Teacher Quality and School Improvement in 2010: P-20 in Historical Perspective Steve Tozer, UIC...
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Transcript of Teacher Quality and School Improvement in 2010: P-20 in Historical Perspective Steve Tozer, UIC...
Teacher Quality and School Improvement in 2010:
P-20 in Historical Perspective
Steve Tozer, UIC
What we learned in graduate school
• Schools don’t really affect student learning; it’s SES that does.– Cultural Deficit Theory– (Coleman, Jencks, 1960s)
1970s Effective Schools Research (Edmonds)
• "How many effective schools would you have to see to be persuaded of the educability of poor children? If your answer is more than one, then I submit that you have reasons of your own for preferring to believe that pupil performance derives from family background instead of school response to family background.”
1980s Nation at Risk
• School Reform as a national priority
• State legislation to improve schools
• Beginning of the standards movement
1990s: The Standards Movement
• What Matters Most . . .
• The quality of classroom instruction
• NBPTS, NCTAF, IPTS
• PK-12 Learning Standards
2000s: Transforming Schools at Scale
• Kati Haycock and the Education Trust
• NCLB (2001)
• Marzano: What Works in Schools (2003)
• Chenoweth: It’s Being Done (2007)
• CCSR: Five Essential Supports (2010)
The Big Three: Students, Teachers, and Leaders
• Joanne Weiss (Race to the Top)
• “. . . and that means we have to get the leadership right first.” (2010)
Improving Classroom Instruction at Scale
• The importance and limits of teacher preparation and certification
• Where does most teacher learning take place?
• Schools as adult learning environments
Leadership Quality as essential to Teacher Quality
• Are high quality principals born or made?
• Eight years of results
• New York School Leaders Academy
• New Leaders for New Schools
• UIC
What they have in common
• Partnerships with school districts
• High selectivity
• Intensive, year-long internships
• Integration of Theory and Practice
• Results accountable to improved student learning
Sample Results from UIC
• In the highest-need schools in CPS:– Improved test scores at elementary and secondary
levels
– Improved attendance in elementary and secondary schools
– Improved freshman-on-track in large and small high schools
– Reduced drop-out rates and increased graduation rates
What about the Market Model solutions?
• Charters, alternative routes, turnarounds and “breaking the higher ed monopoly”
• Absent good leadership, charter schools fail• Charter schools now seek strong leadership
as the key to success• Evidence: Alternative routes to teaching
are neither the solution nor a problem
Why is improved school leadership so essential?
• Because high-quality instruction in every classroom cannot otherwise be attained
• We have no viable alternative theory for improving teacher quality at scale
How do we know our principal work-force isn’t good enough?
• Good principals dramatically improve student performance
• Most principals do not
• Principals have been caught in a historical paradigm shift
Keys to Improving School Leadership in Illinois
• Must be highly selective• Must be clinically intensive• Must involve school districts and expert
practitioners as partners• Systemic, cost effective approach to (a)
changing higher ed’s relationship to PreK-12, and (b) improving learning outcomes
Higher Education has changed before
• 1909: The Flexner Report• 1910-1920: Resulting revolution in medical
education• (Highly selective, clinically intensive,
partnership with hospitals)• Ratio of physicians to principals in Illinois
is 3:1; it can be done