Why were PERA and SB7 passed? What will be the consequences? Dr. Richard Voltz, Associate Director Illinois Association of School Administrators
Why?
Reformers vs
.
Educators
Reform vs. Real Reform
Who are the reformers?
Just what does college and career ready mean?
Illinois ranks at or near the bottom in the nation in state funding for education and student test scores are some of the nation's highest.
Illinois ranked 10th nationally with a graduation rate of 84 percent, just 4 percent from the top spot.
lllinois was No. 1 among the nine states in the nation that administered the ACT to all of its graduating class of 2012.
ACT. (2012) Catching Up To College and Career Readiness. Iowa City, IA. Author.
ACT. (2012) Catching Up To College and Career Readiness. Iowa City, IA. Author.
ACT. (2012) Catching Up To College and Career Readiness. Iowa City, IA. Author.
Which of the following are gaining or losing students?
Public Schools Private Schools Virtual Schools Home Schools
Type of School
1993
2003
2007
Public, Assigned
77.9%
73.9%
73.2%
Public, Chosen
11.0%
15.4%
15.5%
Private, Church
7.5%
8.4%
8.7%
Private, non-Church
1.6%
2.4%
2.6%
Virtual Schools 2011 • 2,000,000 online courses taken by public school students annually • 250,000 full time virtual students • 52M public school students
Why PERA? • Teachers and principals are important for student growth • Only .4% of teachers have been rated “unsatisfactory” in the past • Must measure professional competencies and student growth • Must ensure that evaluation systems are valid and reliable
The Hidden Costs of Tenure 2005 Article by Scott Reeder
• Cost to fire a tenured teacher = $219,000 • 95,500 Illinois tenured teachers an average of only 2 fired per year • 5 fired for issues of misconduct • Only 1 out 930 evaluations resulted in unsatisfactory • 83% of districts have never rated a teacher unsatisfactory in past decade • 94% have never attempted to fire anyone with tenure
PERA Requires • Form Joint Committee to – Design performance based evidence of teacher practice – Incorporate data and indicators of student growth into the teacher and principal evaluation
• Required evaluator training • New four rating categories • Allows for use of peer evaluators
New way to figure RIF List
Groupings • Group 1 – Non tenure teacher who has no performance evaluation rating. • Group 2 – Each teacher with a Needs Improvement or Unsatisfactory rating on either of the teacher’s last 2 performance ratings • Group 3 – Teacher with a performance rating of Proficient on both of the teacher’s last 2 • Group 4 - Teacher with a performance rating of Excellent on both of the teacher’s last 2 or 2 Excellent of last 3 with other being Proficient
New Ratings • Effects – Tenure – Honorable dismissal – Remediation – Professional development plan required for teachers rated “Needs Improvement” or “Unsatisfactory” – Cause for dismissal
SB7 • Changes Honorable Dismissal (RIF)/layoff of both tenured and non-tenured teachers • Acquisition of tenure, post PERA implementation changes – Four year – Accelerated – Two year
There are 138 “Shall’s” in the Part 50 Rules for Performance Evaluation
5Essentials Survey
This new process requires “formal” and “informal” observations.
• Non-probationary teachers: at least 2 observations a year (1 formal) • Probationary teachers: at least 3 observations (2 formal) • Professional development must align to NSDC standards.
• Phased-in implementation for new teacher evaluations. • All 625 Chicago schools and schools receiving School Improvement Grants will implement in 2012-13. • Lowest 20% performing schools by 2015-16 and • All remaining schools by 201617.
Most other states are doing similar reform of teacher evaluation
There is not a state professional practice default model. Danielson Frameworks For Teaching is the state model.
Why Danielson?
Danielson meets state requirements
Illinois law requires...
Research based on effective instruction practices
Must have teacher self-reflection included in the process
Shall quantify the relative importance of each portion of the framework to the final professional practice rating.
Must include 1) Planning
2) Instructional Delivery 3) Classroom Management
4) Aligned to Illinois Professional Teaching Standards
What about aspects not observable during classroom observations?
Framework Vocabulary 4 Domains
22 Components
76 Elements
Teacher evaluations typically look like this...
Each teacher teaches 900 lessons per year, 1,800 for two years
Instead it should look like this.
Increased observations
It needs to look more like a Gallop Poll, random and 10 times per cycle.
In other words, it will like this..
.
10 Observations per cycle
1. Sept. 2012 – Informal (focused student discipline) 2. Nov. 2012 – Informal (focused on Engaged Learning) 3. Dec. 2012 – Informal (focus on transitions) 4. March 2013 – Informal (focuses on Questioning) 5. May 2013 – Informal (focused on assessment)
6. August 2013 – Informal (respect & rapport) 7. October 2013 - Formal 8. January 2014 – Informal (culture for learning) 9. March 2014 – Informal (communicating) 10.April 2014 - Final Summative Formal
The key concept with Danielson is
Engaged Learning
My Predictions
Use of Video for Teacher Observations
Mentor Video
Peer Evaluators to provide input
Student Input
Follow me at http://richvoltz.edublogs.org
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