education - Middle-School Yearsamazingyears.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/4/3/4443502/783.pdf · 2019. 11....

spring-summer 2010 / Volume 15. number 3

educationnorthwest magazine

A School for the Whole Community

Addressing social-emotional needs 8 | Community partnerships 14 | Combining instruction and social services 24

The Strongest LinkS u p p o r t i n g H i g H ly E f f E c t i v E t E a c H E r S

innovation helps retain teachers 22relational teaching changes lives 28teacher collaboration pays off 32

2 educationnorthwest.org

on the coVer

Tim Swanson, an instructional coach and elementary school teacher in Sweet Home, Oregon, has been one part of the district’s perfect storm of school improvement—“a motivated teacher eager to become a peer leader in a district ready to embrace change.” See the full story, “Rewriting the Future in Sweet Home,” on page 32.

Photo by Sarah Giffrow

EducaTion norThwEST magazinE / SpRing-SummeR 2010 1

8

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32

features

6 Shifting the Focus From Highly Qualified to Highly effective Teaching: An OverviewWe look at how federal policy is driving change in the teaching profession.

8 Keepers of the Flameinstructional coaching and professional development help a montana school district scale up a math program that gets students ready for algebra.

14 The power of Observationprincipal “walk-throughs”—or informal classroom observations—play a role in making teaching objectives clear in an Alaska middle school.

18 Defining High-Quality TeachingFour members of education northwest’s Board of Directors—representing different education roles and different states—reflect on the question of how to create better teachers.

22 Head of the CLASSA small district on the Oregon coast goes from low achiever to superstar with the help of an innovative grant that focuses on career pathways, performance evaluations, targeted professional development, and new compensation models for teachers.

28 me to You: A passion for TeachingAfter four decades in the classroom, an eastern Washington english teacher’s passion for teaching—and learning—remains undiminished.

32 Rewriting the Future in Sweet Homegiving teachers more time to collaborate and share best practices, especially in the area of writing, pays off for a rural Oregon district.

education northwest magazine

contents / spring-summer 2010 the strongest link: supporting highly effectiVe teachers Vol. 15 / no. 3

web exclusives at educationnorthwest.org

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departments

3 CeO’s message

4 editor’s note

37 Research BriefLooking For evidence: What We Know About High-Quality, Highly effective Teachers

39 VoicesThe Ogden, utah, School District Takes a unique Approach To improving instruction

41 end note

42 education northwest newsSummer Workshops in math and Writing ieS Addresses education northwest Audience Flashback Conference Call

what the research says (or doesn’t say) consolidation of School districts

on the webEducation Northwest Magazine is available online at educationnorthwest.org. Look for Web exclusives, marked with .

Education Northwest Magazine is published three times a year by education northwest. past and current issues of the magazine are available at educationnorthwest.org.

iSSn 1546-5020

chief executive officerDr. Carol F. Thomasdeputy executive officerSteve Fleischmanadministrative director, planning and outreachDr. Steve nelsonmanaging editorRhonda Bartonissue editorBracken Reededucation northwest news writerKate Fitzgibbonstaff photographersmichael Heavener, Sarah giffrowdesignDenise Crabtreedata analystRichard greenoughlibrary supportLinda FitchwebmasterJeff JonescirculationJean DeYoung

statement of purposeEducation Northwest Magazine aims to promote a regional dialogue and to elevate teaching and learning by giving readers the best infor-mation, ideas, and personal stories from practitioners, researchers, and other experts.

Copyright © 2010, education northwest

Articles and information in this publication may be reproduced and distributed without permission for nonprofit educational and professional development purposes. please acknowledge education northwest as the source.



education northwest board of directors

Jerry Colonna (Chair)Superintendent, Beaverton School District (OR)Dr. Joanne erickson (Secretary-Treasurer)Associate Professor, Montana State UniversityDr. Barbara L. AdamsResearcher, Alaska Statewide Mentor Project Steve BradshawSuperintendent, Sitka School District (AK) Doreen Brown (Regional Parent Representative)Supervisor, Indian Education, Anchorage School District (AK)Susan CastilloOregon Superintendent of Public InstructionKaranja CrewsTeacher, Portland Public Schools (OR)Juan Carlos Cuadros Elementary Assistant Principal, Springfield Public Schools (OR)Randy DornWashington Superintendent of Public InstructionDr. patrick Haggarty (Private School Representative)Superintendent, Chief Diocesan Administrator Diocese of Helena, Missoula (MT)Jeri HarrisTeacher, Seattle School District (WA)Dr. mary Alice HeuschelSuperintendent, Renton School District (WA)Dr. Jannette R. HillChair, Division of Education Lewis-Clark State College (ID)Wendy HormanSchool Board Member, Bonneville Joint School District (ID)Denise JuneauMontana Superintendent of Public Instruction Jerry Keane Superintendent, Post Falls School District (ID)Larry LeDouxAlaska Commissioner of EducationTom LunaIdaho Superintendent of Public InstructionDr. Bruce messingerSuperintendent, Helena Public Schools (MT)Dr. geoffrey millsDean, Southern Oregon University Sean murray (Regional Business Representative)President, RealTime Performance (WA)Dr. perla Rodriguez (Regional Parent Representative)Elementary Principal, Forest Grove School District (OR)mo SandersPrincipal, Soldotna Montessori Charter School (AK)Corri SmithTeacher, Great Falls School District (MT)Frederick H. StrikerSchool Board Member, Battle Ground (WA)Dr. Tom StritikusAssociate Dean, College of Education University of WashingtonColleen ThompsonTeacher, Riverside Elementary School (ID)Carol VanDerWegeTeacher, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (AK)Jeff Weldon (Regional Business Representative)Attorney, Felt, Martin, Frazier & Weldon PC (MT)

ceo’smessage

Dear Reader,Here at education northwest, one of the four priorities that frame our work is supporting educators. This issue of our magazine explores what kinds of sup-port teachers need to be highly effective in the classroom and to continue to be committed to the teaching profession.

Training and retaining effective teachers is a key concern in our region: new teachers and teachers in the early stages of their careers make up a sig-nificant portion of all educators in the northwest’s public schools. For 2007–2008, fully a quarter of northwest teach-ers had five or fewer years of teaching experience.

nationally, research shows that turn-over among teachers is relatively high compared to turnover for workers in other professions. One study estimated that approximately a third of teachers quit teaching within their first three years and that 40–50 percent of teach-ers abandon the profession during their first five years.

The national Commission on Teach-ing and America’s Future estimates the cost of turnover among teachers at more than $7 billion a year. The exact cost of replacing teachers who abandon the profession early in their career isn’t known, but it is likely to be significant given the reported turnover rates among new and early-career teachers. And, of course, there is a high cost to our stu-dents who lose the benefit of having a stable, experienced corps of educators in their school.

As part of our mission to create strong schools and communities, we provide a wide range of services for both new and veteran teachers. For example, we introduced video study groups at one rural elementary school that was trying to improve math instruction for english language learners (eLLs). Our math ex-perts trained teachers to videotape their peers’ classroom lessons, focusing on how students responded to the instruc-tion. The teachers then met to analyze the tapes and, with the help of an edu-cation northwest facilitator, discussed

ways to change their practice to better meet their students’ needs.

Our researchers produced a report on What Teachers Should Know About Instruction for English Language Learn-ers for the Washington state Legislature. Based on an extensive literature review and consultations with nationally recog-nized experts, the report outlined 14 key principles that addressed foundational competencies for all classroom teachers, as well as how mainstream teachers and eLL specialists could work together to benefit eLL students.

The report led to new requirements for teacher preservice education in Washington.

And it suggested ways that the key principles could be incorporated into ongoing professional development for inservice teachers.

each year we train thousands of teachers from throughout the region and the nation in the acclaimed 6+1 Trait® Writing model. Our workshops and institutes give teachers a power-ful way to recognize the characteristics of good writing and help their students apply them to their own writing.

Creating collaborative work environ-ments, producing curricula in content areas such as mathematics, providing tools for equitable treatment of stu-dents, and developing instructional leaders: These are just a few of the ways we work to support educators. in do-ing so, we recognize that when the rub-ber meets the road, an effective teacher makes the world of difference in a student’s success.

Regards,

Carol ThomasChief executive Office


editor‘snote

The recent policy statement, “a Blueprint for reform: The reauthorization of the Elemen-tary and Secondary Education act,” outlines the five overarching goals of the Obama administration’s education reform agen-da. “great teachers and leaders in every

school” is the second of those goals—surely a sign of its central place in the administration’s vision for public education. “Of all the work that occurs at every level of our education system,” the report states, “the interaction between teacher and student is the primary determinant of student success.”

While that may seem like a straightforward observation, it can also be viewed as a major shift in federal policy. After a de-cade that has focused on standards, assessments, accountabil-ity, phonics-based reading instruction, school improvement plans, and teachers’ qualifications, the new administration is looking to put “the interaction between teacher and student” front and center. That intent is clear, for example, in the shift in federal emphasis—away from requiring teachers to be “highly qualified” and instead striving to make them “highly effective.”

in this issue of Education Northwest Magazine we offer a small sampling of what some school districts are already do-ing to try to support highly effective teaching—and some snap-shots of highly effective teachers in action.

One controversial aspect of the Obama administration’s “blueprint” is the effort to tie teacher evaluations to student achievement. That’s a policy that’s already in place in Oregon’s Tillamook School District. “Head of the Class” (see page 22) looks at the effect a grant from the Oregon-based nonprofit, Chalkboard project, has had on this rural district’s ability to hire, retain, evaluate, support, and compensate high-quality teachers. it might just be a glimpse of the future.

Other stories here include observations from four educa-tion northwest board members about what high-quality in-struction looks like; the role principals play in keeping an Alas-ka school district’s teachers focused on clear objectives; and the effort of districts in montana and Oregon to improve math and writing instruction, respectively, by providing professional development and teacher collaboration time. We also offer a portrait of one english teacher in eastern Washington state, who’s now in his fourth decade of being effective in the deepest sense—changing students’ lives.

As this new era of federal policy gets underway it will be interesting to see how it plays out in actual districts, schools, and classrooms. For now, i’m reminded of the ancient greek philosopher Heraclitus’s famous quote: The only constant is change.

—bracken reed, [email protected]

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EducaTion norThwEST magazinE Features

spring-summer 2010 / Vol. 15. no. 3

Federal policy pushes for improvements in the teaching profession 6

principal walk-throughs provide leadership and guidance in an Alaska school 8

An innovative grant transforms the teaching profession in an Oregon district 14

Four educators share their views on how to create and support better teachers 18

making time for collaboration and planning improves writing instruction 22

instructional coaches help a montana district scale up its math program 28

Connecting with students keeps a veteran english teacher passionate about his job 32

the strongest linkS u p p o r t i n g H i g H ly E f f E c t i v E t E a c H E r S


in his 1984 article “What Do We Know About Teacher effec-tiveness?” the late educational psychologist and president of the American educational Research Association, nathaniel gage, pointed out a central paradox of education research in America at that time: “For whatever reasons … much thinking about education has found it possible to focus on almost every conceivable part of the enterprise except its central process: the teaching function.”

in the 26 years since gage made that observation, the issue of teacher effectiveness has gradually moved out of the mar-gins and into the center of the public education debate. in 1996 William Sanders and June Rivers published Cumulative and Residual Effects of Teachers on Student Academic Achievement, based on test results from the widely praised Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System. The study’s central finding—that three straight years of having the most effective teachers gives students a 50-percentile point advantage over students who have three straight years of the least effective teachers—was a wake-up call for many. Teacher quality soon became a key issue in the equity debate: Were high-poverty, low-performing urban schools getting the least qualified, least effective teachers? And if so, what could be done about it?

The no Child Left Behind Act of 2001 attempted to address the problem by requiring Title i schools to hire “highly quali-fied teachers” (HQT). Those qualifications included a bachelor’s degree, state certification, and a demonstrated “competence in all the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches.”

However, as the decade wore on, several longitudinal studies showed little or no correlation between these qualifications and improved student achievement. For example, the u.S. Depart-ment of education’s 2006–2007 report A Summary of Highly Qualified Teacher Data showed that 94 percent of all public school classes, nationally, were being taught by teachers who met the HQT requirements, but student achievement scores did not follow suit. This remained especially true in urban and rural areas with high poverty and large minority subgroups—the very populations the requirements were meant to help.

many practitioners, policymakers, and researchers began to call for a shift in priorities. instead of looking at teachers’ qualifications, they argued, we should look more at their ac-tual teaching skills and at their measurable effect on student achievement. As early as 2002, only a year into nCLB, eric Hirsch, at that time the executive director of the Alliance for Quality Teaching, told the national governor’s Association (ngA) that “states should focus less on the act’s requirements and more on reaching a consensus on what a highly qualified teacher should know and be able to do at various stages of their career.”

As the Bush presidency came to an end the emphasis on what teachers are “able to do” became more pronounced in the national conversation. And so did the related questions: How do we measure what teachers have actually been “able to do” in their classrooms? Shouldn’t one of those measures be tied to how much their students have learned? And how do we evaluate teachers based on this information? All of these issues

Shifting the focus from

highly Qualified to Highlyeffectiveteaching An OVeRVieW

by BRACKen ReeD


pointed toward a new emphasis on effectiveness—the results that teachers are actually able to get in their classrooms.

The Obama administration signaled its move in that direc-tion almost immediately. Beginning with the guidelines for the $4 billion Race to the Top competitive grants—part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—and continuing with the Fiscal Year 2011 budget request and the recent “Blue-print for Reform: The Reauthorization of the elementary and Secondary education Act,” the administration has put teacher effectiveness at the center of its agenda.

“Our challenge is to make sure every child in America is learning from an effective teacher—no matter what it takes,” u.S. Secretary of education Arne Duncan said in a July 2009 speech to the national education Association. “Our teacher evaluation systems are deeply flawed, and the losers are not just children. When great teachers are unrecognized and unreward-ed, when struggling teachers are unsupported, and when failing teachers are unaddressed the teaching profession is damaged.”

Duncan’s remark highlights the most controversial aspect of the new paradigm: the push to give teacher evaluations real teeth by tying them to student achievement scores and by mak-ing it easier for schools and districts to fire persistently ineffec-tive teachers.

On its website, the Chalkboard project, an education non-profit based in portland, Oregon, explains the implications this way: “What’s different about the new national focus on ‘teacher effectiveness’ is the interest in measuring outcomes—are stu-dents actually learning more because of their teacher?—more than inputs such as what degree a teacher has earned or how long a teacher has taught. That’s a radical change in emphasis.”

