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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Investment in Teacher Career Ladder Hasn't Paid Off

By Moises Venegas
Quinto Sol
      New Mexico's three-tier teacher licensure system, enacted as part of the 2004 educational reform efforts to improve teacher quality, is not translating into significant educational gains for students. There is little difference among the level I, II and III teacher on student improvement, according to a recent report by the state. The system needs to be re-evaluated based on student performance.
       New Mexico now ranks 48th in graduation rates. We have invested a lot in education via the Public Education Department in the last four years, especially when it comes to the three-tiered licensure system to improve teacher quality and pay.
       A report recently released by the Legislative Finance Committee, “The Three-Tiered Licensure System and the Achievement Gap,” provides answers and questions. This is a first of many assessments of the three-tier program, and until the state has at least three to five years of data we should not make final outcome evaluations of the program. The June LFC committee report is just a snapshot of 2009.
       The state has invested more than $278.4 million since 2004 to boost pay to retain quality teachers and improve student performance. From a parent, community and business mind-set, there hasn't been much of a return on our investment.
       Who is responsible for student learning? This is a complex question that involves many in a child's life — parents, community, schools and, of course, the teacher: “Good teachers and quality instruction boost student performance and reduce the achievement gap between low-income students and their peers,” the LFC report observes.
       A typical statement — made by Albuquerque Public Schools, which accounts for approximately 30 percent of the state's students — is that “yearly test scores from the state Standards Based Assessment are simply a status score for students. Status scores are more clearly correlated with the characteristics of the student, family and community than with school effects.”
       Translation: the student and family are so poor, so brown/black/Native American, so linguistically different that we cannot educate them.
       We haven't been able to educate the poor and minorities in New Mexico or across the country because of thinking like that. The LFC study was based on the New Mexico Standards Based Assessment for proficiency levels between 2007 and 2008. The SBA is the accepted assessment tool, and all schools are required to administer it.
       According to the LFC report, Level II teachers generally did better than their peers in educating students. All teachers showed some gain. However, the major finding at this point was “the differences in student achievement between licensure levels in general were not significant. In light of vastly different compensation, achievement gains were insufficient to increase proficiency levels on a large scale.”
       Legislative Finance Committee findings:
       n Beginning teachers are overrepresented in high poverty schools.
       n There are effective and ineffective teachers at each licensure level despite the pay differences.
       n Public education guidelines do not require that student performance be central to the Professional Development Dossier (Level III) submitted or the Educational Plan for Student success process. Is not how students perform related to how teachers teach? What skills are being taught by teachers, and is the student learning them?
       n The achievement gap between low-income students and their peers has not changed over the past four years. The gap continues to be between 22 percent to 28 percent in 2008.
       The report involved 2,336 teachers and 40,199 students statewide. It was a major task. Gracias to the LFC for the effort! Next should come some policy considerations.
       First, if we agree that all students can learn, let us eliminate from our professional educators the thought of “they are so poor.” If we take the comments in the introduction about the attributes of the student and family being more responsible for student learning than the school's education, perhaps we should change. Since the school cannot educate these students, give the approximately $7,000 the state allocates to public schools for each child directly to the families so that they can find someone to educate their children.
       Secondly, student performance should be basic and part of every teacher's evaluation. Good teachers provide student learning. In addition, incentives might be provided for quality teachers to be placed where there is the greatest student need.
       Let us change the faces of low achievers and dropouts in our schools. In our communities, let's change the faces inside Camino Nuevo, the Bernalillo County Detention Center and the state prisons by educating everyone.
       Start by assessing the licensure system. It's not working toward student success.
       Moises Venegas is executive director of Quinto Sol, a community development and research organization.
       

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