WASHINGTON — Although more than 30 states are embracing the need to evaluate the nation’s elementary and secondary school students’ academic progress and achievement based on common-core standards, a similar consensus has not yet been built around a national set of standards and assessments, also based on common standards, to evaluate teacher competence and effectiveness.
But according to a report authored by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, an education professor at Stanford University, there is evidence that raising the bar for licensure and creating a common standard for entry into the profession can make an enormous difference in teacher effectiveness and student learning. It is a lesson that most high-achieving nations learned long ago but one with which the United States continues to struggle even though it is critical to the success of school reform efforts.
“Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness” was released during a Tuesday morning forum at the Center for American Progress, in Washington, D.C. It focuses on a group of 20 states that have begun to develop and implement standardized teacher assessments to more accurately gauge the effectiveness of novice teachers, based on the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT).
The states have formed a Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium under the auspices of the American Association of Colleges and Teachers and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The goal is to create a model for a common initial licensing assessment to make preparation and licensing performance-based and predictive of teacher effectiveness. In addition, there are plans to develop an advanced version to be used for professional licensure and advanced certification.
Funded by foundations and states and some Race to the Top grant proposals, initial licensing assessments based on PACT are being test-piloted during this school year. Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Tennessee and Washington have already adopted the program as a licensing requirement.
According to Darling-Hammond, measuring teacher quality relies on principals observing classroom instruction and other measures that don’t distinguish excellent teachers from those in need of assistance.
” We need to crate a means for examining teaching that is related to effectiveness and develop systems that can be scored reliably, that are consistent and also powerful in shaping professional development preparation and practice,” she said.