Although the controversy surrounding this “radical change” has gotten much of the attention, perhaps the most impor-tant aspect of the Obama administration’s plan for improving teacher quality and effectiveness is its effort to take a broad, sys-temic approach. in the 2002 interview with the ngA, Hirsch pointed to the lack of cohesiveness then prevailing in most states: “Due to a lack of data and a reactive approach, states have adopted piecemeal policies rather than a coherent strategy that looks systemically at quality issues, including preparation, licensure, recruitment, evaluation, dismissal, and professional development.”

in its economic stimulus guidelines and other policy state-ments the Obama administration has attempted to lay out a more comprehensive plan that addresses each of those areas. For now, that agenda has mostly been advanced through com-petitive grant programs. The $100 million Teacher Quality partnership (TQp) grants, for example, include guidelines that promote better teacher training, including models that include yearlong “residency” programs.

initial reactions to the new federal policy have often focused on its cohesiveness. in a February 8, 2010, article that looked at the implications of the Race to the Top guidelines, Dennis Van Roekl, president of the national education Association, said, “We can’t just piecemeal this—we have to look at the whole sys-tem. At the federal level, there is more attention paid to the whole thing than ever before.”

Another Education Week article, published a few weeks later, looked at similar policy guidelines embedded in the Obama ad-ministration’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget request. in that article, Timothy Daly, the president of the new Teacher project, a new York City–based teacher training group, came to a similar con-clusion: “What’s striking is that the budget reflects a coherent vision for teacher quality. it doesn’t feel like a disjointed set of individual programs.”

it remains to be seen how this will play out in the actual re-authorization of the elementary and Secondary education Act, but it does seem clear that teacher effectiveness will remain in the spotlight for some time to come. private foundations are getting on board, with the Bill & melinda gates Foundation funding a $335 million study on teacher effectiveness. And, re-search on all aspects of teaching is likely to ramp up as well. The paradox that gage described in 1984 may be changing at last. Teaching is finally front and center in the education “enterprise.” n

Keepers of the flame


9

Keepers of the flamea montana school district looks to improve classroom instruction by making a long-term commitment to an innovative math program.

Story by BRACKen ReeDphotos by Jim LuBeK

Instructional coaches (L to R) Mary Larsen, Melissa Romano,

and Susan Cravens are part of the Helena School District’s

long-term commitment to improving math instruction.


hELEna, montana—Step inside Rob Freis-tadt’s Central elementary School class-room during math hour and it might take you a few seconds to locate him. Al-though the six-foot-plus Freistadt is not hard to pick out among his combined class of fourth- and fifth-graders, he is frequently hovering somewhere on the edges, letting students have the floor at the front of the room.

On this early morning in late march, for example, Freistadt reviews the previ-ous day’s discussion about fractions, states the objective for the day, and then draws an “array” on the white board. (An array is a set of numbers or objects arranged in rows or columns, in this case a rectangle made up of square boxes.) “Yesterday we did halves, quarters, and eighths,” he reminds his students. “now what?”

Freistadt has been introducing his students to ways of using the arrays to understand fractions. The goal is to help students think about fractions as actual numbers and to begin to apply basic op-erations (addition, subtraction, division) to them.

Freistadt reviews the problem he as-signed the day before and soon asks for a student to volunteer to show his or her work. From that point on, the teacher is mostly on the sidelines, guiding the dis-cussion but allowing the students to do most of the talking and all of the draw-ing on the white board.

Addy, a shy but brave fourth-grader, is the first to volunteer. She goes to the front of the class and fills in boxes using different colored markers. Her example is somewhat unusual and contains a small mistake, but Freistadt simply asks her to explain what she has drawn. in the process of explaining she realizes her mistake, but fumbles for a solution. At this point, many teachers might take over, but Freistatdt ask the class to take over instead: “Can anybody tell us what Addy did here?”

Over the next few minutes he guides the students to the slight alteration needed to correct Addy’s example. if you take out the students’ comments and questions—which actually make up the greater part of the discussion—you

can see how Freistadt’s method not only helps students solve the problem, but also leads them to a deeper understand-ing of the concept: • is there anything that you could do to

make this easier to see? • go ahead and label that, if you would.• Does everybody agree with that? no?

Why not?• Somebody tell us what she did with

the blue squares. What do the blue squares represent?

• i’m confused …. Who can help? emma, what do you think about that?

• And how do you know that … ?• That’s interesting. So there’s a com-

mon number? • i see. Does that add up?• All right? Are we OK with that? Does

everybody agree? Although Freistadt often kick-starts

discussion by saying “i’m confused,” he is clearly in control. His comments are perfectly timed. He keeps things moving when they are in danger of bogging down and subtly slows the discussion, when necessary, to check for understanding or to draw attention to an important point.

As the 60-minute math period pro-gresses, several students take turns showing how they have represented dif-ferent fractions. A frequently heard com-ment is, “i’ve got a totally different way to do it.” And indeed, almost every stu-dent seems to have a unique way of us-ing the arrays. Rather than judging each other’s versions or calling them “right” or “wrong,” students question each oth-er—or Freistadt encourages them to—as the entire group tries to understand the reasoning behind the examples and to determine whether they are valid or not.

Freistadt does step in more overtly on occasion, but always in a way that en-courages discussion and helps students make their own mental connections. Looking at the students, you can almost see the wheels turning in their minds.

Lighting the FireFreistadt’s approach to math instruction is influenced by cognitively guided in-struction (Cgi), a method developed in the 1980s by researchers at the universi-ty of Wisconsin–madison. Cgi is based on two major ideas. First, that nearly

A key feature of cognitively guided math instruction is the opportunity for students to share their work with each other—both their answers and their method of arriving at them.

all elementary school students arrive at school with some intuitive math skills, such as a basic understanding of num-bers or an instinct for problem solving. Second, that effective math instruction builds on what students already know by tapping into those intuitive skills and gradually connecting them to more for-mal concepts and operations.

proponents of this method argue that it gives students a deeper understanding of broad, underlying math concepts and the relationships between those concepts, as opposed to a more narrow focus on mathematical operations and procedures.

“Whether or not a student has a good idea or an efficient way of doing some-thing is not the point with this,” says Freistadt. “it’s great if they do, but what’s really important is that they’re talking amongst themselves and seeing a variety of ways to do something. That gives them the opportunity to start thinking more deeply about ‘What do i do to get there?’ and to demonstrate it and talk about it. it makes them active participants in their own learning, which is much more pow-erful than me standing up there being the purveyor of information.”

There’s a secondary benefit to this ap-proach that is also getting a lot of atten-tion nationally. The “deeper thinking”

about underlying concepts and the rela-tionships between those concepts gives students exactly the kind of higher order thinking skills they will need to suc-ceed in algebra and other forms of ad-vanced math. For example, underlying Freistadt’s use of arrays is the idea that a symbol or shape can be used to rep-resent a number or quantity. in other words, these fourth- and fifth-graders are building a strong foundation for suc-cess in algebra, which most students in Helena will now take in the eighth grade.

elementary teachers in the Hel-ena School District first discovered Cgi math principles in 2004 during a four-day summer institute called “Fostering number Sense and Algebraic Reason-ing,” conducted by Linda griffin, direc-tor of the mathematics education unit at education northwest. One principal and a small group of teachers attended that institute and began to rethink the con-nection between elementary math and algebra. it could have stopped there, but it didn’t. Over time, the Helena School Dis-trict has embraced this approach to math as a strategy for improving classroom instruction in all of its K–8 schools.

“Helena is an example of what can happen when a small, core group of teachers gets exposed to something, ac-tually implements it, and then helps light a fire in the district,” says griffin.

Rather than spreading like a prai-rie fire, however, this district scale-up has been more like lighting one candle off another—teacher to teacher, grade level to grade level, school to school. The district’s Literacy and Curriculum Administrator Teresa Burson and Title i Administrator pam Birkeland were both early supporters of the program, but lim-ited funding and a natural caution about going “all in” with a program so new to the district resulted in a gradual imple-mentation over a five-year period. That the fire never went out is a testament to both the district’s long-term commit-ment and to teachers’ drive to improve.

eventually, almost all K–2 teach-ers in the district attended one of the education northwest institutes, then all

teachers in grades 3–5, then 6–8. This summer they hope to send all the re-maining elementary teachers and mid-dle school math teachers who could not make it to earlier institutes.

“That’s essential,” says griffin. “You have to have administrative support at all levels. That’s the sign of a change that’s actually going to take hold.” Last summer, district administrators de-cided to invest even more heavily in the program. using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) dollars they hired two full-time K–8 math coaches, Sue Cravens and melissa Romano, and also continued funding for ongoing pro-fessional development projects started in the 2008–2009 school year.

Passing it onDuring the past nine months Cravens and Romano have formed a tight bond. They joke about being able to finish each other’s sentences and about be-ing “thrown to the wolves” as first-year coaches. Although they received coach-es training, they admit it’s been chal-lenging. Cravens had recently retired from elementary teaching before taking the job, while Romano had just finished her fifth year as a second-grade teacher in the district. Both were master teach-ers and among the earliest staff mem-bers in the district to embrace the Cgi approach to math. But neither was used to going from building to building, be-ing in other teachers’ classrooms, mod-eling lessons, and trying to earn their colleagues’ trust.

“A big part of our job is listening to teachers, building camaraderie, and de-veloping those relationships so that they can be open with us,” says Cravens. “it’s been a learning experience, but it helps that we’re not in an evaluation role. This isn’t about us being forced on them; it’s about teachers who are striving to get better.”

Cravens and Romano often go into classrooms to model lessons as a team, which allows one of them to observe while the other teaches. “especially in our first year as coaches, it’s great to have


kEEPErS oF ThE FLamE

Rob Freistadt has taken advantage of professional development and coaching to dramatically improve his math instruction.


that feedback,” says Romano. “We can go back and talk about it: ‘What could i have done differently? What didn’t i do? What should i follow up with the teach-er on? What did you see?’ it allows us to brainstorm how we can do this better.”

Their biggest frustration, they both say, is that they haven’t been able to visit as many classrooms as they would have liked. The two recently attended a train-ing session with melinda Leong, a senior program advisor in education north-west’s mathematics education unit, which focused on math coaching within a more sustained professional learning community-type format. “We’re heading in that direction,” says Cravens. “We’re hoping that teachers will sign up for that next year.”

The other major investment the dis-trict has made is to fund two professional development programs: a Cgi Support group and individual training sessions called learning academies. mary Larsen, a former elementary teacher in the dis-trict, directs the support group and of-fers math science learning academies. Larsen was part of the first group from Helena to attend the Fostering number Sense and Algebraic Reasoning training in 2004. Because of her background in science inquiry—a similar “constructiv-ist” approach to science teaching—she was able to see its potential immediately, and she became one of its strongest pro-ponents in the district.

Larsen’s Cgi Support group meets monthly. Attendance is voluntary and the format is flexible. The meetings are an opportunity for teachers to ask ques-tions, talk about their struggles and suc-cesses, and share ideas. They’re also a chance for Larsen to get direct feedback from teachers about what is working and what isn’t, which helps her design Cgi-focused Learning Academy professional development sessions.

The district’s learning academies are offered in many different subject areas, and all teachers who are in their first to fifth year are required to take at least one annually. in addition to inquiry sci-ence-based academies, Larsen offers six Cgi-focused math academies, two hours each, spread throughout the school year.

These math academies are based on a more extensive science academy Larsen has directed for the past two years, and she would like to see the math program go even farther in that direction. “With the science program we’re able to give teachers a stipend and offer them college credit,” says Larsen. “it’s more of a com-mitment on their part, and it’s a more ex-tensive program. We do sessions for con-tent knowledge, sessions for pedagogy, and then we have embedded professional development with coaches. There’s also an online learning community piece, in which a montana State university pro-fessor poses questions to the teachers, which is funded by a Science and inquiry Learning in the Classroom grant. All together, it’s pretty extensive.”

For now, the math academies are a much smaller program, but Larsen hopes the district can find the money to expand it. “This kind of ongoing, embedded pro-fessional development is truly the best way to improve instruction,” she says. “A single workshop or training session can be a good starting point, because you get new ideas, but without the ongoing support it’s not very effective. Working with individual teachers in the science program, i see how it’s paid off over time. This is the second year for some of the teachers and it’s brought them to another level. i get e-mails like, ‘i didn’t think i could ever do this!’ So, i know it’s really getting down to the level of daily instruc-tion. it’s changed the way they teach.”

a Long-Term impactThroughout the Helena School District there are signs that the Cgi approach to math is also having a transformative effect on classroom instruction. On the same late-march day that Freistadt is using Cgi strategies to teach fractions, for example, two of his colleagues across town are also using putting their train-ing into action. At Broadwater elemen-tary, marilyn Barta has the students in her third-grade class play math games at five different stations. While Barta moves from station to station, offering guidance and keeping students on task, the four students at each station are given a variety of ways to explain math

Fifth-grade teacher Leslee Thennis (center) has embraced CGI math strategies as a way to prepare her students for algebra.


kEEPErS oF ThE FLamE

concepts and demonstrate skills to each other. At one table for example, the stu-dents play a game in which a student draws a card and puts it to her forehead, not knowing what math equation it con-tains. The other students in the group then try to guide her to the answer with-out giving it away or making it too obvi-ous. As in Freistadt’s class, this approach puts the teacher in the role of facilitator, rather than purveyor of information, and makes students active participants in their own learning.

At Rossiter elementary, a still-pris-tine-looking K–5 school in Helena’s rapidly growing north side, fifth-grade teacher Leslee Thennis is using yet an-other Cgi-influenced strategy. in her classroom students have been given a word problem and asked to work in teams. The problem is related to the up-coming easter holiday—it involves the purchase of an easter ham—and Then-nis has given it even more real-world relevance by posing the problem as if it were her own: Students are trying to help her figure out whether to buy a 15-pound ham at $1.49 per pound, or whether to go for a deal that offers the ham at 98 cents per pound if she also purchases $30 of groceries.

As the teams work intently on their answers, Thennis moves around the room, offering some guidance and feed-back, but mostly staying on the sidelines. After about 20 minutes, it’s time for team presentations. Should Thennis buy the ham at $1.49 or go with the special offer? each team makes its recommendation and uses a white board to demonstrate how it came to its conclusion. Again, Thennis stays off to the side, giving stu-dents the floor.

