Friday Focus: On “Proficiency”
On Wednesday, while meeting with staff about the educator evaluation system, specifically the teacher rubric used as a framework for the summative evaluation, I found myself searching for clarity while trying to define the ideal of “exemplary performance.” This rubric, like the one for administrators and instructional support personnel, represents ESE’s latest attempt to communicate expectations for high quality teaching. We use rubrics with our students so that they can understand the expectations we have for their written products, and so they can hopefully use the feedback to improve in some specific and important areas. So how do we feel when someone uses a rubric to judge the quality of our own work? Our response will of course be shaped by our personal experience. Consider the overachievers among us who have typically received all A’s on report cards as a child, then a high GPA in college, and then again in graduate school, complimentary evaluations and observations every year for many years. What will they make of a rating that says “proficient?” What an underwhelming word for what is, in fact, pretty high quality teaching practice. “Proficient” almost sounds like “okay” or “good enough, I guess.” Makes me think of the expression “to damn with faint praise.” I don’t believe there is a market for coffee cups that say “World’s Most Proficient Mom.” But here is a direct quote from the Teacher’s Rubric, the descriptor for “proficient” performance in the area of Curriculum and Planning: Subject Matter Knowledge: “Demonstrates sound knowledge and understanding of the subject matter and the pedagogy it requires by consistently engaging students in learning experiences that enable them to acquire complex knowledge and skills in the subject.”[1] Now this just the first sub-indicator out of thirty-three. Think about what it means. That in this school, (which is a very high expectation school) the teacher – if he or she is to be deemed proficient – must not only have “sound knowledge” (BTW, in elementary school, that means of all the subject matter, not just one or two subjects), but more importantly – the pedagogy that is required. (Pedagogy meaning the intersection of relevant learning theory with practice.) Although I believe there is something to be said about the generalization “Good teaching is good teaching, no matter the subject, developmental level, etc.,” different sets of teaching practices are effective in helping students learn to write, to solve math problems, to draw conclusions from a scientific experiment. The proficient teacher must “consistently” – not just much of the time, but more like all of the time – “engage” students in learning experiences – not just enforce compliance with them – so that they acquire “complex knowledge and skills” – not just simple factoids and definitions. So I hope you can agree with me that the teacher who manages to do all this in all subject areas all the time is a far cry from “just good enough.” And Subject Matter Knowledge is just one of the four sub-indicators that make up the indicator “Curriculum and Planning.” The next three are equally as portentous, as are the other three Standards of Teaching and all their indicators and sub-indicators. So how could a teacher ever earn a rating of “Exemplary?” In this blog, I will try to demystify this holy grail of performance ratings and clarify the difference between “Proficient” and “Exemplary” ratings in the indicators and sub-indicators, at least as I see it.[2] I did use the “E”word a handful of times last year, and I think it only fair that I try to explain why I selected that rating rather than “Proficient” given that the rubric describes a very high level of performance either way. Reconsider Subject Matter Knowledge. Exemplary performance in this area would, in my opinion, include such actions as creating teacher made materials rather than relying on the textbook and workbook programs, recognizing that new materials often need to be created because they don’t, according to your strong subject area knowledge, include enough emphasis on essential concepts, or don’t portray essential concepts vividly enough, or there is a need to adapt the materials to show interdisciplinary connections (Quadrant C) or authenticity and relevancy (Quadrant D). Many of our curriculum materials represent an overreliance in Quadrant A and B, foundational knowledge and simple application, skills in isolation without meaningful context, and for someone with exemplary subject matter knowledge, this will just not do. However, the curriculum materials at the same time create the framework of What All Deer Hill Students Must Know and Be Able To Do within the Common Core Standards, and so it is neither okay to play fast and loose with the curriculum content. As I see it, a teacher who rates as “exemplary” in this category has a strong understanding of not only the Common Core Standards, but also the reasoning behind each standard’s inclusion, and can enhance materials to promote the purpose of the standards, not distract from them. Primary Source courses always impress me for their ability to impart deeply layered knowledge of global issues in a way that meets adult needs for information. The exemplary teacher finds a way to impart this knowledge in their classroom in a developmentally appropriate – and don’t forget engaging! - manner. Many grants proposals I have read include, as part of the rationale for the project, description of the subject matter and the underlying pedagogy that reveals exemplary understanding of each and signifies great credibility for teacher success with the project. The above are just a few examples of what I believe constitute above and beyond performance descriptors. The ESE has set one criteria for the Exemplary rating in every area: “At the Exemplary Level, an educator’s level of expertise is such that he or she is able to model through training, teaching, coaching, assisting, and/or demonstrating. In this rubric, this level of expertise is denoted by ‘Is able to model.’ I’m excited by the prospect of working with the faculty to create new ways of demonstrating proficiency and providing opportunities to demonstrate exemplary teacher performance. [1] Standards and Indicators of Effective Teaching Practice: Teacher Rubric. Part III: Appendix C. ESE Model Rubric for Teachers. [2]I’m reminded of a terrific quote by Edwin Meese III, who was Attorney General under President Reagan. When asked to define “pornography” he said, “I can’t give you a definition for it, but I know it when I see it.” Friday Focus, September 5, 2014
Today I resurrect a practice which has fallen to the wayside too much in the last few years – the Friday Focus. Although I hate to write, (really and truly!) like Dorothy Parker I love having written, and, more importantly, I appreciate the opportunity to communicate with people in a thoughtful way about what we do for children and their families at our school. What’s different from my old Friday Focus columns now is that there is a new word for what I have been doing, and that is called “writing a blog” or “blogging.” (Okay, maybe not so new.) At least I think that’s what I was doing. I liked to pick a topic related to our school, consider what I thought about it, observe how the topic played out at our school, write up those observations, and hope that it sparked some conversation so that we could look at and reflect upon our practices for better or worse as a school community. However, I’m motivated to pick up the practice again, even as I’m more than a little intimidated to commit myself to a “blog.” The word itself sounds innocuous – how scary can something be when it sounds like a noise that comes out of your sink? But it is the implied perpetual nature of the writing – the expectation that there will always be a new blog after this one – that is intimidating. I wonder if Andy Rooney felt this way when he signed his contract. What if I run out of thoughts? But there has been a lot going on in the last few years that we need to talk about and, more importantly, I now have a Weebly!! Thanks Kelly! (She tried to teach me how to set up pages, but I was just too pathetic, so she was forced to set up my first few pages for me.) Every principal out there with a site has a blog, not to mention all of you with your fabulous Weeblies, Googles, and other creative sites! and so it is time for me to get in the game. I’m very excited about the site (at least as it appears in my mind.) Did you know there is a program called “Shelfari.com” where you can post the books you have and recommend them to others, answer questions about the books for other people to read, comment on the characters, and post all kinds of comments (after being prompted – you’re not just making it all up from a blank sheet) which is very indulgent and fun if you are an avid reader. But, unlike some of the other book posting apps, this one is in fact very simple to use and the result is an exceptionally cool graphic with a bookshelf with the book covers all lined up! So – I am so looking forward to posting my books! (Hello Jane - you must be my first Shelfari follower and I will follow you too!) In my mind’s eye, there will be links to the latest in instructional research that is helpful to most experienced teachers, a slide show of students (which will of course get switched out with amazing frequency), links to parent resources, Teacher Tube videos, the family handbook in PDF, our School Improvement Plan, and general (but fascinating) descriptions of our curricula. All of you who have been creating, producing, and maintaining your own great sites have inspired me. At the end of our first week, thank you all for making it such a successful opening. At school committee last night, I was so proud to talk about how everything was in place for students in their classrooms and throughout the school so that when they came in the front door, every minute of that first day was successful. The thing is, that doesn’t happen by accident, not even to the pro’s, but few people really understand that. Without extensive planning, preparation, and provisioning, things fall apart. That’s unsettling for children, even if it’s just for a few minutes. But the planning and provisioning is not at all glamorous. You won’t see teachers in movies or television sitting at their desks researching passages for thematic relevance and text complexity, testing out math problems and rewriting them so that they appear more engaging to students, standing at the laminating machine, trying to get in the STEM lab, then counting out plastic cups once in there. As I walked around the building on Friday before Labor Day, I was so taken by the level of detail of preparation in all of the classrooms. For the first time in many years of school openings, I slept well the night before the first day. So we are off on a new adventure! The 2014-2015 school year! If the first week is any indication, it will be an outstanding year. Now, if I can just figure out how to link this to my Weebly? Kelly? Suzi? Deb? Anybody??? |
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