Recognising and Rewarding Accomplished Teaching:

Where are we at?

Lawrence IngvarsonAustralian Council for Educational Research

AITSL: Current developments

• Certification of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers: Principles and Procedures, April 2012

• Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework: Consultation Proposal, April, 2012

AITSL: Current developments

• One-off bonus payments in 2014 for 8000 teachers who have been assessed against the standards in 2013; $7500 for Highly Accomplished and $10,000 for Lead Teachers.

• Annual appraisal of every teacher in every school

Teacher Education Induction PD

Teacher Quality Assurance Filters/Mechanisms

Entry standards

Accreditation Graduate standards

Registration standards

Professional certification standards

Current context: The COAG National Agreement on Quality Teaching

Priority areas for reform:

• Developing and enhancing the skills and knowledge of teachers and school leaders throughout their careers

• Retaining and rewarding quality teachers and school leaders

• Improved mobility of the Australian teaching workforce and equitable distribution of quality teachers across schools

There is a disconnect between policy rhetoric about the

importance of teacher quality and the reality

50.00 or

less50.05-60.00

60.05-70.00

70.05-80.00

80.05-90.00

90.05 or more Total

Natural and Physical Sciences 1.3% 5.1% 11.0% 16.8% 24.4% 41.4% 100.0%

Information Technology 5.9% 17.8% 27.3% 23.3% 18.4% 7.3% 100.0%

Engineering 1.0% 3.1% 9.4% 17.6% 28.9% 40.1% 100.0%

Architecture 2.3% 5.9% 14.9% 25.7% 31.4% 19.8% 100.0%

Agriculture 4.1% 7.5% 17.5% 22.1% 28.6% 20.2% 100.0%

Health 3.1% 7.5% 16.0% 19.3% 22.7% 31.4% 100.0%

Education 6.5% 15.1% 30.2% 26.4% 16.8% 5.0% 100.0%

Management and Commerce 3.2% 9.9% 18.9% 20.1% 22.1% 25.8% 100.0%

Society and Culture 3.3% 10.1% 16.3% 18.4% 23.3% 28.7% 100.0%

Creative Arts 3.4% 8.8% 17.8% 22.8% 27.1% 20.2% 100.0%

Australia 3.2% 8.6% 16.7% 20.2% 23.6% 27.8% 100.0%

Table 12: Share of Year 12 offers by ATAR band for each field of education, February 2012

Current Salary Structures• Limitations

– Low ceiling: top of incremental scale less than 1.5 times starting salary (More than 2.5 in Korea and Japan)

– Salary and status turn off able graduates who would make good teachers

– Weak incentives and recognition for professional development– Weak instrument for ensuring widespread use of successful teaching

practices and lifting student learning outcomes– Does not create a strong market for accomplished teachers

• Advantages– Predictable costs– Easily administered– Stabilizes teaching force

Productivity Commission Report, April 2012

Considerable rigidities in remuneration arrangements remain. In most jurisdictions, teachers still reach the top of the pay scale in around 10 years. And there is relatively little explicit differentiation in teachers’ pay on the basis of either performance or shortages in particular subject areas. Increases in teachers’ pay do not appear to have kept pace with those in other professions. Indeed, the evidence is that, since 1995, there has been no increase in the average real salaries of Australia’s more experienced teachers.

ATTITUDES TO TEACHING AS A CAREER: A SYNTHESIS OF ATTITUDINAL RESEARCH (DEST, 2006)

• The most significant factors influencing people not to choose teaching, and to leave the profession were extrinsic factors such as remuneration, workload, employment conditions and status.

• Secondary students who did not want to become teachers said that teaching is highly demanding, draining work with long hours, badly behaved children, low pay, and critical parents (DEST 2003).

• High academic achievers (DEST 2003) especially cited the salary, promotional pathways and status of teaching as too low. Students who weren’t considering teaching as a career said they would be more likely to do so if it paid more, the workload was reduced, it provided better prospects for promotion, and there was more mobility within the profession (DEST 2003). DEST 2002 also emphasised the importance of a career path.

