Education Week - March 26, 2014 - 30

Race to Top Winners Struggling on Teacher Evaluations
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25
student growth on test scores. But
the problems go beyond just designing
and putting new evaluations
into practice.
New evaluation systems in Florida
and Delaware, for example, resulted
in very few meaningful differences
in teacher ratings. In essence,
nearly every teacher in those states
was deemed effective based on those
evaluations.
Massachusetts is making only
"limited progress" in establishing
a new professional-development
system, the department found.
Ohio has reported "minimal interest"
among its districts in several
initiatives designed to improve the
FINAL
SPRINT
In its review of work during the third year
of Race to the Top implementation in 11
states and the District of Columbia, the U.S.
Department of Education found progress in
a variety of areas, but also a diverse set of
challenges that remain for the grant winners.
Delaware
AWARD: $120 million
CHALLENGES: Significant turnover among state
education agency staff led to uncertainty and
project delays. New educator ratings from the
state's teacher-evaluation system resulted in
little variation in overall teacher quality. The
state discontinued a teacher-residency program
for science, technology, engineering, and math
educators. Turnaround schools have posted, at
best, modest gains in student achievement.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Delaware expanded its
Teach For America program to two new counties,
created 133 teams that crafted two-year
implementation plans for the common core at
the school level, and added new principals and
teacher-leaders to its leadership project.
District of Columbia
AWARD: $75 million
CHALLENGES: Limited communication has
led to a lack of awareness of professional
development and other resources to help
implement the common standards. Valueadded
measures for some teachers were
calculated incorrectly, resulting in revised
ratings. In addition, work to turn around
low-performing schools has faced delays, and
federal officials
are concerned about how the District is spending
its turnaround project money.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The District developed
an educator portal that provides an online
individual professional-development platform
for teachers. A charter school teacher-residency
program placed 94 residents in classrooms as
teachers in 2013-14. And the District launched a
common-core website that includes lesson plans
and video.
equitable distribution of teachers,
such as a new exit survey to study
teacher attrition. And the District
of Columbia, which was included
in the state-level competition, was
found to have calculated some
teacher ratings incorrectly.
Winners with the biggest challenges
overall, based on the reports,
seem to be the District of Columbia,
Florida, Georgia, and Maryland.
Georgia is in the deepest trouble.
The state is in the midst of forfeiting
$9 million of its grant over unfulfilled
teacher-evaluation promises, and is
criticized in its progress report over
"concerns about the overall strategic
planning, evaluation, and project
management for that system."
The District of Columbia also is
Florida
AWARD: $700 million
CHALLENGES: Ongoing lawsuits challenge the
state's teacher-evaluation system. Contract
delays have plagued the creation of professional
development resources for the common core.
New teacher ratings show little meaningful
differentiation in overall teacher quality.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Florida created 10 new
charter schools that feed into its lowestperforming
schools. The state held seven training
sessions for 134,000 teachers on the common
core. All participating districts implemented
new educator-evaluation systems. And 100 new
leaders were trained for roles in the lowestperforming
schools and their feeder schools.
Georgia
AWARD: $400 million
CHALLENGES: The state decided not to
implement a merit-pay system tied to new
teacher evaluations, prompting the federal
department to withhold nearly $10 million. Full
implementation of the teacher-evaluation system
has been delayed until 2014-15.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: About 280 teachers were
placed in Georgia public schools from alternative
certification programs. About 800 district
officials participated in a summer leadership
academy. And training on the new common
standards was provided to more than 750
English/language arts and 1,200 math teachers.
Hawaii
AWARD: $75 million
CHALLENGES: Statewide adoption of a math
curriculum was delayed. The new professionaldevelopment
management system was
completed one year behind schedule.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The state launched
implementation of a new college- and careerready
diploma two years ahead of schedule. The
second year of its teacher-evaluation system
pilot was completed. New "complex area support
teams" were created to support interventions
and the transition to the common core. Hawaii
launched a STEM portal to provide more resources
to teachers in those subjects.
Maryland
AWARD: $250 million
CHALLENGES: The state is significantly delayed
in creating an instructional toolkit for teachers to
help them with the transition to the common core. A
formative-assessment system's development also is
significantly delayed. Problems have plagued the pilot
phase of the state's new teacher-evaluation system.
struggling with turning around its
low-performing schools, while Maryland
is experiencing significant delays
implementing common-core-related
programs, according to the reports.
