TI.4.A Evidence of TI Progress

Exhibit 4.a 1

TI.4.a Evidence of TI Progress

The following are exemplars of progress in each of the themes of our initiative. Further detail is provided in each of the standards.

Evidence for Theme:Helping candidates come to terms with unintentional barriers and bias. ………………2

Logic Model for Vertical Planning of Commitment to Diversity (in progress)

Evidence for Theme: Implementing a reliable and valid Teacher Performance Assessment to improve the consistency and quality of teacher effectiveness. ………………………………………………………………………………….2

TPA report for the University of Cincinnati

Evidence for Theme: Embedding courses in schools and better integrating courses with field experiences.…………………..………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Syllabus SPED 511 (NB: p. 13-15)

Evidence for Theme: Adding more and earlier field experiences. …………………………………………………………….6

Descriptions of field experiences

Evidence forTheme: Preparing teachers for city schools.………………………………………………………………………….7

Increased use of city schools for placements

Evidence for Theme: Implementation of research-based strategies.…………………………………………………………8

Syllabus

Evidence for Theme: Academic language development. …………………………………………………………………………...9

TPA Academic Language

Evidence for Theme: Reflection.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………10

Syllabus for Schooling and Teaching (NB: outcomes page 1, assignments page 2)

TPA Reflection in tasks

Evidence for Theme:Helping candidates come to terms with unintentional barriers and bias. Logic Model for Vertical Planning of Commitment to Diversity (in progress)

INPUTS / OUTPUTS / OUTCOMES
Program Investments / Activities / Outputs / Partici-
pants / Short term
(learning) / Intermediate
(action) / Long term
(conditions)
Student groups
Professional organizations
Learning communities
Urban Mentors
Teacher Preparation faculty
Connections across programs
Incorporation of adjuncts / Developing comprehensive list of courses/ schedules for quarters and semesters
See LM Semester Curriculum Map.xls
Getting stakeholders together
Get reading mandate people together
Market programs / Develop SoEsyllabi; Statement in all syllabi about contextualized and cultural learning value (through 4 years)
Show ownership of key terms from Milner’s 5 Pillars and their positionality related to those terms
Urban Field experiences
Semester schedules needed / UC SoE faculty, instructors, and students / Bloom’s Tax.: expand perceptual field
Do what students need
Milner’s 5 Pillars: Cultural/color blindness
Cultural conflict
Myth of Meritocracy
High Expectations (funds of knowledge)
Contextualized/ situated learning
CEC definition
Building towards TPA / Lesson planning and implementation of differentiated instruction and assessment of student learning.
Culturally situated response
Case studies
What is the one thing you would change about school?
Teacher Portfolio reflecting CEC definition, 5 Pillars of Repertoire of Diversity, TPA / -Positive impact on teacher candidate learning and pedagogy.
-Improve student-teacher relationships.
-Improve student achievement
-Positive classroom climate.
-Develop personal history and positionality related to race and diversity
-1st, 2nd, and 4th year survey on race & diversity awareness and response (ex., Gorski at edchange)
Objective:
Teacher Candidates engage in consistent and critical activities to identify opportunity gaps and address them in their pedagogy throughout 4 years of coursework.
Process Measure (formative evaluation):
Candidates develop a diversity repertoire / Outcomes Measure (summative evaluation):
?

Evidence for Theme: Implementing a reliable and valid Teacher Performance Assessment to improve the consistency and quality of teacher effectiveness.

The TPAC (Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium) is an initiative to develop an assessment of the competence of pre-service teachers, a prototype for a national teaching performance assessment. The goals are to develop “a nationally accessible teaching performance assessment” that “will allow states, school districts and teacher preparation programs to share a common framework for defining, and measuring a set of core teaching skills that form a valid and robust vision of teacher competence. As states reference data generated from this tool to inform teacher licensure, recruitment and tenure, they will establish a national standard for relevant and rigorous practice that advances student learning.”

Three-year grant to create a national Teacher Performance Assessment
Based upon the Performance Assessment for Teacher Candidates (PACT) from California
Co-PIs are Linda Darling-Hammond & Ray Pecheone

Project Partners: American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), Stanford University

Ohio Accelerated Intuitions: University of Cincinnati, Wright State University, Ohio State University and University of Dayton.

Ohio Education Agencies (SEA): Ohio Department of Education & Ohio Board of Regents

Projected Outcomes:

A robust, complex, multifaceted assessment of teaching candidates in action
A reliable and valid teacher performance assessment that could be used to improve the consistency and quality of teacher effectiveness
An outcome database that could be used by school districts to track teacher performance across the continuum of teachers’ careers
Information that states could use to inform teacher quality initiatives, issue initial teacher licenses, and make accreditation decisions
An evidence-based methodology for making systematic decisions about recruitment, professional development and continuation of employment
A national technology platform for data management, analysis and reporting of teacher outcomes connected to student outcomes
An empirical foundation for developing a more coherent national agenda for teacher quality assessment
A professional development tool for in-service teachers
A set of common expectations for pre-service teacher performance
A way to compare teacher candidates’ proficiencies across Ohio’s teacher preparation institutions (metrics required by House Bill 1) during the second/third year of the Resident Educator Program

Ohio Context: House Bill 1 -- Educator Preparation Programs:

Transfers responsibility for approving teacher preparation programs from the State Board of Education to the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents and expands the duty to include approval of preparation programs for teachers and other school personnel
Directs the Chancellor, jointly with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to establish metrics for teacher preparation and staff development. One of those metrics will be similar to the Teacher Performance Assessment.

TPA Handbooks:

World Languages, Music, Physical Education, Art, Elementary Literacy, Elementary Mathematics, Secondary Social Studies – History, Secondary English Language Arts, Secondary Mathematics, Secondary Science

Special Education & Early Childhood Handbooks will be posted this spring for use in the autumn
TPAC seeks participants from the five accelerated states to serve as content area developers and reviewers for the creation of the remaining content area TPA Handbooks.

4 Tasks (Planning, Instruction, Assessment & Reflection)
11 Rubrics (1 to 4 range)
Time Required to Complete Tasks (3 to 4 months)

Embedded Signature Assessments: The TPA system consists of two components: (1) Embedded Signature Assessments and (2) the culminating Teaching Event, the common portfolio assessment that is completed during student teaching. Our goal is to provide our candidates with opportunities to design signature assignments that reflect the key components of the Teacher Performance Assessment (e.g., differentiating instruction, videotaping learning segments and reflecting on those segments, aligning objectives with activities and assessments, providing meaningful feedback to students, and reflecting on what might have been done differently and what might be done next).

E-Platforms: Tk20 is providing a temporary server for Ohio to support the uploading of TPA portfolios (word documents & video clips).

Timeline:

2010-11 (Spring Pilots) -Approximately 300 portfolios were submitted and scored across all areas in Ohio; approximately 90 UC School of Education candidates piloted TPA in a range of areas (e.g., Elementary Mathematics, Secondary Science, Secondary Social Studies, Secondary Mathematics, and Secondary English Language Arts).

2011 – 2012: Full Implementation - Every candidate in every licensure area where TPA Handbooks are available will complete the full assessment – UC School of Education Licensure Requirement
2012 – 2013: Full Implementation Under Semesters - Every candidate in every licensure area where TPA Handbooks are available will complete the full assessment – UC School of Education Licensure Requirement
2013 – 2014: Full Implementation - Every candidate in every licensure area where TPA Handbooks are available will complete the full assessment – Ohio Licensure Requirement

Evidence for Theme: Embedding courses in schools and better integrating courses with field experiences. Syllabus SPED 511 (NB: p. 13-15)

Tentative Practicum and Course Schedule

Please note that changes to the schedule that follows will be made as needed throughout the quarter. It is your responsibility to keep up with changes. If you are unable to make it to your placement or class, it is your responsibility to contact your mentor teacher, supervisor, and professor, as soon as possible.

