principal & teacher effectiveness
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Principal & Teacher Effectiveness. Coming to a Theater Near You!. Rob Hess COSA @ Salishan Superintendent, Lebanon, Oregon. What are you working on? If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer? I hope so. If not, you're wasting away. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Principal & Teacher Effectiveness
Coming to a Theater Near You!
Rob HessCOSA @ SalishanSuperintendent, Lebanon, Oregon
What are you working on?If someone asks you that, are you excited to tell them the answer?I hope so. If not, you're wasting away.No matter what your job is, no matter where you work, there's a way to create a project (on your own, on weekends if necessary), where the excitement is palpable, where something that might make a difference is right around the corner.Hurry, go do that.
--Seth Godin
Write Your Thoughts...•In ___________ (name of district)
effective teachers.....•We can measure effective teaching
by....•In ___________ (name of district)
effective principals.....•We can measure effective principals
by....
Meet your neighbor •In ___________ (name of district)
effective teachers.....•We can measure effective teaching
by.... •In ___________ (name of district)
effective principals.....•We can measure effective principals
by....
82%
18%
% of time a student spends in a classroom each year
This is what we know...
however.....
this is our reality....
What is VAM?• Current VAM (Value-Added Models) link student achievement results to individual teachers, evaluation, and compensation.
• Research (and common sense) does not support the model, yet VAMs are emerging everywhere. Why are they so popular?
• VAMs are heavily supported by the Gates Foundation. Gates has a history of trying to “buy” educational reform.
• What happened in LAUSD?
• Bottom Line: Teacher Effectiveness is at the heart of many reform efforts right now. The debate is about how to support TE in a way that works. We want to be a part of that conversation.
• We need to separate the tool (VAM) from how we are seeing it being used right now (merit pay, firing).
M.E.T. Project: VAM model funded by Gates
Student Content
Teacher
Classroom
Tests
Different TestsSurveys
Observations
The Result?•Teacher “Effectiveness Score” based
upon “multiple” measures. •(Does this sound a lot like a teacher
credit score to anyone else...besides being really creepy)
•Bell curve distribution on individual teachers. Top 5% get raises and bottom 5% get fired?
•Unintended Consequences?
Unintended Consequences of
VAMsExceptional teachers gravitate away from challenging students and schools.Collaboration is discouraged.Outsourcing of teacher evaluationFear becomes the primary motivator. Traditional VAMs operate at Dan Pink’s 1.0 Motivation Level (Survival)
SIDE EFFECTS!
Redefining VAMWhat truly adds value to an organization without adding competition and fear?
To improve our systems, we must think BIGGER than measuring the individual teacher or principal...
....there is a better way
Evaluation 2.0: Carrots and Sticks
Domains, Standards, and Performance Targets must be agreed upon by a representative committee of teachers and administrators.A formal process of feedback to the teacher must be determined. Performance targets can either be evaluated via classroom observation or through conversations.District administrators must train principals how to use the system with fidelity and hold building leaders accountable for implementation.
WHAT
HOW
Evaluation: Moving from 2.0 to 3.0 (Extrinsic to
Intrinsic)Digital Portfolios built upon Standards that include videos, artifacts, work samples, lessons, student growth, and whatever else the teacher chooses to include.Observations shift from evaluative judgements to performance coaching and support....Evaluation becomes a panel review. Everyone participates in reviewing and presenting.
“Control what you can control.” John Wooden
”When the lecture ended, we all looked at each other in bewilderment. Did that really just happen? Did the smartest man in college basketball really just teach us how to smooth our socks? It seemed ridiculous.”
-- Bill Walton, UCLA Freshman
✤ Wooden’s point: “If your socks and shoes aren’t properly fitted, your foot will slide in your shoe during practice. That will lead to blisters. If you have blisters, you won’t practice. If you don’t practice, you won’t play. If you’re not in the game, it’s tough to be successful.”
“Control what you can control.” John Wooden
Things we can’t control...✤ Parent involvement
✤ Student motivation
✤ Parent, student, and community perceptions
✤ Test Scores & State Board decisions
✤ Whether or not students succeed or fail
✤ Student Attendance & Behavior
“Control what you can control.” John Wooden
Things we can control...✤ The quality of work we provide to students (does
it make them think, solve problems, and learn to lead?)
✤ Our expectations and beliefs
✤ Our preparation
✤ How we use Collaboration Time
✤ Do we “teach to the top?”
More things we can control...✤ Our attitude, emotions, and effort
✤ The number of parent contacts we make
✤ The number of AP tests we give per graduate
✤ Number of work samples we provide
✤ Our recognition and mentoring of students
✤ How we treat each other
“Control what you can control.” John Wooden
Three ways to help people get things done
A friend sent me a copy of a new book about basketball coach Don Meyer. Don was one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time, apparently. It's quite a sad book—sad because of his tragic accident, but also sad because it's a vivid story about a misguided management technique.
Meyer's belief was that he could become an external compass and taskmaster to his players. By yelling louder, pushing harder and relentlessly riding his players, his plan was to generate excellence by bullying them. The hope was that over time, people would start pushing themselves, incorporating Don's voice inside their head, but in fact, this often turns out to be untrue. People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop. If the habit you've taught is to achieve in order to avoid getting chewed out, once the chewing out stops, so does the achievement.
It might win basketball games, but it doesn't scale and it doesn't last. When Don left the room (or the players graduated), the team stopped winning.
A second way to manage people is to create competition. Pit people against one another and many of them will respond. Post all the grades on a test, with names, and watch people try to outdo each other next time. Promise a group of six managers that one of them will get promoted in six months and watch the energy level rise. Want to see little league players raise their game? Just let them know the playoffs are in two weeks and they're one game out of contention.Again, there's human nature at work here, and this can work in the short run. The problem, of course, is that in every competition most competitors lose. Some people use that losing to try harder next time, but others merely give up. Worse, it's hard to create the cooperative environment that fosters creativity when everyone in the room knows that someone else is out to defeat them.Both the first message (the bully with the heart of gold) and the second (creating scarce prizes) are based on a factory model, one of scarcity. It's my factory, my basketball, my gallery and I'm going to manipulate whatever I need to do to get the results I need. If there's only room for one winner, it seems these approaches make sense.
The third method, the one that I prefer, is to open the door. Give people a platform, not a ceiling. Set expectations, not to manipulate but to encourage. And then get out of the way, helping when asked but not yelling from the back of the bus.When people learn to embrace achievement, they get hooked on it. Take a look at the incredible achievements the alumni of some organizations achieve after they move on. When adults (and kids) see the power of self-direction and realize the benefits of mutual support, they tend to seek it out over and over again.In a non-factory mindset, one where many people have the opportunity to use the platform (I count the web and most of the arts in this category), there are always achievers eager to take the opportunity. No, most people can't manage themselves well enough to excel in the way you need them to, certainly not immediately. But those that can (or those that can learn to) are able to produce amazing results, far better than we ever could have bullied them into. They turn into linchpins, solving problems you didn't even realize you had. A new generation of leaders is created...And it lasts a lifetime.
Books, Tools & Resources•eCOVE Observation Software
•Lebanon’s PG&A•InTASC Standards•Drive, Outliers, Linchpin•Teach Like a Champion•Priority Leadership Summer Institute for
Principals: July 28 & 29•For resource requests, e-mail me at: