Reaching Every Student with an Excellent Teacher

Presentation to Project L.I.F.T.October 7, 2011

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The top 25 percent of U.S. teachers—more than 800,000 of them—already achieve results that would enable all of our

children to meet and exceed standards

Excellent teachers (the top 20–25 percent) help students make approximately three times (3X) the progress of students who

are assigned to teachers in the bottom 20–25 percent

These “3X” teachers achieve an average of about 1.5 years of student learning growth annually

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Today’s Excellent Teachers

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Start 1 year behind… Catch up after 2 years of excellent teachers

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Consistent Excellence Makes the Difference

Start 2 years behind… Catch up after 4 years of excellent teachers

Start on grade level… Leap ahead like “gifted” peers, with excellent teachers

Catch up from behind…

Leap ahead like “gifted” peers, with excellent teachers

Students who…

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In contrast, when children have solid teachers who achieve a year’s worth of growth per year…

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Impact of “Solid” vs. “Excellent” Teachers

Most students who enter behind… Stay behind

Most students who enter on track… Stay in middle

Most students who enter ahead… Stay ahead

Overall, U.S. students end up where they started out in life—the antithesis of the American Dream.

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Our Challenge

If only 20-25% of teachers produce gap-closing, bar-raising progress…

…only 20-25 % of students make gap-closing, bar-raising

progress.

We can move this number, but

probably not past 40%.

We HAVE TO move this number!

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Not by just cramming all the students into their classrooms, but by:

• Redesigning jobs, roles, and schedules• Using technology

You COULD put your already excellent teachers in charge of the learning of every

student in your school…..

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What If ….

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We call this “extending the reach” of excellent teachers to more students.

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Reaching Many More Students

In-Person Reach Extension

Remote Reach Extension

Boundless Reach Extension Combinations

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Changes instructional roles and how schools are organized to leverage limited numbers of excellent teachers, keeping the best in classrooms

For example:• Allow excellent elementary teachers to specialize and reach 2

to 4 times as many children• Choose excellent teachers with managerial skills to lead

multiple classrooms in which other teachers use their methods and standards

• Allow top teachers to shift more children into their classrooms so they reach more students, while peers have smaller classes

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Reach Extension: In-Person

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Uses technology to enable excellent teachers to engage directly (though not in person) with students, bringing excellent teaching even to places where excellent teachers are in very short supply

For example:• Use video-conferencing and other interactive technology to

enable a few excellent middle school math teachers to reach students at multiple schools

Fall 2011

Reach Extension: Remote

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Uses video of excellent teachers or software that uses their instructional practices to reach a potentially unlimited number of students with excellent teaching

For example:• Use video recordings of teachers who are content masters

and engaging performers• Use smart software designed to mimic the way excellent

instructors ascertain and respond to each child’s level of skill and knowledge

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Reach Extension: Boundless

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Combines reach extension methods to deliver excellent instruction and make better use of excellent teachers’ time

For example:• Time-technology swaps: Use digital instruction to

replace a portion of excellent, in-person teachers’ instructional time . . .

• . . . enabling fewer, better in-person teachers to reach more students with personalized and enriched instruction.

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Reach Extension: Combinations

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The Goal: Excellent Teachers For All• All models have one aim: Putting an excellent

teacher—one who produces high-growth learning—in charge of every child’s instruction.• At the same time, most models create new,

focused roles for solid teachers in which they can contribute to excellence while developing their own capacity.

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With funding from Carnegie Corporation of NY, Gates Foundation, and Joyce Foundation:• Create & publish starting “models” of how schools

can reach all students with excellent teachers • Create and publish detailed tools for some models

(schedules, job descriptions, budgets)• Identify five partner-sites who make a strong

commitment to reaching all with excellence

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Opportunity Culture Initiative

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• Reach more children successfully with excellent teachers.

• Pay excellent teachers more for reaching more children successfully.

• Achieve permanent financial sustainability within budgets from per-pupil funding.

• Include roles for other educators that enable them to learn and contribute to excellence.

• Clarify the fully accountable adult for each student/subject, and what people, technology and other resources (s)he can choose and manage.

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Partner Site Commitments

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• Strong leadership from the top of the organization

• Committed external funders / supporters• Committed school principals• Ability to clear any policy barriers that keep

excellent teachers from reaching students• Dedication of staff and/or consultants to

support and coordinate design & implementation

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Creating the Conditions

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Discussion• Clarifying questions?• What models sound promising and helpful in

your schools?• What would you need as school leaders to put

these concepts into action?

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ResourcesHassel, B. C., & Hassel, E. A. (2011). Seizing opportunity at the top: How the U.S. can

give every child an excellent teacher. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. http://opportunityculture.org/seizing-opportunity-at-the-top

Hassel, B. C., & Hassel, E. A. (2010). Opportunity at the top: How America’s best teachers could close the gaps, raise the bar, and keep our nation great. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. http://opportunityculture.org/images/stories/opportunity_at_the_top-public_impact.pdf

Hassel, E. A., & Hassel, B. C. (2009). 3X for all: Extending the reach of education’s best. Chapel Hill, NC: Public Impact. http://opportunityculture.org/images/stories/3x_for_all-public_impact.pdf

Weisberg, D., Sexton, S., Mulhern, J., & Keeling, D. (2009). The widget effect: Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. New York: The New Teacher Project. http://widgeteffect.org/

McKinsey & Company (2009). The economic impact of the achievement gap in America’s schools. http://www.mckinsey.com/app_media/images/page_images/offices/socialsector/pdf/achievement_gap_report.pdf

See complete references in Seizing Opportunity at the Top, at opportunityculture.org.

www.publicimpact.com