Summer 2000
In order to ensure high quality education and improved learning, it is essential that our children have opportunities to learn from teachers who meet, and continue to demonstrate throughout their career, rigorous professional standards. The attainment of high standards of teaching is an on-going process that begins with pre-service education, initial credentialing and hiring, and moves through the continuum of induction, mentoring, professional teacher status, professional development and recertification.
Massachusetts has taken significant steps to implement rigorous standards and procedures that are designed to improve and assess teacher quality at all levels of the professional continuum. While many of these new initiatives have sparked debate about the definition of teacher quality and the manner in which quality can be assessed, it is clear that the overall goal is to improve opportunities for high quality learning. The assessment of teacher quality is an on-going, multi-dimensional process that cannot be determined strictly by certification or recertification.
Through its work to support instructional and curriculum leaders in Massachusetts, MASCD is committed to the improvement of teaching and the quality of education. A review of local, state and national efforts to assess teacher quality will assist educators and policy makers to define the issues and to make informed decisions. What are the "best practices" to ensure quality in our teaching staff? Will the implementation of rigorous standards for the assessment of teacher quality lead to improved student learning? Is the attainment of a standard certificate or recertification a sufficient measure of teacher quality? What support structures at the local district and school levels will be needed in order to implement these rigorous standards? How can MASCD support instructional and curriculum leaders in the effort to assess and improve the quality of teachers in our schools?
MASCD's publication of Focus on Teacher Quality: Ensuring High Quality Teaching . . . Not By Certification Alone will review the factors and successful practices that MASCD believes will contribute to an effective assessment model of teacher quality.
In order to ensure high quality teaching, MASCD poses some questions that educators need to consider at each level of teacher development. MASCD believes it is critical for local school districts to playa significant role in the response to each of these questions.
Preservice: How and when should undergraduate students be accepted to schools of education and teacher training programs? How do the criteria for selection to receive "bonuses" differ from the criteria for acceptance to undergraduate programs?
Initial Certification: Is the Teacher Competency Test both valid and reliable?
Induction: Should all new teachers be required to complete a comprehensive support program?
Professional Teacher Status: What are the standards for attainment of Professional Teacher Status and how should achievement of these standards be evaluated?
Recertification: Who should have the final determination of recertification: the local district, the state?
Teacher Evaluation: Are we able to assess the Principles of Effective Teaching and are we able to develop a rubric to measure each of these principles?
Under Education Reform in Massachusetts, the certification and recertification process is determined at its minimal and legal level by state regulations (See the Department of Education website at http://www.doe.mass.edu/ ). The now required Teacher Test for preservice teachers can only certify the schools that the teacher is literate. Similarly, the accumulation of Professional Development Points (PDPs) required under the new regulations for recertification will not guaranty teacher quality. The primary responsibility to ensure teacher quality rests with the local school and district, not with the process of certification and recertification.
MASCD believes that there are four key stages at which K-1 2 schools can "control" the quality of their teaching staff:
1. Hiring: While the interview is necessary, it is not sufficient. Additional strategies should be employed including problem-solving simulations, teaching a lesson, and on-site observations. The Principal, along with other staff members, plays a critical role in the hiring process. School districts should develop consistent guidelines for hiring.
2. Professional Teacher Status: A school has three years in which to judge whether a teacher should receive Professional Teacher Status. This is ample time to observe and assess the teacher's application of the seven Principles of Effective Teaching in practice. These competencies provide a variety of lenses through which to view quality teaching as a totality. Local school districts should support strong induction and mentoring programs.
3. Professional Development Plan: Under the current regulations for recertification, each teacher must develop a multi-year Professional Development Plan that is aligned with the goals of the local school and district. Principals have the responsibility to approve the plan and to assist in the identification of growth areas.
4. Evaluation / Supervision: The professional development of an experienced teacher can come from his/her own analysis and reflection, from the recommendations of an administrator, and also from the district or school goals. Even the best teacher needs to continue to grow. Local school districts have the responsibility to ensure that professional development is a critical component of the evaluation and supervision process.
MASCD believes that each of these four areas provides ample occasion for the determination and the development of teacher quality. It is the responsibility of both the individual teacher and the School to ensure that these processes work in concert to achieve a high level of teacher quality.
MASCD believes that performance-based assessment is a useful strategy to improve quality teaching. There are many types of performance-based assessment in practice throughout the country. Several of these assessment practices have undergone technical validation. Local school districts may want to consider some of these effective practices.
