CEC Policy Insider

Join the Special Education Teacher Evaluation Discussion: What’s Happening in Your School?

  It’s possibly the most contentious education debate occurring in states across the country:  how to revamp teacher evaluation systems? 

Today, CEC unveiled its position on special education teacher evaluation which provides guidance to assist in the creation of evaluation systems.  The position reflects both the complexity of educating a student with disabilities and the often varying role a special educator plays throughout the day.  To craft this position, CEC received the input of CEC members and dozens of national experts. 

But we want the conversation to continue.  Tell us…

• If, and how, special educators are being evaluated in your school?
• How are teacher evaluations incorporating student performance?
• How are special education teachers responding to the evaluation system?
• How is implementation going?  Is it impacting the rights of students with disabilities?

We look forward to your comments!

5 Reasons We Are Discussing New Teacher Evaluation Systems

Today, CEC is releasing its new Position on Special Education Teacher Evaluation. Many CEC members have been involved in this process and helped CEC draft this Position but others may wonder why are we discussing this now? Here is how we got to this point in 5 key bullets:

• Recent research demonstrated that teachers are the most important school based factor. In the mid-2000’s several studies demonstrated that teachers are the most important school-based factor in determining student achievement – confirming what educators and parents have known for years!
• At the same time, research also demonstrated that many teacher evaluations were not meaningful.  In 2009, a study called The Widget Effect looked at teacher evaluations in 12 school districts across 4 states. The study’s authors surveyed 15,000 teachers and 1,300 administrators and determined that in districts that used binary evaluations (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) 99% of teachers were rated satisfactory. In districts with even more ratings, say up to 4 categories, 94% of teachers were rated satisfactory. These results combined with survey results from teachers demonstrated that evaluation systems of this kind were not offering real and meaningful feedback or making real and meaningful distinctions.  Thus, these evaluations were not helping teachers improve.
• Policymakers noticed these results and created federal incentives to revamp teacher evaluation systems. Shortly after the inauguration President Barack Obama, his administration began to offer federal incentives to states and districts that committed to revise their teacher evaluations. Two main programs that incorporated these new objectives were the Race to the Top competition and the waiver application for relief from ESEA/NCLB requirements.  Based on these, many states began working on new teacher evaluation systems.
• Including special education teachers in these systems has been difficult and is a work in progress – especially in terms of “objective measures of student performance” is concerned. Federal initiatives that called for revamping evaluation systems also required that new systems include “objective measures of student performance” or link student performance to teacher performance. This has been very difficult in practice for all teachers, but most especially for special education teachers. Special education teachers work in many different roles in schools, with students who display complex learning patterns and their work does not neatly translate to this new paradigm. As a result, CEC has increasingly heard concerns from its members about how their impact on students is being measured and included in their new evaluations.
• In response to these concerns and the needs of the field, CEC worked with members and outside experts to create a position for special education teacher evaluation. You can read CEC’s Position on Special Education Teacher Evaluation here. You can also check out our Background Document which goes into greater detail about this history and gives examples of a few different systems being tested out right now. 

Tell us what you think! What is happening in your school or district? Share good ideas and bad by commenting on our blog. We want to hear from you.

Election Day is In 53 Days, First Debate in 3 Weeks; Get Ready with CEC’s Guide to this Presidential Election

Election Day is in only 53 days – that’s less than 2 months! In the meantime, there are still plenty of opportunities for you to learn more about the candidates, their platforms and their visions for America and education. The first debate is a mere 21 days away. That’s just 3 weeks until the first debate.

Presidential Election Debates and Topics:
October 3 -- Domestic Policy (University of Denver)
October 11 -- Vice Presidential debate (Centre College)
October 16 -- Town Meeting Style (Hofstra University)
October 22 -- Foreign Policy (Lynn University)

As Election Day approaches, get ready with CEC’s I Educate, I Participate: 2012 Presidential Election Voter Education Guide. This guide is complete with party platforms and candidate positions on education, classroom resources and information about voter registration and polling places, and will be your one-stop shop to prepare for November 6.

CEC is non-partisan and does not support or oppose any political party or candidate.

Puerto Rico, Bureau of Indian Education And 7 More States Submit ESEA Flexibility Waiver Applications

Seven more states, as well as Puerto Rico and the Bureau of Indian Education, have applied to the U.S. Department of Education for ESEA flexibility waivers, bringing the waiver applications total to 44. The latest seven to join are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, North Dakota, and West Virginia. These new pending applications join the 11 other states who also currently have outstanding waiver applications,  not yet approved by USDOE.

The ESEA flexibility waivers are the Obama Administration’s response to the stalled reauthorization of the nation’s largest piece of education legislation, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA),which was due to be reauthorized in 2007. The waiver releases states from meeting the 2014 proficiency deadlines prescribed in No Child Left Behind/ESEA. The waivers also grant flexibility in other areas for states that submit plans to adopt college and career ready standards, implement assessments that measure student growth and revise their differentiated accountability systems.

Furthermore, the flexibility waivers require states to ensure that districts use principal and teacher evaluations that include student performance data. This is an issue of particular concerns to CEC, and its members. Over the past year, CEC has been working with members and experts in the field to craft a position statement on special education teacher evaluation.

For more information on the waivers, see CEC’s earlier Policy Insider story here.  For a current list of the status of states’ waiver applications, please click here.

Annual PDK/Gallup Poll Shows Nation Divided, Unified on Key Education Issues

The 44th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools released today shows the nation is both divided and unified on key issues confronting public education.  While the nation continues to view lack of funding as the biggest challenge facing America’s schools, respondents were divided in many other controversial measures including whether teachers should be evaluated based on the test scores of their students.

 

Findings include:

• Of the 52% who favor including students’ performance on standardized tests in teacher evaluations, almost half said this should constitute between one-third and two-thirds of the teacher’s evaluation;
• Three of four Americans believe the common core standards will provide more consistency in the quality of education between school districts and states;
• Ninety-seven percent believe it’s very or somewhat important to improve the nation’s urban schools;
• Most Americans oppose providing free public education and other benefits to children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, though responses fall along political party lines with democrats generally in favor and republicans generally in opposition;
• Consistent with past years, almost half of Americans give the schools in their community either an A or B though almost 50% of Americans assigned a mediocre grade of C to the nation’s schools;
• Support for charter schools declined, down to 66% this year, down from 70% last year.

Read more here.