The variety of the students’ methods for solving the problem is striking. All six teams recommend that Thennis go for the special offer, but each one has taken a different route to that conclu-sion. One group starts its presentation with “we used the lattice way,” before drawing it out on the board. Thennis pokes around the edges of the students’ demonstration, saying things like “OK, i’m a little confused: Where are you get-ting those numbers?” or opening it up

to the whole class with “Does everyone agree with that?”

When another team, a pair of boys, uses a laborious method that requires drawing the number 15 and the price $1.49 out 15 times, going down the board from top to bottom (the hand-writing getting smaller and smaller as they nearly run out of room), Thennis starts to interrupt them. “is this the best way for you?” she asks. But when the two boys give her an immediate “yes” with-out even looking up, Thennis decides to let it play out. “OK, all right,” she says.

it’s a moment that Cravens and Roma-no, who have been observing at the back of the classroom, bring up later when talking about the lesson. “That’s one of the challenges of this approach,” says Romano. “There are a lot of times when you’ve got to make judgment calls—should i step in here or not? i’m not sure a lot of classes would have hung in there patiently with those two students, but these kids were, so she let it go.”

Cravens points out another nuance—the fine art of asking questions. “it can be very challenging to ask the questions

and not try to lead the students to the answer you’re looking for right away,” she says. “most people want to jump in too soon, but Leslee does a great job with that. in this method you really have to hold back and let them figure it out for themselves as much as possible. But, we also agree—sometimes you lead them a little more strongly than other times.”

These are the kinds of concrete, prac-tical strategies that Romano and Cra-vens can offer classroom teachers, and many in the district are embracing this opportunity for ongoing, embedded professional development. “We have teachers all along the path in using the Cgi approach and teaching math con-cepts,” says Romano, “and we honor every teacher wherever they are on that path. We’re here to support and encour-age them in any way we can.”

it remains to be seen how the district will continue to fund that journey, now that the ARRA money is spent. But one thing is clear: The fire has been lit and is not likely to go out. n

Third-grade teacher Marilyn Barta uses games and other fun strategies to introduce students to algebra-type reasoning at the elementary level.


principal walk-throughs help Alaska schools focus on effective teaching tied to grade-level standards.Story by RHOnDA BARTOnphotos by mATT CASSenS

The Power of

Photo by Palmer Junior middle School; image © Elena Lishanskaya/iStockphoto

observation


PaLmEr, alaska—The bell rings and John gardner’s seventh-grade math class wastes no time getting down to business. Students bend over their desks, using data sets to create frequency tables and “stem and leaf plots”—a warm-up activity that’s projected onto the white board at the front of the room. Also clearly written on the board is the Alaska grade-level expectation (or gLe) that’s connected to the activity.

While gardner paces up and down the aisles, occasionally stopping to answer a student’s question, principal gene Stone observes quietly in the background. Stone jots notes on his clip-board and checks off items on a list. When Stone arrived at palmer Junior middle School four years ago, the school—in the mat-Su Valley just outside Anchorage—was not making adequate yearly progress. Only about two-thirds of the students, 10 percent of whom are Alaska natives, scored proficient on the state math-ematics assessment. That’s no longer the case. One reason may be the informal classroom observations and feedback that have helped teachers hone instruction throughout the building.

usingPrincipalWalk-throughsThe practice of observing classrooms firsthand has gained traction as a tool in school improvement efforts nationwide. These unan-nounced, quick visits—whether they’re called learning walks, data walks, or walk-throughs—can help principals systematically gather data on instructional practices. The principal can then share with teachers areas to focus on, especially when targeting state standards.

Photo by Palmer Junior middle School; image © Elena Lishanskaya/iStockphoto

observation


Walk-throughs are not typically part of the formal teacher evaluation process. instead, they provide a platform for princi-pals and teachers to communicate about classroom instruction on an ongoing basis. And, they can help pinpoint what training and support teachers need to be more effective.

Although studies on walk-throughs are limited and some-times contradictory, Jane David, director of the Bay Area Re-search group, says the research suggests walk-throughs are constructive “when districts make their purpose clear and car-ry them out in a climate of trust.” Writing in Educational Lead-ership, David notes, “[it’s] important to ensure that everyone understands how it connects to improvement efforts. This con-nection should be reflected in the specific data that observers

collect, the thoughtfulness and quality of the protocols, and the way results are used.”

Alaska’s Department of education & early Development (eeD) has become an enthusiastic proponent of principal walk-throughs, especially for ensuring that the “intended cur-riculum” (what should be taught) is the “implemented cur-riculum” (what actually is taught). Les morse, eeD’s deputy commissioner, says, “i think there was a time when good prin-cipals always wandered in and out of classrooms, but the walk-throughs give a framework for what to do when you walk in and out of that classroom and how you provide feedback that actually impacts instructional changes that improve student achievement.” Alaska plans to offer training in walk-throughs this summer at an institute for school leadership teams.

reflectingBestPracticesAt palmer, developing the walk-through protocol was a col-laborative effort. Stone convened a focus learning team of two dozen teachers and administrators that met regularly to comb the research for effective classroom practices. They chose the nine strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works by marzano, pickering, and pollock to form the backbone of the walk-through checklist. When Stone or Assistant principal geoff penrose visit a classroom, they look for evidence that the teacher has:• identified similarities and differences• Discussed summarizing and note taking• Reinforced effort and provided recognition• used homework and practice• Shared nonlinguistic representations• used cooperative learning• Set objectives and provided feedback• Discussed generating and testing hypotheses• used cues, questions, and advance organizers

Beyond these strategies, Stone says he’s checking for “an en-vironment where learning can take place.” That would include everything from the arrangement of the room to order and organization. “i start looking at what are some visual cues for students: Are classroom expectations visible so all students can see them? is there a procedure in place for a bell assignment so that as soon as students come in they become productive? Beyond that, i start looking at transition time, what’s going to come next,” he reports.

FocusingoninstructionVeteran language arts teacher Debbie niekamp was part of palmer’s focus learning team and says the walk-through pro-cess that grew out of it has made her a stronger teacher. “The walk-throughs give us feedback as well as accountability. i have become a better teacher in the last three years than i have been in 20 years because [my instruction] is more focused and i know what i’m doing and why i’m doing it,” she says. “i think i was doing some of those things before, but i hadn’t defined them.”

PalmerJuniormiddleschoolinformalclassroomobservationsgene Stone, Principal; geoff Penrose, assistant Principal

date: ___________________________

Teacher observed: _______________________________

1. clear objective: Yes/no

2. gLEs are visible: Yes/no

3. relevant vocabulary is identified and shared with students: Yes/no/na

4. classroom is organized and conducive to learning: Yes/no/na

5. Students engaged: all/most/Some/Very few/na

6. Students know how they will be assessed: Yes/no/unclear/na

7. marzano instructional Strategies used:

identifying similarities and differences

Summarizing and note taking

reinforcing effort and providing recognition

homework and practice

nonlinguistic representations

cooperative learning

Setting objectives and providing feedback

generating and testing hypotheses

Questions, cues, and advance organizers

comments: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


When Stone visits niekamp’s eighth-grade class on an un-seasonably warm October day, he observes a lesson tied to a gLe on the ability to evaluate writing in cooperative groups for the trait of voice. As in gardner’s class, niekamp displays the standard on the board, specifies a warm-up activity, and spells out the rest of the activities for the period. She asks a student in the front row to read the day’s objectives “nice and loud,” and then informs students that the state assessment will ask them to write samples using both informal and formal voice. “How would you do that?” she asks. “What kinds of voice have we al-ready studied and how do we score for voice?” After setting the context, she breaks the class into groups with a leader, monitor, recorder, and spokesperson to discuss and report back on how they define and recognize an author’s voice.

Later that day niekamp and Stone gather on opposite ends of a small conference table in the principal’s office. Stone asks niekamp if she has any questions about the walk-through and if she had a chance to read a copy of the checklist that he left in her mailbox. in the amiable discussion that follows, they talk about the importance of having clear objectives and sharing them with students.

not all walk-throughs result in such a debriefing. unless Stone or his assistant observe a cause for concern, they’ll pro-vide feedback through the checklist report or a quick chat in the hallway or faculty lounge. With a staff of 42 teachers, Stone tries to write up two visits for each teacher during each semes-ter. But, with walk-throughs as part of the daily routine, he or geoff penrose make a quick appearance in all teachers’ class-rooms about once a week.

gainingtrustFor staff members not accustomed to such scrutiny, a princi-pal’s visit could set off alarms and provoke defensiveness. But, Stone says that gaining buy-in early on can mitigate that prob-lem. “We started with our data and said we’ve got to do some things differently,” he recalls. “You have to create that buy-in with your group by having clear objectives and an agreement that that’s how we’re going to proceed from here.”

Science teacher Sarah Hughes, who’s relatively new to the school, confirms that being clear about the purpose of walk-throughs helps defuse a lot of anxiety. “They have to let every-one know this is a tool—not a formal, in-paper record as to the good things and bad things you’re doing, but something they can use to help you and help them,” she says. “Teachers are always scared when the principal walks in the room, and so are students, but when he’s in there regularly checking on things, it’s just business as usual and there are no scare tactics involved.”

Deputy Commissioner morse compares the potential ben-efits of walk-throughs to those gained from drilling down with data. “instead of just seeing whether the student is getting an A or a B or a C, we want to see if this teacher is teaching to the standards,” he says. “is it evident to students what they’re learn-ing and why they’re learning it? And, when there are issues that are challenging, can the principal help diagnose and get spot on, what is it? Where did things go wrong? Where do you need to change your instruction?”

By using walk-throughs to know what’s going on behind classroom doors, principals may be better able to determine what teachers’ strengths are and what supports can help them be even more effective in meeting all students’ needs. n

ThE PowEr oF oBSErVaTion

Principal Gene Stone meets with science teacher Sarah Hughes to discuss his observations in her classroom. During his walk-throughs, Stone uses a checklist that was developed by a team of teachers and administrators who looked at research on effective instructional strategies.


Defining High-Quality Teaching

more than schools, more than curriculum, teachers matter when it comes to boosting student achievement. But, just what is it about a teacher that can produce significant gains in learning and lift a child’s test scores above her peers, given comparable school and home environments?

perhaps surprisingly, a definitive answer to that question has eluded everyone from researchers to professors of education to administrators to teachers themselves. Recently, members of education northwest’s Board of Directors offered their perspectives on the subject of high-quality teaching at a meeting in Boise, idaho, with John Q. easton, who heads the institute of education Sciences—the research arm of the u.S. Department of education. Their comments, recapped here, reflect different roles in education, as well as different parts of the northwest region.

By RHOnDA BARTOn

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Four education leaders share their views on how to improve the teaching profession.


A Legislative Mandatealan burke, deputy superintendent, k–12 education, office of superintendent of public instruction (ospi), washington

As part of a plan to apply for federal Race to the Top funding, the Washing-ton state Legislature recently passed a comprehensive educational reform bill (SB6696) that calls for significant chang-es to evaluation requirements for prin-cipals and teachers. governor Christine gregoire signed the bill into law on march 29, 2010.

The bill mandates eight separate crite-ria for principal and teacher evaluations and requires the use of a four-tier ranking system. Student growth based upon mul-tiple measures is a component of both systems. Beginning in 2010–2011, six to eight pilot districts will be chosen to be-gin the development of the new system, with reports due back to the Legislature in 2011 and 2012. Beginning in the 2013–2014 school year, all districts will be re-quired to use a state-approved system.

As part of the development stage, pi-lot districts will be asked to review the recent research of evaluation models, including studies like Doug Lemov’s taxonomy of 49 teaching techniques and Deborah Ball’s math Knowledge for Teaching at the university of michigan. (more information on Lemov and Ball in “Building a Better Teacher” can be found at www.nytimes.com/2010/03/

07magazine/07Teachers-t.html.) The purpose of the pilot/development

phase of the evaluation system revision is to discover, to the best extent possible, what quality teaching is and what can be done to assure its implementation in classrooms across the state. To that end, we will use experiences from districts that are currently using multi-tier evalu-ation models, and those that are in vari-ous stages of implementation of systems that go beyond the traditional—and legislatively mandated—seven criteria, satisfactory/unsatisfactory requirement.

notably, the Washington education Association had significant input into the initial crafting of the educational reform legislation, working collaboratively with the governor’s office, the State Board of education and the Office of Superinten-dent of public instruction on evaluation reform as well as topics such as changes in continuing contract time lines, binding conditions for persistently low-perform-ing schools, the provisional adoption of the Common Core Standards, enhancing parental involvement in schools, and a renewed focus on reducing the achieve-ment gap. Although each of the educa-tional groups had somewhat differing

views on these issues, all have come together and made a commitment to implement the reforms with fidelity.

So, in four years we hope to make progress on answering what have been two vexing ques-tions since the day that formal educa-tion began—name-ly, (1) what, really, determines good teaching, and, (2) how can the tech-niques of good teaching be taught and effectively used in classrooms?

Editor’s note: SB6696 calls for a four-level rating system for all certificated classroom teachers that includes “center-ing instruction on high expectations for student achievement; effective teaching practices; recognizing individual student learning needs and developing strategies to address those needs; providing clear and intentional focus on subject matter


content and curriculum; fostering and managing a safe, positive learning envi-ronment; using multiple students’ data el-ements to modify instruction and improve student learning; communicating and col-laborating with parents and school com-munity; and exhibiting collaborative and collegial practices focused on improving instructional practice and student learn-ing.” Pilot districts will help develop the evaluation system during the 2010–2011 school year with statewide implementa-tion slated for 2013.

Performance Assessments and Teacher PrepJoanne erickson, associate professor of educational leadership, montana state university, montana

in the process of redefining “highly effective teachers” higher education has moved from teacher candidate assess-ment that uses inputs (i.e., taking a series of classes and getting passing grades and/or standardized tests) to performance assessment. Traditional assessment has been shown to have limited value in predicting teacher effectiveness in the classroom. performance assessment is a better predictor of a teacher’s ability to support and improve student achieve-ment. This type of assessment also better supports teacher preparation programs to improve the quality of the preparation program and the consistency with which teacher licensure decisions are made.