• A survey of teachers (MCEETYA 2003) identified improved remuneration, promoting image/status of teaching, improved teacher training and improved teaching conditions other than pay, as important in attracting new teachers.

OECD TALIS International Survey of Teachers

In Australia• 63% of teachers believed appraisals were largely done to

fulfil administrative requirements; • over 90% of teachers did not think they would receive

increased rewards (financial or non-financial) if they improved the quality of their teaching, or were more innovative in their approach;

• 42% of teachers stated that persistent poor performance of a teacher would be tolerated by the rest of the staff and 70% stated that in their school these teachers would not be dismissed; and

• 61% of teachers reported that teacher appraisal had little impact on the way they teach in the classroom.

There is a disconnect between international research on high performing countries and current practice in Australian education

Building a High-Quality Teaching Profession Lessons from around the World

Background Report for the International Summit on the Teaching Profession 2011http://fulltextreports.com/2011/03/16/building-a-high-quality-teaching-profession-lessons-from-around-the-world/

Designing effective pay systems and career pathways for promoting and rewarding accomplished teaching

Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education

Lessons from PISA (OECD 2010)

As a country’s goals move from the delivery of basic skills and rote learning to the delivery of advanced, complex skills, they increasingly need: – more educated teachers, – more professional forms of work organisation and accountability, – more developed forms of professional practice, and– high status career paths for accomplished teachers.

The consistent message: Strengthen teaching as a profession

Reward Payments for Great Teachers

REWARD PAYMENTS FOR GREAT TEACHERS A re-elected Gillard Labor Government will implement Australia’s first national system of performance assessment and pay to reward the very best classroom teachers.

•Merit pay•Bonus pay•Quota based•Emphasis on VAM

•Merit pay•Bonus pay•Quota based•Emphasis on VAM

Types of performance pay

Types of performance pay

•Standards-based• Certification linked to career stages•Emphasis on quality of teaching

•Standards-based• Certification linked to career stages•Emphasis on quality of teaching

ALP Federal Election Policy“Reward Payments for Great Teachers”

• AITSL to develop the performance management system (“The Australian Teacher Performance Management Principles and Procedures”)

• Performance bonus of $8000 for 10% of teachers each year • Methods;

– Lesson observation– Analysis of student performance data (e.g. NAPLAN)– Parental feedback– Teacher qualifications and professional development

• $1.25billion over five years• $50million to states and territories “to make necessary changes”

Do financial incentives improve teacher effectiveness?

Several recent studies indicate that teacher ONE-OFF BONUS performance pay schemes do not raise student test scoresE.g. •National Centre for Performance IncentivesVanderbilt University http://www.performanceincentives.org/index.aspx

•N.Y.C. Ends Merit-Pay Program

•Texas Merit Pay Pilot Fails to boost student scores

•Chicago: Performance-Pay Model Shows No Evidence of lifting student achievement on math and reading tests

OECD Findings from PISA

• No clear link between performance pay for teachers and raising standards in schools.

• Top-performing school systems on PISA are likely to have teachers who are well-paid and have high social status.

• Raising achievement in schools depended on attracting the best students into teaching with "status, pay and professional autonomy".

• Raise teacher status to improve schools

THE CHALLENGE: A Profession-run national certification system

Developing a profession of teaching capable of:• defining standards for effective teaching based on

successful teaching practices, • promoting development toward those standards• identifying those who reach the standards, and• providing recognition and reward for them

Needed: Leadership at the level of the profession

• While leadership at the level of each school and the school system is important, another kind of leadership is needed – one that operates at the level of the profession and can speak with authority and on equal terms with policy makers.

