Teachers for Education Reform

By Mac LeBuhn, Policy Analyst

A Greek myth tells the story of Pygmalion.  He was a sculptor who was so engrossed in his work that he had no time for the women living in his town.  One day in his studio, he carved a sculpture of a woman so beautiful that he fell in love with it.  After some time, the goddess Venus noticed his dedication to the statute and brought it to life.  He and his now-living statue went on to spend the rest of their lives together.  This story provides the basis for what is known in education today as the Pygmalion Effect.

It's strange that one of the rare upbeat Greek myths--none of the spitings and back-stabbings typical of such stories--provides the name for a cautionary phrase.  The Pygmalion Effect is used in education to describe how a teacher's high expectations for a student can become self-fulfilling.  A teacher who believes a student is gifted often provides the student with extra attention and support.  As a result, the student becomes the gifted pupil the teacher expected.

However, some students live in the shadow of the teacher's beam of optimism: these students--which, as research shows, tend to be minority and low-income students--are discouraged by the teacher's lack of high expectations and perform below their ability.  This opposite consequence is known as the Golem Effect.

Luckily, teachers have a valuable tool for keeping both Pygmalion and Golem at bay: data from student performance on assessments.  A student whose performance is languishing compared to high-fliers may be suffering under the heel of the Golem Effect.  Similarly, a teacher with a bias for outspoken students may see his more extroverted students perform better in the classroom than their introverted peers.  Neither of these effects represents a conscious choice by the teacher--instead, each is the outcome of a bias the teacher probably does not acknowledge.  The use of this data provides a valuable tool to counteract such beliefs.

Consider a quote from David Gesualdi, an elementary teacher recently interviewed by the National Center on Teacher Quality: "I not only look at the student's face and smile and where they're from, I also have a number in my head of where that student performed on the previous assessment, and that's what drives my instruction." 

Teachers that learn to do this have a huge advantage over those that rely on emotional intuitions about what is going on in the classroom.  A teacher may believe a smiling, upbeat student is doing better in class than the data actually show.  Conversely, a frustrated and upset student may not radiate competency, even if the material is actually very easy for the student.  The use of student data lets the teacher develop a more accurate picture of both students--and keep the second student from suffering under the Golem Effect.

The use of data analysis to reveal trends in the classroom is not an intuitive teacher practice.  As Alexandra Fuentes, another teacher interviewed by NCTQ, described, her teacher preparation program taught her to investigate data more deeply to understand why some students weren't growing.  By digging into the data and noticing the rapid growth of some students and the absence of growth among others, Ms. Fuentes was able to reveal hidden trends that would have been missed through simple self-reflection. 

We do not think of our favorite teachers when we hear "analyze" and "disaggregate" like when we hear "nurture" and "encourage."  Ultimately, however, these skills are just as necessary for good teaching.

By Mac LeBuhn, Policy Analyst

An arbitration ruling issued last week made it official: teacher evaluations are coming to New York City.  After months of negotiations, more negotiations and all-around controversy between the school district and the teacher's union failed to produce an agreement, State Commissioner of Education John King handed down a model evaluation program for the city's schools.

Although the state specifies an outline for New York City's evaluation systems, the model evaluation program leaves much to be filled in by the city's educators.  Since the evaluation must be in place by the upcoming school year, a number of important decisions around teacher evaluation must be made--and soon.

In a 2011 report, "Incentives and Test-Based Accountability," the National Research Council reviewed a number of studies on the effectiveness of state and local accountability programs.  While I don't agree with the full scope of the report, its review of studies in economics and psychology on accountability systems offers a great deal of guidance for the individuals that will be working on developing New York City's evaluation plans.

Though both disciplines offer useful insights for educators, what each branch suggests tends to be fairly different from the other.  It's not as if psychologists and economists are speaking entirely different languages when discussing accountability, but they certainly differ in dialect.  Consider the four key elements identified in the economics literature:

1. Target: Who are the incentives directed towards? Are these the appropriate people to target, given the desired change?
2. Performance measures: Are the measures of the accountability system associated with the desired outcome?
3. Consequences: Are the size and structure of consequences and incentives appropriate to the situation?
4. Support: What tools are available that help teachers reach their goals?

Questions like these were the shoals that the negotiations ran aground on: arguments over performance measures and consequences consumed months of negotiations.  However, the success or failure of the evaluation systems will be just as dependent on the two considerations the NRC found in the psychological research:

1. Framing: Are the incentives presented in a way that aligns with and supports the organization's commitment to its mission?
2. Communication: Has the system been effectively communicated to stakeholders?

Largely, the psychological research deals with communication and feelings--concepts that policy wonks typically approach with the same comfort as they do snakes and vials of poison.  However, the questions raised by both these fields are crucially important as the city develops its evaluation systems.

The project for New York City's educators is to balance these two sets of priorities as the teacher evaluation systems are developed.  Fortunately, the psychological and economic considerations support each other: if the way that teachers are measured lines up well with student learning (Economic Question #2) it will also align with the New York City Department of Education's commitment to student learning (Psychological Question #1).  If policymakers can master communication challenges (Psychological Question #2), then teachers should be able to access support resources more effectively (Economic Question #4).

Educators throughout New York City's school system will be tasked with developing a new teacher evaluation system before the upcoming school year.  Let's see if they can get the questions from both fields right before the students walk in this fall.

Photo Courtesy Ryan Lash

By Omar Lopez, Director of Teacher Policy

TED, a nonprofit group that sponsors conferences on ideas, teamed up with PBS to broadcast an hour-long special on education that aired last week. 

One of the seven speakers that appeared on the show was technologist and philanthropist Bill Gates. He spoke about the need for teachers to receive feedback in order to improve their practice. 

"Unfortunately," Gates says, "there's one group of people who get almost no systematic feedback to help them do their jobs better. And these people have one of the most important jobs in the world.  I'm talking about teachers." According to Gates, "until recently, over 98% of teachers just got one word of feedback: satisfactory."

Watch the entire special here and comment below. Do you agree that teachers' feedback system should be improved?

Photo Courtesy Library of Congress via Wiki Commons 

By Omar Lopez, Director of Teacher Policy

Interested in where the Democratic candidates for New York City mayor stand on education issues? Read this article by InsideSchools that covered the recent Democratic Mayoral Candidate forum held at Eagle Academy for Young Men in the Bronx. Parents had the opportunity to ask the candidates questions.             

Here's an example of what the questions answers look like: 

Photo Courtesy S. Ivanov via WikiCommons

By Lauren Chianese, Director of Community Engagement, The Foundation for Florida's Future

When I began my teaching career I lived in parallel evaluation universes.

Universe one: In my first year teaching in a traditional public school, I was never evaluated. And, the only observation I received from school administrators was when the principal made an unannounced visit with district personnel while I was teaching the reproductive system (yup, transparency of a uterus on the overhead and all.) The drive-thru observation proved useless as well as awkward.  As a first-year teacher, I received no feedback, no ratings, nothing--just silence. So, you can imagine my surprise, when at the end of the year, I received a pink slip.