Understanding teacher quality: a look into the classroom

May 4, 2012

Written by Claire Bove, Former Associate Director at Mills Teacher Scholars In the national conversation about education, many voices are asking questions about teacher quality: how do we quantify it? How should we report it? But shouldn’t we begin by asking, What is teacher quality? What does it look like? And how can we help teachers develop it, increase it, and share it? In the Mills Teacher Scholars  program, we provide coaching and tools to teachers in East Bay schools, so that they can understand their students’ learning, and figure out what is getting in the way of learning. The teachers we work with frequently use standardized test scores and assessments such as benchmark tests and standard reading scores. For example, teachers rely on Diagnostic Reading Assessment scores to find out where students are having difficulty learning, but standardized assessments do not tell teachers what is getting in the way of learning, nor how to help a student overcome the obstacles to learning. The teacher scholars in our program collect data to find out how their students learn, and they work collaboratively to develop teaching strategies to help their students overcome obstacles to learning. The following example illustrates this process with Shelley Grant, an eighth-grade science Mills Teacher Scholar.

Learn More

The Complex Work of Figuring Out What Students Know

April 24, 2012

Written by Carrie Wilson, Former Executive Director at Mills Teacher Scholars After more than a decade of placing far too much emphasis on standardized test results, there is (finally) growing acknowledgement that standardized tests cannot be considered a reliable measure of what students know. The discussion is shifting to focus on formative assessments, which provide teachers with information that can actually shape instruction and change the learning opportunities for their students. However, in school districts’ drive towards common formative assessments, there is risk of over-simplifying, yet again, what it means for a teacher to understand student learning – the commonly assumed purpose of formative assessment. We rarely hear new ideas about what is actually involved for a teacher or a team of teachers to create and analyze assessments that provide information about student understanding. Perhaps even less likely is to hear if and how teachers communicate those results in a meaningful way to students and, eventually, to families and administrators. Last week I received an email message from Tracey, one of the teacher scholars I work with through the Mills Teacher Scholars, a teacher learning program of the Mills School of Education. Her message highlights the work of using formative assessment data to inform instruction. Over the course of the school year Tracey has been working with her colleagues in our monthly meetings at her school-site to understand what independent reading should look like for her Kindergarten students—particularly those who struggle to settle in and engage with their books. Tracey’s school is in its second year of implementing a reading curriculum that relies heavily on kids finding “just right books” and spending a significant amount of time in their school day using those books for multiple purposes.

Learn More
Dr. Anna Richert

Support for teacher learning as an agenda for change

March 14, 2012

Written by Dr. Anna Richert,  Faculty Director of Mills Teacher Scholars (more about Anna). Given Bill Gates’ fiscal role in supporting matters educational, I was happy to read his NYTimes OP-ED piece opposing the publication of individual performance assessments of teachers.  Gates claims he is not against teacher evaluation per se, but, he writes, “publicly ranking teachers by name will not help them get better at their jobs or improve student learning.” I agree.  At the same time I wonder if Gates is overly optimistic with his assumption that the purpose of teacher evaluation—conceived as it is with this “value added” scoring and then publishing methodology—is actually designed to improve teaching and student learning. As implemented, the connection is not clear. Designed as a means to promote teacher learning and build practice rather than judge teachers and rank them, the Mills Teacher Scholars (MTS) provides support for teachers to explore areas of their teaching that they want to improve, and then support for making the changes that will help them better meet their students’ learning needs. Teachers identify an area of the school curriculum where students struggle.  They frame a question about their students’ learning in that area about which they want to gain understanding.  They pursue this question by systematically collecting examples of student work over time, and collaboratively analyzing that work with colleagues who help them make sense of what the students do and do not know as well as what they can and can not yet do. Teacher learning about student learning is at the heart of the Mills Teacher Scholars work. Only with a deep understanding of student learning—one that goes beyond the reading of a standardized test score—can teachers alter their practice in ways that open up new and targeted opportunities for their students to achieve academic success.

Learn More

Scholars Group Meeting Dates

September 7, 2010

Monday, September 13, 5 – 8 Saturday, October 2, 9:30 – 3:00 Monday, November 15, 5 – 8 Monday, December 6, 5 – 8 Saturday, January 22, 9:30 – 3:00 Monday, February 7, 5 – 8 (practice presentations) Monday, March...

Learn More

Mills Teacher Scholars Roundtable Presentations

May 13, 2010

The Mills Scholars are teachers who meet monthly to discuss their questions with their colleagues and to systematically study the data that they collect to answer their questions, including classroom video data, student work, student interview data, and observational data.

Learn More