• The ability to develop and apply teaching standards is the main means by which teachers can prove their credentials as a profession

• A professional certification system provides a means by which the teaching profession can provide valuable leadership

A Standards-Based Professional Learning and Certification System

A Standards-based Professional Learning and Certification System

Main components::

• High Teaching standards that articulate what teachers should get better at and provide direction for professional development over the long term

• A rigorous, voluntary system of advanced professional certification based on valid methods for assessing teacher performance against the standards

• Career paths that value good teaching and provide substantial incentives and for teachers to attain the standards for certification

• An infrastructure for professional learning that enables teachers to gain the knowledge and skill embodied in the teaching standards

What is Professional Certification?

An endorsement that a professional body gives to a member who has attained a specified set of performance standards

Certification system:• a system for defining high-quality teaching standards,

promoting development towards those standards and identifying those who reach them for recognition by employers

Characteristics of Advanced Professional Certification Systems

• Profession-wide – provided by an independent professional body, not employer (e.g Engineers Australia)

• Voluntary and available to all members of that profession • Based on assessment of performance; it is not an

academic qualification• Portable, not specific to particular employing authorities• Belongs to the person; it is not a job or position specific

to a school or employer

Example: Chartered EngineerEngineering Australia offers members a professional career structure from graduate

engineer through to Chartered Engineer.

“Chartered Status stands for the highest standard of professionalism, up-to-date expertise, quality and safety, and for the capacity to undertake independent practice and to exercise leadership within the engineering team.”

Through its Chartered status, Engineering Australia aims to provide a certification that

employers value. In fact it aims to provide members with an ‘internationally recognised badge of competence, benchmarked and transferable with standards applicable in other parts of the world’.

A professional career is not necessarily the same as a career with a particular employer

If a standards-based certification system was working well, what would we see?

• Teachers would regard the standards as challenging and worth pursuing as a guide to professional learning.

• Most teachers would seek professional learning experiences that helped them reach the standards

• Teachers would regard the assessment methods as valid, reliable and fair

• Employing authorities would regard certification as a reliable basis for recognising and rewarding accomplished teachers

• It would lead teachers who could not attain the standards to consider other occupations

What would a rigorous national professional certification system mean for your school?

• Groups of teachers help each other prepare for certification• They seek feedback about how well they meet the standards• Builds a stronger professional community – deprivatisation of

teaching• Greater incentives to update professional knowledge• Provide a more valid and fairer basis for “high stakes” teacher

assessment• Removes the onerous task of high stakes assessment of staff

members from principals• Provides a respected professional qualification • Teachers who realise they will not attain the standards may consider

other occupations• Lift quality of learning opportunities for students

A Standards-Based Professional Learning and Certification System

Capturing good

teaching

Steps in developing teaching standards

Describing the standards

• Domains• Standards• Elaborations

Describing the standards

• Domains• Standards• Elaborations

Standards-based assessments:

Methods for gathering evidence about knowledge and practice

Standards-based assessments:

Methods for gathering evidence about knowledge and practice

Setting standards: • Training assessors• Defining levels of performance• Benchmarks and rubrics

Setting standards: • Training assessors• Defining levels of performance• Benchmarks and rubrics

Defining good

teaching

Assessing good

teaching

The decathlon as an example of what is involved in developing a standards-based performance

assessment system

Who is the World's Greatest Athlete? The Decathlon decides

Who is the World's Greatest Athlete? The Decathlon decides

• The decathlon is an athletic event consisting of ten track and field events. Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved.

• Traditionally, the title of World's Greatest Athlete has been given to the man who wins the decathlon.

Main components of a set of standardsfor great all-round athlete (decathlon)

Guiding conception: the “great all-round athlete”Guiding conception: the “great all-round athlete”

Performance standards• Setting standards• Levels of performance

(benchmarks)• Training assessors

Performance standards• Setting standards• Levels of performance

(benchmarks)• Training assessors

How will we gather evidence?

Day 1 100 metresLong jumpShot PutHigh Jump 400 metres

Day 2 110 Metres HurdlesDiscusJavelinPole Vault1500 Metres

How will we gather evidence?

