States strengthening teacher evaluation standards

The way educators are evaluated is changing across the country, to actual proof that students are learning. President Barack Obama’s recent use of executive authority to revise the No Child Left Behind education law is one of several factors driving a trend toward using student test scores, classroom observation and potentially even input from students, among other measures, to determine just how effective educators are. A growing number of states are using these evaluations to decide critical issues such as pay, tenure, firings and the awarding of teaching licenses. Two years ago, only four states used student achievement as a predominant influence in how teacher performance is assessed. Today, the number is 13, according to a recent report from the National Council on Teacher Quality. Ten other states count student achievement in a lesser but still significant way in teacher evaluations. In 19 states and the District of Columbia, teachers can be fired based on the results, the report said. Even more changes are anticipated in coming months. Obama said in September that states wanting relief from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law could apply for a waiver from the law’s tough-to-meet requirements for student achievement in reading and math. To get a waiver, one thing states must do is come up with ways to use teacher and principal evaluations to make personnel decisions. This week, 11 states applied for waivers, and an additional 28 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico say they will be seeking waivers, too. In addition to Obama’s waivers, a major driver has been the administration’s high-profile “Race to the Top” competition, which had states competing for billions in prize dollars if they adopted stronger evaluation systems. Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, said another factor is a growing body of research showing that teachers matter in how much students learn and an influential 2009 report by the New Teacher Project revealing that fewer than 1 percent of teachers surveyed receive unsatisfactory ratings — even in failing schools. Historically, states have considered teacher evaluations to be untouchable, in part because of teachers unions. States are using a combination of measures to evaluate educators. For example, in Minnesota, evaluation systems under development for teachers and principals will include feedback from superiors, fellow educators and parents. Thirty-five percent of a teacher’s evaluation will be based on student test scores, but teachers will also be able to present a portfolio showing professional growth that includes student work and classroom video. Some states, such as Georgia and Massachusetts, are testing or considering the limited use of student input. A study by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found the average student can tell who is an effective teacher. It said students’ feedback is more specific and useful to teachers than scores or tests alone. Those opposed to linking test scores to evaluations say standardized tests are limited and don’t necessarily reflect what’s taught in the classroom. They say student performance can be affected by variables outside a teacher’s control like a child coming from an abusive home, transferring midyear or being behind because a previous teacher didn’t teach properly.

Teachers, facing low salaries, opt to moonlight

Second jobs are not a new thing for teachers, who have historically been paid less than other professionals. In 1981, about 11 percent of teachers were moonlighting; the number has risen to about one in five today. They are bartenders, waitresses, tutors, school bus drivers and even lawnmowers. Now, with the severe cuts many school districts have made, teachers like who hadn’t considered juggling a second job before, are now considering it. The number of public school teachers who reported holding a second job outside school increased slightly from 2003-04 to 2007-08. While there is no national data for more recent years, reports from individual states and districts indicate the number may have climbed further since the start of the recession. In Texas, for example, the percentage of teachers who moonlight has increased from 22 percent in 1980 to 41 percent in 2010. Rita Haecker, president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said cuts in education have forced many teachers to take furlough days. It’s an extra strain because, unlike in the past, many teachers are now the primary breadwinner, either because they are a single parent or their spouse is unemployed.  “The last thing we want is our teachers worried about how they are going to pay their bills.” The average salary for a public school teacher nationwide in the 2009-10 school year was $55,350, a figure that has remained relatively flat, after being adjusted for inflation, over the last two decades. Starting teacher salaries can be significantly lower; compared to college graduates in other professions, they earn more than $10,000 less when beginning their careers. “I think people have felt the need to supplement their teaching salaries in order to have a middle class lifestyle,” said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, which published a study this year concluding the average weekly pay of teachers in 2010 was about 12 percent below that of workers with similar education and experience. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects data on student performance across the globe, advised the United States earlier this year to work at elevating the teaching profession in order to improve student performance. The recommendations included measures like raising the bar for who is selected to become a teacher, providing better training and better pay. “International comparisons show that in the countries with the highest performance, teachers are typically paid better relative to others, education credentials are valued more, and a higher share of educational spending is devoted to instructional services than is the case in the United States,” the OECD report concluded.