High Inference Classroom Assessments: These are most commonly used to assess general teaching skills of beginning teachers. Examples include: The Connecticut Competency Instrument; Praxis III developed by ETS; and Pathwise, a short form of Praxis III.
Portfolio Assessments: These are usually "content-specific." Examples include: National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC).
Video Tapes of Teachers: These can be used as a form of classroom observation either alone or as part of a portfolio system.
Assessment Center Exercises: This approach uses various forms of interviews, case simulations, in-basket exercises, critiques of videotapes, etc.
Paper and Pencil Test: These can be authentic assessments of knowledge, especially in a constructed response format.
There are three national initiatives that link teacher preparation, licensure, and professional development through the use of common principles of instruction.
NBPTS is developing portfolio assessments and assessment center exercises for advanced teachers in specific content areas and grade levels.
INTASC calls for three types of assessment: subject area content knowledge, classroom performance, and foundational knowledge and skills essential to teaching.
NCATE (National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education) has integrated the INTASC core principles into its unit accreditation standards.
There is broad consensus on some issues in performance assessment. Multiple measures are necessary for sound decision making. The assessment of knowledge and application requires different approaches. Assessment can have a positive effect on teacher performance. Specific protocols should be selected for the capacity to improve practice as well as to identify weaknesses and areas of improvement. Assessors must be trained and supported. MASCD believes that local school district should explore multiple strategies in the assessment of teacher quality.
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) began in 1987 to assess teaching practices and just released new standards. The mission of NBPTS is to set high and rigorous standards of teaching practice, to develop and operate a national, voluntary system to assess and certify teachers who meet these standards, and to advance related educational reforms for the purpose of improving student learning in American schools. The board is an independent, nonprofit organization governed by a 63 member board, the majority of whom are classroom teachers. A National Board Certificate promises to attest that a teacher is, as judged by his / her peers, one who is accomplished, makes sound professional judgments about students' best interests, and acts effectively on those judgments.
The standards grow out of a central policy statement about what teachers should know and be able to do. The vision of teaching is organized around five core propositions: 1. Teachers are committed to students and their learning, 2. Teachers have a knowledge base of the subjects they teach and how to best teach those subjects to students, 3. Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning, 4. Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience, and 5. Teachers are members of learning communities.
Based on these propositions, the National Board sets advanced standards in more than thirty fields. The certificates are structured around student developmental levels and the subjects taught. Standards are created by committees of classroom teachers, teacher educators, and subject experts and are then reviewed nationally and extensively before final approval by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Teachers who apply for National Board Certification are expected to demonstrate proficiency in a variety of situations. All of the assessments are performance-based and afford teachers an opportunity to grow professionally and to reflect on their teaching practice. The first of the two-part assessment asks teachers to develop a school-site portfolio that demonstrates various facets of teaching. Candidates show evidence of teaching practice through student work, videotapes, and written commentaries. During the second portion of the assessment, teachers attend an assessment center where exercises focus on content knowledge as well as age and content-appropriate strategies. Teachers demonstrate their knowledge and practice with written responses to prompts or stimulus materials such as journal articles and student work samples.
National Board Certification represents an opportunity for teachers across the county to gauge their skills and knowledge against objective, peer-developed standards of advanced practice. The certification process complements but does not replace state licensing. Massachusetts currently offers a monetary incentive for teachers to complete the National Board Certification process. MASCD encourages teachers to pursue National Board Certification and recommends that local school districts incorporate the standards of National Certification into local procedures on teacher evaluation, attainment of professional teacher status, and professional development.
As a professional organization committed to the improvement of quality of education in Massachusetts, MASCD advocates for practices that ensure high standards for teacher quality. MASCD believes that local schools and districts play a central role in the implementation of rigorous standards for teaching. Local school districts can ensure that classrooms are staffed with high quality teachers through hiring practices, induction, determination of Professional Teacher Status, professional development planning, and evaluation and supervision procedures. MASCD believes that certification and recertification represent minimal standards that will not ensure quality teachers.
MASCD continues to support the improvement of education through the provision of high quality programs and services to educators and schools. Recent MASCD programs that support high quality teaching include institutes: Summer Frameworks Orientation for Beginning Teachers, Administrator Training in Support of Beginning Teachers, and The Curriculum Administrator's Role in Strengthening instructional Practice; conferences: Powerful Practices in Literacy and the annual Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference; and publications: Teaching: A Career, A Profession, Beyond Technology ... Learning With the Wired Curriculum, and Using State Frameworks to Develop Quality Curricula for Massachusetts Schools.