Showing papers in "Planning and changing in 2011"

Exploring Teacher Effectiveness Using Hierarchical Linear Models: Student- and Classroom-Level Predictors and Cross-Year Stability in Elementary School Reading.

Abstract: Teacher effectiveness and evaluation using student growth measures is a popular reform strategy in education. Teachers can make a difference in student academic growth, but a question that begs an answer is how to go about measuring this impact. This study examines models of teacher effectiveness and the development of hierarchical linear models (HLM) using fourth grade end-of-year state accountability reading test scores as the outcome variable. An extensive review of literature was conducted to assess the use of HLM in educational settings, particularly as related to teacher effectiveness analyses. Although multiple student variables were explored, previous reading test scores was the most significant student-level variable while teachers’ years of experience was used as a classroom-level variable. This model produced a classroom effectiveness index that was notably consistent across three years of data for the same teachers. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

Three Configurations of School-University Partnerships: An Exploratory Study.

Abstract: This paper presents an array of structural configurations that invite new consideration of the necessary conditions for developing systemic school reform; first by reviewing the current literature, and then by examining thirty-six existing partnerships as structural configurations, an exploratory typology for the analysis of successful school-university partnerships is developed. The basis for three models is derived from Mintzberg’s five-part framework adapted for schools and universities. The paper concludes by noting the strengths and weaknesses of the three models, and suggests areas for inquiry, no matter the model chosen for a school-university partnership.

Characteristic Collaborative Processes in School-University Partnerships.

Abstract: This article presents findings from multiple years of evaluation of STEM-focused school-university partnerships. In addition to developing the three empirically grounded models of structural partnership configurations for project effectiveness, the CSEP team used these models to examine partnership projects for their characteristic collaborative implementation processes. This essay specifically applies questions that deal with project viability and sustainability—across the full range of Illinois ITQ projects—revealing which collaborative structures and processes make the projects sustainable and which do not. In this single-themed issue of Planning and Changing, evaluators from the Center for the Study of Education Policy (CSEP) at Illinois State University share an overview of Improving Teacher Quality school-university partnerships. Our evaluation of this program is funded by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). Partnerships between schools and universities are a cornerstone of recent federal and state policy for teacher professional learning and development aimed at increasing student achievement (Illinois Board of Higher Education, 2003, 2010). We use the term school to stand for both schools and school districts and the term university to stand for higher education partners after the use of these terms in the IBHE policy documents. Since 2004, we evaluated and provided technical evaluation assistance to 47 distinct grant-funded projects funded under the Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) state grant program. The bulk of these projects address P–12 teacher professional learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) because of STEM education’s significance to Illinois’ future prosperity and as one piece of an effort to create a more coherent P–20 education system, The Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career Success (IBHE, 2008). This is an exploratory article for sharing our observations of patterns and themes of collaborative partnership processes. As statewide evaluators, we have found that the ITQ partnerships have commonalities beyond shared policy features that illuminate the nature of collaborative partnerships. This article provides an initial answer to one of four research questions: How do collaborative implementation processes, past, present, and emerging, assure achievement of ITQ’s educational goals? We offer our best thinking to date on the collaborative implementation processes in light of our understanding of partnership structures and evaluation capacity (Baker, 2011; Gardner, 2011; Haeffele, Hood, & Feldmann, 2011). The idea of forming a partnership to accomplish goals and garner support has great appeal. But partnerships are seldom easy, and once

Seeking Symmetry in a School-University Partnership: University of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools--A Collaborative Approach to Developing Models and Tools for Professional Development and Teacher Preparation.

Abstract: This case study describes how the University of Chicago’s Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education and its Urban Education Institute partnered with each other and with two charter schools and seven Chicago Public Schools. “Tools” were developed to disseminate knowledge and expertise through “models” that allowed for this knowledge and expertise to flow in many directions across all levels of the partnership. Strengths, such as the shared tool of Everyday Mathematics, and weaknesses, such as the “a la carte,” voluntary nature of the professional development offerings, are discussed specifically and frankly. In fact, the lessons learned from this partnership are listed, alongside the examples of these lessons’ inclusion in a new (2010) ITQ partnership with the Chicago Public Schools.