While moonlighting isn’t unique to teachers, they do tend to have second or third jobs at a higher rate than other professionals. One researcher estimates their moonlighting rates may be four times higher than those of other full-time, college educated salaried workers. Eleanor Blair Hilty, an education professor at Western Carolina University, said most teachers make around $5,000 through outside work. Yet when asked if they would quit if given a raise in the equivalent amount, most said no. Her conclusion: teachers are getting something more from their second job other than an extra paycheck. “A lot of it has to do with what I think is wrong with the teaching profession,” Hilty said, noting that teachers have little autonomy and control over what and how they teach. “They found their moonlighting jobs to be satisfying.” Policies on moonlighting vary by district; some have no written guidelines, while others merely advise teachers to ensure any outside work doesn’t interfere with their duties at school. In North Carolina, a survey conducted in 2007 found 72 percent of teachers moonlight, whether it’s an after-school job or summer employment. “There’s a culture of silence,” Hilty said. “Everybody knows that moonlighting goes on and they know it’s part of what teachers do but nobody likes to talk about it very much. ”The single mother has a master’s degree in educational leadership and has been a teacher 15 years. But she says she cannot afford to leave any of her extra jobs, which she said brings in about $6,000 year, in addition to her $46,000 teaching salary. On top of their work in the classroom, teachers have to grade papers and plan lessons—work they often do at home. One study on teachers who moonlight in Texas cited the case of a teacher who ended up grading papers at the restaurant where she worked. The same study found that all the teachers interviewed reported that moonlighting had a negative effect on their health. In the Texas survey, a majority said moonlighting was detrimental to their work in the classroom.

Hey, teachers: The Heritage Foundation thinks you’re overpaid

          A new policy paper from the Heritage Foundation, argues that teachers aren’t underpaid. Instead, the paper says, teachers are actually overpaid by at least 50 percent, which is costing American taxpayers more than $120 billion each year. American Enterprise Institute compares the combined average wages and benefits of public school teachers with those of private-sector professionals who have similar skills. It concludes that wages for the two groups are about the same, while benefits and job security are significantly higher for teachers. Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis and Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at AEI, used data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, finding that public school teachers earn about 19 percent less in wages, on aver­age, than non-teachers with the same level of education. But then, in a surprising twist, the researchers argue that advanced degrees for teachers aren’t as rigorous as those earned by private-sector employees. Richwine and Biggs claim that “the wage gap between teachers and non-teachers disappear” when public school teachers are matched with private-sector employees who have similar AFQT scores. The researchers also argue that (1) average wages for public school teachers exceed those of private school teachers; (2) people who leave private-sector jobs to become teachers see an 8.8-percent wage increase, on average; and (3) teachers who leave the profession to work in the private sector experience a 3.1-percent wage reduction, on average. An analysis of data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, compared the average benefits of teachers and private-sector employees is more problematic, Richwine and Biggs acknowledge in part because of differences in their respective retirement plans. They concluded that public school teachers earn, on average, about 40 percent more in benefits than private-sector employees with comparable skills. The average unemployment rate for public school teachers was just 2.1 percent from 2005-10, compared to 3.8 percent for other professions, they sought to quantify this higher relative job security enjoyed by teachers. They concluded that it’s worth an additional 8.6 percent of a teacher’s compensation package bringing the total average value of teacher compensation to “52 percent above market rates.” “Because of the large compensation premium that public school teachers enjoy, teachers are unlikely to receive better offers elsewhere,” the researchers wrote. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), noted in a statement that most teachers spend “hundreds of dollars per year” on classroom supplies out of their own pockets, and they work longer hours “than their peers in other nations”—including grading papers, preparing lesson plans, communicating with students and their parents, and attending school-related functions during evenings and on weekends. Weingarten also criticized the report’s claim of an 8.6-percent “job security premium” for teachers, calling it an “arbitrary” figure that is “pure fiction, given the 278,000 public education jobs that have been lost during this recession.” The report comes as school stakeholders nationwide debate a number of education reforms, including measures designed to improve teacher quality and retention. On one side of these debates are conservatives, influenced by groups like the Heritage Foundation, who want to limit the power of teachers’ unions, which they see as impediments to reform—not to mention political opponents. Led by conservative governors, for instance, Wisconsin and Ohio are among states that have abolished or curtailed teachers’ rights to collectively bargain this year, in the name of balancing budgets. On the other side are unions such as the AFT and their supporters, who argue that the teaching profession is under attack from those who don’t understand the challenges educators face every day.

