Monday, July 28, 2014

ATI’s Support for Administrators in Meeting the Requirements of Recent Instructional Effectiveness Legislation

State legislatures have passed legislation requiring districts/charters to use multiple types of data to evaluate educator effectiveness. Over the past few years, ATI has worked with its many district and charter partners to create and implement a robust system that aids administrators in completing this task easily and efficiently. In many states, these new laws require districts/charters to observe teachers, consider student growth data, and look at student performance levels on state tests when evaluating teachers. Although all of these diverse pieces of information are important when looking at instructional effectiveness, the question arises as to how to statistically determine one aggregated performance classification from multiple measures providing scores that vary in terms of score type, score scale, and score range. ATI’s Score Compiler allows districts to select a wide variety of measures to use for educator effectiveness, place these scores from these measures on a common scale using defensible well-established statistical procedures, and then weight each measure as desired. In addition, the total number of points, performance classification nomenclature, and cut points are configured based on district/charter specifications. Finally, the Instructional Effectiveness view of the Galileo Dashboard provides easy access for administrators to performance classifications for reporting to superintendents and state representatives as needed.

ATI’s Score Compiler allows for easy compilation of student performance data and teacher performance data. The types of measures that districts/charters can include in the Score Compiler are limitless. One of the most commonly used measures among ATI district/charter partners includes Categorical Growth scores at both the teacher and the school level. These scores provide data about whether a student has exceeded, maintained, or failed to maintain expected growth based on an ATI pre/posttest during an instructional-time period. Although Categorical Growth scores are the most popular, other types of scores based on any Galileo benchmark or formative assessment may also be incorporated into the Score Compiler. The Score Compiler also allows for external test scores (e.g., state tests, DIBELS, AP Scores) to be uploaded into Galileo. Measures such as mean scores, median scores, and percentages of students can be automatically calculated and compiled. On the teacher performance side, Educational Management Services Coordinators enter customized district teacher evaluation rubrics into Galileo. District administrators can then use the online rubrics to input teacher observation scores and the results of these observations can be included in the Score Compiler. In addition, any other types of scores may be manually added to the Score Compiler. For example, districts/charters have included scores based on parent surveys, teacher surveys, attendance, and Student Learning Objectives (SLOs).

Karyn White 
Director of Educational Management Services
                                                  

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