Ensuring that Post-Tenure Teachers Remain Actively Engaged as Collaborative Contributors in their Schools (Part IV)

Aligning the Seven Areas of Continuous School Improvement to Teacher Leadership and Advancement

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

 

Dear Colleagues,

Teacher Proficiency Re-Boot: Synopsis of Pillars I through III

   “And the Jockeys are driving their horses into the Home Stretch. . .”

   Today’s Blog completes our four-part Series on the Four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency. The Series has systematically dissected how districts and schools can improve their teacher recruitment, selection, professional development/training, evaluation, tenure, and continuing appointment processes.

   The ultimate goal of these processes is:

   To ensure that teachers consistently teach (a) academic and (b) individual and group social, emotional, and behavioral information, content, and skills to students in effective, differentiated ways such that, in a developmentally-sensitive way, they learn, master, and are able to independently apply these (a) to real-world problems or situations, and eventually (b) to successful employment and community functioning.

   To facilitate this goal, we encourage districts and schools to recognize that teacher evaluation needs to move away from an isolated “personnel appraisal” perspective focusing on (a) “Should this teacher keep his/her job?” and/or (b) “How can I (financially) motivate this teacher to be a consistently effective teacher?”

   Instead, we advocate a “professional development and growth” perspective where teachers are continuously (a) upgrading their instructional practices to align them with the most-current research and content, and (b) demonstrating their dedication to their students, colleagues, schools, and communities because they are guided through training, coaching, consultation, and evaluations of their growth and efficacy.

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Revisiting the Four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency and a Past-Blog Review

   To attain the ultimate goal above, districts and schools need to consciously and planfully attend to four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency:

·       Teacher Hiring and Orientation

·       Teacher Induction and Tenure

·       Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching, and

·       Teacher Leadership and Advancement

   In Part I of this Blog Series, we described the important anchors and activities to the teacher hiring and orientation process.

[CLICK HERE for Part I of this Blog Series]

   Here, we noted that districts or schools—to ensure quality hires when they have open positions—must attend to the following elements when (a) recruiting and hiring new staff, and then (b) welcoming and orienting them at the very beginning of the new school year:

·       Know what they functionally need a new teacher to know and do in the classroom (described in observable, measurable, and behavioral terms);

·       Determine—during the recruitment and interview process—what their candidates know and can do based on these needs;

·       Hire only the candidates that come closest to meeting these needs;

·       Functionally orient their new hires as quickly as possible; and

·       Simultaneously close candidates’ knowledge or skills gaps as quickly as possible before or at the beginning of the new school year.

   The goal for new hires at the “end” of the Orientation process is that:

   Teachers need to be thoroughly, systematically, and functionally well-oriented to their new district and school as soon and as effectively as possible for them (a) to feel settled, safe, secure, comfortable, welcome, and integrated into their new setting(s); and (b) to successfully meet and exceed their instructional, collegial, and other professional responsibilities.

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Reviewing Blog Part II: Teacher Induction and Tenure

   In Part II of this Blog Series, we suggested that the Teacher Induction process involve up to three years, and that Novice Teachers come up for tenure at the end of their fifth year.

   Across the entire discussion, we defined and differentiated among Novice, Transfer, and Transition Teachers.

[CLICK HERE for Part II of this Blog Series]

   In the Teacher Induction discussion, we recommend that teachers—through continuing professional development, coaching, and evaluation—learn, master, and demonstrate a skills- and outcomes-based sequence of professional content and skills in the three foundational domains essential for teacher proficiency: (a) Research and Curriculum Development; (b) Instruction and Student Learning; and (c) School, District, and/or Community Service.

   These domains are interfaced with the pedagogical processes underlying successful classroom instruction by describing relevant areas from Danielson’s Framework for Teaching evaluation instrument. Critically, and once again, we emphasized using Danielson not for personnel appraisal, but as a professional development and growth framework and guide.

   In addition to proficiency in the Research and Curriculum Development and Instruction and Student Learning domains, we noted that new teachers (indeed, all teachers) should be required to participate in ongoing School, District, and/or Community Service activities.