Day 1 100 metresLong jumpShot PutHigh Jump 400 metres

Day 2 110 Metres HurdlesDiscusJavelinPole Vault1500 Metres

Content standards

What constitutes a great all-round athlete?

• strength

• speed

• stamina

• endurance

• perseverance

Content standards

What constitutes a great all-round athlete?

• strength

• speed

• stamina

• endurance

• perseverance

Benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800, and 700 points in each sport.

Benchmark levels needed to earn 1000, 900, 800, and 700 points in each sport.

Event  1000 pts  

900 pts  

800 pts  

700 pts  

Units  

100m 10.395 10.827 11.278 11.756 Seconds

Long Jump 7.76 7.36 6.94.1 6.51 Meters

Shot Put 18.4 16.79 15.16 13.53 Meters

High Jump 2.20 2.10 1.99 1.88 Meters

400m 46.17 48.19 50.32 52.58 Seconds

110m Hurdles 13.8 14.59 15.419 16.29 Seconds

Discus Throw 56.17 51.4 46.59 41.72 Meters

Pole Vault 5.28 4.96 4.63 4.29 Meters

Javelin Throw 77.19 70.67 64.09 57.45 Meters

1500m 233.79 247.42 261.77 276.96 Seconds

                   

Example of a Poorly Written Standard

Accomplished teachers use a variety of teaching strategies

Example of a Well-Written Standard (for teaching science)

• Highly accomplished teachers of science guide their students in active inquiry which leads students to observe and measure phenomena, formulate hypotheses, record data and reach tentative conclusions consistent with data collected. Their students reflect on the knowledge that results and consider ways to refine the investigation. They analyse and evaluate the evidence they have collected in order to check the validity of their findings.

Characteristics of Well-Written Standards

•Driven by a vision of high quality learning of something worth learning•Point to a large, meaningful “chunk” of teachers’ work•Context-free: something teachers should be able to do no matter where they teach•Non-prescriptive about how to teach•Point to something measurable

•Driven by a vision of high quality learning of something worth learning•Point to a large, meaningful “chunk” of teachers’ work•Context-free: something teachers should be able to do no matter where they teach•Non-prescriptive about how to teach•Point to something measurable

STANDARDS FRAMEWORK

CAREER STAGES/CERTIFICATION LEVELSGraduate Proficient Highly

Accomplished

Lead

Professional Knowledge

1. Know students and how they learn

2. Know the content and how to teach it

Professional Practice

3. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning4. Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments5. Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

Professional Engagement

6. Engage in professional learning

7. Engage with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

National Professional Standards for Teachers

A Standards-Based Professional Learning and Certification System

Types of evidence about teacher knowledge and performance

Independently gathered:• Classroom observations • Student rating forms• Standardised tests of student

achievement (e.g. Value-added)

• School records• Supervisor reports

Teacher provided:• Student learning over time• Videotapes of classroom

interaction• Subject-specific pedagogical

knowledge• Records of contribution to

school operations

Passive role for teacher

Active role for teacher

Examples of portfolio entries for primary teachers

1. Provide evidence of a unit of work, with student writing samples, in which you have developed student’s writing ability over time.

2. Develop an inter-disciplinary theme and provide work samples that show how you engage students in work over time that deepens their understanding of an important idea in science.

3. Provide a videotape and commentary illustrating how you create a climate that supports students’ abilities to understand perspectives other than their own.

4. Provide evidence, through a videotape, written commentary, and student work samples, of how you have help build students’ mathematical understanding.

5. Provide documented evidence that you have presented two of the above portfolio entries to a group of colleagues at a staff seminar in your school. Comment on what you learned.

Example of a Portfolio Entry Assessment Task:Active Scientific Inquiry

To the candidate for certification: Provide evidence, through both a videotape and a written

commentary, of how you engage and support students in a discussion that involves the interpretation of data collected during an investigation of an important scientific concept.