Please, Not Another Push to Get Tough on Student Retention.

Abstract: Standardized academic testing, under-performing schools, demands for high standards in America’s schools and current levels of student dropouts have resulted in renewed calls for “getting tough on student retention.” The push for student retention is demanded by school boards and others in spite of the overwhelming research evidence that student retention in-grade does not support the improvement of student academic performance or personal behavioral qualities. Social promotion whereby students move to the next grade level even though they have not mastered the academic requirements of a particular grade also is being questioned due to its unsatisfactory academic results. At this time in history, education researchers and practitioners do not have “best answers” to the on-going problem of student promotion. This article briefly discusses relevant research on student promotion and then gives primary attention to alternatives to student retention and social promotion. Emphasis is placed on the paramount importance of early identification of unsatisfactory learning performance and the continuous monitoring of student performance for each individual student. School organizational considerations such as new and/or expanded student learning strategies are presented. Re-engagement of students in the learning process, the need for teacher and administrator student advocacy, and efforts for preventing student failure are discussed. Strengthening parental involvement and recommendations for programs of professional development are considered from the perspective of fostering greater links to student achievement.

Clinical Faculty in Educational Leadership Programs: A Growing Force.

Abstract: This study was conducted to develop a demographic profile of fulltime educational leadership clinical faculty, to identify their professional responsibilities, and to compare their job satisfaction and perceptions of the educational leadership field with those of tenure-line faculty. Utilizing an online questionnaire, 140 clinical faculty and 755 tenure-line faculty responded to items regarding their personal characteristics, professional activities, and perceptions of the educational leadership profession. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and independent t-test procedures were employed to determine significant differences between clinical and tenure-line faculty. Clinical faculty represented 15.6% of respondents: 50% of clinical respondents were female, and 13.6% were faculty of color. Their mean age was 59.0 years, and 83.9% were former school administrators. Numerous statistically significant differences were found comparing clinical and tenure-line faculty. As would be expected, given the different job descriptions, clinical faculty devoted more time to teaching and advising, field-based activities, and problems of practice and less time to research/writing than did their tenure-line colleagues. Also, clinical respondents were more satisfied with their positions and with the quality of their preparation programs than were tenure-line faculty. The different beliefs and activities of tenure-line versus clinical faculty can create either tensions or opportunities as leadership preparation units engage in programmatic restructuring.

Improving Teacher Quality in Southern Illinois: Rural Access to Mathematics Professional Development (RAMPD).

Abstract: This article describes how Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) partnered with twelve rural schools with high percentages of students in poverty. SIUC provided faculty development activities featuring the adoption of Cognitively Guided Instruction, combined with activities to increase math content and to reduce math anxiety for groups of instructors lacking specific training in mathematics. The partnership is a positive example of a complex-brokered partnership, with instructional experts who were not members of the SIUC faculty. The success and sustainability of this partnership are analyzed to discover the factors that contributed to the durability of what may have been, in other circumstances, a fragile and weak partnership. During the past half century great promises have been made about the educational benefits of school-university partnerships. Translating these promises into solid achievements in local schools is not a simple linear process. This case study describes the complexity of implementing a school-university partnership that reached out to elementary teachers of mathematics in twelve schools located in five rural Southern Illinois communities. A rigorous inservice professional development program was offered in Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), and forty-five teachers accepted the initial invitation. This proved to be a significant opportunity for the teachers who responded to engage in a journey of meaningful personal and professional learning. Each teacher confronted math anxiety, expanded math content knowledge, and developed new ways to teach and assess student learning in math. The number of teacher participants would grow over time, and the program boasts many successes that we will discuss. Yet many teachers avoided the training opportunity altogether, and wide variations of commitment occurred among the schools. This case study illustrates the contingent character of the implementation processes in educational reform within and between schools. The need for a School-university partnership in Southern Illinois Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (SIUC) serves a large rural region of Illinois that faces the serious challenges of poverty among families that move frequently under poverty’s many stresses during their children’s formative years. One common result of this poverty and mobility is compromised student achievement. Furthermore, low levels of mathematics achievement are a perennial problem. Many rural elementary teachers

Beliefs and Values among Rural Citizens: Shared Expectations for Educational Attainment?.

Abstract: Discussions at the local, state, and national level have been focused on the importance of providing access and opportunity for college attendance. While these discussions are important to raising public interest in higher education attainment, they often negate how community values influence the college attendance decision process. This study sought to examine the beliefs and values of citizens in a rural mid-South county in order to understand how those beliefs and values might affect the decision to attend college. Data were collected from community members in a rural county with assistance from the chamber of commerce. A total of N = 220 citizens completed the instrument, which measured their beliefs and values associated with having a high regard for educational attainment. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was utilized to analyze the responses to the items contained in the instrument. Six factors emerged through the analysis of data, including value for education and quality of life, community identity and loyalty, social consciousness, value for religion and health, entertainment and leisure activities, and information access.

Mapping the Journey toward the Principalship: Using Standards as a Guide.

Abstract: This article presents the findings from a longitudinal study of preservice principals during their required internship. The authors investigated interns’ perceived acquisition of skills to meet licensure standards using scaled scores on the Colorado Standards Knowledge (CSK) instrument and structured reflective journaling. The findings revealed interns’ perceived increased knowledge of the standards and the integration of the standards throughout their internships. This indicated that requiring guided reflective journaling throughout principal internships clearly incorporated the broad knowledge outlined by the standards established for principals.

Evaluation Capacity Building in a School-University Partnership Grant Program.

Abstract: After several years in which only superficial outcomes measures were used to evaluate grants funded by the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the Illinois State University Center for the Study of Education Policy piloted a new approach by which real project assessment could be embedded in Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) project designs when first funded in 2004. This approach applied logic modeling at both program and project levels. As a result, feedback about the program and the individual projects was integrated into evaluation at both of these programmatic levels. This article describes the details involved in seven years’ work with the more sophisticated evaluation model. The ITQ program has moved from funding 26 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics projects with marginal evaluation plans to funding nine projects with solid, research-based logic models and aligned evaluation plans. The article also describes the difficulties involved in any attempt to compare one unique program with another, and instead uses the metaphor of the “investment portfolio” to both describe and assess the IBHE’s array of investments in the ITQ projects.

Improving Science Instruction in Southwestern Illinois and Metro East St. Louis: Students Learning Science through a Sustained Network of Teachers.

Abstract: This article describes the specific methods of a regional partner ship that has lasted more than twenty-five years. Southern Illinois Uni versity Edwardsville has partnered with public and private schools in the southwestern portion of Illinois, and in metro St. Louis, in the Hands-On Science project, which provides instruction development for chemistry, biology, earth science, and physics teachers in grades 6–12. The project has been modified over the years, and this article explains both modi fications and causes, in specific terms such as the effects of funding on classroom equipment and supplies as well as, more importantly, on the turnover among teacher participants. The Hands-On Science project emphasizes classroom assessment techniques, collaboration, and more active learning. Quick Course Diagnosis and Group Instructional Feedback Technique (or Small Group Instructional Diagnosis) are two of the specific methods of assessment used in this successful, long-lived ITQ project— which originally began as an Eisenhower project. n eed for content Based professional development activities A key goal of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) strategic plan, Illinois Public Agenda for College and Career Success, addresses a disturbing and growing “‘prosperity gap’ that relates to large and widening disparities in educational attainment” and advances a critical role for higher education partners to help create the conditions for prosperity (IBHE, 2008, p. 1). In the 21st century, this must surely include extending high quality Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education to every region of the state. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), the university partner in this case study, is in the southwestern region of the state, near the Mississippi River and metro St. Louis. The rural, urban, and suburban districts of the region have differing needs for professional development and teacher learning overall, but they all require a university partner to prepare and then continuously update the teachers in the region in the dynamic STEM disciplines. This article for the special issue of Planning and Changing discusses how SIUE has developed as a regional partner for schools and districts for more than 25 years, originally funded as an Eisenhower program, and now funded as an Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) state grant program. We have found that public and private school teachers crave professional development and learning opportunities. It is widely known that