How to teach young children in the digital age

          More than half of children ages 5-8 have used a mobile device such as a smart phone, iPod touch, or iPad. The Teacher Preparation Council finds that research-based training is key for early childhood educators in order to achieve high-quality early learning programs. Fewer than half of all early learning programs in the U.S. are considered high quality and promote significant learning among underserved students. In light of recent reports—such as Common Sense Media’s “Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America“—revealing that today’s children consume up to 7 hours of media daily. Some organizations, including the National Association for the Education of Young Children, are updating their professional practices to guide learning and development for today’s digital-age children. It also recommends that early learning programs take more advantage of free digital assets created by public media (such as PBS) to reach a new generation of digital-savvy learners. In the report, the council identifies several goals for the nation to meet by 2020 to integrate digital media into early learning programs and help the nation’s underserved students become current with 21st-century skills.

Those goals include:

• Advance technology integration and infrastructure: The Digital Age Teacher Preparation Council recommends that President Obama and Congress expand broadband policies and technology integration efforts to cover publicly supported preschool programs.
• Modernize professional learning programs and models: The report urges states, local districts, Head Start programs, and other early learning programs to develop curricula and training resources for teachers and parents on the appropriate use of technologies with young children. It also recommends specific reforms to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to integrate the use of technology in both preparation and ongoing training programs for early childhood educators.
• Expand public media use as a cost-effective asset for teachers: Given the low cost, research-based development, but currently limited use of public media assets in early childhood education settings, the council recommends the creation of more public-private partnerships to create and distribute public media assets more widely.
• Create a Digital Teacher Corps: The council recommends a new public-private partnership be designed to support a corps of teachers whose goal is to integrate digital learning, modern technologies, and best teaching practices to address the “fourth grade reading slump” that afflicts over one million young children annually. The challenges facing education today mean that teachers must come up with new and creative approaches to engage their students, especially younger students, Darling-Hammond said. “Quality early learning programs in our digital age will be led by highly prepared, flexible teachers who can effectively integrate what they know about healthy child development with the resources of an always-connected, thoroughly modern environment,” she said, noting that the report demonstrates how educators can design new pathways for their youngest students. The report also highlights current best practices in integrating technology into early learning programs, including online professional development courses, statewide technology innovations such as the Maine One-to-One Laptop program, and technology integration through applications such as Building Blocks software and university-based programs introduced by Tufts University. If teachers of children ages 3-8 can integrate emerging digital technology into their own professional development, the nation can move toward “a cost-effective and productive pathway for learning in the 21st century,” the authors wrote.

School fires up iPads to fine-tune phys-ed skills

In Gregg Agena’s physical education classroom at Ewa Makai Middle School in Honolulu, students are using iPads in their physical education classes. As half the students are preforming gymnastics, the other half is filming them using the iPad, after that, the students switch places. This program started as a pilot project aimed at helping teachers figure out new ways to engage students who learn best with hands-on learning. Once the exercises are done, the students break off into pairs to watch themselves performing the exercises. After that, using a second iPad and an application the school’s ed-tech department, the students determine whether they performed the moves correctly. When the points are added up, students click submit the information which goes directly to Agena’s computer. This is effective because Agena is able to see how his students are doing and what kind of progress they’re making over time. Ewa Makai, is determined to be a pioneer among Hawaii’s public schools that use iPads as an instructional tool. In addition to students using iPads in the classroom, teachers have also been given the opportunity to explore other uses in their classrooms. Ewa Makai’s goal is to incorporate technology meaningfully into the classroom, the problem is, are they worth the price? At Ewa Makai, teachers and administrators see iPads potentially being deployed to every classroom. They want to create electronic portfolios for each student, which would include everything from videos to presentations, teachers believe that iPads would be easier for classrooms and kids, rather than buying video cameras, digital cameras, and other materials separately. The school also sees iPads as assisting with its pledge to go “paper-free”. iPad technology is still new, and some teachers are a little more wary of it.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser online at www.staradvertiser.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.

                Of course using technology as teaching tools is vital for student’s education but I never thought about using it during gym class. The use of iPads in schools is becoming a normal thing all across the country. I like the fact that students take turns using the iPads and then are able to watch themselves and critique their performance. I find it important that students are not just playing around with the iPad, and are actually learning how to perform better by using it. Other schools are beginning to realize the importance of technology use in the classroom, but do not want to spend the money on it. In reality, providing iPads for student use could actually save schools money. iPads can do things that schools need several pieces of different equipment for. I think that by the time I becoming a teacher the use of technology in the classroom will only become more important.

Experience.