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   In the Teacher Tenure discussion, we recommend a multi-dimensional tenure process (“with teeth”) that evaluates teachers’ growth and competence in same three proficiency domains noted above.

   Here, teachers can receive tenure after five years of successful teaching. To demonstrate proficiency in the three domains above, teachers submit a Tenure Application Portfolio that includes progressively-created lessons, instructional videotapes and work samples, coaching and evaluation protocols, letters of support and recommendation, demonstrated student outcomes, and school or district service documentation.

   Evaluated by a district-selected Tenure Committee of district and school administrators and supervisors, currently-tenured teachers and support staff, and other relevant individuals, the ultimate tenure decision is made by the Superintendent or his/her administrative designee to the School Board. Based on state law, tenure could be “for life” or part of a continuing appointment process.

   If a tenure is not secured, the Superintendent’s decision could be revisited after the teacher spends an additional one to three years addressing any areas of concern, or the teacher might be allowed to remain in their current position for one additional year after which their contract would not be renewed.

   The transition from Induction to Tenure involves a Mid-Tenure Review at the end of a new teacher’s third year, and the successful submission and review of a Mid-Tenure portfolio consisting of accomplishments to date in the three proficiency domains.

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Reviewing Blog Part III: Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching

[CLICK HERE for Part III of this Blog Series]

   In the Continuing Teacher Appointment section of Part III, we recommended that—once a teacher has been awarded tenure—Continuing Teacher (or Tenure) Appointments be (re-)awarded, first, after the next six years, and every ten years thereafter.

   The stated goal is to ensure that:

   Teachers (a) continue to grow and contribute to the instructional process in their classroom, grade-level or department, and school community; (b) maintain their currency and proficiency relative to new research and mature practice; and (c) establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or in a specialization area needed by students, staff, and/or the school.

   The primary recommended vehicle to attain this goal is a Professional Development Plan (PDP), written by each teacher and approved by their administrator. The PDP (predictably) has three sections with explicit activities, timelines, outcomes, and evaluation criteria: (a) Research and Curriculum Development; (b) Instruction and Student Learning; and (c) School, District, and/or Community Service.

   For newly-tenured teachers, the PDP is written as a three-year document, but its outcomes are formally evaluated on an annual basis by and with each teacher. For tenured-continuing appointment teachers, the PDP is written as a five-year document. Regardless of the timeframe, annual evaluations are conducted by school administrators or a designated team similar to the Tenure Committee discussed in Part II.

   The Blog emphasized the importance of aligning all teacher PDPs with their school’s professional development and/or School Improvement Plan initiatives and activities. This maintains teachers’ engagement and accountable in these critical areas, thus maximizing schools’ professional development investments. This alignment occurs by including each year’s school-wide initiatives and activities in every teacher’s PDP.

   Beyond this, the Blog outlined the different percentages of the PDP that would be “written” by teachers—at different professional statuses—versus their school administrators. For example, school or district administrators and supervisors would write 100% of a Novice Teacher’s PDP. They would write only 25% of a Tenured Continuing Appointment Teacher’s PDP with the teacher writing the remaining 75%.

   Blog Part III also discussed how to use a Professional Improvement Plan when teachers demonstrate unacceptable performance. This includes the potential for teacher termination. The successful completion of a teacher’s PDP over time should automatically fulfill their professional development requirements for continued state teacher certification or professional licensure.

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   In the Continuing Teacher Appointment section of Part III, we described how post-tenure teachers extend their professional growth by establishing themselves as educational coaches or leaders for others in the school or district, and/or by completing the professional development training, practice, and supervision required to attain expertise in a specialization area needed by the school.

   In this Blog Part IV, we will discuss a field-tested, evidence-based continuous school improvement blueprint that will be applied to “frame out” Pillar IV: Teacher Leadership and Advancement.

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Pillar IV: Areas for Teacher Leadership and Advancement

   Our 40+ years of experience—at the District, State Department of Education, Federal Grant Director, and National “Thought Leader” or Consultant levels—have taught us that the continuous school improvement process for districts and schools is best organized across seven interdependent research-to-practice areas.