There is emerging research that in-forms teacher preparation programs about quality performance initia-tives. Research being conducted by Stanford university in partnership with the American Association of Colleges of Teacher education (AACTe) and the Council of Chief State School Of-

ficers (CCSSO) has resulted in a perfor-mance assessment system that recom-mends that teacher preparation pro-grams have embed-ded signature as-signments, common

portfolio assessment, and a teaching event (frequently called the Teacher Work Sample). We at montana State university are using the outcomes of this research to guide us in developing a more robust performance assessment system for our teacher candidates. We have implemented signature assign-ments, the teaching event (Teacher Work Sample), and are working on a common portfolio. This type of assessment is also required by our national accredi-tation associations. We see evidence of our work in producing more effective teachers that can improve student learn-ing. (See a summary article at www.aacte.org/index.php?/Programs/Teacher-Performance-assessment- c o n s o r t i u m - T P a c / t e a c h e r - performance-assessment-consortium.html.)

it is critical that teacher preparation programs redefine themselves as being in partnership with schools and districts to improve student achievement and that we recognize this as our essential mission. perhaps the most critical part of teacher preparation is the clinical experience. unfortunately, the tradi-tional model of student teaching hasn’t changed and is not consistent with how schools have changed or with the reali-ties schools face for accountability. in fact, many schools and districts are re-luctant to take preservice teachers in clinical experiences as it may disadvan-tage the school or district with account-ability measures.

Based on research from St. Cloud State university developed with a Teacher Quality enhancement partner-ship grant, we have changed our clini-cal experience to a co-teaching model, which is designed to be a mentoring ex-perience as compared to the traditional student teaching model. Data from St. Cloud suggest that this model does sig-nificantly improve student achievement. The partnership between the university and the school/district with this model is exciting and revolutionary. With the co-teaching model, teacher candidates are actively engaged with kids on the very first day of their experience and the cooperating teacher and the teacher

candidate work collaboratively through-out the experience. The cooperating teacher doesn’t leave the classroom, tak-ing away that expertise and support, but rather remains with the teacher candi-date throughout.

The co-teaching model has encour-aged university faculty to bring class-room experiences into the teacher prep-aration program long before student teaching. This new model for our clinical experience has improved partnerships, improved our teacher preparation pro-gram, and resulted in teacher candidates that are effective in improving student achievement. (See a summary article at www.aacte.org.)

The Role of “Soft Skills”Jerry colonna, superintendent, beaverton school district, oregon

The major point i tried to make dur-ing the discussion with Dr. easton was to look at what Teach for America has found in 10 years of research with about 7,500 teachers who they had placed in the most difficult inner-city schools with very high rates of english language learners and special education students. They found that many of the traditional measures used for teacher quality were not, in fact,

…”[i]n four years we hope to make progress on answering what have been two vexing questions since the day that formal education began —namely, (1) what, really, determines good teaching, and, (2) how can the techniques of good teaching be taught and effectively used in classrooms?”

—Deputy Superintendent, K–12 Education, Alan Burke, talking about

recent Washington legislation that will result in a new statewide teacher

evaluation system

what made a differ-ence for students. The first thing that made a difference was what they de-fined as “grit.” grit is the ability or charac-teristic to have high expectations of these students and contin-

ue to believe that they [as teachers] can make a difference. That particular quality is something that typically isn’t empha-sized in interviews when we are looking at prospective content-area teachers.

A second, really big factor in terms of teacher quality—and again what their extensive research indicated—is that the individual is happy with his or her own place in life. They’re happy about who they are as a person; they’re happy about how they see their life in the future; and they have a sense of well-being. Again, it’s another area that we don’t hire for, but it’s a huge quality that they saw in their successful teachers.

A third area is the ability to overcome obstacles and to specifically indicate in their own lives what obstacles they have overcome. That’s because a big part of these teachers’ work was helping stu-dents to be able to deal with their current life situation, set those outside barriers aside, and work in the school environ-ment. The fourth area was goal orienta-tion—to set a certain specific goal and be able to meet it. (See more on the Teach for America research in “What makes a great Teacher?,” www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/01/what-makes-a-great-teacher/7841/.)

it may well be that traditional mea-sures of professional development, con-tent-area knowledge, master’s degrees, and a lot of other things matter when we look at the most difficult teaching situ-ations in the united States. But, there’s a whole body of research that indicates it’s really the soft skills that are making the greatest difference. And this has also been found to be true in research that’s being done by David Conley at the uni-versity of Oregon. He has found that ca-reer- and college-ready students, those that seem to be successful coming out of

high school and transitioning into col-lege or careers, have many of these same skills that Teach for America has found in successful teachers teaching in our toughest schools in America.

That’s why teacher evaluation is so difficult. Oftentimes, when you find a teacher who is not doing well, it’s as much a concern about his or her person-ality characteristics as it is with content knowledge, classroom management, and some of these other things. i’m not saying those don’t matter, but i think the soft skills need to be reassessed. it’s pretty tough to turn personality charac-teristics around, so i’m a little pessimis-tic, in a way, about our ability to make a change.

JPAS: An Innovative Teacher Evaluation System wendy horman, school board member, bonneville Joint school district, idaho

Teachers who engage students in learning—that’s quality teaching. One of the ways our district has used research and data to address teacher quality is-sues is through an innovative teacher evaluation system—the Jordan perfor-mance Appraisal System (JpAS). We’ve been using it for four years.

We began the process by passing a new board policy on teacher evaluations, and then the district started looking at different options. The union participated fully from day one, which is part of what made this successful in the end.

We did a lot of work internally in terms of a paradigm shift, [defining] the evaluation as an instrument to identify strengths and weaknesses and to help guide professional development. JpAS is based on the effective schools’ research of decades gone by. The system was de-signed by the Jordan School District in utah, working with their union and the state department of education. it incor-porates an observation system that mea-sures skills and techniques for 49 specif-ic behaviors and includes a portfolio and interview component for skills that can’t be observed in a classroom visit. (See

http://departments.jordan district.org/curriculum/jpas/.)

Our administrators become certi-fied evaluators for JpAS, which includes passing a written test and scoring video samples. Because of this certification, teachers can be confident about the ob-jectivity of their JpAS results, regardless of which administrator does the evalua-tion. This is great for the district because we know we have a consistent measure of what good teaching looks like inside each school and across the district.

each teacher receives a report of their JpAS scores, reflect-ing areas of strength and areas where they have opportu-nities for growth. The report includes links to research and resources for improvement in the particular areas that are identified for growth. So, a teacher gets that information on an individual level, and an administrator can compile the information for his or her building. if there’s a general area of weakness, per-haps it can be addressed at an inservice staff development day. We have done the same thing on a district level: We create and deliver professional development in accordance with what JpAS is telling us our teachers need most. it’s been really great to watch our JpAS scores change as a result of identifying weaknesses, de-livering training, and being really proud that our teachers improve in those areas. Student achievement scores are also ris-ing in our district.

JpAS is a reliable and valid measure for teaching. it does not, however, incor-porate student learning measures. We use that information in other ways in accordance with our master Agreement. nonetheless, JpAS has had a significant positive effect in guiding our teachers toward more effective instruction. n


dEFining high-QuaLiTY TEaching


HeAD OF THe CLASSA small Oregon district trains and retains effective teachers with the help of the Creative Leadership Achieves Student Success Project.

Story by RHOnDA BARTOnphotos by Dee DixOn

TiLLamook, oregon—Acres of lush green pastures, a picturesque bay teeming with Dungeness crab, and a reputation for producing world-class cheese have made Tillamook an attractive tourist destination on the Oregon coast. But the small, financially strapped community still struggled with hang-ing onto newly minted teachers. About half the new teaching staff would depart each year, lured away by higher salaries and greater opportunities in the urban Willamette Valley. Achievement scores—with only 11 percent of students at or above the state average—reflected this persistent problem of teacher turnover.

Facing those challenges, Tillamook became one of three pilot sites for an ambitious and innovative initiative called the CLASS (Creative Leadership Achieves Student Success) project. The program is part of the Chalkboard project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization whose mission is “to unite Oregonians to make our K–12 schools among the nation’s best.” Funded by a consortium of foundations, Chalkboard launched the CLASS proj-ect in 2006 with four components that work together to increase teacher effectiveness:• expand career paths so experienced teachers can assume new leadership

roles, such as mentoring and instructional coaching• Develop effective performance evaluations with clear goals tied to

student achievement• provide targeted and relevant professional development to give teachers

resources and support to improve their practice• implement new compensation models to recognize new roles and

responsibilities and reward teacher effectiveness

Today, three years into the project, Tillamook is seeing impressive results: Districtwide achievement has steadily improved to 60 percent of students at or above the state average; one Tillamook elementary school that was in improve-ment status has turned around and cap-tured statewide honors for stellar scores; and both new and veteran teachers have embraced a culture of collaboration and high expectations.

A new teacher retention program—combined with the state of the national economy—enabled Tillamook to keep

86 percent of its effective teachers last year compared to 75 percent in 2007–2008.

According to Superintendent Randy Schild, “it’s impossible to distinguish between the philosophies of CLASS and the district because they have become one and the same. We have become bet-ter at educating our students and sup-porting our teachers today than we ever have been.” Schild says that a year one planning grant of $30,000 mobilized the district. implementation grants of up to $300,000 in years two and three, allowed

them to focus on developing their own strategies within the CLASS framework and “to make sure they were going to take us in the direction we were planning to go anyway.”

A ChAmpion SChoolThere’s probably no better place to see the fruits of that focused effort than at east elementary School. Almost 60 per-cent of the school’s 420 students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch and about one-third are minorities. in 2006, the school was designated by the state as

Jenny Sheets’ fourth-graders are learning “all about matter.” as she instructs her class in how to create a journal where they’ll re-cord facts about atoms, solids, liquids, and gas, she incorporates gLad (guided Lan-guage acquisition development) strate-gies that are aimed especially at helping ELL students succeed. gLad training was just one of the teacher supports that have contributed to effective teaching and soar-ing student proficiency scores at East Elementary.

Sheets is in her sixth year of teaching. She sees high-quality professional devel-opment as a key component in creating ef-fective teachers. “The cLaSS Project has allowed me to attend many trainings that otherwise we wouldn’t have funding for,” she says. “also, i was involved in the men-tor/mentee program where i was able to go around with my mentee and observe vari-ous teachers using a wide variety of strate-gies in reading and math. This was a great time to collaborate with my mentee to share experiences, questions, or ideas.”

Training in writing is a primary focus this year for Sheets and her peers. The fourth-grade team at East has set a collective goal of teaching students to become better writers and improving test scores in writ-ing. “This is an obstacle that we have been dealing with for many years,” she notes. “The cLaSS Project has helped with this by allowing us to attend some trainings to learn new strategies to teach writing. we have also been able to create a fourth-grade writing folder with lessons, exam-

ples, and assessments.” The cLaSS Project also provided funds

for mini-grants that teams and individual teachers can use to create instructional units and other resources. Last year, Sheets and the fourth-grade team developed a se-ries of units on health and measurement, which students rotated through during a week’s time. “Each teacher became a mas-ter on one topic and taught it to the whole fourth grade over the course of a week,” she says. “Then we all gave the same post-test to our students and the results were amazing.”

Sheets finds that mini-grants are great incentives to tackle intensive projects that are time consuming. and, she says, having money to buy supplies for those project solves one of the biggest problems teach-ers encounter.

tHeroleoFProFessionaldeveloPment


Jenny Sheets credits the ramped up professional development, including GLAD training, for helping East Elementary go from school improvement status to a designation as a 2010 “Champion School” in Oregon.


in need of improvement. Since that time, east’s combined scores on the Oregon achievement tests have jumped to 92 percent of students meeting or exceed-ing state standards in reading and math. Oregon Superintendent Susan Cas-tillo recognized that accomplishment by naming east as a 2010 “Champion School”—one of only 10 in the state to receive that accolade.

principal greg english, who arrived in 2006, found staff “pretty much do-ing their own thing. There was a lot of isolation—people closed their doors and worked really hard at being good teach-ers, but everyone was an independent contractor,” he recalls.

Forming a leadership team was the first step in bringing staff together and examining what was working, what needed to be tweaked, and what was missing. english and his staff recognized that the school was in improvement sta-tus because it wasn’t meeting the needs of english language learner (eLL) students who comprise 13 percent of the popu-lation. “We made some changes in the configuration of how we place those stu-dents in the classroom: Rather than have a lot of eLL students clumped together in a single classroom, we spread them equally, creating differentiated class-rooms with all our different populations. We also provided virtually everybody on staff with two days of training on gLAD (guided Language Acquisition Develop-ment),” english explains. “Then, we did five days of training with another 19 staff members, who’ve become fully certified in gLAD. We found that not only did our eLL students benefit, but all of our students benefitted.”

east, like the other four schools in the district, also radically changed its approach to how it supports, evaluates, and motivates teachers. A 90-minute late opening once a week was introduced to provide time for grade-level and con-tent-area team meetings. Teachers can apply for mini-grants to work together to develop instructional units.

All first- and second-year teachers are paired with more experienced mentors who guide them through the first two years in the classroom. new educational

assistants (eAs) also are assigned men-tors, though the mentor may have three eA mentees while the teacher model is a one-to-one approach. The CLASS grant helps cover the $900–$1,800 stipend to teacher mentors and pays for the time that the hourly eA mentors and mentees

spend meeting. “That’s the nice thing about the CLASS project grant,” says Tillamook’s CLASS Coordinator Linda Shuford. “The Chalkboard project al-lows us to experiment. They give us lots of space to be innovative.” As far as she knows, no other district has launched an

reWardingandretainingneWteacHersFifth-grade teacher Lindsey Thompson has perfected the art of multi-tasking. during an independent mini-class session, Thompson reviews a recent math test with one student while smoothly fielding questions from others about science, spelling, and social studies projects. The ease with which she handles the competing needs of students belies the fact that this is just her fourth year in the classroom.

as a relative newcomer, she’s taking part in Tillamook School district’s new teacher in-centive program. in their first three years, teachers can earn $80 for each “distinguished” rating and $40 for each “proficient” rating on the 22 skills the district measures during an-nual evaluations. The money is deposited into a fund that the teacher can access after be-ginning her fifth year with the district. The funds can only be used for certain expenses such as making home improvements or purchasing a house—things that encourage people to put down roots in the community.

Thompson is from Tillamook, so it’s likely she would remain in the area even without the incentives. however, she acknowledges that it could make a difference for some of her peers. “People understand that Tillamook is a hard place to want to stay if you’re from some place bigger,” she says. “a lot of people come with the intention of eventually moving on.” Because the extra compensation is specifically tied to retention, she says, no one regards it as merit or performance pay. That’s one reason why the union has supported the program.

Tillamook teachers also are enthusiastic about the district’s new evaluation system for both new and veteran teachers. it includes specific goals for enhancing professional prac-tice and increasing student achievement. “People appreciate that it’s clearer and it’s easy to see where you should be and what you need to do [to increase performance] in each domain,” says Thompson.

