1 National Center on Educational Outcomes What’s so Difficult About Including Special Education Teachers and Their Students in Growth Models Used to Evaluate

1National Center on Educational

Outcomes

What’s so Difficult About Including Special Education Teachers and Their Students

in Growth Models Used to Evaluate Educator

Effectiveness?Martha Thurlow, Sheryl Lazarus & Brian

Touchette

OSEP Project Directors’ ConferenceJuly 23-25, 2012


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1. Introduction2. Digging deeper into student growth3. One state’s story4. Discussion

.

Overview of Session


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Evaluating Educator Effectiveness

• Required aspect of RTTT applications• Critical part of applications for ESEA

flexibility (Principle 3)


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Flexibility Applications

•Peers had several general concerns regarding SEAs’ proposals to develop and implement teacher and principal evaluation and support systems….

•See “Summary of Considerations to Strengthen State Requests for ESEA Flexibility”

http://www.ed.gov//sites/default/files/considerations-strengthen.pdf


Outcomes

Forum on Evaluating Educator Effectiveness: Critical Considerations

for Including Students with Disabilities

Recent Pre-session at CCSSO National Conference on Student Assessment

Goal: to sort through approaches to evaluating educator effectiveness – especially with respect to including all students with disabilities and their teachers – thinking carefully about measures of student achievement.


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Question 1: How should assessment results of students with disabilities be used in evaluation models of teacher effectiveness?

What Session Participants Said:Important to include, but there can be challenges:

• How to include students who participate in alternate assessments

• In some cases, small class size is an issue

• Sharing of teachers

Pre-session Forum Questions


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Question 2: What are the benefits and concerns of using IEP goals or Student Learning Objectives (SLO)?

What Session Participants Said•SLOs recognize individual student differences•May have potential to lower expectations•Some expressed concern that they may not be linked to common core standards

Pre-session Forum Questions, cont.


Outcomes

Question 3: If multiple measures are used, what would a balanced model look like?

What Session Participants Said•Multiple measures are important for the evaluation of all teachers. •Multiple measures can help ensure that the big picture is considered.•It should use data from a variety of sources.•Teacher observation may be a part of it.

Pre-session Forum Questions, cont.


Outcomes

(3) use multiple valid measures in determining performance levels, including as a significant factor data on student growth for all students (including English Learners and students with disabilities), and other measures of professional practice (which may be gathered through multiple formats and sources, such as observations based on rigorous teacher performance standards, teacher portfolios, and student and parent surveys);

ESEA Flexibility: Principle 3


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Digging Deeper into Measures that Use Assessment Results

.

Multiple Measures

Growth Other Measures (may include some of the

following)

Observation

Achievement

Other Measures

Commitment to School Community


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Recommendations for Growth Models

• Retain a standards-based approach.

• Maintain grade-level focus. • • Include all students.

• Ensure that all students are visible in the results.

Thurlow, Lazarus, Quenemoen & Moen (2009)


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Where do special education teachers who teach reading or math in a tested grade fit? (Should individual-level or school-level data be used?)

Group 1: Teachers Who Teach Reading or Math in a Tested Grade

or

Group 2: Other Teachers


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State Example

Group A (teachers who teach primary core curriculum) and Group B teachers: Teachers of students with disabilities (special education teachers) could fall into either of these two groups, depending on the model used for instruction for students with disabilities. For example, if a special education teacher is co-teaching in a language arts and/or math class or is the primary teacher for language arts and/or math, then that special education teacher would be evaluated as part of Group A. If a special education teacher was supporting the reading and math curriculum and not the primary content area teacher for students with disabilities, then they would be evaluated a part of the Group B teachers.


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Value Added Models

• Do background characteristics of the student provide useful information that past achievement alone does not provide?

• Are students with disabilities treated differently than other sub-populations?


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Value Added Models, cont. State Example

•Model does not include variables for race/ethnicity•Model includes two variables for special education status

o Existence of a Specific Learning Disability

o Existence of other types of disabilities requiring special education

Hmm . . . this model probably has a good mathematical fit based on historical data, but what is it saying about future expectations?


Outcomes

Value Added Models, cont.

State Example, cont.

Summary

•Students in a whole range of disability categories are lumped together

•When the historical data were compiled, did the students have access to high quality instruction?

•Is there a possibility of low expectations?


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Are there state laws or district regulations that may make it difficult to appropriately include data from some students with disabilities?

• Should the principal be allowed to make decisions about whether to exclude the data of some students?

• Are there other laws or regulations that might be a concern?


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Some more questions and considerations

• How should scores be attributed when students have multiple teachers?

• How are scores of students who participated in alternate assessments included?


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Delaware’s Teacher Evaluation System


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Discussion Questions for Session Participants

• How can SEAs and LEAs ensure that special education teachers and their students are appropriately included in growth models?

• What has worked well (and what are the challenges) as SEAs and LEAs move toward new teacher evaluation systems?

• What else needs to happen to successfully include students with disabilities and their teachers in growth models?


Outcomes

Contact Information

Martha Thurlow: [email protected]

Sheryl Lazarus: [email protected]

Brian Touchette: [email protected]

www.nceo.info

Documents

1 National Center on Educational Outcomes What’s so Difficult About Including Special Education Teachers and Their Students in Growth Models Used to Evaluate