   While districts clearly need to attend to the “business side” of the operation (as evident in their Business, Human Resources/Personnel, Grounds and Maintenance, and related Departments), these interdependent continuous school improvement areas focus predominantly on classroom instruction, and the multi-tiered services, supports, and interventions needed when students are academically struggling and/or experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral challenges.

   As noted above, these seven areas also help organize the opportunities available for post-tenure teachers relative to their continuing leadership and advancement.

   Below, we describe the seven school improvement areas, applying them to a shared leadership committee structure that is relevant to any school, that then identifies specific leadership roles or activities for post-tenure teachers.

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The Seven Interdependent Continuous School Improvement Areas

   These areas are (see Figure 1 below):

·       Area 1. Strategic Planning and Organizational Analysis and Development

·       Area 2. Multi-Tiered Problem-Solving and Systems of Support (MTSS)

·       Area 3. Professional Development, Supervision, Coaching, and Accountability       

·       Area 4. Academic Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Achievement Area (Positive Academic Supports and Services—PASS)

·       Area 5. Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Self-Management Area (Social-Emotional Learning/ Positive Behavioral Support System—SEL/PBSS)

·       Area 6. Parent and Community Involvement, Training, Support, and Outreach 

·       Area 7. Data Management, Evaluation, and Efficacy Area

   In Table 1 that follows, these areas are aligned to a shared leadership blueprint that is used or adapted in every school that we work in.

               Figure 1.

               Table 1.

   Area 1. The Strategic Planning and Organizational Analysis and Development Area initially focuses on completing needs and current status assessments, and resource and gap analyses related to important organizational climate, administrative style, staff decision-making, and other school and schooling processes in and around a school.

   Activities here include identifying and reinforcing, and establishing and implementing the organizational policies, procedures, and cyclical approaches that support the academic and social, emotional, behavioral success of all students.

   The ultimate “guide” within this Area are three- and one-year School Improvement/Action Plans with goals and activities that help schools build capacity and impact, identify and focus resources, facilitate stability and sustainability, and result in student, staff, and system success.

   The School Leadership Team, led by the School Principal, oversees this entire area. The “core” of this Team are the Chairs or Co-Chairs of all the other school-level committees. These Chairs typically are post-tenure teachers who have previously served the school in different capacities, and who have the content expertise and leadership skills both to contribute to the Leadership Team and guide their specific committees.

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   Area 2. The Multi-Tiered Problem-Solving and Systems of Support (MTSS) Area focuses on the continuum beginning with differentiated instruction, extending to the services, supports, strategies, and interventions needed, first, by all students, and then, second, by students who are academically struggling and/or presenting with social, emotional, behavioral, or mental health challenges.

   At the “root” of a school’s MTSS process is a data-based, functional assessment, problem-solving approach that all staff learn and consistently use (a) when designing and implementing effective academic and behavioral instruction in the classroom, and (b) when addressing students who either are not responding to this instruction or are exhibiting serious academic or behavioral concerns.

   All of this is implemented in the context of a Problem-Solving, Consultation, and Intervention approach. This process recognizes that some struggling or challenging students need adapted, differentiated, different, or more intensive instruction to address their needs, while others need specific, focused, strategic or intensive interventions.

   This Area extends the problem-solving and consultation process beyond the classroom level, to a building-level Multi-Tiered System of Supports/Student Assistance (MTSS) Team. This Team consists of the best academic and behavioral assessment and intervention specialists in or available to the school. As such, this multidisciplinary Team is largely staffed by related service and specialization professionals—including special education teachers, the school nurse, the School Principal, and relevant others.

   While post-tenure teachers may be MTSS members (if they have some specific area of relevant expertise), they are more likely to assist their colleagues earlier in the MTSS process. . . as academic or behavioral consultants that help them to comprehensively understand struggling students in their classrooms, and to design and implement initial or early interventions (see the Curriculum and Instruction, and Social, Emotional, and Behavioral areas below).

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   Area 3. The Professional Development, Supervision, Coaching, and Accountability Area focuses on the evidence-based professional development, clinical supervision, and coaching practices—at the system, school, staff, classroom, and student levels—that ensure that every classroom utilizes effective differentiated instruction and positive classroom management strategies. Activities in this Area help to create a school culture of self-accountability. . . where everyone recognizes that these practices are the essence of professional growth and proficiency.

   With a goal of increasing staff knowledge, enhancing instructional and intervention skills, and reinforcing confidence and independence, the essential processes embedded in this Area include all of the (a) Research and Curriculum Development; (b) Instruction and Student Learning; and (c) School, District, and/or Community Service activities that we have discussed across the Four Pillars and the Novice to Tenured Teacher to Teacher Leader and Coach continuum.

   The Professional Development/Teacher Support and Mentoring Committee is responsible for most of the activities in this Area. Moreover, consistent with earlier discussions in this Blog Series, a school’s Tenure Review Committee may be a subcommittee of this Committee—staffed largely by post-tenured teachers.

   Indeed, Post-Tenure Teachers are instrumental to this Committee and in this Area as they have the experience and wisdom to help guide New Hires during their first year in a new school, and Novice Teachers as they move through the tenure process. Indeed, Post-Tenure Teachers are essential formal and informal professional and personal supports to their colleagues— especially as formal Mentors and Coaches.

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   Area 4. The Academic Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Achievement Area (Positive Academic Supports and Services—PASS) focuses on creating an effective “Instructional Environment” in every classroom in a school. The Instructional Environment consists of the interdependent classroom interactions among Teacher-Instructional, Student, and Curricular processes.

   Expanding briefly, the Instructional Environment involves the integration of (a) the different academic curricula being taught in a classroom, as well as their connection to state standards and benchmarks, and district scope and sequence objectives (i.e., “What needs to be learned?”); (b) the teachers who are teaching these curricula, and how they organize and execute their classroom instruction (i.e., “Are appropriate instructional and management strategies being used?”); and (c) the students who are engaged in learning, their ability and motivation to master the instructional material, and their response to effective instruction and sound curricula (i.e., “Is each student capable, prepared, motivated, and able to learn, and are they learning?”).

   Critically, the data-based, functional assessment, problem-solving process and effective school and schooling practices, described earlier, work implicitly within this component. This occurs as the three facets of the Instructional Environment are analyzed proactively to determine how to design and implement the most effective instruction so that the highest numbers of students are academically successful.

   For those students who are unsuccessful, however, specific characteristics or processes within the three Instructional Environment components are analyzed to determine the reasons, individually or collectively, for their lack of success. Once the reasons for a student’s lack of success are validated, the results are linked to needed instructional or intervention services, supports, strategies, and programs. Here is where Project ACHIEVE’s academic service-delivery blueprint, the Positive Academic Supports and Services (PASS) model, is used.

   The multi-tiered PASS blueprint involves a continuum of academically-focused instructional and intervention supports and services that are strategically implemented at different levels of intensity. Here, there is a loose continuum involving assistive supports, remediation, accommodations, strategic or intensive interventions, and compensatory strategies.

   While there is a sequential nature across the elements of the PASS continuum, it is a strategic and fluid—not a lock-step—blueprint. That is, the supports and services are utilized based on students’ needs and the intensity of these needs. As such, the classroom and early intervention PASS strategies are overseen by the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Committee which is largely comprised of general education teachers, along with some special education teachers and intervention specialists.

   Here is where many Post-Tenure Teachers are especially helpful. . . given their classroom and instruction experience with many different types of learners. As some of these Teachers complete the advanced studies needed to specialize in niche areas related to curriculum and instruction, assessment and progress monitoring, and interventions in specific academic areas, this expertise helpful not just to teacher colleagues, but to the students who are academically struggling and in need of different, more individualized approaches.

   The more strategic and intensive interventions are typically the responsibility of the MTSS Team. . . as discussed above.

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   Area 5. The Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Self-Management Area (Social-Emotional Learning/ Positive Behavioral Support System—SEL/PBSS) focuses on implementing a comprehensive and integrated social-emotional learning and positive behavioral support system across a school.

