1. The Interdisciplinary Center for Educational Innovation
FRAMEWORK OF TEACHER PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT TO SUPPORT TEACHING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS
Dace Bertule
University of Latvia
The Interdisciplinary Center for Educational Innovation
Valencia, Spain

2. The Interdisciplinary Center for Educational Innovation
OUR TEAM
Līga Čakāne
Inese Dudareva
Dace Namsone
Anete Butkēviča
Dace Bērtule
The Interdisciplinary Center for Educational Innovation
University of Latvia
What we are
What we do

3. our office
Here we are

4. The need to change
Similarly to other countries, Latvia is implementing a curriculum reform, directly related to the change of approach in the learning process for students to acquire 21st century skills, also called transversal skills. It is becoming increasingly important to monitor if and how teachers manage and provide this type of classroom learning in order to provide the necessary support for them.

5. For teachers, as for students, the most effective evaluation comes from someone who sits beside us and helps us grow
It is becoming increasingly important to monitor if and how teachers manage and provide this type of classroom learning in order to provide the necessary support for them.
A teacher-quality system has been introduced in Latvia since 2009 where teachers' performance is evaluated with points, without specifying for any particular performance how points match;
school accreditation has traditionally been driven by dichotomy.
This does not give a clear picture of what teachers can do in the classroom and what should be the starting point for personalized professional learning. This is in contrast to practices in other countries where teacher competence assessment rubrics are used.

6. SITUATION IN LATVIA
An acute need to continuously adapt to the changes for more objective assessment of teacher performance
Taking into account that education system in Latvia has not yet provided an effective and development-orientated teacher-quality system (according to OECD survey), there is an acute need to continuously adapt to the changes for more objective assessment of teacher performance by creating and using a framework of teacher performance assessment.

7. OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS1
Analysis of scientific literature and documents, experts’ method, expert focus group discussion, analysis of best practice examples.
What is the theoretical framework for teaching performance to teach 21st century skills?
OUR RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND METHODS 2
How to describe the performance levels according to framework?
Selected 5 categories are characterized with 13 criteria. For each criteria, 5 performance levels are described. 3
What results of validation of the framework in school practice show?
Field work - lesson observation ( 145 lessons, 18 subjects) and analysis; expert focus group discussions, statistical data analysis (133 teachers, 21 schools).
The research was done as part of a larger study. The framework was created according to criteria: focus on classroom practice domains, teaching 21st century skills (topical for school goals and development in the frame of reform), to develop research based on a practical tool.
Research project ''The Application of Principles for Information System Modelling to Structured and Goal-Oriented Competence Management'‘
Six experts from the Interdisciplinary Center for Educational Innovation at the University of Latvia (UL ICEI) were involved in initial framework design and description of performance levels. Experts piloted the initial version in classroom practice by using a report form. 4 expert focus group discussions were organized and transcribed after piloting to prepare the framework for the validation. The experts involved with years of experience in lesson observation are specially trained in observing and analyzing lessons. Training includes analyzing and comparing lesson video recordings, discussing the same teaching practice observed.
The goal of validation is to test the quality of the designed framework and the PLD. experts were observing, transcribing and analyzing 145 lessons in 18 different subjects in all age groups (1st till 12th grade) in 8 schools.
Lesson observation and analysis sheets in digital format were created including all the criteria and levels. The experts carried out a full transcription of observations (detailed description of the process - facts without interpretations). 
Obtained data is encoded, compiled, processed, and creates a database of examples of observed lesson situations according to the criteria and levels with fixed quotations from transcriptions and expert justifications.
The total number of teachers involved is 133 from 13 till 21 schools. School sample (N=8) represents different types of schools in Latvia

8. RESULTS

9. 1. What is the theoretical framework for teacher performance to teach 21st century skills?
Selected category - criteria framework for teaching performance to develop 21st century skills
The result is a two-dimensional category-criteria framework.
Categories selected for the study according to criteria:
categories to develop 21st century skills, planned within the frame of the ongoing reform [2]; essential for achieving school developmental goals: self-regulation, cognitive activation, collaboration, leveraging digital;
domains for teaching practice: planning, teaching, classroom environment [29];
classroom management, teaching techniques included;
practically observable in lessons;
compact, transparent and easy to use.
Selected 8 categories are characterized with 13 criteria.

10. 2. How to describe the performance levels according to the framework?
Performance level description (PLD) example of chosen criteria - category II 2nd criteria 1.2. metacognitive skills.
2. How to describe the performance levels according to the framework?
Teachers’ performance according to all categories and criteria of the framework are described in 4 levels (scale 1-4): expert, proficient, developing, beginner and not observed. When the performance is under first level of the chosen criteria it is not observed and means zero level.
PLD also includes dimensions of criteria and a description of the student activities at levels described
PLD is created by the authors, some of the criteria are adapted using available literature ([37], [38]) or individual research ideas. There is a need for further discussion on how to improve PLD with examples of teacher actions such as the 5D + rubrics [39] which would help practitioners to use this tool more effectively Leading educational researcher Jonathan Osborne visit at the University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia, 2015.

11. 3. What do the results of validation of the framework in school practice show?
Frequency of performance levels (min 0 - max 4) and average performance observed
The designed framework and PLD is validated in school practice. Table 2 summarizes the frequency of observations of each performance level for each criteria according to the performance level.
The green color indicates which criteria was accepted by dataset.
Data (see Table 2) shows that for several criteria there is a need for additional measurements. None of the proposed criteria has been validated for PLD 4th level. In order to validate the 4th level performance descriptors, the different criteria should be used to set the teacher sample for further studies.

12. CONCLUSIONS Framework Validation Next study
Is created to support the teacher’s professional development in the context of ongoing education reform.
Development
CONCLUSIONS
Validation
Performance level descriptions has been created and validated in the school practice to assess the performance of teachers
Implementation
Next study
The study will be continued by extending the criteria for sample selection and study set.
International comparative
Designed theoretical framework for teaching performance assessment to teach 21st century skills includes 8 categories and 13 criteria. It is created to support the teacher’s professional development in the context of ongoing education reform.
According to the theoretical framework, performance level descriptions has been created and validated in the school practice to assess the performance of teachers and describes 5 performance levels for each of the 13 criteria.
During validation of the framework and performance level descriptions in practice, it has been revealed that performance descriptors found partly valid. The study will be continued by extending the criteria for sample selection and study set.

13. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is supported by the ERDF research project ''The Application of Principles for Information System Modelling to Structured and Goal-Oriented Competence Management'', agreement No /16/A/252

14. It’s the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom
Michael Morpurgo

15. Any questions? Dace Bertule dace.bertule@lu.lv
THANK YOU!
Any questions?
Dace Bertule