Improve student test scores, and teachers might get a $1,600 bonus

April 13, 2012 |

Hecekiah McDonald, 13, a seventh-grader, answers a question for Adrienne Hill, a language arts teacher at Romulus Middle School. / March photo by ANDRE J. JACKSON/Detroit Free Press

By Lori Higgins Detroit Free Press Education Writer

Second in a series

By the end of this school year, teachers at Romulus Middle School could see a big payoff for their work in the last two years: bonuses of up to $1,600 each for raising student test scores, volunteering to tutor kids or developing training sessions for staff. The incentives are part of a broad approach to improve teaching -- a key focus of the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG) program that has invested more than $4.6 billion into the nation's lowest-performing schools since 2009, including $83 million for 28 Michigan schools in 2010. All of the schools must provide financial incentives to teachers. Nineteen of them were required to develop a teacher evaluation system that uses student growth data in a significant way. The remaining schools had to replace half their teaching staffs. The rules recognize that improving teaching is a crucial part of raising student achievement in struggling schools. But incentives have been among the most challenging and controversial aspects of the grant program, and experts argue little research shows incentives actually make a difference in student achievement. For the 28 Michigan SIG schools, it's too early to tell whether the incentives will be successful -especially since some of the schools receiving grants did not have an evaluation system or incentives fully in place the first year, according to an evaluation commissioned by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). The incentives were delayed in many cases by the time involved, and in a few cases because of negotiations between administrators and unions. Many states have taken years to develop the kind of teacher evaluation systems these schools had to create in a matter of months. Romulus Superintendent Carl Weiss is guardedly hopeful the incentives will have some impact. To qualify, teachers had to meet five goals related to student achievement. "But I was a classroom teacher for 19 years," he said. "I don't know any teacher that would not deliberately do things that benefit kids because they weren't getting extra money for it."

Open to changes
Teachers say incentives are nice, but the biggest impact of SIG is the focus on improving teaching. "Our staff was open to change," said Janel Hoskins, a math teacher at Romulus Middle. "It was one of those situations where you know things need to be done differently, but you don't know how. The SIG grant made it clear to us." State officials said it is essential for Michigan schools to improve teaching.

"We can do lots of things to help support the schools, but if what happens in the classroom doesn't improve, we're not going to see things improve for our kids," said Mark Coscarella, assistant director in the office of education improvement and innovation at the MDE. At Weston Preparatory Academy, a Detroit charter school, Shana Copeland went from being a traditional classroom teacher to running a language arts lab that supplements the language arts instruction that students receive in their classes. "It has pushed me outside of my comfort areas, where I've been forced to try different things and do different things because I know our goal is to show success," she said. Each hour, students with varying reading skills come through Copeland's class. She breaks them into three groups. That means she has to prepare three sets of lesson plans for each group and track assessment results. "At first it was overwhelming," Copeland said. "It was like a culture shock." Kathy Allan, Weston SIG coordinator, mentors several teachers. She said data about student achievement is becoming increasingly important. "Because we're rich in data, teachers need assistance in reading that data, identifying what really can be done and how can we really dig deep into that data," Allan said. Students say they're noticing the changes in teaching. "I think the teachers are very thoughtful in helping us. They have taught us so much. It feels like we've gotten smarter," said Ariya Williams, 9, a fourth-grader at Weston, which received a $1.8million grant.

More observation
The new rules mean principals, such as Jason Salhaney of Romulus Middle, are spending more time in the classroom, observing teachers and assessing how well they are meeting goals. He and vice principal Chris Parker aim to stop in each classroom daily, stay for 15-minute visits every few weeks and observe for a longer period twice a year. "It's time-consuming, but it's where we know we'll make the biggest impact," Salhaney said. In Romulus, administrators and a group of teachers started developing a new teacher evaluation system two years before the school became eligible for the SIG. Teachers must have a professional growth plan, which outlines their goals for improving student achievement. Multiple pieces of data are used to evaluate how much growth students are making under individual teachers and groups of teachers.

"One of the things I feel strongly about is we needed to go away from a checklist approach to something more meaningful and give teachers more voice," Weiss said. The new system was adopted district-wide, but only the middle school is offering incentives because that is funded through the federal grant.

Teacher evaluations
By the 2013-14 school year, schools statewide must develop systems in which student growth data accounts for 25% of a teacher's evaluation. The percentage rises to 50% in the 2015-16 school year. Schools receiving SIG money may be a few steps ahead. Those schools had to choose among four reform models. The transformation model chosen by 74% of schools nationwide requires that teacher evaluations use student growth data. At Fitzgerald High School in Warren, 10% of a teacher's evaluation is based on student growth, a percentage negotiated with the Fitzgerald Education Association, the local teachers union. That percentage will change to meet state rules, Superintendent Barbara VanSweden said. "What we want to do is get better at reviewing the data and determining what we're going to do with it," VanSweden said. For now, the district is relying on a data analyst -- whose job is supported by SIG funds -- to analyze data from district, department and state exams. The analysis will be used to determine how much growth teachers are seeing and to better design intervention programs for struggling students. Many SIG schools, including Weston in Detroit, developed their teacher evaluation system around the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching. That system breaks teaching down into four areas: planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction and professional responsibilities.

Coaches in classrooms
Adrienne Hill, a language arts teacher at Romulus Middle, said SIG has brought a wave of accountability to teachers -- and that's a good thing. "It's OK to be measured. We measure students all the time," Hill said. "You need that concrete measurement in order to improve. Everyone needs to be able to self-assess." One of the ways SIG schools are doing that is through intense professional development, which continues well beyond the initial session -- unlike more traditional training.

At Romulus Middle, for instance, those who conduct training then follow teachers into the classroom, providing one-on-one coaching. "Teachers just aren't trained to have adults come in and give coaching," Weiss said. "But we knew that if we were going to address teaching skills they had to have good coaching and it had to be in an authentic situation, not just sitting in a meeting room and talking about it. I can watch a video on golf, but that doesn't make me a golf player. I have to go out on the course and have someone teach me." Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651 or lhiggins@freepress.com More Details: Incentives Romulus Middle School teachers can earn up to $1,600 each for meeting these goals: Growth of the entire school on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) exam. Growth of special-education students on the MAP. Progress and growth of students who are one or more years behind grade level on the MAP. Good attendance. Teacher involvement and engagement activities, which includes participation in a school-level committee; informal and unpaid tutoring during lunchtime or preparation time; formal and paid tutoring after school; a professional development session, presentation or training; a parentengagement activity or academic-based, student-engagement activity. More Details: About this series The Free Press spent the last two months examining the impact of the $83 million in federal School Improvement Grants invested in 28 struggling Michigan schools. Thursday: Michigan educators are optimistic about the impact of the grants, but the program nationwide has been fraught with frustrations. Today: The grants focus on improving teaching. But are incentives and replacing staff the way to do it? Sunday: Come back for a look at the future of the program, including how schools will carry on the work when the money runs out.