A new report by the not-for-profit, non-partisan National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds that Minnesota's teacher policies largely work against the nation's goal of improving teacher quality. While the national focus on teacher quality has never been greater, the broad range of state laws, rules and regulations that govern the teaching profession too often impede rather than promote serious reform.
NCTQ's 2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook examined state policy across five areas that include teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure and dismissal, alternative certification and compensation. Minnesota earned the following grades, resulting in an overall grade of D-:
• Delivering Well Prepared Teachers: D
• Expanding the Teaching Pool: D-
• Identifying Effective New Teachers: D
• Retaining Effective New Teachers: C-
• Exiting Ineffective New Teachers: F
NCTQ President Kate Walsh said, "The release of the 2009 Yearbook comes at a particularly opportune time. Race to the Top, the $4.5 billion federal discretionary grant competition, has put unprecedented focus on education reform in general, and teacher quality in particular. We believe that the Yearbook provides a road map for achieving a Race to the Top grant, identifying where states are on the right track and where they have considerable work to do.
Walsh continued: “Unfortunately, states have tremendous ground to make up after years of policy neglect. There is much more Minnesota can do to ensure that all children have the effective teachers they deserve."
Among the findings about Minnesota:
• Minnesota's evaluation and tenure policies do not consider what should count the most about teacher performance: classroom effectiveness. Minnesota does not require any objective measures of student learning in teacher evaluations and does not require annual evaluations for all teachers. Unlike most states, Minnesota does specify a process for how districts should make tenure decisions, but there is no requirement that teacher effectiveness must be considered.
• Minnesota makes it too difficult for districts to attempt to dismiss poor performers by failing to articulate a policy for dismissing teachers for poor performance separate from dismissal policies for criminal and morality violations. Minnesota also allows multiple appeals of dismissals.
• Although Minnesota claims to offer an alternative route to certification, its burdensome requirements block talented individuals from entering the profession.
• Minnesota's requirements for the preparation of elementary teachers do not ensure these teachers are well prepared to teach mathematics. While the state's policies do address the science of reading instruction, Minnesota fails to ensure that its elementary teachers are well prepared to teach reading through an appropriate test.
• Some teachers in Minnesota can teach grades seven and eight on a K-8 generalist license, although their preparation is the same as teachers of early elementary grades.
• Minnesota sets low expectations for what special education teachers should know, despite state and federal expectations that special education students should meet the same high standards as other students.
• Minnesota fails to exercise appropriate oversight of its teacher preparation programs. The state allows programs to admit candidates without passing a basic skills test. It also fails to hold programs accountable for the quality of the teachers they produce.
• Minnesota's pay and benefit policies for teachers—including the state-run retirement system—offer inadequate incentives to stay in teaching. The financial sustainability of the retirement system is also uncertain, based on the state's own report.
Despite these findings, Minnesota has some bright spots, including its performance pay initiative, which discourages participating districts from connecting teacher pay to advanced degrees, as research has shown such degrees are not connected to teacher effectiveness.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Educational Data System Evaluated
A new Data Quality Campaign (DQC) report finds that states are making impressive progress toward building longitudinal data systems and are taking the first steps to ensure that new information is used to improve student outcomes and system-wide performance. But the results, which are based on a survey of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, also show that most states have much work to do around key practices, such as following student progress from pre-school through college and the workforce, sharing student-level progress reports with teachers, and providing adequate training around data use.
Minnesota report:
Minnesota report:
Friday, February 5, 2010
Race to the Top Application Submitted to Washington with Overwhelming Support from Minnesota
Support from 300 school districts and 116 charter schools causes state to increase grant request to $330 million.
State education officials submitted Minnesota’s official application for President Obama’s Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative with overwhelming support from the state’s schools and districts. The 1,000 page application is accompanied by memoranda of agreement signed by 300 school districts and 116 charter schools, representing over 93 percent of the students in the state. Because of the overwhelming support from local school districts, the state increased its grant request from $230 to $330 million.
“The overwhelming support we received from our schools, districts and stakeholders is a strong testament to the quality of our application,” said Alice Seagren, Minnesota Commissioner of Education. “In keeping with Minnesota tradition, their support will make sure the reforms of Race to the Top are implemented to benefit the students of our state for years to come.”
Over $4.3 billion in RTTT grants will be awarded to 10 to15 states nationally in a highly competitive process to reward education innovation and reform. Because of our recent efforts in education reform, Minnesota is in a strong position to receive more than $330 million in RTTT funds.
• Minnesota has nationally recognized academic standards for students in math, language arts, science and social studies that have become the model for other states. The state’s assessments are also on the cutting edge of technology, especially in science.
• More than 30 percent of Minnesota students are already being taught by teachers participating in Q Comp, the researched-based alternative pay program. Minnesota’s application proposes to strengthen Q Comp by including pay-for-performance for principals, student outcome data in teacher and principal evaluations, and by providing a teacher and principal developed statewide system for evaluating teachers that districts may choose to use. These enhancements will ensure additional rigor while maintaining the collaborative union/management approach to developing a district's Q Comp plan.
• Minnesota was the first to pioneer the charter school concept and, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the state still has the strongest environment for charter schools in the nation.
• Minnesota’s recent efforts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) align with the Race to the Top application.
Race to the Top will provide funding to support Minnesota teachers and schools in their ongoing efforts to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It's also an opportunity for states like Minnesota to demonstrate to the rest of the nation how they are improving student achievement.
“Minnesota is proud of its leadership in education reform and with Race to the Top, we look forward to present successful strategies to the rest of the nation,” added Seagren.
