be part of the teacher assessment process, there has not been broad agreement about the type of measures that are most valid and reliable.

In response to mandates as well as to criticisms about teacher effectiveness, Kentucky’s policy makers launched a statewide initiative in 2010 to design and implement a system for guiding and monitoring teacher growth that incorporates student growth. Led by the state’s regulatory agencies - the Department of Education and Education Professional Standards Board - the initiative involved stakeholders from across the state including school administrators, practicing teachers and university faculty. These representatives worked together for three years to design a system that encompasses all experience levels from candidacy to retirement. The system is now in the initial implementation stage.

The purpose of the session is to describe Kentucky’s system, explain the planning and implementation process (including data that informed decisions), discuss steps which one university is taking to integrate the system into the educator preparation program and reflect with session participants about it in relation to their own initiatives.

Session Goals:

During this session, we will discuss these two initiatives including the tools used for implementation. We will also discuss steps one university is taking to integrate these systems and tools into the educator preparation program. Finally, we will reflect with participants about this initiative in relation to those underway at their institutions and in their states.

References

Darling-Hammond. (2013). Getting teacher evaluation right: What really matters for effectivness and improvement. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Darling-Hammond, L., Amrein-Beardsley, Haertel, E. & Rothstein, J. (2012, March).

Evaluating teacher evaluation. Kappan, 93 (6), 8-15.

Danielson, C. (2013). The framework for teaching evaluation instrument (2013 ed.). (n.p.): The Danielson Group.

Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Kentucky Framework for Teaching (2014, February). Available at:

Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board Pilot Material (2015).

Knight, S., Lloyd, G., Arbaugh, F. Gamson, D., McDonald, S., Nolan, J., and Whitney, A. (2015). Reconceptualizing teacher quality to inform reservice and inservice professional development. Journal of Teacher Education, 66 (2), 105-108.

Measures of Effective Teaching Project. (2013, January). Ensuring Fair and Reliable Measures of Effective Teaching: Culminating findings from the MET Project’s Three Year Study: Brief. Seattle: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Available at:

Professional Learning: Kentucky Professional Learning Standards Guidance (2014, September).

Kentucky Department of Education Office of Next Generation Learners.

Sanders, W. & Horn, S. (1994). The Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS):

Mixed model methodology in education assessment. Journal of Personnel Evaluation in

Education, 8, 299-311.

Addressing Tough Questions about Assessment through a Statewide Career-Long Initiative that Begins with Teacher Preparation

EXIT SLIP

Please share your experience by responding to the questions below:

  • What does your state regulatory agency do to promote, guide and assess teacher growth?
  • What does you institution do to assess candidate growth in your teacher education program?
  • What suggestions do you have for us as we move forward with the initiatives we have described to support new and experienced teachers and/or build strong professional learning communities?

Thanks for sharing your ideas!