Davidson College

Education Issue Brief

June 2, 2009

Goal Statement

To close the achievement gap in public school education in the United States. While there are many issues embedded in the achievement gap discussion, this brief will focus on the need for “highly qualified” teachers in public schools.

Scope

In March 2009, a group of Davidson students, faculty, staff and community partners gathered together for their annual Lake Norman Community Development Council (LNCDC) retreat. Due to the Community Service Office’s partnership with the LNCDC, we were able to use an issue-based discussion to set goals for the upcoming year in four already established issue areas: Health, Education, Housing and Social Issues. During the day, members from Education sub-committee generated a list of issues facing the Lake Norman community. A recurring theme was the collective effort of their organizations to close the achievement gap in public school education. One way to address this issue, they elaborated, is to improve the quality of teachers in schools. Through well-qualified, highly-motivated teachers, students will have a stronger chance at success.

Teacher quality is a topic difficult to measure and even more difficult to regulate. Policies call for every teacher to be a “highly qualified” or “high quality” teacher, yet only one in seven meet that mark (Walsh 2). Unfortunately, the climate of our current educational system does not do enough to encourage closing this gap. Consider these statements:

·     Often, high-performing teachers in high0poverty schools are blocked from pay raises necessary for retention (Yearbook 105)

·     When analyzing causes for the improvement of teacher performance, long-term experience is not a main contributing factor. Focus on professional development is the number one contributing factor (Yearbook 105)

·     In North Carolina, state regulations are in place that allow teachers to teach for more than one year without passing state licensure exams (Yearbook 105)

·     A student taught by a high-quality teacher for three consecutive years will score approximately 50 percentile points higher on standardized tests than a student taught by a low-quality teacher for three consecutive years (Research Center)

·     A recent presentation by the North Carolina Professional Development Committee proposed that teacher development courses in North Carolina tend to be “decentralized, fragmented, and often ‘focused on things that have little, if any, measureable impact on the classroom.’” (Thompson 2)

·     The lack of highly qualified teachers often leads to those teachers taking on exceptionally large class sizes. These class sizes negate the quality of teaching that a student would ordinarily receive (Rivkin 450)

·     Innovative curriculums are developed frequently, but the developers often overlook teacher development as a necessary factor. As a result, innovations are underutilized because teachers are not equipped to draw from them (Ball 6)

Policy:

Past:

Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

·     Introduces the Eisenhower Professional Development Program in Title II Part B.

·     Federal Program that aims to encourage professional development activities to improve teaching and learning in public schools

·     www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA/sec2001.html

Improving Americas’ Schools Act of 1994

·     Grants funding to educational agencies for the creation of professional development programs and for publicizing those programs to constituent teachers

·     www.ed.gov/legislation/ESEA/toc.html

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

·     Encourages the “preparing, training, and recruiting of “high-quality teachers””

·     http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html

Current:

North Carolina Report of 2008 Title II

·     Establishes standards for teacher qualification, performance, and assessment

·     http://title2.ed.gov/title2dr/completereport.asp

North Carolina State Board of Education

·     “Twenty-First Century Professionals” policies create rubrics for teacher assessment, progress, and leadership

·     http://sbepolicy.dpi.state.nc.us

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

Policy Options / Model Programs

Obama’s Proposed Policy

·     Teachers will receive pay raises based on student success and personal improvement

·     Teachers not improving will be removed from the classroom

·     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/10/AR2009 031000146.html

Charlotte Teachers’ Institute

·     A collaborative program among Davidson College, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, offering educational courses and curriculum assistance, as well as providing scholarships for workshop completion

·     www.charlotteteachers.org

Yale National Institute

·     A colleague approach to teacher development, focuses on increasing public school teachers’ subject knowledge while developing skills for effective classroom management

·     www.teachers.yale.edu

Learn NC

·     An online resource to North Carolina teachers in the public school system, offers online courses and classroom resources for self-motivated teachers

·     www.learnnc.org

Key Organizations / Individuals

Charlotte Teachers’ Institute (www.charlotteteachers.org)

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (www.cms.k-12.nc.us)

Davidson College (www.davidson.edu)

University of North Carolina-Charlotte (www.uncc.edu)

League of Teachers Institutes (www.teachers.yale.edu/league)

Public Schools of North Carolina (www.ncpublicschools.org)

Glossary

Teacher Quality: The ability of a teacher to expect favorable results from his or her students, based on the qualification, experience, test results, and personal motivation

High-Performing Teachers: Teachers who gain consistent satisfactory standardized testing scores from their students

Professional Development: As defined by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title IX, Part A, Section 9101: http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg107.html

Bibliography

Angrist, Joshua D., and Jonathan Guryan. "Teacher Testing, Teacher Education, and Teacher Characteristics." The American Economic Review 94 (2004): 241-46.

Ball, Deborah L., and David K. Cohen. "Reform by the Book: What is -- or Might Be -- the Role of Curriculum Materials in Teacher Learning and Instructional Reform?" Educational Researcher 25.9 (1996): 6-14.

Davis, Elizabeth A., and Joseph S. Krajcik. "Designing Educative Curriculum Materials to Promote Teacher Learning." Educational Researcher 34 (2005): 3-14.

"North Carolina State Summary: State Teacher Policy Yearbook." 2007. National Center on Teacher Quality. <http://www.nctq.org/stpy/reports/stpy_northcarolina.pdf>.

National Research Center. Testing Teacher Candidates: the Role of Licensure Tests in Improving Teacher Quality. Washington, D.C: National Academy P, 2001.

Rivkin, Steven G., Eric A. Hanushek, and John F. Kain. "Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement." Econometrica 73 (2005): 417-58.

Rockoff, Jonah E. "The Impact of Individual Teachers on Student Achievement: Evidence from Panel Data." The American Economic Review 94 (1994): 247-52.

"Teacher Quality." Research Center. 21 Sept. 2004. Editorial Projects in Education. <http://www.edweek.org/rc/issues/teacher-quality/>.

Thompson, Charles L. First In America Special Report: Improving Student Performance through Professional Development for Teachers. NC Education and Research Council.

Rep. 2003.

Walsh, Kate. "If Wishes Were Horses: The Reality Behind Teacher Quality Findings." Sept. 2007. National Center on Teacher Quality. <http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/wishes_horses_ 20080316034426.pdf>.

Wilson, Scott. "Obama Says Public Schools Must Improve." The Washington Post 11 Mar. 2009: A01.