This is Not a Test

First, it was chalkboards—replaced with shiny whiteboards and, later, newfangled Smart Boards. Textbooks and spiral notebooks went the way of the Trapper Keeper, superceded by iPads and laptops. Schools began banning sugary sodas and dodgeball.

Adults who wander into modern Colorado classrooms are curiously lost in anti-bullying initiatives, healthy lunch programs and ridiculously advanced technology. Icons of early education are vanishing. Students bring their teachers Starbucks instead of apples, and classes receive homework updates
over Facebook.

No more pencils. No more books. And now, no more teachers’ dirty looks.

That’s right, a heaping pile of reforms adopted during the last several legislative sessions targets public schools’ most prized element: teachers.

2010’s landmark Senate Bill 191 set the framework for an overhaul to educator standards and the creation of new a evaluation system in hopes of improving Colorado kids’ education. The goals of the new educator effectiveness regulations are simple: hire great teachers and principals, make mediocre educators into good ones, make good educators into better ones and give bad apples the boot.

Simultaneously, school districts will also implement new Colorado Academic Standards. These cover 10 content areas and put a focus on workforce readiness and “21st century skills.”

Teachers must also teach for a new standardized test—the Transitional Colorado Assessment Program, or TCAP, which reflects the revised standards.

Education reform has officially hit Colorado. It’s the biggest overhaul since No Child Left Behind. District leaders, principals and teachers throughout Colorado are now on a deadline: By next school year, teachers’ curricula must align with new standards, and their teaching practices and students’ test scores will determine their future in local schools.

Many of the reforms were in response to Race to the Top, an Obama administration competitive initiative that gives money to states for educational innovation. Colorado was awarded a $17.9 million grant in 2011, and the state will spend some of it implementing the new standards and the educator
evaluation systems.

Pilot programs have started testing educator effectiveness in several districts. It’s expected to be fully implemented statewide by next school year. It’ll be a push, and hiccups are expected.

“I thought the timelines were very unrealistic. A lot remains to be seen,” said Lorrie Shepard, the dean of the CU school of education and a member of Colorado’s State Council for Educator Effectiveness, a group of experts joined to establish levels of effectiveness and performance standards as well as develop evaluation guidelines. “Until local school districts actually try the new systems and see what seems to work, we won’t know. I’m confident that there will be some alarms. But I’m not placing bets.”

Shepard advocated for using district pilot programs as incubators—looking at the data coming out of those schools and using it to help districts and the Colorado Department of Education to identify issues and solutions before next fall.

“I urged that we learn from the pilots before insisting that these (evaluations) have high stakes,” she said, referring to the idea of using student test scores to evaluate, reward or remove teachers. Shepard has published research that shows tying teacher evaluations to student test scores is a flawed yet common practice. “Given that (high stakes testing) was part of SB 191’s mandate, my role was to make sure that it was as fair as possible and that safeguards where put in place.”

An educator’s effectiveness will be determined by the new evaluation system (50 percent) and their students’ test growth measures (50 percent). The written evaluation system will analyze how educators know the content—and how content prepares students to meet the Colorado Academic Standards—as well as create classroom environments that facilitate learning, reflect on their practices and show leadership.

Teachers and principals will be labeled highly effective, effective, partially effective and ineffective. Teachers can become non-probationary once they’ve earned three consecutive years of effectiveness. Teachers can lose their non-probationary status after two years of ineffectiveness or partial ineffectiveness.

Overall, it may make it more difficult for educators to gain tenure and easier for them to lose tenure. Truly, the pressure will soon be on.

Shepard says teachers should look at the intentions of the legislation—to improve education throughout the state—and not get too focused on test scores.

“When you have these procedures imposed, the thing you have to do is ask yourself, ‘What is best practice?’ Keep your eye on the prize,” she said. “…Teachers won’t be alone in it. As soon as there are patterns of invalid conclusions, we can respond. I assume that no one will do anything crazy.”

There is a support system for teachers as they implement the new Colorado Academic Standards. Brian Sevier is the Standards Project Director at the Colorado Department of Education and he oversees the Standards and Instructional Support team, which travels the state working with teachers and school leaders.

“It’s going very well. As with any large change, you have districts that have already started and others that are still investigating the standards,” he said. “We meet them at all the levels.”

Sevier expects there will be a noticeable difference in the classrooms of Colorado once the dust of implementing new standards settles.

“Ultimately, when it’s all implemented and the instructional practices are in place, there will be a big difference,” he said. “If they are implemented with fidelity, yes, students will see a difference. That’s
the goal.”

Shepard says she hopes the educator effectiveness reforms will not be so obvious to students and their parents.

“I don’t think in districts like Boulder Valley that it would,” she said. “Parents in some districts might see an increase in test preparation. They should be alert to that. But I don’t think it is a likely thing.”

As for teachers, she says it’s not as scary as it may appear.

“Most of the teachers should not be at risk,” she said. “It’s a normative comparison. You are compared to typical growth. If your growth is way less, you are at risk. Except for the fact that it is making everyone wary, there should not be horrific consequences.”

Definition: Effective Teacher

Effective teachers have the knowledge, skills and commitments needed to provide excellent and equitable learning opportunities and growth for all students. They support growth and development, close achievement gaps and prepare students for postsecondary and workforce success. They facilitate mastery of content and skill development, and use evidence-based strategies and approaches for under-achieving students. They develop the skills, interests and abilities necessary to be lifelong learners and for civic participation. They communicate high expectations to students and families, engaging them in a mutually supportive teaching and learning environment. They engage in collaboration, continuous reflection, on-going learning and leadership. —State Council for Educator Effectiveness