Adjusting Strategies

Now that you have collected and analyzed evidence of progress toward equity, how will you adjust your strategies to sustain momentum, or change programs that have not met expectations for impact? Consider the following strategies and resources for adjusting your strategies to address inequitable access.

What Can I Do to Support Equitable Access to Great Teachers and Leaders?

Strategies to Consider

  • Assess Effectiveness of Current Strategies to Address Equitable Access

    Based on current strategies implemented and data collected, which strategies appear to have an impact on equitable access? 

  • Regularly Review Data-Reporting Procedures

    Periodically analyze the adequacy of current data-reporting procedures. 

  • Revise Policies to Address Equitable Access as Needed

    Based on implementation of strategies, clarify procedures and processes that are not helpful for identifying effective teachers and leaders. If needed, revise the state or district plan to clarify the shared understanding regarding what measures will be used to determine teacher and leader effectiveness, the purposes of assessing teacher and leader effectiveness, and specific decisions that will be made using these data. 

Resources

  • Ohio’s Teacher Equity Plan and Equitable Distribution of Highly Effective Educators Analysis Tool

    Under Ohio’s Teacher Equity Plan, Ohio districts are required to collect and publicly report the following types of data:

    • The percentage of highly qualified teachers in each content area
    • The percentage of highly qualified teachers in schools not meeting adequate yearly progress
    • Descriptions of teacher turnover and mobility 
    http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Equity/Ohio-s-Teacher-Equity-Plan-and-EDHEE-Analysis-Tool

  • Providing Effective Teachers for All Students: Examples From Five Districts

    This report demonstrates steps that districts can take and the challenges they face in assessing teacher effectiveness as a first step toward equitable access to great teachers. The report has three main areas of focus: identifying effective teachers, using information about teacher effectiveness in human resource policies, and using information about teacher effectiveness to ensure equity. Drawing on experiences from five districts, it provides examples for state and district policymakers considering action. 

    http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/teaching/providing-effective-teachers/report.pdf

  • The Changing Distribution of Teacher Qualifications Across Schools: A Statewide Perspective Post-NCLB

    This study examined population data on teachers and schools in Illinois to determine changes in the level of teacher qualifications across schools from 2001 to 2006. Researchers found that Chicago schools, especially those serving the highest percentages of students from low-income and minority families, experienced improvements in teacher qualifications; however, the results were more mixed in other Illinois districts. Although positive changes in teachers’ academic qualifications in Illinois were not restricted to the state’s largest urban school district, the results were more mixed in non-Chicago locales. The data also indicate that Illinois has a long way to go before disparities in teacher qualifications across its schools are eliminated. 

    http://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/download/722/869

  • Who Teaches Whom? Race and the Distribution of Novice Teachers

    Using a rich data set from North Carolina, the authors found that black seventh graders are far more likely to face a novice teacher in mathematics and English than are their white counterparts (the differences are about 54 percent in mathematics and 38 percent in English for the state as a whole). This inequitable access to experienced teachers occurs within districts, more so than between them. The authors postulated that this inequitable access was a result of disproportionate pressure on administrators from advantaged parents to have their children placed in a more experienced teacher’s classroom as well as from senior teachers requesting to be assigned easier-to-educate students.

    http://www.terry.uga.edu/~mustard/courses/e8420/Clotfelter-Teachers.pdf