One of the firm beliefs of education reformers at the time was the belief that achievement gaps were caused, at least in part, by disparities in teacher quality. By all accounts, the most qualified teachers are in the wealthiest schools and the least qualified, as articulated in his landmark 1998 White Paper for the Education Trust, Good Teaching Matters. None of the teachers worked in the highest-poverty schools. This meant, above all, what we called “under-resourced” schools, the result of an inequitable funding system combined with HR systems and collective agreements that prioritized the needs of adults over the needs of children. . – Income students and students of color.
It wasn't difficult to understand the cause of this gap. The wealthiest school districts had more money and were therefore able to pay their teachers more. Even within the district, experienced teachers were applying for open positions for the first time. So when teachers retired, these veterans claimed openings at wealthier schools where jobs were thought to be easier, while schools with higher poverty levels hired new recruits.
Over the past 25 years, research has increased and the situation has become more complex.
Most importantly, we learned that the attributes of teacher quality that could be measured at the time, such as certification status and years of experience, were weak indicators of effectiveness. Although there are some relationships between these markers and student performance, they tend to be small and fairly weak. One study estimates that 97% of what makes a teacher great is not measured by such input.
Another challenge is that the whole concept of an “effective teacher” may be under siege. Several studies have shown that teachers who are highly effective in some schools are less effective in others. The same applies when teaching students of different races. Many studies have shown that, all else being equal, black teachers are more effective with black students than white teachers.
Perhaps all of this is why at least one reliable study found that differences in teacher effectiveness are essentially non-existent. At least, if we define effectiveness as the ability to consistently improve student achievement.
Furthermore, the definition of teacher effectiveness is limited by the ability to measure it. Most studies have investigated teachers' effects on students' reading and math achievement growth from third grade through eighth grade. What about teachers who don't teach reading, writing, or math? Or do they teach kindergarten through second grade or even high school? Some studies have investigated the impact that teachers have on student performance, behavior, or graduation rates (after they leave the classroom), but these studies have been combined with actionable data on millions of teachers. is a challenge we have not yet achieved. So, for example, there is no easy way to determine whether the quality of social studies, art, music, and physical education teachers in high-poverty schools is systematically lower than in wealthier schools. To understand that, we need a comprehensive and sophisticated teacher evaluation system.
That doesn't mean we should despair. It is possible to address the issue of teacher effectiveness head-on and ensure that poor children and children of color receive their fair share of the best teachers. That largely means following in the footsteps of Washington, DC, and the IMPACT system is designed to do just that. At its heart is a series of sophisticated evaluations of teachers and their teaching, the type that has become obsolete after the “race to the top,” where reforms largely failed and flamed out.
Perhaps the best thing about IMPACT is that it has been tweaked and improved over time. The district and its professional advisors identified problems with evaluating teachers from disparate schools against each other. This approach originally disadvantaged teachers in the highest-poverty schools, making them appear less effective than they actually were. They fixed that problem while maintaining high standards regarding instructional expectations, both in core subjects and beyond.
Although not perfect, IMPACT is far ahead of other assessment systems and has had clear, positive effects on teacher effectiveness, diversity, and student outcomes.
So to those who claim to be committed to educational equity and closing the teacher performance gap, I would say this: If you're serious, you should follow DCPS and implement something like IMPACT in your district. Otherwise, you're just virtue signaling.
The problem, of course, is that the politics involved in implementing such bold reforms are extremely difficult. The union is adamantly opposed to this because its job is to protect all its members, including mediocre and incompetent teachers. Unions also tend to be dominated by older teachers, who don't like being told they have to leave cushy jobs at the wealthiest schools and go teach elsewhere. Needless to say, moving the best teachers to the poorest schools will not be acceptable to wealthy (and powerful) parents.
Without something like IMPACT, you may have to settle for half a step in the right direction. In other words, let the market do its magic. In this case, we are referring to the labor market. As Houston is doing under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles, school districts are paying significantly higher salaries to teachers who teach in the toughest schools, while at the same time adding more money to the budgets of high-poverty schools. It would also ensure that funds are available to pay for qualified teachers. Over time, as vacancies arise at such schools, we should expect good teachers to move to those campuses, at least if the additional pay is large enough. Without an IMPACT-style system, it may not be possible to measure the effectiveness of teachers other than reading and math teachers, at least from third grade through her eighth grade, but common sense suggests that smart teachers You can see that it will follow.
But that doesn't mean it's easy to find the money to significantly increase the salaries of teachers in the poorest schools. But whether we are on the left, right, or center, we must recognize that achieving true educational equity requires such efforts. It's time for all of us to put our money where our mouth is.