As a new teacher, Lindsey Thompson is one of the beneficiaries of an innovative compensation plan that’s tied to teacher retention. The plan rewards teachers for high evaluation ratings in their first three years with money deposited into a fund that can only be accessed in the fifth year of employment.


eA mentorship program.Shuford herself is another ex-

ample of a CLASS-supported innovation. previously a fifth-grade teacher at east, she’s now responsible for overseeing the project. Career pathway opportunities mean that effective teach-ers can take on new roles—usually with extra pay attached—from coaching to serving as administrators to heading up data teams. “i feel like i’m part of being able to create opportunities for teachers who have worked so hard,” says Shuford. “i hope they can expand their horizons.”

A new wAy To evAluATe effeCTiveneSSOne of the biggest—and potentially most controversial—changes at east and throughout the district is the perfor-mance evaluation process. influenced by the work of national evaluation guru Charlotte Danielson, the process focuses on four domains: planning and prepara-tion, classroom environment, instruc-tion, and professional responsibilities. Within those domains, teachers are judged on 22 skill sets, with ratings from unsatisfactory to basic, proficient, or distinguished. They are held accountable for specific performance goals, which they set themselves in collaboration with their administrators. Lindsey Thomp-son, a fifth-grade teacher, is working this year on the schoolwide goal of improv-ing writing proficiency for at least 80 percent of students. She also set a goal for herself: to incorporate more gLAD strategies such as using visuals into her classroom instruction. How well she meets those goals will be reflected in her evaluation scores.

Superintendent Schild believes that the new system “rewards good teaching, not just surviving.” it also recognizes that student success depends on a number of variables, not all of which are under a teacher’s control. As the CLASS project literature notes, “Student learning gains included in performance evaluations are based on multiple measures, and are used to advance the quality of teaching and learning.”

To support the goal of teacher retention,

Tillamook built an innovative incentive program into its evaluation of new teach-ers. evaluated annually in the first three years, new teachers can earn $80 for each “distinguished” rating and $40 for each “proficient” rating within the 22 skill measures. Stipends of $100 are awarded for community volunteer activities such as coaching a Y team or leading a Boy Scout troop. The money—which can add up to a hefty $6,000 over four years—is set aside in a district fund that the teacher can access only after beginning the fifth year of employment. “We feel that if they become embedded into our community, they’ll want to stay,” Shuford observes.

SuSTAining improvemenTSThe financial support and other resourc-es provided by the CLASS project have obviously been a critical part of Tilla-mook’s success story. But, Superinten-dent Schild claims that CLASS can’t take all the credit for how far the district has come. “CLASS is a huge piece, but it’s not the only thing,” he says. “There are 100 things that have to do with consistency and focus.” That’s why Schild—who is a product himself of the Tillamook School District—is confident that the work can be sustained once the CLASS grant runs its course.

tHeimPortanceoFmentorsin a small classroom carved out behind the auditorium stage at East Elementary, Title i teacher rachel williamson works with sev-en students on sharpening their reading for understanding. This is williamson’s 13th year in the Tillamook School district, but the memory of what it was like to be a be-ginning teacher is still fresh. “as a new teacher, i remember feeling overwhelmed by the task of creating a curriculum map for the year,” she says. “i wasn’t even sure what the curriculum was at the school or where to locate it, and i was so worried that i would skip teaching something that the students needed to know. when i asked my partner teacher, i was told to ‘just use the books.’ i remember feeling so lost and overwhelmed. i muddled through, but it would have been very helpful if an experi-enced teacher had been able to take the time to help me develop that skill faster and with fewer tears of frustration.”

The district’s new teacher mentorship program is working to assuage that feeling

of being overwhelmed by the demands of the classroom. To be selected, a mentor has to have at least three years of experience teaching in the district, in addition to strong communication skills, positive peer relationships, a high performance rating, and approval of the principal.

Lindsey Thompson has seen the value of the mentor program from both sides of the relationship. as a new teacher four years ago she was paired with Linda Shuford, who is currently the cLaSS Project coordi-nator. “i struggled with getting my stu-dents’ attention,” she recalls. “i would ask for their attention and then as soon as they were quiet i would start my lesson. how-ever, after being observed by my mentor (Linda), i learned that i needed to wait long er and have not only their voices off, but make sure all of their eyes were look-ing at me. her advice is in the front of my brain everyday and has made me a much more effective teacher.”

now Thompson mentors a teacher who has taught for a number of years but is new to the fifth grade. “we work together on knowing what she’s supposed to teach and different ways to do it, bouncing ideas off each other,” she says. “having a mentoring program can make a huge difference.”

Title I teacher Rachel Williamson says having a mentor can help new teachers feel less overwhelmed in the classroom. In Tillamook, all first- and second-year teachers are assigned mentors, as are new educational assistants.


WhatdoesittaketoBecomeamemberoftheclass?Tillamook, Sherwood, and Forest grove comprise the first cohort of cLaSS Project districts and are well on their way to implementing im-provements. another nine oregon school districts are in the planning stage, and at least eight more have approached chalkboard about join-ing the project. chalkboard Presi-dent Sue hildick says that districts interested in having cLaSS-type dis-cussions need the support of their union, administration, and school board. once those partners are on board, they should contact chalk-board (www.chalkboardproject.org) about the possibility of receiving a design grant. “design funds allow a district to assemble a design team—heavily weighted toward teachers—to come together and have critical conversations around the four key elements of career ladders, profes-sional development, evaluation, and compensation,” she says.

“There are some things we’ll choose not to do, possibly, but a lot of what we’ve done has become part of who we are,” Schild says. “Our mentor program—we couldn’t stop it. it would leave such a hole, now that we see how important it is.”

Tillamook’s experience is being close-ly watched—along with the 11 other CLASS project districts in Oregon. To-gether, they represent one in every six Oregon students and 18 percent of the state’s teachers. According to Sue Hil-dick, president of the Chalkboard proj-ect, “CLASS is fast becoming a national model because of both the early results and the process. The early results are dramatic—student achievement indica-tors are increasing and teacher satisfac-tion levels are increasing.”

She continues, “Other districts should look at Tillamook’s results. They will be inspired: much stronger teacher reten-tion rates; great student achievement outcomes; and a long-term commitment to excellence by all those involved in the learning community in Tillamook.”

The small town that’s struggled in the past with low student success and high teacher turnover now can brag about its educational system, as well as its cheese. n

(Left) CLASS Project Coordinator Linda Schuford and East Elementary Principal Greg English compare notes on new initiatives funded by the project. Superintendent Randy Schild (above) says that CLASS helped the district focus on specific areas to drive improvement.

hEad oF ThE cLaSS

28 educationnorthwest.org28 educationnorthwest.org

Story and photos by BRACKen ReeD

Me to Youa pa S S i o n f o r t E a c H i n g

Second-grade teacher Jessica Baker takes

part in instructional coaching, on-site

mentoring, and a teachers’ assistance program as part of

the Richland School District’s support for

first-year teachers.


richLand, washington—There’s an anecdote about the teach-ing profession that Richland High School english teacher Jim Deatherage likes to tell. it may be apocryphal—“i don’t remem-ber where i heard it,” he admits—but that doesn’t really matter. For him it serves a purpose. it helps him make an important point about his own approach to teaching.

“Someone asked a chemistry teacher one time if he could teach to an empty room,” begins Deatherage. “And the chem-istry teacher thought about it and said, ‘Yeah, sure. As long as i knew what the lesson was, i could teach to any empty room.’”

Here, Deatherage pauses and gives me an intense, incredu-lous look. it’s a look that can make you feel pinned to the wall. “Can you believe that?” he asks.

i nod to show i’m following his point, but waiting for the rest. “i could no sooner teach to an empty room …” he begins,

then gives way to disgust.“For me, teaching is completely relational,” he continues.

“it’s all about walking into that classroom and relating to that group of kids sitting there in front of you.”

“Like this,” he says, tapping his own chest and rapping me on the shoulder. “me to you. Without that, you’re not teaching. You can have a curriculum, a lesson plan, whatever—without that, no way. ”

WePressonDeatherage has been bringing that relational approach—and that intensity—into the classroom, day after day, for the past 41 years. i know, because i experienced it first-hand as a student of his some 25 years ago. it had a profound effect on my life.

i also know because, coming back to my hometown to visit with him for the first time in more than a decade, i can tell im-mediately that his passion for teaching is undiminished. After only a few minutes in a room with him, talking about teaching, it can feel like someone has hooked you up to jumper cables. His gestures are emphatic, he jokes constantly—often in a teasing way—and yes, he swears a lot. He has a story, quote, anecdote, personal experience, song lyric, or line from a poem for almost every point he wants to make. And he has a lot of points to make: He cares about teaching the way a vintner cares about wine or a luthier cares about violins. it’s not just a job—it’s a way of life.

Working as an education writer for much of the past decade, i have often found myself thinking: What would Deatherage

think about this? So, when the chance came to write a story about teaching, i knew the time was right to go back to the source. in all my years as a student, K–16, i never had a teach-er who worked harder, pushed me harder, cared more, taught with more passion, or spoke more of the unadorned truth to his students than Jim Deatherage. So i sent him an e-mail.

He was glad to hear from me after so long and happy to share his views about education and the teaching profession—uncen-sored and uninhibited, as always. But he was also reticent about being held up in the spotlight as some kind of expert. The “sage on the stage,” he disparagingly called it.

“i don’t think it’s too difficult to know what works for most kids,” he told me via e-mail. “But after 41 years i’m still learning how to do it better. maybe that’s one of the reasons i’ve stayed with it so long. every day is a test of my work ethic, my insight, and my perseverance. As i like to say, we press on.”

With that in mind, we agreed that i would come back to my alma mater, sit in on a few of his classes, shadow him in the afternoon as he mentored a first-year teacher, Jessica Baker, and also talk to one of his colleagues at the high school, TAp facili-tator mary Kaye Hergert. “She really knows her stuff,” he said of Hergert. “She can explain what we’re doing here a lot better than i can.”

respectingYourstudents’intelligencei meet Deatherage in Richland High’s main office at 8 a.m. on a Friday morning in April. We take the elevator up—although an avid runner, he’s torn the meniscus in his right knee twice in the past 18 months—and walk down the south wing of the english building to room 1242, second-to-last door on the right, the same room he’s been teaching in for most of the last four decades. Outside the door a sign says, “Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid,” and next to it is a drawing of an old man holding a student-sized skeleton. Both are gifts from former students.

Deatherage stands outside the door greeting his first-period students as they enter and acknowledging other students by name as they pass by. Later, Hergert explains to me that this is one of the “community commitments” the entire RHS staff has made. The school was having major problems with fighting. “Having teachers out in the hallways between classes sends the message that adults are in charge of the building,” says Hergert. “Kids want that. They want to know someone is in charge. They

After four decades, an English teacher still thrives on the human connections that

define his approach to teaching.


don’t want chaos any more than adults do.”it’s a good policy, but i also know that for Deatherage it’s

simply the way he does things. policy or no policy, it’s relational. As the bell for first period rings, Deatherage walks in, closes

the door behind him, and steps to the front of the class. “good morning, ladies and gentleman,” he says. “good morning, mr. D.,” his students reply in near unison. The students are quiet and focused. All eyes are on him. On

one wall i notice a poster titled “Ready for Class.” it contains seven numbered items: 1) seated at the bell, 2) cell phone off, 3) homework ready, 4) outside reading book, 5) planner, 6) ap-propriate clothing, 7) great attitude, ready to learn.

Back in my day, students would sometimes assume that Deatherage’s nontraditional, “cool” manner would mean loose discipline and an easy class. They were quickly set straight. Although he infuses his teaching with a great deal of humor, when it comes to classroom management and behavior issues Deatherage is all business—no exceptions, no “special rules for special fools,” as he likes to say. The expectations are clear and consistent for everyone.

“i decided very early in my career that i just wasn’t going to deal with that crap,” he says. “Zero tolerance. i’ve got 25, 30 oth-er kids in that room that are trying to learn. it’s too important.”

“Today’s schedule is on the board,” he tells his students this morning, pointing to the bell schedule he has written on the chalkboard. “As you know, we’ve got shortened class periods today, so let’s get right to it.”

He introduces the day’s activity—the students can choose to read one of three articles in the local newspaper, the Tri-City Herald. He puts special emphasis on one: a syndicated column by pulitzer prize–winning Washington Post columnist Kathleen parker. it’s titled “One Teacher, One Voice Can make a Differ-ence Forever.”

Later, Deatherage assures me that this was pure serendip-ity—the article had run in the previous day’s paper. “nice tim-ing, huh?” he says, making reference to why i’m here.

in class, he briefly describes all three articles, points out where they are in the paper, and says two things to his stu-dents that are striking to me: “i think you’ll find these worth your time” and “i want to know what you think about these. Remember: Your opinion counts.”

i nod to myself and think: That’s it. That’s part of it.After class i ask him about those phrases. “it’s about respect-

ing their intelligence,” he says. i ask him to expand on the point. “my thinking is that you never, ever go down to their level,”

he says. “instead, you try to bring them up to your level. You can’t do it all at once, but gradually you can. That’s what having high expectations is all about.”

i ask him about practical ways of doing that.“A lot of it’s just the way you phrase things,” he says. “For

example: When i, as an adult, point out articles in a newspaper that i think you’ll find interesting or worth your time—aren’t you more likely to respond to that? That’s one adult talking to

another. it’s a lot different than me saying, ‘Here, read these.’ i’m showing you respect, and i’m also sending the message that i’m not going to waste your time.”

in fact, this is the single biggest impression i have of being in Deatherage’s classes: You absolutely knew he wasn’t going to waste your time. There was a sense of urgency to his teaching style—still is—that sets him apart. His manner and attitude and intensity send an unequivocal message to students: This is se-rious business. This is your education. THiS iS YOuR LiFe. You have every right to demand that i not waste your time with irrelevant, meaningless assignments. And i have every right to demand that you work hard, pay attention, and show respect to me and your fellow students. That’s our agreement with each other. if you can’t buy into that, there’s the door.

As usual, Deatherage has a favorite line from a poem that sums this up. it’s from Richard Brautigan: “my teachers could easily have ridden with Jessie James for all the time they stole from me.”

“i’m trying hard, every day, not to be that kind of outlaw—stealing time,” he says.

You’reneverdonelearningYou might think a teacher in his fourth decade of teaching would be running on cruise control. not so. When i ask both Deatherage and Hergert what has changed the most in the teaching profession over the course of their careers, they have similar answers.

