A conversation with my mentor has always stuck in my mind: Teaching is not about me, directly, it’s about serving my students. Teaching is about providing each of my students what they need to learn the material and to grow academically and as an individual. Teaching is about student learning.
Without a doubt, working with teachers and educational leaders to understand education data is what I love most about my job. I have enjoyed engaging with these dedicated public servants and learned so much from our collaborations. One of the highlights of my role is planning conferences for EVAAS users,
In May, the New York Times published an article “The Little Known Statistician Who Taught Us to Measure Teachers” which profiled the life of Dr. Bill Sanders. The author reflected on Dr. Sanders’ life and work improving education for all students. For those of us in education, Dr. Sanders’ work
A new book from SAS guides public sector leaders in the use of data to address a wide range of state and local government challenges. Each chapter deals with critical issues facing our country, including the opioid epidemic, child abuse, spiraling health care costs, prison overcrowding, education reform, rampant fraud and the
Two colleagues and I, all former educators, have dealt with education equity gaps both as children and professionally. This is the second post in a series about our experiences. I encourage you to read the first entry, Equity in education: I was a statistic. Many people think of education equity
Conversations around equity in education are at a fever pitch. Decades of research show that students of color and low-income students are disproportionately taught by less effective or more inexperienced teachers. Civil rights leaders encouraged the Obama administration to require states to develop Equity Plans to ensure that every student
As states build systems to evaluate the effectiveness of educator preparation programs, they must first know what “effectiveness” looks like. Are the characteristics of the candidates in the program, such as high school GPA, ACT or SAT score, or other admissions criteria, the most important indicators? What about the curriculum
This student projections post kicks off a series highlighting education leaders sharing the celebrations, and challenges, of using data to drive school improvement. These are real teachers, principals and superintendents working to foster academic growth for every student in their schools and districts. As we near the end of the first
As teachers, we lean into our experience. We trust our judgment about students and our instruction. We trade teaching stories with colleagues. And increasingly, we examine student growth data that illuminates our practice and occasionally suggests we refine our approach to individual students. In the past decade, states and districts
Foster youth present a unique challenge to educators. Probably the most famous former foster care child in the world right now is Simone Biles, already one of the more formidable and successful athletes in the history of American sports. As a big fan of women’s gymnastics, Biles has thrilled me with her accomplishments.
“(Teaching) is an incredible opportunity to be a catalyst for what we want the future to be," says Shannon Hardy, a 21-year math and science teacher from The Exploris School, a Wake County charter school in Raleigh, NC. Ms. Hardy uses data not just as a summative measurement tool, but
This post shares the story of a teacher and coach, and a student-athlete who was the first in his family to graduate college, attend graduate school, and aspires to become a Mathematics professor. It's the first entry in a blog series that will highlight some tremendous educators with whom I’ve
Last week, I had lunch with a friend who I hadn’t seen in quite some time. As I approached the table, I noticed my friend busily writing away in her journal. With a fantastic smile, my friend shared that she was writing down her personal and professional goals for the
As teachers across 35+ states are evaluated, and sometimes compensated, in part by the academic growth of their students, there may be an unintended consequence. Teachers may question whether to accept student teachers, in fear of the student teacher bringing down their value-added estimate(s) and overall evaluation rating. How can
Recently, the American Statistical Association (ASA) released a statement about value-added modeling. This statement was widely covered in the national press, some of which positioned the statement as a significant blow to value-added modeling. However, the ASA statement did not “slam” value-added modeling; rather, the statement’s authors advocated statistical rigor,
Today it is common knowledge that a classroom teacher is the single largest in-school influence on student academic growth[1]. So when South Carolina received ESEA flexibility in July, 2012, the State Department of Education immediately began an initiative empowering teachers to increase their own effectiveness. Known as the Educator Evaluation System
This is part 3 of a blog series on how Lubbock Independent School District (Lubbock ISD) uses SAS® EVAAS to improve teaching and learning by promoting self-reflection and aiding instructional and administrative decision-making. This is done in a district that, in the past decade, has experienced dramatic increases in the percentage
This is part 2 of a blog series on how Lubbock Independent School District (Lubbock ISD) uses SAS® EVAAS to improve teaching and learning by promoting self-reflection and aiding instructional and administrative decision-making. This is done in a district that, in the past decade, has experienced dramatic increases in the
Improving teacher effectiveness is no simple task. Whether a part of a formal evaluation system or for formative feedback, looking at student growth data can be a valuable part of the development process for teachers and administrators. Lubbock Independent School District (Lubbock ISD) uses SAS® EVAAS to improve teaching and
A recent Charlotte Observer article provided a thoughtful investigation of growth and achievement in North Carolina’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools). The article juxtaposed two very different, yet highly effective, schools. The first, Ranson Middle School, is a low-achieving school with 84% poverty that demonstrated the highest academic growth of any similar
Over the past few months, many US states and districts have received data about student growth and teacher effectiveness. Some educators experience the excitement of outstanding scores and, most importantly, the success of their students’ growth. Some quietly plug along, satisfied to be meeting growth targets and deciding if it isn’t broken,
As I embark on 2014, I reflect upon the many competing, yet interdependent, tensions discussed in education circles in 2013. In conferences, classrooms and statehouses, adults who care about kids debated the best ways to implement: New academic standards (Common Core State Standards or other College and Career Ready Standards)
As I crossed the finished line, I could feel the tears welling up. “Don’t do it," I thought. "Athletes don’t cry." Somehow, I managed to pull myself together, but instead of my usual post-race celebration of high fives and cheering on other runners, I walked to the race result board
With the others, I filed into the school gymnasium, my super zoom camera lens at the ready and a nervous smile on my face. Across the room, I caught a glimpse of my unsmiling daughter, and my apprehension grew about how this awards day program would play out for her.
Students with missing test scores are often highly mobile students and are more likely to be low-achieving students. It is important to include these students in any growth/value-added model to avoid selection bias, which could provide misleading growth estimates to districts, schools and teachers that serve higher populations of these
Welcome to Part 3 of the value-added Myth Busters blog series. I have heard a variation of this many times. “Why shouldn’t educators just use a simple gains approach or a pre- and post-test? They can trust simpler methodologies because they can replicate and understand them more easily.” Simple growth measures
Welcome to Part 2 of the value-added Myth Busters blog series…have you heard this one before? Educators serving high-achieving students are often concerned that their students’ entering achievement level makes it more difficult for them to show growth. “How can my students show growth if they are already earning high
K-12 education reform and policy has seen a recent surge in the cinema with "Waiting for Superman," "The Lottery," and this fall’s "Won't Back Down.” However, if you can’t bring yourself to spend $9.00+ at the box office, or (like me) have a hard time finding babysitters to even get
“Ohio links teacher pay to test scores” was the headline of a recent CNN School of Thought blog. Yikes! With a headline like that, teachers might start heading for the hills. I kept reading through the blog hoping that it would better explain Ohio’s policy to use student growth data
In 2011-2012, North Carolina became one of many states to restructure their educator evaluation system to incorporate student growth. The NC Department of Public Instruction commissioned the external expertise of WestEd to evaluate various growth models and recommend value-added technology that would help them best meet their mission of using meaningful evaluation to
