Teacher Evaluation: Classroom Observation vs. VAA

As we are migrating from the Bush-launched No Child Left Behind (NCLB) model to the Obama signature tool of Race to the Top model, appropriate mechanism and measure of teacher evaluation and accountability will be the hallmark of any long-term plan. The question arises on how we may come up with such measure. The existing model is to send an evaluator to the classroom and assess various aspects of the teaching environment in the class. This is valuable in the sense that teaching is an art and such evaluation can essentially capture the personal connection of a facilitator. However, a new approach based on statistical modeling, called the Value Added Analysis (VAA), has been included in recent years in several school districts as a supplementary tool to assess teachers. There are protests as well as real reluctance to accept VAA as a teacher assessment tool. Eventually a blend of two models--based on classroom observation and data-based progress--may emerge as a consensus tool. At present, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is running such a pilot, called Measures of Effective Teaching Project, in six cities, including Dallas.

Texas Teachers of Tomorrow Faces Potential Accreditation Loss

Texas' largest educator prep company may lose its accreditation as the state is spotlighting that Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, which is currently under probation, is yet to meet the conditions to achieve compliance. In 2021, a state audit found that Texas Teachers of Tomorrow was deficient in several metrics and protocols, and put the company producing largest number of Texas teachers on probation. Some of the highlights from the 2021 audit includes:

* TTT has consistently failed to effectively align the students with mentors

* The educator prep company's pedagogical content is not sufficiently based on research

* Significantly higher number of complaints

A  state monitor, Calvin Stocker, was overseeing the progress of the Texas Teachers of Tomorrow in several areas pointed out by the state audit. However, the progress falls far short of satisfactory level in several metrics. On December 9, 2022, both the state and Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, which disagrees with the state's report card and related findings, have presented their case to the state's accreditation board, State Board of Educator Certification, or SBEC. However, a decision on accreditation is more than a year's away as both sides are headed for an administrative hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. TTT CEO Trent Beekman countered the state's findings by issuing a statement: "Teachers of Tomorrow worked diligently to completely update our process and procedures to demonstrate compliance with both the letter and spirit of TEA's standards". 

However, any de-accreditation will be a near-fatal blow to the pipeline of teachers to the state's classrooms which are already reeling under the effect of staffing shortage. More than half of Texas' 132,000 candidates enrolled in teachers certification programs in 2021 have been doing so with the Texas Teachers of Tomorrow. 

Texas legislature will, most likely, take a very prominent look at the teachers shortage at the state's schools with earnest. Governor Gregg Abbott's Teacher Vacancy Task Force is going to issue its recommendation around February 2023, setting the stage for hectic work for the legislature to address the teachers shortage.