For their part, Maryland officials
say they are already taking steps
to correct problems revealed in the
reports. The state has, for example,
contracted with a vendor to begin developing
resources for a new instructional
toolkit, which will provide an
online collection of standards-aligned
materials for educators.
Long 'To-Do' Lists
Even though much of the Race
to the Top work is supposed to be
completed, some states still have
lengthy to-do lists, including Florida,
which has experienced big delays in
implementing common-core-aligned
interim and final assessments. In
addition, New York had only spent
35 percent of its $700 million in winnings
as of September 2013, in part
because of big delays launching a
new data portal.
"No state is doing this perfectly.
Every state is working hard. We
do think certain states are further
ahead than others," Mr. Duncan
said.
Because of implementation de-
lays, the Education Department
is in the process of approving "nocost"
extensions that allow states a
fifth year to finish their work and
spend their money. Eleven of the
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Six districts began
incorporating STEM subjects into foreign-language
classes. Sixty-five principals from the New Leaders
for New Schools project were placed in two districts.
The state began a new teacher-induction academy,
which reached 200 new teachers in its first year.
Massachusetts
AWARD: $250 million
CHALLENGES: The state made only "limited
progress" in creating a new professionaldevelopment
system. Schools' ability to access
real-time data due to "interoperability" problems
continued to be delayed. And the state is having
trouble instituting a new diploma track to
encourage college- and career-readiness
called MassCore.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The state released new
report cards on teacher-prep programs and
launched five additional STEM early-college high
school programs. Massachusetts also developed
and offered training on 90 model curriculum
units linked to the common core.
New York
AWARD: $700 million
CHALLENGES: Only 35 percent of its grant had
been spent as of September 2013. The state
continued to experience delays in some grades
in developing tests and curriculum modules for
science, social studies, and the arts.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The state began
implementing a new charter school approval
and renewal process focused on student
performance. New performance-based exams for
teacher and leader candidates were field-tested.
The state is expanding the number of virtual
Advanced Placement classes offered.
North Carolina
AWARD: $400 million
CHALLENGES: Technology projects were delayed
due to contract difficulties. The state experienced
challenges instituting new evaluations in
nontested subjects.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Seventy coaches provided
customized support and professional development
to districts and schools. The state is moving
toward cloud-based Internet services (such as
email) for districts. Nearly 3,000 educators were
trained on a new technology-based tool called
Home Base that will help them better manage
data and classroom resources.
12 winners, so far, have applied for
this extra time. The exception is
Hawaii, the state that caught the
education policy world by surprise
when it won the grant in the first
place.
With a nod to the future, Ha-
waii Superintendent of Education
Kathryn Matayoshi said last week:
"As we head into the final months
of the grant, we continue our
commitment to put into place systems
and practices that will keep
our students successful in college,
careers and community long
after the grant ends. Race to the
Top was an important step in
the transformation of our public
school system and we are staying
the course."
Ohio
AWARD: $400 million
CHALLENGES: The state is a year delayed in
using and reporting teacher-effectiveness
data. The state also reported minimal interest
among districts in several initiatives aimed at
improving the equitable distribution of teachers.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The state launched a STEM
equity pipeline project and a leaders academy.
All 4th- through 8th-grade teachers in
English/language arts and math received a
value-added report, and training on how to
use value-added data. The state posted model
curricula and professional-development modules
related to the common core.
Rhode Island
AWARD: $75 million
CHALLENGES: The rollout of the state's new
instructional management systems experienced
problems and delays. New teacher-effectiveness
ratings did not include student growth on state
tests. The state continues to struggle with
supporting its lowest-performing schools.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Districts received access
to common-core-aligned interim assessments.
The state piloted an early-warning system for
students at risk of dropping out. Eight more
candidates were recruited for the turnaround
leaders program. Sixty percent of schools
received 10 days of professional development
and on-site coaching on using student data to
drive instruction.
Tennessee
AWARD: $500 million
CHALLENGES: An early warning system that
tracks student achievement experienced
problems involving technical delays and the
quality of available data. New STEM-focused
schools have seen variable achievement results,
while regional STEM hubs have struggled to build
capacity around the STEM subjects.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The state provide no-stakes
tests to districts to help them get ready for the
common core. Competitive grants were awarded
to 167 schools with the largest achievement
gaps. The second year of the new teacherevaluation
system was completed.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education
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