1. Developing and Assessing
Teacher Effectiveness
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

2. The Need for More Powerful Teaching
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

3. What Do Effective and Equitable
Teachers Know and Do?
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

4. Effective Teachers…
 Engage students in active learning
 Create intellectually ambitious tasks
 Use a variety of teaching strategies
 Assess student learning
continuously and adapt
teaching to student needs
 Create effective scaffolds and supports
 Provide clear standards, constant feedback, and
opportunities for revising work
 Develop and effectively manage a collaborative
classroom in which all students have membership.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

5. Equitable Teachers …
 Learn to see, hear, and understand the child
 Find out about children’s strengths, experiences,
and prior knowledge
 Have many tools for scaffolding understanding
 Continually develop culturally responsive practices
 Reinforce students’
competence and
confidence
 Reach out to children
and families

6. How Do We Develop,
Evaluate, and Ensure Effective
Teaching for Every Child?
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

7. Teaching Effectiveness
Depends on Many Factors
 Individual teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions
Hanushek et al. estimate the individual teacher effects component
of measured student achievement is about 7-10% of the total.
 The effectiveness of peers – Teams of experienced teachers
collaborating effectively and organizing curriculum across grades
 Student availability for learning – Prior learning opportunities and
developed abilities, attendance, health, supportive home context
 Resources for learning – Curriculum quality, materials, class sizes,
specialist supports, leadership supports, etc.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

8. Education Spending is
Unequal and Inadequate
California ADA Expenditures
18,000 16,583
16,000
14,000
11,222
12,000
9,480
10,000 7,863
8,000 6,457 6,360 6,182 5,913 5,741
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
e
J)
)
A)
ills
o
.
.
.
A
ag
em
em
em
sc
(S
(L
(L
H
er
i
El
El
El
nc
y
rk
on
rly
Av
le
a
Pa
o
e
as
ve
in
pt
Fr
id
lit
A
cK
lin
om
Be
a
ds
C
in
n
us
Bo
M
Sa
w
oo
C
Sa
ld
lin
W
Ba
ank
Fr

9. Low-Salary Districts Serve Higher Need Students
(CA)

10. Staffing Strongly Influences School Productivity
(ELA Productivity* (2003-07) Associated with Teacher and School
Characteristics)

11. Teacher Effectiveness Has Many
Components
Research finds that student learning gains are related to:
 Strong academic background
 Quality preparation prior to entry
 Certification in the field taught
 Experience (> 3 years)
 National Board Certification
In combination, these predict more of the difference in
student learning gains than race & parent education
combined (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2008).
Policies should strengthen & equalize these features.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

12. Policy Context
 Focusing on teacher effectiveness is seen as
a promising path for education policy
 New teacher evaluation systems, and
especially, “Value Added Models” (VAMs) are
promoted as tools to accomplish this goal
 Policy needs to be informed by research
about what will actually improve teaching and
student outcomes

13. Professional Consensus
 VAM estimates of teacher effectiveness …
should not used to make operational
decisions because such estimates are far
too unstable to be considered fair or
reliable.
– 2009 Letter Report from the
Board on Testing and Assessment,
National Research Council

14. Concerns Raised about
Value-Added Measures
Studies find that teachers’ value-added
“effectiveness” is highly variable & influenced by:
 The statistical model used
 The measure of achievement used
 Class size, curriculum, instructional supports,
and time spent with students
 Tutoring and parent supports
 Student characteristics and attendance

15. A Teacher’s Measured “Effectiveness”
Can Vary Widely
YEAR 1 10 YEAR 2
10  Same high school
8
6  Same course
4 (English I)
2 1
 Not a beginning
0
Decile Rank Y1 Decile Rank Y2 teacher
80
 Model controls for:
60
Y1  Prior
40
Y2 achievement
20
 Demographics
0
% ELL % Low- %Hispanic  School fixed
income effects

16. The Unintended Effects of the EVAAS
System In Houston
 Teachers teaching in grades in which English
Language Learners (ELLs) are transitioned into
mainstreamed classrooms are the least likely to show
“added value.”
 Teachers teaching larger numbers of special education
students in mainstreamed classrooms are also found
to have lower “value-added” scores.
 Teachers teaching students in consecutive years
report receiving bonuses for the first year and nothing
the next, as they “max out” on growth.
 Teachers teaching gifted students have small gains
because their students are near the top. 16

17. So How Should We Evaluate and Support
Teacher Effectiveness?
Combine Evidence of Practice, Performance, and
Outcomes in an Integrated Evaluation System that
looks at
 Teaching practice in relation to standards,
curriculum goals, and student needs
 Contributions to colleagues and the school, and
 Student learning / growth at the classroom and
school level in relation to teaching practices,
curriculum goals, and student needs.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