   This multi-tiered SEL/PBSS system involves helping (a) students learn, master, and apply interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional awareness, control, communication, and coping skills and interactions; (b) staff to create safe, supportive, and consistently positive classroom climates and school settings that hold students accountable for their behavior; (c) schools to implement the strategic and intensive behavioral instruction or intervention strategies needed to address students with non-responsive, resistant, challenging, or extreme behavior; and (d) communities to reinforce these goals in home and other community settings.

   Like the Academic Instruction and Intervention (PASS) Area, the SEL/PBSS system is focused on and implemented primarily in the  classroom Instructional Environment. However, when students do not respond to effective social, emotional, and behavioral instruction and good classroom management, the data-based, functional assessment, problem-solving process is used to determine the root cause(s) of the challenges and the needed services, supports, strategies, or strategic or intensive interventions.

   Thus, the more intensive services and interventions are overseen by the MTSS Team, while the prevention and early intervention strategies are overseen by the School Climate and Student Discipline Committee. Like the Curriculum and Instruction Committee, this Committee has teacher representatives from each grade level in a school, along with other related services and special education professionals.

   The School Climate and Student Discipline Committee is typically Chaired or Co-Chaired by Post-Tenure Teachers who have exceptional SEL/PBSS experience and leadership, and/or specialization knowledge and skills in this Area.

   As many classroom teachers receive little or no formal training, supervision, or coaching—during their pre-service training—in classroom management or the psychological underpinnings of student behavior and motivation, this is a critical area for Post-Tenure Teacher leadership, mentoring, and specialization.

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   Area 6. The Parent and Community Involvement, Training, Support, and Outreach Area focuses on increasing the involvement of all parents, but especially the involvement of parents of at-risk, underachieving, chronically absent, and persistently poor- or non-performing students.

   Relative to the community, many schools do not use, and often are unaware of, the expertise and resources available to them. In addition, there are times when community agencies (e.g., after school programs) are providing services that schools could use to reinforce or extend their instructional, intervention, or other support activities. . . but the schools are unaware of their existence.

   Finally, for students with significant, 24/7 academic or behavioral/mental health challenges, the need to find, coordinate, and integrate school and community-based professionals and their services, supports, strategies, or programs is essential to their treatment and multi-tiered success. Moreover, when both school and community personnel are working with the same student, the interventions and services need to be compatible and consistently aligned in order to maximize their outcomes and their use across multiple setting, circumstances, and caretakers.

   The Parent Involvement/Community Outreach Committee is responsible for most of the activities in this area. Separate from a school’s Parent Teacher Association or Organization (PTA/PTO), this Committee works to understand parent and community needs and resources, and then to reach out in supportive, collaborative, and strategic ways. Said a different way, while a PTA is an outside of school organization that comes “in” to the school, the Parent/Community Committee is an inside of school team that reaches “out” into students’ home and community settings.

   Post-Tenure Teachers are important coaches and leaders in this area. They often have a great deal of historical experience interacting with students’ parents and the school’s community, they usually have the “social capital” to positively influence these stakeholders, and they understand how to best communicate and collaborate so as to avoid any “public relations” gaffes.

   Knowing that parent and community change sometimes occurs slowly, these experience leaders can model the patience and perseverance needed by younger or less experienced colleagues who want change “now,” or who sometimes get frustrated when change does not occur sequentially or as expected.

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   Area 7. The Data Management, Evaluation, and Efficacy Area is crucial to school improvement as school, staff, and student (a) data must be effectively stored and managed, and capably analyzed and reported; (b) programs and interventions must be formatively and summatively evaluated as to their impact and success; and (c) planning and implementation must be assessed and sustained on an ongoing basis.

   Significantly, this area is embedded within and applied to the activities in all six of the other areas. As such, a separate committee in this area may not be as much of a school necessity—especially when the Leadership Team and the other committees have members who can competently embed and perform the actions above for their respective groups.

   At the same time, some schools have a formal committee in this area so that the school’s technology and student information system needs are met, and so that all evaluations are completed in objective and independent ways.

