District Administration - July/August 2011 - (Page 74)

SUPERVISOR’S OPINION CASIO LAMP-FREE PROJECTOR TECH. GRANT Learn more about the Casio Short Throw Projector and get a chance to win one, along with a 3D ready computer, 30 3D glasses and an AV cart. value-added analysis; or that teachers can improve without support. “Value-added” is a bad word for some unions at the moment. e United Teachers of Los Angeles, for example, recently sought a court order to block a pilot evaluation program that uses student data. Another Way It will take time to reform teacher evaluations. In the meantime, districts can improve teacher quality right now. Many districts are already making great strides to improve the quality of instruction and increase student achievement through collaboration and professional inquiry that has universal “buy-in.” Many districts use data from standardized test scores not to pass judgment, but instead to analyze areas of relative strength and weakness in student learning. Teachers are central to this process and embrace it because it is nonevaluative. is happens parallel to, and usually independent of, the traditional evaluation process. In a truly collaborative culture, with time dedicated in the school week for this kind of teamwork, data becomes enlightening, not threatening. e focus is on analysis and improvement, not judgment, ranking, punishment or embarrassment. With eﬀective school leadership, all teachers can get on board with this process and improve along with the collective. Technology Can Help Technology plays a crucial role. Teachers are pushed for time to review their prac- RESOURCES To access the registration form simply visit: www.casioeducationprojectors.com www.ctb.com The Acuity Formative Assessment tool provides predictors for performance on standardized tests. www.datadirector.com A data solution for educators. www.teachscape.com Video playback technology for classroom instruction. www.teachscape.com/cwt Software for mobile devices provides “look fors” in classroom observation and data analysis. tice, and technology can be a crucial time saver. Data management systems like DataDirector by Riverside Publishing or Acuity from CTB/McGraw Hill make it easy for teachers to collect and disaggregate data for student cohorts and individual students. ese systems can combine data from standardized and teacher-made tests to provide a comprehensive picture of student achievement. Easy-to-produce reports give teachers valuable feedback about students’ areas of relative strength and weakness. With planning, teacher teams can then analyze the causal relationship between their practice and student performance. New developments in video playback technology make it easier for teachers to review their practice in their own classrooms. Working teachers ﬁnd it hard to make time to use video to analyze practice. It is time-consuming to set up video, play it back, and make it work. Video technology has advanced to a point where a computer program combines footage from multiple wide-angle lenses trained on the teacher and the students. Commercially produced packages like Reﬂect from Teachscape provide the cameras and software that make playback and location of particular scenes or frames quick and easy. Crucially, these packages provide a framework via planning guides, rubrics and matrices by which teachers can analyze student performance in a systematic way. If the footage is used in an inquirybased manner to analyze what students are doing in response to instruction, avoiding judgment calls on the teacher, this can be a very eﬀective way to improve instruction. A sideways step to avoid judgment of teachers makes the use of data, in this case video evidence, acceptable to teachers. True collaboration between administrators and teachers on the common goal of improved student achievement, grounded in analysis of student data and student work, should take place parallel to teacher evaluation and holds more promise for success. DA Eamonn O’Donovan is a former principal and an assistant superintendent of human resources in southern California. District Administration 74 July/August 2011 http://www.ctb.com http://www.casioeducationprojectors.com http://www.datadirector.com http://www.teachscape.com http://www.casioeducationprojectors.com http://www.teachscape.com/cwt

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July/August 2011

District Administration - July/August 2011
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Facilities News
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
The Social Media Dilemma
Is Year-Round Schooling on Track?
After 50 Years, Ethnic Studies Still Controversial
Finding the Right Purchasing Solution
Look, Listen, Learn
Research Center
Supervisor’s Opinion
Going Mobile
Superintendent’s Insight
Books
Product Focus
New Products
Online Edge

District Administration - July/August 2011