“There’s more of a professional network now,” says Hergert. “gone are the days when teachers closed their doors and did their own thing and never talked to anyone. We know that doesn’t work. Whether it’s coaching, a teacher mentoring pro-gram, or a professional learning community, we’re trying to find every opportunity we can for teachers to collaborate and learn from each other and support each other. That’s a very dif-ferent atmosphere than when i started my teaching career.”

For his part, Deatherage has embraced this new focus on professionalism and collaboration with his usual passion. “This is the first time in my entire teaching career that i’ve had the chance to meet on a regular basis with other teachers,” he says. “it’s awesome. i’m learning so much, every single week.”

Deatherage takes part in three different professional learn-ing communities, including two in one day. On Tuesdays he meets with Hergert, the curriculum director, the director of special education, and another teacher to review the progress of individual first-year teachers. They also study Collaborative Peer Coaching That Improves Instruction: The 2 + 2 Performance Appraisal Model by Dwight Allen and Alyce LeBlanc.

“That’s about learning-focus conversations,” says Hergert. “it’s similar to lesson study in that it gets teachers into each other’s classrooms, observing and giving feedback. its’ about breaking down the isolation that’s often there for teachers, but doing that in a way that’s very focused on student achievement.”

Wednesday mornings Deatherage meets with a “writing team”—a group of teachers whose current focus is to break down the state’s “overwhelming” state standards for writing


into the most important things that students need to know and be able to do. “We call them ‘power standards,’” says Deather-age. “it’s essential skills. We get together as a group and say, ‘OK, what are the four or five skills here that are absolutely crucial?’ And then, when are we going to introduce them, when are we going to reinforce them, and when do we expect mastery?”

Deatherage’s view on the standards movement of the past decade is a surprise to me. i suspected he might see it as a strait-jacket or a limit on his creativity as a teacher. When i put the question to Deatherage and Hergert, however, her response has him nodding in agreement.

“i think it’s the exact opposite of that,” she says. “i think stan-dards are giving you the target you’re shooting for, and that re-ally frees you up. Before we had standards each teacher had to spend a lot of time alone, trying to identify that target for any given lesson or unit. How did it build off previous lessons, how did it lead into what came next? And then there’s the issue of how it aligns with what other teachers are doing. Having all that clearly laid out in front of you allows you to focus on your real job: teaching kids. ”

On Wednesday evenings Deatherage and Hergert team up again for two hours of the Teachers’ Assistance program (TAp). From 3–4 p.m. they meet with first-year secondary-level teach-ers, followed by an hour with first-year K–5 teachers. While this isn’t technically a pLC, Deatherage considers it one because these sessions also use a book, Harry and Rosemary Wong’s The First Days of School: How to Be An Effective Teacher, as a start-ing point.

This is the second year of TAp, which is separate from—but complementary to—the district’s coaching program for new teachers. “We purposely keep TAp very flexible,” says Hergert. “We might cover classroom management strategies or stan-dards or discipline issues—whatever they want to talk about.

This goes back to that idea of a professional network—instead of this first-year teacher feeling like she’s all alone, now she has a first-year teacher from a school across town that she can share ideas with and commiserate with. And then they’ve got their coaches, as well.”

makingtheconnectionOne of those first year teachers is Jessica Baker, who teaches second grade at White Bluffs elementary, a brand new K–5 school on Richland’s booming west side. Deatherage serves as Baker’s coach, typically visiting her classroom a couple times a week in the afternoon.

On the afternoon that Deatherage and i visit, her students are still out to recess. i ask Baker, who doesn’t look much older than Deatherage’s high school students, how the coaching pro-gram has helped her. “it’s been invaluable,” she says. “every-thing from classroom management to organization to dealing with behavior issues—it’s helped me tremendously.”

Although Baker feels like her teacher training was very good, “There’s no substitute for the real thing,” she says. “That first day you step in front of a class by yourself can be really scary. Hav-ing someone come in every week helps you gain confidence a lot faster. You get that immediate feedback, like ‘Did you notice that you’re often teaching to only one side of the class?’ it’s very practical advice that you can put into action immediately.”

One key, says Deatherage, is that a coach is not in an evalu-ation role. “That’s not why i’m there,” he says. “i’m there to give constructive feedback. And i’m also not there to say, ‘no, do it like this.’ i’m observing and trying to share what i see and to make some recommendations based on past experience.”

As Baker’s students come back from recess, Deatherage and i take a place at the back of the class. The students come in rosy-cheeked and bursting with energy, but as Baker moves to the front of the class they quickly take their places. “Awesome, thanks for waiting quietly,” Baker tells them. “i appreciate that.”

The class moves quickly into a spelling lesson, using an over-head projector, and then into a reading activity that requires all the students to move to the floor at the front of the room.

Deatherage leans over and tells me, with pride: “You wouldn’t believe these were the same kids as the beginning of the year. She’s really done an amazing job.”

“Focused. Right on task,” i say, making a bam-bam-bam chopping motion with my hand.

“exactly,” he says. “They know the routine, they know the expectations. They’re right there with her. She’s got that connection.”

And i think back to our earlier conversation: it’s relational … like this … me to you.

And i think how these connections can start as simple acts of teaching and learning, but they can go much deeper. They can change lives.

i know it’s true, because 25 years ago Jim Deatherage changed mine. n

mE To You: a PaSSion For TEaching

Veteran teacher Jim Deatherage spends afternoons as an instructional coach for first-year teachers. Here he visits Jessica Baker’s second-grade classroom at White Bluffs Elementary. “Jessica loves her students and they love her,” says Deatherage. “That’s not the whole story of effective teaching, but it’s definitely part of it.”


rewriting the

Future in Sweet home

in this oregon district, a focus on writing is

just the first chapter.

Story by SuZie BOSSphotos by SARAH giFFROW

SwEET homE, oregon—Along main Street, new flower beds and graceful street lamps send a signal about local pride in this small Willamette Valley community with the endearing name. Sweet Home, Oregon, may be struggling against mill closures and stubbornly high unemployment, but that’s no reason for despair. “You can see the town trying to reinvigorate itself,” says Dr. Larry Horton, superintendent since 2001. “When things get tight,” he adds, “people here seem to work together harder.”

Sweet Home School District, the community’s largest em-ployer, has a front-row seat on local challenges. enrollment is down to 2,100, compared with 2,600 when Horton arrived nearly a decade ago. Free and reduced-price lunch rates are up to 65 percent, reflecting a rise in poverty. Homelessness is up, too. it’s not unusual for school buses to make the rounds of local campgrounds to pick up kids whose families are living in tents.

instead of wringing their hands, community members think creatively about solutions. To feed hungry kids over the weekend, volunteers send about two dozen students home on Fridays with backpacks full of food. On a bigger scale, Sweet Home economic Development group raises thousands of dollars to benefit local schools by hosting a summer country music festival called the Oregon Jamboree. The district food service department brings in additional revenue throughout the year by providing catering services, and school mechanics generate more income for the district by tuning up city buses. “We’re entrepreneurs,” Horton says. “We’re trying to maximize


Principal Ryan Beck knows what he’s looking for when he visits classrooms

at Hawthorne Elementary, and student engagement ranks high on the list.


everything we have here.” To improve student achievement in an era of lean budgets,

the district is looking to maximize the one resource it has in every classroom: teachers. By giving teachers more time to col-laborate and opportunities to share best practices, Horton pre-dicts, “we’re going to see a better way of doing business for kids.”

givingtheirall—andthensomeAs soon as students head home for the day, 16 elementary teachers make their way to the brick administration building in the center of town. They get a warm welcome from Tim Swanson, a fellow teacher who spends half his time out of the classroom as an instructional coach. Although Swanson is technically in charge of organizing today’s professional learn-ing event, he’s careful to keep the tone collegial—more like a club than a formal inservice. Above all, he knows the experi-ence has to be valuable. “Teachers’ priority, and rightly so, is their students. They’re already giving 150 percent for their kids. if i’m asking them to give another 10 percent,” he says, “it’d bet-ter be worth it.”

What’s lured participants today is an invitation to work with colleagues on writing instruction. The district has made writ-ing a priority, especially at the elementary level where scores have been flat on statewide writing assessments. Swanson’s coaching services (in math as well as writing) are available to teachers at all five elementary schools. in addition to organiz-ing professional development events, he’ll come into a class-room to observe and give feedback, model a lesson, or cover for a teacher so he or she can go observe another classroom. But participation is strictly voluntary. So Swanson uses a winning combination of humor, relationship building, persistence, and even marketing to get teachers on board.

On this afternoon, Swanson quickly turns teachers loose on seven learning centers he has set up around the room. each has a different activity that emphasizes word choice, one of the traits of effective writing. Teachers step right into the learner’s role, putting pen to paper. Just as readily, they turn to colleagues to debrief the experience. group brainstorming naturally ensues as teachers think aloud about how they might adapt these activ-ities for their classrooms and how their students would benefit.

These productive conversations, as well as the healthy turn-out, are encouraging signs. At a similar event Swanson orga-nized in late 2008, only one teacher showed up. “But that was OK,” says the perennially upbeat Swanson. “The two of us had a great conversation about writing.”

FindingHisroadmapSwanson knows firsthand that improving writing instruction takes both time and focus. After growing up in grants pass, Oregon, he started teaching a decade ago in Denver. When he moved to Sweet Home three years ago, his principal at Holley elementary offered to send him to a 6+1 Trait® Writing work-shop conducted by education northwest. The trait model, de-veloped by teachers, offers a framework and common language

for teaching and assessing the components of good writing. For Swanson, it turned out to be just the spark he needed.

At the first workshop Swanson attended, facilitator peter Bellamy shared a richly illustrated book called Hoops by Robert Burleigh. When Bellamy demonstrated how to use the text to model descriptive writing, Swanson was sold. “it just spoke to me. i realized that my kids could write like that, too,” he recalls.

Once Swanson tried using traits-based activities with his fourth- and fifth-graders, he saw a difference in their engage-ment—and in the results. instead of taking a “shotgun ap-proach” to writing, he was now able to help students focus on one component at a time, such as organization, voice, or word choice. “if you’re teaching one trait, you can see growth. it gives you a road map for how to produce quality writing,” he says.

Buoyed by these positive experiences, Swanson was eager to keep learning himself. He jumped at the chance to become a district trainer for the 6+1 Trait Writing model, and went to a summer institute in 2008. Throughout that school year, Swanson got strategic about connecting students’ writing with their own experiences. He noticed that, for many students, life hadn’t yet offered them interesting adventures to write about. So Swanson began taking them on field trips to expand their horizons. They didn’t have to go far. At nearby logging camps and forest parks, students had the chance to interview science experts and investigate different habitats. One day, a veterinar-ian dissected a steelhead right before their wide eyes. Back in the classroom, Swanson had students do quick writes about what they had seen in the field.

“everyone had something to share,” he noticed, and there was no longer a scarcity of rich detail. The quick writes about authentic experiences became raw material for producing thank-you letters, biome reports, poetry, and other products that emerged through the writing process. using the traits, Swanson was able to give students timely, meaningful feedback for continually improving their writing.

“it turned into kind of a big deal,” Swanson reflects. “Writ-ing is more than just the activity. it’s the whole experience of school—building background knowledge and being excited about learning.” He even challenged his young writers to start planning for college, unlike the 50 percent of local high school graduates who do not pursue higher education. “Beat the Bell Curve” became their motto, which they proudly shared on a flag and tee-shirts.

aPerfectstormJan Littlebear, a former teacher from Alaska and now senior program advisor for education northwest, leads the 6+1 Trait institutes. As soon as she met Swanson, she took a liking to the talkative fellow sporting chrome nike glasses and a short, spiked haircut. Their friendship and professional collaboration has deepened through follow-up meetings and frequent e-mail exchanges.

“in every group i work with,” says Littlebear, “there’s one or two like Tim. He takes it to the nth degree.” Watching Swan-son grow into his new role as a teacher leader in his district,

Littlebear took note of the “perfect storm” working to Sweet Home’s advantage. Here was a motivated teacher eager to become a peer leader in a district ready to embrace change.

“Tim would not have had such success had he not been a solid teacher to start with. He’s not afraid to try new things, ask questions, or get rid of things that don’t work well. That takes confidence,” she says, “but he’s also a humble guy.” As a coach, Swanson is quick to spotlight teachers who have effective les-sons to share, encouraging peer leadership and deflecting at-tention from himself. Kathi Collins, a fellow teacher at Holley elementary, says her own confidence grew when Swanson in-vited her to present a lesson idea to her peers. “i like getting feedback,” she says, “and it’s energizing when people tell you, ‘i’ll use that.’”

Littlebear says a teacher like Swanson exemplifies many of the qualities described by malcolm gladwell in Outliers. Simi-larly, in Teach Like a Champion, author Doug Lemov unpacks the myriad details that add up to effective teaching. Like the educators Lemov profiles, Swanson is no-nonsense about class-room management. Yet he manages to set a playful mood by using body language during a read-aloud and makes sure to pull every student into class discussions. When he’s modeling a lesson for a colleague, he watches how both students and teach-er respond. “people who resist that kind of help,” Collins adds,

“don’t know what they’re missing. This isn’t giving you more to do as a teacher; it’s about doing it better.”

effective teaching can happen in isolated classrooms with-out all the supporting factors in place, but it takes systemic thinking to foster high-quality instruction throughout a dis-trict. Swanson calls this “top-down, bottom-up” change, and encourages his district to provide teachers with a trio of sup-ports: instructional coaching, high-quality professional devel-opment, and building-level leadership. When all the pieces are in place, adds Littlebear, it becomes a story “about ‘a’ teacher, ‘a’ district, ‘a’ state, and everything working together to have an impact on lots and lots of kids.”

newleaders,FreshideasWhen principal Ryan Beck walks into a classroom at Haw-thorne elementary, he knows what he hopes to see. “i’m look-ing for students who are participating, smiling, showing their work. i’m looking for creativity. i don’t want to see the teacher standing up front lecturing and students not paying attention. it should be fun, energetic, exciting. This may sound subjec-tive,” Beck admits, “but i know good instruction when i see it and feel it. And i know that if we can get students engaged, wanting to be here, we can teach them.”

Beck spent a decade in the classroom in Cottage grove,


rEwriTing ThE FuTurE in SwEET homE

In addition to writing, Tim Swanson offers instructional coaching in math—here students work with tables as part of a model lesson.


