blog posts and news stories

IES Published Our REL Southwest Study on Trends in Teacher Mobility

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences published a report of a study we conducted for REL Southwest! We are thankful for the support and engagement we received from the Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance throughout the study.

The study was published in December 2017 and provides updated information regarding teacher mobility for Texas public schools during the 2011-12 through 2015-16 school years. Teacher mobility is defined as teachers changing schools or leaving the public school system.

In the report, descriptive information on mobility rates is presented at the regional and state levels for each school year. Mobility rates are disaggregated further into destination proportions to describe the proportion of teacher mobility due to within-district movement, between-district movement, and leaving Texas public schools. This study leverages data collected by the Texas Education Agency during the pilot of the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) in 57 school districts in 2014-15. Analyses examine how components of the T-TESS observation rubric are related to school-level teacher mobility rates.

During the 2011-12 school year, 18.7% of Texas teachers moved schools within a district, moved between districts, or left the Texas Public School system. By 2015-16, this mobility rate had increased to 22%. Moving between districts was the primary driver of the increase in mobility rates. Results indicate significant links between mobility and teacher, student, and school demographic characteristics. Teachers with special education certifications left Texas public schools at nearly twice the rate of teachers with other teaching certifications. School-level mobility rates showed significant positive correlations with the proportion of special education, economically disadvantaged, low-performing, and minority students. School-level mobility rates were negatively correlated with the proportion of English learner students. Schools with higher overall observation ratings on the T-TESS rubric tended to have lower mobility rates.

Findings from this study will provide state and district policymakers in Texas with updated information about trends and correlates of mobility in the teaching workforce, and offer a systematic baseline for monitoring and planning for future changes. Informed by these findings, policymakers can formulate a more strategic and targeted approach for recruiting and retaining teachers. For instance, instead of using generic approaches to enhance the overall supply of teachers or improve recruitment, more targeted efforts to attract and retain teachers in specific subject areas (for example, special education), in certain stages of their career (for example, novice teachers), and in certain geographic areas are likely to be more productive. Moreover, this analysis may enrich the existing knowledge base about schools’ teacher retention and mobility in relation to the quality of their teaching force, or may inform policy discussions about the importance of a stable teaching force for teaching effectiveness.

New Mexico Implementation

Empirical Education and the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) are entering into their fourth year of collaboration using Observation Engine to increase educator effectiveness by improving understanding of the NMTEACH observation protocol and inter-rater reliability amongst observers using it. During the implementation, Observation Engine has been used for calibration and professional development with over 2,000 educators across the state annually. In partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), who is providing training on best practices, the users in New Mexico have pushed the boundaries of what is possible with Observation Engine. Observation Engine was initially used solely for certifying observers prior to live classroom observations. Now, observers are relying on Observation Engine’s lesson functionality to provide professional development throughout the year. In addition, some administrators are now using videos and content from Observation Engine directly with teachers to provide them with models of what good instruction looks like.

The exciting news is that the collaborative efforts of NMPED, SREB, and Observation Engine are demonstrating impressive results across New Mexico that are noteworthy, especially when compared to the rest of the nation. In a compilation of teacher performance ratings from 19 states that have reformed their evaluation system since the seminal Widget Effect Report, Kraft and Gilmour (2016) found that in a majority of these states, fewer than 3 percent of teachers are rated below proficient. New Mexico stood out as an outlier among these states with 26.2% of teachers rated below proficient, a percentage comparable with more realistic pilots of educator effectiveness ratings. This is likely a sign of excellent professional development, as well as a willingness to realistically adjust the thresholds for proficiency based on the data that is being yielded and examined from actual practice, such as data captured within Observation Engine.

Kraft, M.A., & Gilmour, A.F. (2016). Revisiting the Widget Effect: Teacher Evaluation Reforms and the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness. Brown University working paper. Retrieved July 21, 2016, from https://scholar.harvard.edu/mkraft/publications/revisiting-widget-effect-teacher-evaluation-reforms-and-distribution-teacher.

Empirical to Evaluate Two More Winning i3 Projects

U.S. Department of Education has announced the highest-rated applicants for the 2014 Investing in Innovation (i3) competition. Of the 434 submissions received by ED, we are excited that both of the proposals for which we developed evaluation plans were among the 26 winners. Both of these proposals were THE highest rated in their respective categories!

In one, we’ll be partnering with WestEd to evaluate the Making Sense of Science and Literacy program. Written as a validation proposal, this 5-year project will aim to strengthen teachers’ content knowledge, transform classroom practices, and boost student achievement.

The other highest-rated application was a development proposal submitted by the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter Schools. In this 5-year project, we will assess its 3-year residency model on the effectiveness of early career teachers.

Both projects were bid under the “priority” for teacher effectiveness. We have a long standing partnership with WestEd on i3 evaluations and Regional Lab projects. This is our first project with Atlanta Neighborhood Charter Schools, and it builds on our educator effectiveness work and our ongoing partnerships with charter schools, including our evaluation of an i3 Development effort by Aspire Public Schools.

For more information on our evaluation services and our work on i3 projects, please visit our i3 page and/or contact us.