Portfolio entry:Teaching a major idea in science

Activity 1Introductory phase

Activity 3Summation phase

Activity 2Development phase

Student A

Student B

Student A

Student B

Student A

Student B

Portfolio entry:Engaging Students in

Scientific Inquiry

Knowledge of students

Knowledge of subject Ability to plan

for effective learning

Ability to engage students in a sequence of learning

activities

Ability to assessstudent progress

and provide helpful feedback

Ability to reflect insightfully on

effectiveness of their teaching

Links between teaching standards and performance assessment tasks

Example of an Assessment of Professional Knowledge

Exercise 1: Supporting Reading Skills

• In this task teachers are asked to demonstrate their ability to analyse and interpret student errors and patterns of errors in reading.

• Teachers are asked to analyse and interpret a transcript of a given student's oral reading of a given passage. Teachers are also asked to identify and justify appropriate strategies to address the identified student's needs.

Assessing Professional KnowledgeAn example from CHILE (Primary)

1. Describe(a) the “Whole language” approach and (b) the “Phonics

approach” to teach how to read during the first years of schooling.

2. Design an activity that integrates both approaches in a first grade classroom.

A Standards-Based Professional Learning and Certification System

Research on Motivation (Daniel Pink)

For simple, routine predictable tasks – bonuses work

But, for tasks requiring even rudimentary cognitive skill – the higher the incentive the worse the performance

The secret to high performance is not extrinsic rewards and punishment but intrinsic drive to do things better because they matter.

What kinds of incentives work for professionals?

• Autonomy– The urge to direct our own lives

• Mastery– the desire to get better at something that matters

• Purpose– The desire to do something in the service of something important

– larger than ourselves

• Professional recognition

Dan Pink on incentives that work – and those that don’t

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh4fi5oJlnM

Goal distortion in education• Narrowing of curriculum• Neglect of students far from cut points• Limited pedagogy - coaching

Other effects• Cheating• Disengagement - Deskilling- Devaluing of teacher

judgment• If-then rewards often destroy creativity

Implementing certification systems: lessons learned

• Get the incentives right if you want most teachers to engage professional learning – use professional certification linked to career progression rather than one-off bonus payments.

• Ensure that the pathway to advanced certification is a broad pathway expected of all teachers, not just an elite few.

• Make sure the system is the responsibility of an independent, national body representative of all key stakeholders.

• Mainstream professional certification – that is, make achieving each certification stage a condition for being eligible to apply for the next.

Implementing certification systems: lessons learned (Contd.)

• Do not confuse professional certification and local performance management.

• Recognise that teaching is made up of many specialist fields - elaborate the standards and provide certification for accomplished teachers in each field.

• Base assessment on evidence of what students are doing and learning as a direct result of a teacher’s teaching, rather than value-added measures from national tests.

• Conduct the research needed to ensure the certification process meets high psychometric standards for validity and reliability before going to scale.

Implementing certification systems: lessons learned (Contd.)

• Ensure that assessors are teachers who work in the same field of teaching and are trained to high levels of reliability.

• Ensure that employers come to trust the certification as a measure of accomplished teaching and a basis for higher salaries and career advancement.

• Build a new professional learning infrastructure, within and across schools and in collaboration with universities, to support teachers preparing for certification.

How will a certification system fit with existing industrial agreements in Victorian

schools?

$57,000

$84,000

Accomplished teacherAccomplished teacher

Asst. Principal

PrincipalSalary

Teacher Class Salaries Victoria DEECD Enterprise Agreement 2011

Graduate teacherGraduate teacher

Classroom TeacherClassroom Teacher

Expert TeacherExpert Teacher

Leading TeacherLeading Teacher

$69,000

$92,000

DEECD

• Provisionally registered

• Graduate (registered)

• Accomplished

• Expert

• Leading Teacher

AITSL

• Graduate

• Proficient (registered)

• Highly accomplished

• Lead Teacher

Thank you!