Measuring Effective Teaching in Urban Schools

By Amy Magin Wong 06/16/2010 9:54 AM EST | 1 Comment

Defining what “effective teaching” is can be an elusive goal, as standards differ from state to state. Yet there are those urban school districts that do stand out, showing marked progress in student achievement. Lecturer Janice Jackson, senior associate on the Wallace Foundation-funded Executive Leadership Program for Educators at Harvard University, wondered if these districts owed their success to having a clear sense of effective teaching, and if so, what does it look like, and how did they implement these practices?

With the assistance of doctoral student Leslie Boozer, Ed.M.’07, Jackson investigated the sources of student improvement in relation to effective teaching methods. They interviewed leaders from eight districts and two education agencies from across the country that had all shown significant progress in math and reading scores. The districts comprised a diverse group, ranging from large urban to smaller suburban systems.

How Districts Were Chosen

In choosing the districts for her research, Jackson first turned to the Council for Great City Schools’ 2007 report Beating the Odds, which provided her with a list of urban districts throughout the country that showed promise in improving student achievement. She then consulted the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and chose an additional five districts that had been successful in improving math scores at the third and eighth grade levels. Jackson says that selecting districts based solely on test scores wasn’t her preferred method, but it was the quick way to get a conversation started for a small, first cut of the study.

From this pool of prospective sources, Jackson then contacted each district’s chief academic officer or their assistant superintendent responsible for instruction. She then narrowed the group of respondents to those who had a clearly defined sense of what effective teaching was within their individual districts.

The Interview

Jackson and Boozer conducted extensive interviews with each of the district leaders, starting with the following questions:

• How has your district defined effective teaching, and how did you reach that definition?
• How did you assess where teachers were currently, and how did you determine where you wanted them to be?
• What resources did you use when researching instruction and learning? Whose work/research did you look at?
• What effective practices did you adopt?
• How did you implement the changes in effective teaching?
• What accountability measures were tied to the effective teaching elements?

The Results

Jackson and Boozer are just beginning to examine the data from the interviews. However, they have discovered a number of trends that appeared across the districts.

“For most of the school systems this was a multiple-year project,” says Jackson, “part of a comprehensive reform process. The prime mover for the work — the chief academic officer or the superintendent — had a clear vision and a sense of purpose. They took the time to actually define effective teaching, and what that practice should look like within the district.”

In the districts studied, the district leader’s defined plan encompassed all of the schools within the system, but with the realization that it was going to look a little different at each one. Several of the districts had varying socio-economic classes, with some schools that had no need for subsidized lunches, and others in which all of the children were getting their meals for free or at a reduced price. Despite the students’ different backgrounds, the district included teaching methods that were effective for every child, including those in special education and also English language learners.

Another common characteristic of these successful districts was that everyone – from all levels of the school systems – were encouraged to think about their roles in relationship to what went on in the classroom, and what effect they each may have on the teaching and learning process. This included the central office administrators, office personnel, food-service workers, and bus drivers as well as teachers and administrators.

To evaluate a teacher’s effectiveness, Jackson and Boozer found that the districts had developed a variety of tools, some of which were tied to student growth, and others consisting of multiple dimensions. For example, teams from the central office and the school would go in and visit classrooms on a regular basis, rather than just the usual one or two classroom visits per year. Some districts videotaped a teacher, and then everyone involved sat down to review the tape and critique what was strong about the teaching methods, and identify where could there be improvement. The districts often partnered with their teachers union or association in creating their evaluation methods.

Several districts, as part of their long-term plans, are considering tying student growth measures to incentives such as offering extra pay, sending teachers to special professional development opportunities, giving them lead teacher positions, or giving bonuses to a successful school. However, Jackson learned that although there was a need for incentives to shift behaviors, a monetary reward wasn’t the only source of motivation. “Being treated with respect and as a professional was essential,” she explains. “The people involved in a successful teaching program were very proud of their work, and came up with a product that they defined and shared with others within their district.”

“Quite a few of the districts did not give any extra pay to have teachers and principals involved in this process,” adds Boozer. ”But they were honored that their practices were considered high caliber.”

The process itself was often very detailed and continually evolving, with constant feedback between the participants to truly understand what was being communicated. “Teachers were eager to share what they did,” says Jackson, “and volunteered a great deal of their time, working collaboratively to help other teachers build their toolkits, so they had multiple ways to present material.” All of the districts used research, but customized it to what worked in their own contexts, by connecting it to what their teachers already knew, then moving to integrate it into their plans.

Jackson and Boozer hope that the results of this research, which will go to the Wallace Foundation to share with schools across the country, will provide guidance to other district leaders as they work to raise student achievement.

Ed.D., Ed.M., Education Policy and Management Program, Executive Leadership Program for Educators, faculty, Janice Jackson, Leslie Boozer, research, students and alumni, teaching methods, The Wallace Foundation, urban education