Reaching Every Student with an Excellent Teacher Presentation to Project L.I.F.T. October 7, 2011

The top 25 percent of U.S. teachers—more than 800,000 of them—already achieve results that would enable all of our children to meet and exceed standards Excellent teachers (the top 20–25 percent) help students make approximately three times (3X) the progress of students who are assigned to teachers in the bottom 20–25 percent These “3X” teachers achieve an average of about 1.5 years of student learning growth annually Fall Today’s Excellent Teachers

Start 1 year behind… Catch up after 2 years of excellent teachers Fall Consistent Excellence Makes the Difference Start 2 years behind… Catch up after 4 years of excellent teachers Start on grade level… Leap ahead like “gifted” peers, with excellent teachers Catch up from behind… Leap ahead like “gifted” peers, with excellent teachers Students who…

In contrast, when children have solid teachers who achieve a year’s worth of growth per year… Fall Impact of “Solid” vs. “Excellent” Teachers Most students who enter behind…Stay behind Most students who enter on track…Stay in middle Most students who enter ahead… Stay ahead Overall, U.S. students end up where they started out in life—the antithesis of the American Dream.

Fall Our Challenge If only 20-25% of teachers produce gap-closing, bar- raising progress… …only % of students make gap- closing, bar-raising progress. We can move this number, but probably not past 40%. We HAVE TO move this number!

Not by just cramming all the students into their classrooms, but by: Redesigning jobs, roles, and schedules Using technology You COULD put your already excellent teachers in charge of the learning of every student in your school….. Fall What If ….

We call this “extending the reach” of excellent teachers to more students. Fall Reaching Many More Students In-Person Reach Extension Remote Reach Extension Boundless Reach Extension Combinations

Changes instructional roles and how schools are organized to leverage limited numbers of excellent teachers, keeping the best in classrooms For example: Allow excellent elementary teachers to specialize and reach 2 to 4 times as many children Choose excellent teachers with managerial skills to lead multiple classrooms in which other teachers use their methods and standards Allow top teachers to shift more children into their classrooms so they reach more students, while peers have smaller classes Fall Reach Extension: In-Person

Uses technology to enable excellent teachers to engage directly (though not in person) with students, bringing excellent teaching even to places where excellent teachers are in very short supply For example: Use video-conferencing and other interactive technology to enable a few excellent middle school math teachers to reach students at multiple schools Fall Reach Extension: Remote

Uses video of excellent teachers or software that uses their instructional practices to reach a potentially unlimited number of students with excellent teaching For example: Use video recordings of teachers who are content masters and engaging performers Use smart software designed to mimic the way excellent instructors ascertain and respond to each child’s level of skill and knowledge Fall Reach Extension: Boundless

Combines reach extension methods to deliver excellent instruction and make better use of excellent teachers’ time For example: Time-technology swaps: Use digital instruction to replace a portion of excellent, in-person teachers’ instructional time enabling fewer, better in-person teachers to reach more students with personalized and enriched instruction. Fall Reach Extension: Combinations

Fall The Goal: Excellent Teachers For All All models have one aim: Putting an excellent teacher—one who produces high-growth learning—in charge of every child’s instruction. At the same time, most models create new, focused roles for solid teachers in which they can contribute to excellence while developing their own capacity.

With funding from Carnegie Corporation of NY, Gates Foundation, and Joyce Foundation: Create & publish starting “models” of how schools can reach all students with excellent teachers Create and publish detailed tools for some models (schedules, job descriptions, budgets) Identify five partner-sites who make a strong commitment to reaching all with excellence Fall Opportunity Culture Initiative

Reach more children successfully with excellent teachers. Pay excellent teachers more for reaching more children successfully. Achieve permanent financial sustainability within budgets from per-pupil funding. Include roles for other educators that enable them to learn and contribute to excellence. Clarify the fully accountable adult for each student/subject, and what people, technology and other resources (s)he can choose and manage. Fall Partner Site Commitments

Strong leadership from the top of the organization Committed external funders / supporters Committed school principals Ability to clear any policy barriers that keep excellent teachers from reaching students Dedication of staff and/or consultants to support and coordinate design & implementation Fall Creating the Conditions

Discussion Clarifying questions? What models sound promising and helpful in your schools? What would you need as school leaders to put these concepts into action? Fall

Fall Resources Hassel, B. C., & Hassel, E. A. (2011). Seizing opportunity at the top: How the U.S. can give every child an excellent teacher. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. Hassel, B. C., & Hassel, E. A. (2010). Opportunity at the top: How America’s best teachers could close the gaps, raise the bar, and keep our nation great. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. public_impact.pdf public_impact.pdf Hassel, E. A., & Hassel, B. C. (2009). 3X for all: Extending the reach of education’s best. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., Mulhern, J., & Keeling, D. (2009). The widget effect: Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. New York: The New Teacher Project. McKinsey & Company (2009). The economic impact of the achievement gap in America’s schools. df/achievement_gap_report.pdf df/achievement_gap_report.pdf See complete references in Seizing Opportunity at the Top, at opportunityculture.org.