Oregon, before taking his first principalship in Sweet Home two years ago. He’s one of several new administrators in the district, a change in leadership that the superintendent embraces. “With change comes new ideas,” Horton says, “and that’s exciting.” Yet Beck is respectful of his “spectacular staff,” including many veteran teachers. One is in his 33rd year at the same school. “When i walk into his room and see all those class photos, it’s a good reminder of all the principals who have come before me. i’m not here to fix things,” Beck says, or impose his own agenda.

Rather, the principal wants teachers to draw on each other’s wisdom as a wellspring of new ideas. Hawthorne’s primary teachers, for instance, meet twice monthly as a professional learning community (pLC). Beck took part in pLCs in his pre-vious district and values this collaborative model for profes-sional development. “it’s useful to have teachers sit down and talk about their kids, about what’s working and what isn’t. if you have frustrations or problems, you have your colleagues there to support you,” he says. The pLC approach reflects Beck’s philosophy that “teachers are the best resources for another teacher.”

Beck’s experience has taught him that pLCs need to be teacher-driven. “Teachers set the agendas and run the meet-ings. There are times when they tell me to butt out. my job,” he says, “is to give them time.” With that structure in place, he says, “my staff has been willing to have the difficult conversa-tions if we are not getting the results we desire. There’s no blame attached. The focus is on problem solving: What do we need to do? What resources or training do we need?”

Hawthorne’s primary teachers have used their shared time to talk in depth about instruction. Beck has heard them dig into tough questions, such as: “What should satisfactory writing look like at the end of first grade or second grade? What goes into producing great writers? How do we all get on the same page, but still allow room for teachers to be creative?” Working with Swanson, teachers have scored student writing samples

together, using rubrics for assessment. in conversations about writing goals across grade levels, Beck says, “now we have everybody speaking the same language.”

Those conversations have revealed that “many teachers are not as confident about teaching writing as they are about teaching math or reading,” Beck notes. And although he sees “amazing things going on in writing,” he knows it takes time for teachers to feel comfortable enough to share examples or model lessons. it’s even harder for teachers to ask for help. “it takes a leap of faith to say, ‘i’m struggling,’” Beck acknowledges, “but chances are, someone else in the building is having the same challenge you are.” pLCs allow room for those conversations to happen.

Superintendent Horton is similarly sold on the pLC model, which will be introduced at Sweet Home High School in the fall. pLCs have a solid research base, and they also echo Hor-ton’s personal experience. For nine years at the start of his ca-reer, he team taught with a colleague. “We collaborated con-stantly. many of our peers went into their classrooms, closed their doors, and we never saw them. What a loss! They only had their own practices, their own vision, to work with.” in Sweet Home, he’s excited about “opening the doors, allowing people in, inviting collaboration, encouraging teachers to have those discussions that will lead to better results for our students.”

thenextchapterWrapping up his first year of coaching, Swanson is already look-ing ahead. He has signed on for another round of training with Littlebear this summer and will become a trainer of trainers for the 6+1 Trait model. Within his district, he has strategically built a “brand” for his instructional coaching, complete with motto (“Beat the Bell Curve”), newsletter, and web resources. He’s excited to see teacher leaders like Kathi Collins emerging at individual schools, because that’s a sign that this campaign is taking root. “it can’t just be the Tim Swanson Show,” he says with a self-effacing chuckle. “it’s everybody’s show.”

meanwhile, he remains on the lookout for good ideas. This spring, he heard about a school in Corvallis, Oregon, that dra-matically boosted its fourth-grade writing scores. Swanson was on the trail like a detective on a case. The staff of Hoover ele-mentary was happy to tell the curious visitor from Sweet Home about the details behind their success. Among their strategies were several that sounded familiar: adoption of pLCs, staff training in 6+1 Trait writing, and ongoing conversations about what good writing looks like. They also designated 2009–2010 as the official Year of Writing.

On the drive back from Corvallis, Swanson had plenty to ponder. is Sweet Home ready for its own Year of Writing? Will teachers continue to “work together harder,” as the superin-tendent predicts? How can they keep growing this collegial conversation about good writing and effective teaching? Stay tuned. This story is certain to continue. n

Tim Swanson makes sure to draw all students into classroom discussions.


Looking for Evidence: what we know about high-Quality, highly Effective Teachers By Jennifer Stepanek

researcHBrieF

The field of education research includes many debates about meth-ods, policies, and practices. The role that teachers play in student learning is a rare, unequivocal area of agreement. Although the evidence is limited, research has not uncovered any school-based factors that have a stronger impact on student success.

unfortunately, the specifics of how teachers impact students are much more elusive. many studies have attempted to iden-tify the characteristics or qualifications of teachers that result in student achievement. Yet researchers have consistently found that the links between teacher characteristics and student out-comes are weak.

For example, a study of teachers of grades 3–7 in Texas found that teachers have powerful effects on reading and mathemat-ics achievement. However, little of the variation in student out-comes could be explained by observable teacher characteristics such as level of education or years of experience (Rivkin, Ha-nushek, & Kain, 2005). Data from a study of class size in Ten-nessee elementary schools also demonstrated substantial dif-ferences among teachers in the ability to produce achievement gains in their students. The variations in teacher effectiveness were not related to either level of education or number of years teaching (nye, Konstantopoulus, & Hedges, 2004). A large study using national Assessment of education progress data matched eighth-grade student achievement data in mathemat-ics and science with information about teacher characteristics (Wenglinsky, 2002). Of the teacher qualifications examined, only majoring or minoring in the subject area was associated with improved student performance.

There may be a stronger link between teacher qualifications and student outcomes at the high school level. A longitudinal study of high school teacher credentials and student achieve-ment in north Carolina looked at years of teaching experience, teacher scores on a licensure exam, licensure type and certifi-cation by subject, and level of education, and national Board Certification status (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007). The re-searchers found that the largest effects for teacher qualifications were years of experience and certification in the academic sub-ject area. There was also a large effect for national Board Cer-tification, which requires teachers to meet rigorous standards and submit direct evidence of teaching, including videos and student work.

in a research synthesis on the link between teacher quality and student outcomes, only two indicators of teacher qual-ity were found to influence student achievement (goe, 2007). Teachers who have degrees in mathematics and are certified to teach mathematics are related to higher student achievement in mathematics in both elementary and secondary levels. This

relationship was not found for other subject areas. The number of years of teaching experience was also found to contribute to student achievement, but only in the first four or five years of teaching.

Because the teacher qualifications tested in the studies failed to explain the differences between teacher effectiveness, they point to the need for additional research. They also highlight the missing piece in many of the teacher quality studies—instruc-tion. unfortunately, there is very little quantitative research that identifies strong and convincing links between classroom practices and student achievement (goe, 2007; Wenglinsky, 2002). more research is needed to develop methods for identi-fying effective teachers and for creating promising strategies for improving teacher effectiveness.

An important element in identifying and improving teacher effectiveness is teacher evaluation. However, recent evidence suggests that teacher evaluation in current practice is not likely to yield crucial information. A study of district teacher evalu-ation policies found that evaluations focused on new—rather than experienced—teachers were summative reports that did not contribute to professional development, and did not require trained evaluators (Brandt, mathers, Oliva, Brown-Sims, & Hess, 2007). Another study of teacher evaluation in a dozen dis-tricts from four states looked at the outcomes of teacher evalu-ations. The researchers found that despite significant variations in the district contexts and in evaluation practices, the results of teacher evaluation were for the most part the same (Weisberg, Sexton, mulhern, & Keeling, 2009). namely, in every district less than one percent of teachers were rated as unsatisfactory. As a result, excellent teachers are not recognized, teachers who need to improve are not identified, and evaluations do not yield information about what effective teaching looks like in practice.

A recent report from the Center for American progress sug-gests that the conditions are right for making substantive im-provements in the evaluation of teachers (Donaldson, 2009). For example, increasing numbers of teachers are retiring, re-sulting in a larger proportion of new educators who are more likely to be receptive to new practices for evaluation. in addi-tion, more is known about how students learn and effective instructional practices.

Charlotte Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching (2007) is one such resource that is in-tended to inform teachers’ practices and to guide teacher evalu-ation. Her framework is organized around four domains: plan-ning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction,


and professional responsibilities. Several studies have used the framework to examine the relationship between teaching prac-tices and student achievement. These studies found small to moderate positive relationships between the teaching practices identified with instruments based on Danielson’s framework and gains in student achievement (Borman & Kimball, 2005; gallagher, 2004; Heneman, milanowski, Kimball, & Odden, 2006; Kimball, White, milanowski, & Borman, 2004; mila-nowski, 2004).

improving teacher evaluation is also a priority at the fed-eral level, including guidance on the use of American Recov-ery and Reinvestment Act funds and in the recently released blueprint for the reauthorization of the elementary and Sec-ondary education Act (u.S. Department of education, 2010). The policy documents emphasize the need for fair and reliable teacher evaluation systems that provide ongoing feedback to teachers about their performance based on objective measures of student achievement and multiple classroom observations. evaluation systems should also give guidance for improving in-structional practices and provide information that can be used to inform teacher professional development and advancement.

The challenge will be in finding the resources to support im-proved evaluation systems. Teacher evaluations that fulfill the more rigorous requirements and provide useful data will re-quire significantly more time and attention than current prac-tice. But given that teachers are the key to improving outcomes for students, tracking and supporting their work seems like a smart investment. n

references

Borman, g.D., & Kimball, S.m. (2005). Teacher quality and ed-ucational equality: Do teachers with higher standards-based evaluation ratings close student achievement gaps? Elemen-tary School Journal, 106(1), 3–20.

Brandt, C., mathers, C., Oliva, m., Brown-Sims, m., & Hess, J. (2007). Examining district guidance to schools on teacher evaluation policies in the Midwest region (issues & Answers Report, ReL 2007-030). Washington, DC: u.S. Department of education, institute of education Sciences, national Center for education evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional educational Laboratory midwest.

Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., & Vigdor, J.L. (2007). Teacher cre-dentials and student achievement in high school: A cross-sub-ject analysis with fixed student effects (Working paper 11). Washington, DC: national Center for the Analysis of Longi-tudinal Data in education Research.

Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing professional practice: A frame-work for teaching (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Donaldson, m.L. (2009). So long, Lake Wobegon? Using teacher evaluation to raise teacher quality. Washington, DC: Center for American progress.

gallagher, H.A. (2004). Vaughn elementary’s innovative teach-er evaluation system: Are teacher evaluation scores related to growth in student achievement? Peabody Journal of Edu-cation, 79(4), 79–107.

goe, L. (2007). The link between teacher quality and student outcomes: A research synthesis. Washington, DC: national Comprehensive Center on Teacher Quality.

Heneman, H.g., iii, milanowski, A., Kimball, S.m., & Odden, A. (2006). Standards-based teacher evaluation as a founda-tion for knowledge- and skill-based pay (CpRe policy Brief RB-45). philadelphia, pA: Consortium for policy Research in education.

Kimball, S.m., White, B., milanowski, A.T., & Borman, g. (2004). examining the relationship between teacher evalu-ation and student assessment results in Washoe County. Peabody Journal of Education, 79(4), 54–78.

milanowski, A. (2004). The relationship between teacher per-formance evaluation scores and student achievement: evi-dence from Cincinnati. Peabody Journal of Education, 79(4), 33–53.

nye, B., Konstantopoulus, S., & Hedges, L.V. (2004). How large are teacher effects? Educational Evaluation and Policy Archives, 26(3), 237–257.

Rivkin, S.g., Hanushek, e.A., & Kain, J.F. (2005). Teachers, schools, and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73(2), 417–453.

u.S. Department of education. (2010). A blueprint for reform: The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Educa-tion Act. Washington, DC: Author.

Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., mulhern, K., & Keeling, D. (2009). The widget effect: Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. Brooklyn, nY: new Teacher project.

Wenglinsky, H. (2002). How schools matter: The link between teacher classroom practices and student academic perfor-mance. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(12). Retrieved from http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/viewFile/291/417

rESEarch BriEF


The ogden, utah, School district Takes a unique approach To improving instruction By Jacqueline Raphael

voices

ogden School district, in the northern hub of utah, is committed to moving out of “district improvement” status. Since 2008–2009, assistant Superintendent rich moore has overseen a district improvement effort that penetrates deeply into the classroom, with a bull’s-eye focus on increasing student achievement through teacher effectiveness. although it’s too soon for results on state tests, the district’s approach is promising, according to nanci Sch-neider, senior program advisor at Education northwest and an experienced school improve-ment coach. “ogden is doing the right things for the right reasons. in all my years in school

improvement, i’ve never come across such a rich system at the district level for assess-ing and supporting teachers while holding them account-able for change,” she said af-ter a recent visit. a follow-up conversation with Schneider and moore suggests that much can be learned from this district’s program.

improvement approach using frequent monitoring and tiered interventions to provide more individualized levels of positive behavioral support and literacy instruction to students. nothing is un-usual about using RTi, says Schneider, but Ogden provides teachers with tiered support as well, monitoring their prog-ress and providing them with custom-ized support depending on their re-sponse to the district-level intervention.

Ogden’s program starts with formal school appraisals conducted twice a year in each of the district’s 22 build-ings. During the appraisal, a six-person team—including district personnel and staff members of the school being ap-praised—splits up to collect data across the school. These mini-teams focus squarely on teacher practices, conduct-ing observations in every single class-room. These observations last only 10 minutes, but “don’t be fooled,” says Sch-neider. “A surprising amount of very spe-cific, important information is collected

during those 10 minutes.” each school is assessed against district

goal areas as well as a self-selected school goal. This year, appraisal teams focused on student opportunities to respond and on-task behavior. Team members used individual tally sheets to count students responding verbally or physically to the teacher’s question or statement. indi-vidual, whole-group, and small-group/pair responses were all included. After 10 minutes, team members totaled their markings and assigned a high, medium, or low score for the class. “The bar is set high,” says Schneider, with a high score equating to 30 or more student opportu-nities to respond. The on-task measure involves observing a different student every five seconds, noting whether he or she is engaged in instructional activity. At the end of the day, mini-teams com-pile results and provide overall ratings in each goal area for each school. These ratings are what Ogden calls “leading” indicators. The district is confident that improvements in these ratings will help close achievement gaps and increase stu-dent achievement overall.

To ensure these results, every school gets an instructional coach responsible for improving the school’s appraisal ratings. These instructional coaches provide intensive support to individual teachers. The coaches are highly trained in instructional strategies, such as ques-tioning and sheltered instruction, and in effective coaching practices, including learning walks and modeling lessons. They monitor teacher performance to determine professional development needs, and they discern whether each teacher is improving his or her profi-ciency in much the same way that school teams monitor the individual perfor-mance of students in RTi.

