Abstract
Beginning in 2009, and with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, school districts across the United States began to be held to higher standards and their progress publicly reported. Student achievement began to be measured by standardized testing and great efforts were being made to reduce the achievement gap. This paper is based on a five-year study of teacher evaluation in two urban districts in Massachusetts where improving teacher practice was seen as an important factor in raising student achievement. This research studied efforts to address those teachers who were identified as underperforming and were supported through individual improvement plans. This paper used a case study approach to show what the practices of a sampling of these teachers looked like, teachers’ reactions to being rated unsatisfactory, and teachers’ reactions to the improvement planning process.
Highlights
Across the United States, and since the introduction of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, cities, towns, and individual schools are being measured and held to high academic standards. ere is no greater concern in education than in urban areas with diverse populations, high rates of poverty, and students learning English and living in families with the many stressors that o en include low wages and a lack of understanding of their new culture
Is paper is based on a ve-year study of teacher evaluation in two urban districts in Massachusetts where teacher practice was being carefully examined. is research studied e orts to address teachers identi ed as underperforming and e orts to improve their practice through professional development and individual improvement planning
The Research Design e purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of how two districts utilized teacher accountability principles to in uence teacher practice. e accountability principals were developed by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) and negotiated through local teacher unions with the districts. is study produced an overview of the process, examined the characteristics of instruction that prompted principals to identify teachers as underperforming, provided a sampling of what classroom instruction looked like, discussed samples of teachers’ understanding of their own performance, demonstrated how some teachers went about improving their practice, and reported on what was done in each district to improve instruction and the results of those e orts
Summary
Across the United States, and since the introduction of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, cities, towns, and individual schools are being measured and held to high academic standards. ere is no greater concern in education than in urban areas with diverse populations, high rates of poverty, and students learning English and living in families with the many stressors that o en include low wages and a lack of understanding of their new culture. E training that needed to be done for teachers to teach more e ectively and to help administrators observe and give e ective and actionable feedback was time consuming (Aldeman & Chuong, 2014) Training for both teachers and administrators consisted of lesson planning, de ning objectives, e ective instruction, assessment, data analysis, and classroom and school culture. Is study produced an overview of the process, examined the characteristics of instruction that prompted principals to identify teachers as underperforming, provided a sampling of what classroom instruction looked like, discussed samples of teachers’ understanding of their own performance, demonstrated how some teachers went about improving their practice, and reported on what was done in each district to improve instruction and the results of those e orts
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