State education officials submitted Minnesota’s official application for President Obama’s Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative with overwhelming support from the state’s schools and districts. The 1,000 page application is accompanied by memoranda of agreement signed by 300 school districts and 116 charter schools, representing over 93 percent of the students in the state. Because of the overwhelming support from local school districts, the state increased its grant request from $230 to $330 million.
“The overwhelming support we received from our schools, districts and stakeholders is a strong testament to the quality of our application,” said Alice Seagren, Minnesota Commissioner of Education. “In keeping with Minnesota tradition, their support will make sure the reforms of Race to the Top are implemented to benefit the students of our state for years to come.”
Over $4.3 billion in RTTT grants will be awarded to 10 to15 states nationally in a highly competitive process to reward education innovation and reform. Because of our recent efforts in education reform, Minnesota is in a strong position to receive more than $330 million in RTTT funds.
• Minnesota has nationally recognized academic standards for students in math, language arts, science and social studies that have become the model for other states. The state’s assessments are also on the cutting edge of technology, especially in science.
• More than 30 percent of Minnesota students are already being taught by teachers participating in Q Comp, the researched-based alternative pay program. Minnesota’s application proposes to strengthen Q Comp by including pay-for-performance for principals, student outcome data in teacher and principal evaluations, and by providing a teacher and principal developed statewide system for evaluating teachers that districts may choose to use. These enhancements will ensure additional rigor while maintaining the collaborative union/management approach to developing a district's Q Comp plan.
• Minnesota was the first to pioneer the charter school concept and, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the state still has the strongest environment for charter schools in the nation.
• Minnesota’s recent efforts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) align with the Race to the Top application.
Race to the Top will provide funding to support Minnesota teachers and schools in their ongoing efforts to meet the goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. It's also an opportunity for states like Minnesota to demonstrate to the rest of the nation how they are improving student achievement.
“Minnesota is proud of its leadership in education reform and with Race to the Top, we look forward to present successful strategies to the rest of the nation,” added Seagren.
Minnesota’s Other Achievement Gap
While NCLB is closing the gap between rich and poor and ethnic groups at the proficient level, the gap at the advanced level is widening.
NAEP proficiency level and percentile data as well as results from state assessments demonstrate the existence of substantial excellence gaps for Black, Hispanic, and Free and Reduced Lunch Eligible students. White students had higher average AP scores than Black and Hispanic students on AP tests and were much more likely to make a “5” on an AP exam or take an AP exam.
According to NAEP proficiency data, the percentage of students at the advanced level increased for white and non-FARM students in Math, for FARM students in Math Grade 4 and Reading Grade 8, and for Hispanic students in Math Grade 4. The excellence gap expanded in Math, while general declines in Reading Grade 4 increased the gap for FARM students. In Reading Grade 8 the gap narrowed for FARM and increased for Hispanic students.
NAEP scale scores at the 90th percentile increased for most subgroups in Math, while in Reading scores were lower for most groups in Grade 4 as well as for non-FARM and white students in Grade 8. The excellence gap for minorities declined in Grade 4 Math (due to white students’ flat scores), and in Reading Grade 8 the achievement gaps narrowed on lower performance for non-white and FARM students. In Math Grade 8 FARM and Hispanic students improved less quickly than their peers.
The proportion of white, affluent, Black, Hispanic, and lower-income students performing at the advanced level increased on Grade 4, 7, and 11 Math assessments.
There was a general decline in performance on Grade 4 Reading exams. The excellence gap expanded for lower-income students across subjects and exams, as it did for white students in Math. Hispanic students’ performances stagnated in Grade 7 and 10 Reading, trailing their white peers, while Black students performed somewhat better, narrowing the gap in Grade 7 Reading and keeping pace in Grade 4 Reading.
On the AP exams, there were slight increases in achievement gaps in the mean AP scores, in the percentage of exams scoring a 5 (weighted and unweighted), and the number of tests taken weighted by enrollment.
Complete report:
https://www.iub.edu/~ceep/Gap/excellence/Minnesota.pdf
NAEP proficiency level and percentile data as well as results from state assessments demonstrate the existence of substantial excellence gaps for Black, Hispanic, and Free and Reduced Lunch Eligible students. White students had higher average AP scores than Black and Hispanic students on AP tests and were much more likely to make a “5” on an AP exam or take an AP exam.
According to NAEP proficiency data, the percentage of students at the advanced level increased for white and non-FARM students in Math, for FARM students in Math Grade 4 and Reading Grade 8, and for Hispanic students in Math Grade 4. The excellence gap expanded in Math, while general declines in Reading Grade 4 increased the gap for FARM students. In Reading Grade 8 the gap narrowed for FARM and increased for Hispanic students.
NAEP scale scores at the 90th percentile increased for most subgroups in Math, while in Reading scores were lower for most groups in Grade 4 as well as for non-FARM and white students in Grade 8. The excellence gap for minorities declined in Grade 4 Math (due to white students’ flat scores), and in Reading Grade 8 the achievement gaps narrowed on lower performance for non-white and FARM students. In Math Grade 8 FARM and Hispanic students improved less quickly than their peers.
The proportion of white, affluent, Black, Hispanic, and lower-income students performing at the advanced level increased on Grade 4, 7, and 11 Math assessments.
There was a general decline in performance on Grade 4 Reading exams. The excellence gap expanded for lower-income students across subjects and exams, as it did for white students in Math. Hispanic students’ performances stagnated in Grade 7 and 10 Reading, trailing their white peers, while Black students performed somewhat better, narrowing the gap in Grade 7 Reading and keeping pace in Grade 4 Reading.
On the AP exams, there were slight increases in achievement gaps in the mean AP scores, in the percentage of exams scoring a 5 (weighted and unweighted), and the number of tests taken weighted by enrollment.
Complete report:
https://www.iub.edu/~ceep/Gap/excellence/Minnesota.pdf
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