Value of Evaluation: A Teacher’s Perspective
When Will started the school year in my ninth grade Math class at Chelsea High School he had significant gaps in his math skills. He is one of the 16 million children in our country growing up in poverty and, like too many other children in similar circumstances, had fallen behind because of years of systemic and personal challenges. By December, however, Will had demonstrated mastery on each Algebra One skill covered in the first three units and was working hard to become proficient at solving systems of linear equations. He had the intelligence and ability to succeed in school all along but needed a strong team of adults committed to doing whatever it takes to get him on a path to success.
Will has shown me what all of my students prove every day – that the achievement gap that exists between students growing up in poverty and their more affluent peers is a solvable problem.
As a new teacher working to give my kids the excellent educational opportunities they deserve, I rely on the support of my fellow teachers, both novice and veteran, and my school administrators every day, but I feel incredibly lucky as a first-year teacher to have a number of formal support systems to provide me with ongoing coaching.
I am in the enviable position of having not just one source of instructional coaching, but two. As a Teach For America corps member I have a member of the Teach For America staff assigned to observe my classroom and help me identify what is working and what I can improve. Teach For America also provides a wide range of resources and ongoing professional development in my content area. From Chelsea Public Schools, I have a High School administrator who regularly observes my classroom and provides feedback as part of their newly implemented teacher evaluation system, a mentor teacher who share’s his experience, a 9th grade instructional coach, and a special education coach who provides guidance specific to my special education students.
I know what a special situation this is because I have a sister who teaches in another district in Massachusetts and was only observed twice during her entire first year. Because I have such frequent classroom visitors, I am able to get continuous feedback that helps me continuously improve. As a teacher, I make decisions that effect my students’ learning all day long so it is both reassuring and empowering to have a veteran educator (or two) sharing their wisdom and bolstering my efforts.
My instructional coaches are invaluable when I run into the inevitable challenges as I work to set ambitious, meaningful learning goals for my students, track class progress, and invest my students in our work. They both help me identify viable solutions to the roadblocks I encounter and hold me accountable for implementing those strategies. They keep me grounded in my commitment to do whatever it takes to give my students the excellent education they deserve.
I find I get so much out of the coaching I receive because it is a collaborative process. I feel like I’m on team with my district evaluator and my Teach For America instructional coach. I know they care about me and my students and want me to maximize my effectiveness. A supportive environment that fuels a teacher’s ambition to grow and improve as a professional is an incredible incentive for an effective teacher to choose and stay with a school.
I’ve learned so much in my first six months in the classroom and I look forward to continuing to increase my effectiveness in the months and years to come. I credit my students for teaching me more than I ever could have expected and my instructional coaches for creating the conditions that foster my growth. It’s students like Will who inspire me to do my best and take advantage of all the resources around me. He has demonstrated his incredible potential and he deserves to have the best teacher I can be.
Sam Wolfson is a first-year Teach for America corps member teaching math at Chelsea High School.
Massachusetts Receives “No Child Left Behind” Waiver
Massachusetts is one of ten states that received the news today that its application has been approved for a waiver from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA – also known as No Child Left Behind) requirement that all students reach proficiency in English and math by 2014.
MBAE has been a staunch supporter of statewide accountability systems that are designed to raise student achievement and focus attention on areas for improvement since we helped make sure this was a central component of the Education Reform Act of 1993. More recently, we have played an active role on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) Accountability and Assistance Advisory Council, which helped link technical assistance and support to identified needs for district action through development of the new Framework for District Accountability and Assistance. So, it was only because of our confidence in the potential of this state system and the absence of action by Congress to address the problems with the current federal system that we supported the state’s application for an ESEA waiver.
MBAE shared our concerns about the DESE request for the ESEA Waiver during the public comment period, and supported the waiver “conditioned on Commissioner Mitchell Chester’s assurance that he has ‘no interest in watering down our standards and expectations’ and that he plans to continue the state’s vigorous support of high standards, rewards for strong performance, and aggressive pursuit of continuous improvement”.
We will hold the Commissioner to this commitment and continue to advocate for high standards of performance and accountability for meeting these in every level of public education in the Commonwealth.
The state’s request, and the U.S. Department of Education’s response are online at the U.S. DOE website. Additional information about the state’s application can be found on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website.
Savings Impact of Municipal Health Care Reform Exceeds Expectations
When MBAE embarked on our examination of how the foundation budget for education was working, the last thing we thought it would lead to was savings for cities and towns of over $100 million on health insurance costs. Yet, that is exactly what has occurred! After years of debate about municipal health insurance reform, legislative leaders took bold action to give municipalities the ability to join the Group Insurance Commission, or otherwise benefit from group purchasing for employer health insurance. MBAE’s report is credited in a column yesterday by Scot Lehigh of The Boston Globe with providing the evidence that was a catalyst for reform - the revelation “that soaring local health care costs were devouring dollars intended for education reform”.