   Relative to Post-Tenure Teachers, they may specialize in this area so they can provide the coaching needed to mentor others in how to analyze and apply the sometimes-overwhelming amounts of data collected in a school or from a grade-level or even classroom of students. They also can provide the experience and leadership needed to understand the pragmatic outcomes from a complex or comprehensive data analysis, to differentially prioritize the implications of these analyses, and to effectively make astute short- and long-term data-driven decisions for the future.

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Summary

   This is the last of a four-part Blog Series collectively discussing how districts and schools can improve their teacher recruitment, selection, professional development/training, evaluation, tenure, and continuing appointment processes.

   Each part of the Series has separately discussed one of the four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency—our organizational model to help districts and schools successfully accomplish these improvements:

·       Teacher Hiring and Orientation

·       Teacher Induction and Tenure

·       Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching, and

·       Teacher Leadership and Advancement

   In this Part IV of the Blog Series, we addressed the fourth Pillar, Teacher Leadership and Advancement.

   This was done by describing the seven interdependent areas that schools need to continuously plan for and address relative to ongoing school improvement. These areas focus predominantly on classroom instruction, and the multi-tiered services, supports, and interventions needed when students are academically struggling and/or experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral challenges.

   These areas are:

·       Area 1. Strategic Planning and Organizational Analysis and Development

·       Area 2. Multi-Tiered Problem-Solving and Systems of Support (MTSS)

·       Area 3. Professional Development, Supervision, Coaching, and Accountability       

·       Area 4. Academic Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Achievement Area (Positive Academic Supports and Services—PASS)

·       Area 5. Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Self-Management Area (Social-Emotional Learning/ Positive Behavioral Support System—SEL/PBSS)

·       Area 6. Parent and Community Involvement, Training, Support, and Outreach

·       Area 7. Data Management, Evaluation, and Efficacy Area

   We discussed in detail how these seven areas can help organize the opportunities available for post-tenure teachers relative to their continuing leadership and advancement. This was done by connecting the school improvement areas with different school-level committees in a shared leadership structure.

   These committees are:

·      The School Leadership Team

·      The Multi-Tiered System of Supports/ Student Assistance Team (MTSS)

·      The Professional Development/Teacher Support and Mentoring Committee

·      The Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Committee

·      The School Climate and Student Discipline Committee 

·      The Parent Involvement/Community Outreach Committee

   We noted that the Data Management, Evaluation, and Efficacy Area is usually embedded within and applied to the activities in all six of the other areas.

   The ultimate goal of the Four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency is to guide and mentor Novice teachers through the teacher tenure process and beyond such that they:

   Consistently teach (a) academic and (b) individual and group social, emotional, and behavioral information, content, and skills to students in effective, differentiated ways such that, in a developmentally-sensitive way, they learn, master, and are able to independently apply these (a) to real-world problems or situations, and eventually (b) to successful employment and community functioning.

   Throughout the Series, we have encouraged districts and schools to recognize that teacher evaluation needs to move away from an isolated “personnel appraisal” perspective focusing on (a) “Should this teacher keep his/her job?” and/or (b) “How can I (financially) motivate this teacher to be a consistently effective teacher?”

   Instead, we have discussed in detail and advocated a “professional development and growth” perspective where teachers are continuously (a) upgrading their instructional practices to align them with the most-current research and content, and (b) demonstrating their dedication to their students, colleagues, schools, and communities because they are guided through training, coaching, consultation, and evaluations of their growth and efficacy.

_ _ _ _ _

   I appreciate all of the positive feedback received thus far on this Series. It is heartwarming to know that colleagues are reading my thoughts and suggestions, and that they are willing to take their time to reach out to me.

   As districts and schools continue their recruitment, interviewing, and hiring of new teachers into this Summer, I hope that the first two Blogs will provide some useful information and guidance.

   As you plan for the new school year, I hope that the last two Blogs will help move your district or school to the next level of excellence. . . on behalf of your students, staff, and community.

   I work throughout the Summer. So, I am ready and willing to assist you and your colleagues if you need my help at any time. The first consultation, as always, is free.

   Please feel free to reach out.

Best,

Howie

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]