Ogden City, the sixth largest city in utah, sits at the base of the Wasatch mountain Range, 35 miles north of Salt Lake City. The school district serves 12,770 stu-dents, 73 percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and 24 percent limited english proficient (Lep). Achievement gaps, particularly for Lep students, put the district into improvement status in 2010. As with all districts facing no Child Left Be-hind accountability, the state provided additional funds and support, with an expectation for improved results. But when Schneider and others from educa-tion northwest visited Ogden to provide consulting services, they learned the district hadn’t waited for the mandate: Two years prior, Ogden had already begun designing and implementing an intensive and innovative improvement effort. “Once we recognized some of our schools weren’t improving, we went to work,” says moore.

Ogden’s learning support model is based on Response to interven-tion, or RTi, an increasingly common

Nanci Schneider Rich Moore


“Just like the students, teachers are supported in one of the three tiered lev-els, with the expectation that they will develop their practice to the highest level possible,” says Schneider. “if they’re struggling, the district provides more intensive coaching and support. But, unlike students, teachers in this system know if they’re ultimately unsuccess-ful, they may be facing some difficult choices.”

“it’s true we expect peak performance from everyone,” says moore, including teachers, principals, and coaches. “if not, there can be consequences. nobody deserves a free ride,” he adds. Schneider notes that as many as 10 teachers have been moved, which is a remarkable number, suggesting Ogden is really seri-ous about accountability. An additional coach works at tier-2 schools with more intensive needs, supporting the RTi

teams, and a leadership coach works with all of the principals. The coach-es’ work is carefully monitored by the district.

“We treat this system as our holy grail,” explains moore. “We approach it very systemically. We’re confident that our leading indicators will produce positive results. more importantly, our building leaders are comfortable with this, even when we bare our souls to the world.” indeed, tables put schools in rank order against each measure. “But it’s about improving our teaching to better serve students, not trying to nail someone against a wall,” moore adds.

So far, Ogden has seen some prom-ising changes in instruction, but ac-countability ratings for the state aren’t determined until next year. perhaps more significantly, though, the system is producing some “teacher turnarounds.”

most teachers improve when given the professional development specific to their needs.

indeed, improvement is the focus throughout the system. “We’re not pie in the sky,” says moore. “We’re about growth, about continuous systems growth.” After all, moore continues, Og-den’s “improvement” status is not what’s motivating the district. “What matters to my team is that we’re making or break-ing the future of the students we serve. if we’re turning out kids who are not col-lege or career ready, then it’s on us to do everything we can to change, in order to make them successful.” n

VoicES


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o by

Jim

Lub

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Education northwest offers consecutive Summer workshops in Elementary math and writing

This July, elementary educators can receive high-quality professional development in both mathematics and writing by attend-ing two of education northwest’s most highly acclaimed workshops back-to-back. Fostering number Sense and Al-gebraic Reasoning and 6+1 Trait® Writ-ing Across Content Areas are scheduled for grade-level tracks K–2 and 3–5, July 13–16 in portland, Oregon. Attend both workshops over the four-day period (a $200 savings) or attend just one work-shop for two days.

t wo grade-leVel tracks

July 13–14 July 15–16grades K–2 math Writinggrades 3–5 Writing math

fostering number sense and algebraic reasoning

education northwest’s training in Fos-tering number Sense and Algebraic Rea-soning has received national attention for its effectiveness in boosting math achievement by tapping into elementary students’ intuitive number sense to build algebraic concepts. Workshop partici-pants will learn effective instructional strategies by engaging in problem-solv-ing activities, analyzing classroom video clips and examples of student work, and applying current research about how children learn mathematics.

math content experts and workshop facilitators Linda griffin and melinda Leong will introduce participants of the K–2 workshop to the learning progres-sions for the development of number sense, addition, and subtraction con-cepts. The grades 3–5 session focuses on learning progressions for the devel-opment of multiplication and division concepts.

6+1 trait® writing across content areas

used in classrooms worldwide, edu-cation northwest’s 6+1 Trait Writing model of instruction & Assessment pro-vides a common language that students and teachers can use to communicate about the characteristics of good writ-ing. in addition to learning research-based strategies for teaching and as-sessing writing, workshop participants will explore ways to integrate the traits into writing-to-learn experiences across content areas.

Following her popular line of Wee Can® guidebooks, K–2 workshop facili-tator Carolyn mcmahon will demon-strate a variety of activities that provide youngsters with a solid foundation for writing across the curriculum, through-out the school day, and through their school lives. Facilitating the grades 3–5 workshop, Jan Littlebear—education northwest’s lead 6+1 Trait trainer—will guide participants in using the 6+1 Trait model to improve and assess writing in all content areas—including math, science, and social studies.

content supports arra guidelines

Linda griffin and Jan Littlebear orga-nized this event as a way to provide a convenient, one-stop opportunity for improving classroom practice in two critical areas. They add that participating in these courses can support districts’ efforts to meet educational guidelines related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). “Both the math and writing workshops are aligned with the ARRA priorities of improving teacher effectiveness and providing in-tensive support and effective interven-tions for the lowest performing schools,” says Littlebear.

location, location, location

The workshops will take place in the newly renovated offices of education northwest—in the heart of downtown portland, Oregon. There are several hotels within walking distance, and the mAx light rail takes people from the air-port to within a few blocks of our build-ing. City events this time of year include the portland Farmers market, Yoshida’s Sand in the City, portland Highland games, and the 2010 international Beerfest.

ways to saVe

participants can save on registration costs by registering for back-to-back workshops for their grade track or by registering as part of a team of three or more.

get complete details and register at educationnorthwest.org/event/951/ or contact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 572. n

educationnortHWestneWs

To order: educationnorthwest.org or call 800.547.6339, ext. 519 43

head of iES addresses Education northwest audience

Federally supported education research needs to be both relevant and useful, ac-cording to Dr. John Q. easton, head of the Department of education’s institute of education Sciences (ieS). easton spoke about the qualities and role of education research at a meeting of edu-cation northwest’s Board of Directors in Boise, idaho, on march 24. As part of his visit, easton appeared at a public fo-rum attended by about 70 participants, including idaho educators, researchers, and policymakers.

in his public remarks, easton stressed the need for researchers to shift from being simply disseminators of informa-tion to facilitators. To do so, he said, will require close partnerships with schools and districts as well as a commitment from the research community. easton commented that researchers cannot “drop the results [of a study] on schools or school districts and tell them, ‘This is something good for you.’” instead, re-searchers must invite practitioners and policymakers to the table and give them a role in shaping studies that meet their needs.

easton also addressed the topic of teacher effectiveness, which was the focus of a panel discussion in which five education northwest board mem-bers representing different stakeholder roles shared their views (see page 18 to read more about the panel discussion). easton, who previously headed the Con-sortium on Chicago School Research at the university of Chicago, said research shows there’s a high degree of variability from year to year in teachers’ impact on student growth. He also cited evidence indicating that teacher pay scales and characteristics such as advanced degrees aren’t clearly linked to student gains.

Board Chair Jerry Colonna, superin-tendent of the Beaverton (OR) School District, said the Board felt honored with the amount of time easton was able to spend with them and appreciated hear-ing his perspective on the future of pub-lic education. “Dr. easton’s presentations at the Board of Directors’ annual retreat gave great insight into the priorities, in-stitutional culture, preferred research methodology, challenges, and initia-tives that he has been working on in his first year as director of the institute of education Sciences,” said Colonna. “Dr. easton emphasized that he wants to get more input from practitioners and that he is traveling around the country listen-ing and learning about what the needs are in the field.”

easton was named to a six-year term as director of ieS in may 2009. As the research arm of the u.S. Department of education, ieS encompasses the national Center for education Statis-tics, the national Center for education evaluation and Regional Assistance, the national Center for education Research, and the national Center for Special education. n

Wee Can® TravelAligning 6+1 Trait® Strategies With Social Studies Standards for Elementary StudentsWee Can Travel shows K–4 teachers how to apply the 6+1 Trait® Writing model with beginning writ-ers using acclaimed children’s literature. Each book featured in Wee Can Travel covers an important social studies theme and is combined with activi-ties based on standards developed by the National Council for the Social Studies.

The books featured in Wee Can Travel include:• The Pledge of Allegiance • Johnny Appleseed• The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush • Stone Soup• Martin’s Big Words • Follow the Drinking Gourd

Wee Can Travel includes 36 activities that continuously blend reading, writing, speaking, and creative artwork into an integrated approach to writing and social studies. Text is color coded to easily distinguish between the information that is specifically for the teacher and the instruction that is to be delivered by the teacher.

Each literature title has the following components:• Six trait activities, including focus trait, specific

criteria, and trait writing vocabulary• Three literacy centers per title• Culminating activities for whole-class

participation• Short instructional scripts for each story (2010)

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Flashbackforums bridge research and practice

ReL northwest, the regional educational laboratory operated by education northwest, has been hosting a string of forums designed to bridge research and practice throughout the north-west. These “bridge events”—sponsored by the institute of edu-cation Sciences—provide regional educators and policymakers the opportunity to connect with noted national researchers. Resources from most of these recent events are available online at educationnorthwest.org/rel-northwest/. upcoming forums can be found in the events section of the same site.

The February 17 forum held in conjunction with the inter-national Reading Association’s conference in portland, Oregon, focused on effective classroom and intervention practices for improving adolescent literacy. A similar forum took place April 13 in Boise, idaho.

On march 24, approximately 80 school leaders gathered in Helena, montana, to discuss recommendations for turning around low-performing schools and to hear from montana principals who led successful improvement efforts at their schools.

A three-part webinar series in march and April examined Response to intervention (RTi)—a multi-tiered instructional process usually associated with helping struggling readers—as a way to help students who are falling behind in mathematics.

participants in an April 22 forum in missoula, montana, looked at how to support language and literacy development in preschool classrooms through effective teacher-student in-teractions: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support.

first writing across content areas institute held

The new 6+1 Trait® Writing Across the Content Areas institute had a successful inaugural turnout. more than 50 middle and high school educators from Oregon, Washington, Alaska, mon-tana, michigan, and Oklahoma gathered in portland march 11–12 to learn how to use education northwest’s trademark writing instruction and assessment model to facilitate writing across content areas such as mathematics, science, and social studies. Teams learned how to use the traits to create a common language and set clear goals for writing, as well as how to im-prove their instruction and assessment of longer, more formal writing assignments.

assistance offered on meeting i3 eValuation requirements

A free webinar on April 13 offered information on meeting in-vesting in innovation (i3) evaluation requirements when ap-plying for these competitive Recovery Act grants. education northwest’s evaluation experts described the evaluation crite-ria for different types of i3 grants; gave tips on what to look for in an independent evaluator; and fielded questions regarding how to write a strong evaluation plan. The webinar drew a national audience with 50 people—from Hawaii to new York—participating. An archive record-ing and the presentation’s powerpoint slides are online at educationnorthwest.org/event/1060/. n

EducaTion norThwEST nEwS


conference call

Visit Education northwest’s online calen-dar of events at educationnorthwest.org to register and learn more about these upcoming workshops and institutes.

fostering number sense and algebraic reasoning

June 8–10, Anchorage, AK (for grades K–2 and 3–5)

July 27–29, Renton, WA (for grades K–2, 3–5, and 6–8)

August 16–18, Billings, MT (for grades K–2 and 3–5)

Strong number sense is a foundation for success in mathematics. When number sense is grounded in algebraic reason-ing, students gain access to the powerful unifying ideas of mathematics to deepen their understanding of numbers and op-erations. These professional development institutes build teachers’ pedagogical and content knowledge of these areas to op-timize students’ learning of mathemat-ics. Teachers will participate in problem-solving activities, analyze classroom video clips and examples of student work, and apply research about how children learn mathematics. For questions contact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 662.

6+1 trait® writing training of trainers

June 15–17, 2010, Cannon Beach, ORThis advanced institute will train literacy coaches, teacher leaders, administrators, and curriculum coordinators to conduct their own in-district, trait-based work-shops. participation in an introductory trait institute and classroom experience teaching the traits are prerequisites. The institute includes examination of the research supporting the 6+1 Trait Writ-ing model of instruction & Assessment, lesson design and curriculum mapping, and how to incorporate adult learning

strategies into professional development workshops. For questions contact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 572.

6+1 trait® writing introductory workshop

June 22–24, 2010, Portland, ORThis introduction to education north-west’s 6+1 Trait Writing model of in-struction & Assessment addresses grades 3–12 in one session and grades pK–2 in another. Learn to formatively evaluate student writing across seven dimensions of performance: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation. partici-pants will also discover how to build a learning community that shares a com-mon vocabulary and vision of quality writing performance. For questions con-tact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 572.

dropout preVention: a forum for montana high school leaders

June 24, 2010, Helena, MTThis forum will provide the leadership teams of high schools facing improve-ment status an opportunity to compare their current practice to recommended research-based practices. Dr. Russell Rumberger, coauthor of the institute of education Sciences’ practice guide Dropout Prevention, will lead the forum. Dr. mindee O’Cummings of the nation-al High School Center will present the early Warning System Tool—a system for calculating students’ risk of drop-ping out. A panel of montana educators will highlight the successes and chal-lenges they have experienced in provid-ing rigorous and relevant instruction to engage students. For questions contact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 635.

from structure to instruction: sharing best practices and lessons learned from high school redesign efforts

June 28–30, 2010, Las Vegas, NVAttend this third annual institute with your school or district team to gain valu-able information and concrete direction from the redesign efforts and accom-plishments of skilled practitioners. Con-ference organizers suggest registering soon, as space is limited to 550 partici-pants and the previous two years’ insti-tutes sold out. Visit the event website for information about this year’s keynotes, 50+ sessions, and preinstitute workshops on Sunday, June 27. From Structure to in-struction is hosted by education north-west’s Recreating Secondary Schools program, which has helped more than 1,200 high schools nationwide tackle the intensive work of restructuring. For questions, contact [email protected]; 800.547.6339, ext. 634.

summer institute on youth mentoring

July 26–30, 2010, Portland, ORportland State university (pSu) will host the 2010 Summer institute on Youth mentoring (SiYm), an annual event that brings together researchers and practitioners for a week of presenta-tions and dialogue on youth mentoring. SiYm is open to participants who have applied and been accepted. As in past years, education northwest’s national mentoring Center (nmC) will partner with pSu on the event, presenting the many ways nmC supports youth men-toring programs nationwide. For more information on the institute, visit www.youthmentoring.ssw.pdx.edu. n

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