18. Invest in Teacher
Performance Assessments (PACT)
 Subject-Specific Collection of Evidence
 Completed at end of student teaching or internship
 Modeled after National Board Certification
 “Teaching Event” includes
-- Plans for a standards-based unit of instruction
-- Adapted for special needs students and ELs
-- Videotaped instruction with commentaries over 5 days
-- Evidence of student learning during unit
-- Overall analysis of learning and teaching
 Scored by trained assessors with strong reliability
 Influences candidates, assessors, & program quality
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

19. Teacher Candidates Learn
I think for me the most valuable thing was the
sequencing of the lessons, teaching the
lesson, and evaluating what the kids were
getting, what the kids weren’t getting, and
having that be reflected in my next
lesson...the ‘teach-assess-teach-assess-
teach-assess’ process. And so you’re
constantly changing – you may have a plan
or a framework that you have together, but
knowing that that’s flexible and that it has to
be flexible, based on what the children learn
that day.
Linda Darling-Hammond 2011

20. Teacher Educators Learn
This [scoring] experience…has forced me to
revisit the question of what really matters in
the assessment of teachers, which – in turn –
means revisiting the question of what really
matters in the preparation of teachers.
Linda Darling-Hammond 2011

21. Cooperating Teachers
Learn
[The scoring process] forces you to be clear
about “good teaching;” what it looks like,
sounds like. It enables you to look at your
own practice critically/with new eyes.
Linda Darling-Hammond 2011

22. Teacher Education
Programs Learn …
… And change
 Courses
 The learning sequence
 Clinical practice opportunities
 Supports for candidates

23. Predictive Validity of Performance
Assessments
 National Board Certification
-- Effect sizes of .04 to .20 (pass/fail)
 Connecticut BEST portfolio
-- Effect size of .46 (4 point scale)
 California PACT assessment
-- Effect size of .15 (44 point scale)
20 percentile point difference in student
achievement for the highest - and lowest-
scoring teacher Linda Darling-Hammond 2011

24. After Evaluation, Then What?
How Do we Develop Effective
Teaching?
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

25. Professional Learning Opportunities
in High-Achieving Nations Abroad
High-achieving nations in Europe and Asia:
 Ensure extensive (3-4 year) initial preparation
that includes clinical training in model schools
 Provide beginners with intensive mentoring.
 Offer extensive, sustained learning opportunities
embedded in practice:
 Teachers have 15-25 hours a week for collaboration
plus 100 hours a year for professional learning
 Most engage regularly in Lesson Study, Action
Research, and Peer Observation and Coaching to
evaluate and improve practice.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

26. What Research Tells Us
Well-designed professional development can
improve practice and increase student
achievement.
A review of high-quality experimental studies
found that among programs offering extended
PD (49 hours on average over 6 to 12 months),
student achievement increased by 21
percentile points. (Yoon et al., 2007)
One-shot workshops do not have positive
effects.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

27. Professional Learning Opportunities that
Impact Practice are Generally:
 Focused on specific curriculum content
 Organized around real problems of practice
 Connected to teachers’ work with children
 Linked to analysis of teaching and student learning
 Intensive, sustained and continuous over time
Supported by coaching, modeling,
observation, and feedback
Connected to teachers’ collaborative work in
professional learning communities
Integrated into school and classroom
planning around curriculum, instruction, and
assessment
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

29. Personalization
 Small Schools and
Learning
Communities
 Reduced Pupil
Loads
 Long-term
Relationships
 Advisory Systems
 Close parental
contact

30. Rigorous & Relevant Instruction
 College Prep coursework
made relevant,
interdisciplinary, and problem-
oriented
 Internships
 Project-Based Learning
 Performance Assessment &
Portfolios
 A Culture of Revision and
Redemption

31. Professional
Collaboration & Learning
 Intensive retreats
 Shared planning time
 Teaching teams
 Regular professional
development
 Inquiry about student
learning
 Leadership focused on
instruction

32. If We Took Teaching Effectiveness
Seriously, We Would Ensure…
 Community supports for child success
 High-quality preparation and mentoring for all beginners
 Teacher performance assessments to improve preparation,
licensure, and accreditation + induction
 Well-designed schools with thoughtful curriculum and
adequate resources
 Sustained, practice-based collegial learning opportunities for
teachers
 Equal access to teachers who are prepared, certified, and
supported based on these stronger measures.
© Linda Darling-Hammond 2010

33. Insisting on Quality Education
as a Civil Right
"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question,
'Is it safe?'
Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?'
And Vanity comes along and asks the question,
'Is it popular?'
But Conscience asks the question 'Is it right?'
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular,
But he must do it because Conscience tells him
it is right."
-Martin Luther King, Jr., "Remaining Awake Through a
Great Revolution", March 31, 1968