M, W, F 11:30-1:30 – Flexed as needed to accommodate Rothenberg’s student schedules

Tutoring Tasks / Class Topics / Class Readings and Due Dates
Week 1 /

Structured observation of student
Interview the student

Word list
Complete spelling inventory

Course overview
What is reading?
Reading assessment and interpretation

Chapters 1-3, Appendix A (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)

Section 2 (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010)

Week 2 /

Complete parent and teacher interviews
Begin QRI or Emergent Literacy Assessments

Talking to parents
Assessing and interpreting writing
Analysis and interpretation of your assessment data
Common Core Standards

Sections 3-9 (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010)
Review Chapter 2 (Bear et al., 2008)

Week 3 /

Complete all assessments

Completing the assessment case
Instructional framework and lesson planning
Writing goals and objectives
Progress monitoring
Session planning

Sections 10-12 (Leslie & Caldwell, 2010)
Review Chapter 3 (Bear et al., 2008)
Draft if Part 1 & 2 of Assessment Report is Due

Week 4 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Balanced-literacy framework
Early literacy
Writing instruction

Chapters 7 & 13 (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)
Review Ch. 1 (Bear et al., 2008)
Assessment case due
Instructional framework due

Week 5 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Word recognition

Review Chapter that corresponds to your student’s spelling level (Bear et al., 2008)
First video reflection due

Week 6 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Reading fluency

Chapter 9 (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)
First video reflection due

Week 7 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Vocabulary development and listening comprehension

Chapter 10 (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)

Week 8 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Narrative text comprehension

Chapter 11 (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)

Week 9 /

Lesson plans and subsequent reflections

Expository text comprehension

Chapter 12 (Jennings, Caldwell, & Lerner, 2010)
Last reflection video due

Week 10 /

Arrange closing activity

Formal reading assessment
Teaching reading to ELLs

Chapter 4 & 14
Last reflection video due
Intervention plan due March 12th by midnight

Assessment Report: NCATE Key Assessment

Sound instructional decisions rely heavily upon assessments. Candidates will be required to develop an assessment case study with one student at Rothenberg. The purpose of assessments are to better understand student literacy abilities by helping teachers understand what students know how to do, what they use and confuse (Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2008), and what they do not yet know how to do compared to their grade level or expected performance level. Effective teachers use assessments to inform instruction that meets the needs of individual students.

You will administer reading assessments (e.g., emergent reader assessment or the Qualitative Reading Inventory – 5), the Bear et al. (2008) spelling inventory, and a Student Writing Assessment. All assessments administered to your student must be audio recorded, on tape or digitally, so that you can do an adequate job of scoring the assessments. All forms that were completed should be in the appendix of the report. Thus, complete them fully and legibly. Once your assessments are complete, you will write an assessment report, which will be provided to the school’s teacher and family. Thus, reports should be well written, avoiding excessive use of jargon, and be error free. Students are encouraged to use peer editors or seek assistance from the University of Cincinnati’s writing center should writing be an area of weakness. Reports should be organized as follows. Bullet points should be replaced with narrative descriptions of data contained in tables.

Evidence for Theme: Adding more and earlier field experiences.

The following field experiences have been institutionalized:

Year 1:

Introduction to Education – all candidates– 10 clock hours in a large urban, high poverty school

Introduction to Exceptionalities – all candidates -10 clock hours in a large urban, high poverty school

Year 2:

Educational Psychology – all candidates- 10 clock hours in a large urban, high poverty school

Introduction to Middle Childhood Education - 10 clock hours in a large urban, high poverty school

Evidence for Theme: Preparing teachers for city schools.Increased use of city schools for placements

Items on the Detailed Dispositions Form:

Characteristics of Effective Urban Teachers
Persevere despite challenges that may arise
Demonstrate commitment to carrying out all objectives, activities, and projects to promote high standards
Describe challenges through multiple lenses
Demonstrate unique paths to problem solving
Hold high expectations
Emphasize strengths rather than deficits
Demonstrates self-examination regarding relationships
Creates learning opportunities adapted to diverse populations
Ardently interested
Persistence
Value of children's learning
Putting ideas into practice
Approach to at-risk students
Professional/personal orientation to students
Professional/personal orientation to bureaucracy
Professional/personal orientation to fallibility
Strong planning and organization

Evidence for Theme: Implementation of research-based strategies. (Behavior Change Course – Dr. Todd Haydon)

Have acquired an array of empirically validated positive intervention and habilitative strategies that may be adapted for use in a variety of settings and with a variety of learners [CEC Standards 4, 6]

Course Requirements, Expectations & Evaluation Procedures :

Article Critique:Choose 1 article on a topic that interests you from The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of Behavioral Education, Education and Treatment of Children, Research in Developmental Disabilities, or another journal that evaluates the principles of behavior. The article must be empirical and data-based (i.e., it must use a research design and present observational data.) The article must also have been published within the last 5 years. If you are in doubt whether the article you have selected fits the criteria for this assignment, please see me. Write a 75 to 100 word abstract for the article you select. An abstract provides a brief synopsis of the article and summarizes the introduction (purpose), method, results, and discussion (meaning of the results). Also, provide a 100 to 150-word critique of the article. What did you find most interesting? How could the results of the study be used to influence your practice in the classroom? What are the limitations of the study, in your view? Each critique should be no more than five pages in length, typed, double spaced, in a 12-point font. At the top of the abstract, please type the full reference in APA style. Please attach a copy of the article to your abstract. (Note: Some journals are web based and you can access the full text of relevant studies from your computer at home.)

Applied Project–Implement an applied project to change the behavior of an individual with whom you live or work. Take baseline data on the behavior before you begin the intervention. Implement an intervention to change the behavior and take data on the individual’s progress (You may need to read additional chapters in your text for more information on taking data and graphing it). Make changes to the intervention as needed and as suggested by your data. Write a synopsis of the project. The paper should describe the individual, the behavior changed (and why it was important to change the behavior), the data collection methods used, the procedures for baseline and intervention, the results (including a properly-drawn graph), and any recommendations you have for future implementation of or changes to the intervention, along with a rationale for these recommendations. This paper should be 5 to 10 pages, typed, double-spaced, in a 12 point font.

Evidence for Theme: Academic language development. TPA Academic Language

Academic language is the language used in textbooks, in classrooms, and on tests.It is different in structure and vocabulary from the everyday spoken English of social interactions.Academic language has been described as the specialized set of words, grammar, and organizational strategies used to express complex ideas, higher order thinking processes and abstract concepts (Zwiers, 2008). Even students who speak English well often have trouble comprehending the academic language used in classrooms.

In May of 2004, the National Council of Teachers English (NCTE) issued a Call to Action citing the unique aspects of literacy that are encountered by students within the academic discourses of their content area classes. Because the demands of academic expository discourses differ from more familiar forms such as literary or personal narrative (Kucer, 2005) NCTE charged teachers with the responsibility of “make(ing) visible to students how literacy operates within the academic disciplines” (National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE], 2004).

Within the Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA) framework, academic language is the oral and written language needed by students to understand and communicate in the academic disciplines for specific purposes and audiences. Academic language often requires the inclusion of context information to make the meaning clear for a distant audience.It has long been accompanied by visuals such as illustrations and charts, and is beginning to incorporate multi-media as well as oral and written forms. Academic language genres include the specialized vocabulary, linguistic features, and textual resources associated with genres within a field (e.g., literary criticism, explanations of historical phenomena, lab reports). It also includes instructional language needed to participate in learning and assessment tasks, including discussing ideas and asking questions, summarizing instructional and disciplinary texts, following and giving instructions, listening to a mini-lesson, explaining thinking aloud, giving reasons for a point of view, and answering multiple-choice questions or writing essays to display knowledge on tests.