          I think it is time to update about my field experience. For those of you who do not know I was placed in a sixth grade English class (which I was happy about I was terrified that it was going to be a math class). At first I was not happy about it, I thought that sixth graders were too big, and I would not be able to connect with them. I am use to working with little children, and singing and dancing. Being in sixth grade requires me to be in a whole new element. I ended up really liking liking my placement my host teacher is wonderful, and I am learning so much from her. My students seem to like me, but it is difficult to connect with them due to the fact that I only have them for forty minutes every Tuesday and Thursday. Seeing the changing classes is such a new learning experience for me. I am learning how to get the information the kids need to know, to them, in a very small amount of time. Also, in this little amount of time I am trying to connect with the students.

            Right now we are learning about literary terms and devices, like alliteration, figurative language, hyperbole, metaphor, personification, and simile which I find so much fun. I really enjoy how much my host teacher becomes involves with the class. She is always getting up, and moving around the room, and acting out things. I feel that people like her are such an asset to teaching. Engaging the students is so important for us because we have so little time with them every day. The students take notes every day, but a lot of them are not paying attention, and doing it properly, so I have been asking them to come in during study hall so I can help them get there notebooks organized before the notebook check on Friday.

            The classroom management part is something I find difficult because some students do not have a problem listening, and paying attention to me, whereas others will not give me the time of day. There are some kids who think I am already teacher and some who would not care if I was or wasn’t. For the most part they listen to me, but when my teacher leaves the room they think they can do whatever they want. I am having a battle between being too nice, but wanting these kids to listen to me. I feel like this is going to help me a great deal in my future teaching because sixth grade is challenging is more than one way.

Inside a ‘Bring Your Own Device’ program

          Hangover High School began a “Bring Your Own Device” pilot program, which allows students to use their laptops, cellphones, and other technology devices in class, under the supervision of the teacher. “We’ve been looking for different ways to get more technology in the hands of more students,” said David Fry, ed-tech coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Hanover Public School District. Due to the fact that most students are already using this technology, it is almost as if school districts are wasting money on purchasing it again for them. Students would only be allowed as guest users on the school district’s network with permission from the high school principal. Before, students would use the school’s computer lab, or teachers would sign out the school’s laptop cart, (which contains enough computers for one class.) Now, they each have a username and password to sign onto the district’s network. If a student does not have a laptop or a cell phone, he or she can use one of the school’s laptops to access the internet along with the other students who bring in their own. It is important for students to feel equal in the fact that they each get to experience learning form technology. The school district is also aware of students using the technology in an inappropriate way, internet filters were set up to keep students away from websites they should not be on. The network is set up so guest users are “kind of contained in their own bubble." “If they have harmful software, it can’t get onto the district’s software,” Every year, students receive a copy of the district’s “Acceptable Use of Information Technology” policy, which students sign. Violations of the policy can result in anything from being kicked off the district’s network and having computer and phone privileges taken away, to facing suspension. Hangover school district is hoping that by allowing technology devices, students get a better grasp of the appropriate use of technology in school.  After the pilot year is over, continuation of the program will depend on feedback from staff and students. After only a week, students in Suter’s class said the program seems to be saving time and is less hassle than accessing the school’s own devices. Suter said “It almost creates two lessons in class—one on the subject matter and one on the technology used. Hanover High School students are using technology like laptops and cell phones as learning tools in class. With this technology students are able to text message answers to questions from the teacher Jason Suter, and have them appear on a Wiffiti board (allows real-time messages to appear on its screen.) Students were asked “Do you think that Apple is an environmentally friendly company?” The texts came in as a bar graph on the Wiffiti board, showing the number and percentage of students that had answered yes and the number that said no. The students have been keeping environmental science blogs that they update each week. Suter also required each student to read another person’s blog and comment it, in order to create a discussion that students could continue outside of school.

                I absolutely love the idea of a “Bring Your Own Device” program. This program easily enables students to use technology, and engages them at the same time. This program is an innovative tool that makes technology a real life part of the classroom. Today, students are on technology all day long, it is almost the only way to reach them. “Bring Your Own Device” program allows students to learn by doing what they enjoy doing. This program also benefits teachers as well. A lot of teachers are not familiar with the kind of technology student’s use today. This program requires teachers to have to understand what their students are doing. I love the fact that the district also has the student’s blogging together. Blogging creates a community inside of the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. I also really enjoy the fact that if students are not able to afford/have the technology being used, it is provided for them. Not every student has the luxury of having their own computer, or even a computer at home. “Bring Your Own Device” program not only is helping students now, but it will help them for the rest of their lives.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Evening Sun (Hanover, Pa.). Visit The Evening Sun online at www.eveningsun.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.