A new analysis from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation shows that savings for cities and towns from municipal health reform are exceeding the $100 million projected to be gained. Since the plan was first proposed a year ago, a dozen communities have negotiated changes through the traditional collective bargaining process that will save an estimated $30 million in the first year alone. The list of municipalities adopting the new approach and those with negotiations underway is growing. We are delighted with these results and confident that some of these funds will help avoid cuts to education and children will be the beneficiaries.
The Critical Role of Community Colleges in Workforce Development
The connection between education and economic development is one that employers have emphasized for many years. In fact, it is the reason MBAE exists – to provide every child the excellent education they need to prepare for the demanding jobs of an innovation economy. Recent studies confirm that there is a serious mismatch between the competencies that young people currently bring to the workforce and the demands of increasingly complex “middle skills” and knowledge-based jobs. So we are pleased to learn that Governor Patrick plans to include in his State of the State Address and FY13 budget a proposal to ensure that the “skills of our workforce meet the evolving needs of our employers.”
Community colleges are a logical place to turn at least in the short run to provide the training to close this skills gap. Accordingly, we are pleased that the governor will call for “an integrated and comprehensive community college system” with 15 line items consolidated into one. A single appropriation makes comparison of results among community colleges more transparent and significant, and thereby enhances accountability for performance. It will also promote the ease of credit transfer and alignment with regional workforce needs that the Governor is promising.
The challenges are not new. A 2007 article in Commonwealth magazine raised concerns about low graduation rates at community colleges, and a lack of a coherent vision and clear mission. The comparison to other states where graduation rates were being used to rank performance; and where curriculum and credit alignment was easing transfer for students to pursue a four-year degree did not reflect well on Massachusetts.
A recent report commissioned by The Boston Foundation clearly outlines the problem, identifies promising models for alignment, and offers suggestions for reforms. The Case for Community Colleges: Aligning Higher Education and Workforce Needs in Massachusetts calls for developing a blueprint that would involve:
- Strong partnerships with employers
- Effective governance across institutions
- Clearly defined performance metrics to establish standards for accountability and tie success to distribution of funding
- Use of financial incentives to promote innovation and bring programs to scale
Centralizing governance has already met with strong resistance, but we believe it is an important step in clarifying the mission of our community colleges, adopting performance metrics, and allocating funding appropriately to meet critical workforce needs and thereby to enhance employment prospects for community college graduates who face a very challenging employment market.
The report also emphasizes the importance of preparing students for college and career success during their pre-K-12 years. This remains the focus of MBAE’s advocacy because it is essential to ensuring the long-term economic health of the Commonwealth. While community colleges have an important role to play as well — and we support the Governor’s initiatives — we must ensure that all children graduate from high school ready for college and career.
Massachusetts Wins Early Learning Challenge Grant
Massachusetts got more good news – and potentially as much as $50 million – when the U.S. Department of Education announced that the Commonwealth is one of nine Early Learning Challenge Grant winners. Exact award amounts are expected to be announced soon for the 4-year grants to expand pre-school education as part of an overall strategy to close achievement gaps.
The state’s application promises to ensure that all children, but particularly those with the greatest need, have access to high quality pre-K education.
Specific components of the state’s plan include the following:
- Enhancing the quality of all early education programs in the state by securing universal participation in the Massachusetts tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS), which uses a definition of quality and standards designed to elevate the quality of care in state early care and education systems and to ensure growth as children develop. Currently over 2,000 programs out of the 12,000 early education and care and out of school time programs licensed by the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) are engaged in the Massachusetts QRIS.
- Aligning birth to age five early learning and development standards, including the creation of English Language Development standards for birth to age five.
- Creating the Massachusetts Early Learning and Development Assessment System (MELD) from birth to grade three by expanding screening for children and developing a common tool for a kindergarten entry assessment.
- Increasing culturally and linguistically appropriate engagement with parents, families and community members regarding literacy, universal child screening and other statewide priorities.
- Providing essential support to early educators and enhance their effectiveness in practice by providing educational opportunities and targeted professional development.
- Creating greater alignment between early education and grades K-3 to promote healthy child development and to support successful school transitions.
MBAE congratulates EEC Commissioner Sherry Killins and her team for putting together a strong proposal and for her commitment to making early childhood education a strong foundation for the state’s college and career readiness continuum. We also commend our friends at Strategies for Children and the Early Education for All campaign for their tireless work on behalf of young children that put the state in such a unique and strong position to qualify for this award.
Now, just as with the K-12 Race to the Top competitive grant program, the hard work begins. The funding is important, but what really matters is that state policy makers, educators and community leaders all have a clear road-map for improving educational opportunities for children and that we succeed in reaching the goals set in these proposals.
MBAE recently reported on first year progress on Race to the Top – read the report here.
