Public Meetings Begin Monday on Recruiting, Retaining Best in County
By Beverly Carroll
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Chattanooga Times Free Press
When Hamilton County teacher Pat Coggin returned to the classroom 17 years ago, she knew the 'science' of teaching but hadn’t developed the 'art' of her profession. 'I was prepared subjectwise,' the Ooltewah High School teacher said. 'But I wasn’t prepared for the different situations you meet in the classroom.'
She said her students climbed out the classroom window and threw oranges at her. 'I went home crying every day. I had to think, ‘How can I get this situation under control?’' Now a veteran educator and recently named a Hamilton County teacher of the year, Mrs. Coggin said she learned to show students she cared for them while keeping control of the classroom something education experts say is part of the 'art' of teaching.
Both the art of teaching and the science — proficiency in content area and teaching methods — make a quality teacher, according to area educators and members of the Chattanooga Public Education Foundation, a private nonprofit agency.
The trouble is that teacher shortages have forced school systems to hire people who are not certified to teach, so there are not enough quality teachers, officials said.
In Hamilton County, 135 teachers are working with permits granted by the state to people with college degrees but no teaching experience. Statewide 1,755 teachers are working with permits. Additionally, 34 teachers locally and 862 statewide are working with waivers that allow them to teach subjects in which they have little or no experience or expertise, school officials said.
DEFINING QUALITY
Complicating the equation is confusion over the definition of 'quality teachers.' State studies define one set of teacher characteristics based on their students’ scores. New national mandates set to take effect in September 2005 define quality teachers by what degrees and certificates are listed on their resumes.
The conflicting views and definitions have spurred educators and parents to work together to find the right local definition. Beginning Monday, the PEF is sponsoring a series of public forums to talk about ways to recruit and retain quality teachers in Hamilton County schools. 'We want to get the community’s ideas for a strategic plan for what our community must do to have a quality teacher in every classroom,' said Annie Hall, a PEF coordinator.
In addition to talking about research showing the link between effective teachers and student achievement, participants will discuss ways to improve current policies and practices of teacher recruitment, placement and retention, Mrs. Hall said.
Identifying quality teaching has become more important in the last 10 to 15 years as researchers learn more about how effective instruction influences learning, PEF President Dan Challener said. Last year the need became a requirement with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates a 'highly qualified' teacher in every classroom by 2005-2006. 'We have learned a great deal about how people learn, which we didn’t know, and we have found ways to measure the learning, which we didn’t have. What we know now is the relationship between what teachers do and what students are learning is compelling,' Mr. Challener said.
Research by former University of Tennessee professor William L. Sanders showed that having a highly effective teacher for three years in a row was a strong predictor of high student scores on state standardized tests.
Dr. Sanders developed a way to track student academic growth by using data from the standardized state tests that measure academic proficiency. Called the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System, the program tracks individual student progress from year to year.Dr. Sanders also used his data to track the effect on students of low performing teachers.
According to one study, Dr. Sanders’ research showed that first- and third-grade pupils who performed above average on standardized tests lost ground in the middle school years with low performing teachers. The study also showed the opposite results — that when low performing first- and third-graders had effective teachers in middle grades their test scores improved.
TVAAS also tracks teacher performance, which PEF researcher Pam Carter used to identify nearly 100 highly effective Hamilton County teachers. Ms. Carter spent a year interviewing, surveying and observing the educators for a teacher quality project.
She identified the top five characteristics of a highly effective teacher and has labeled those attributes: flexibility, strong management skills, compassion, love of children and a belief that all children can learn at high levels. 'Those are excellent characteristics any employer would want,' Ms. Carter said.
Mrs. Carter’s list also reflects some of the characteristics community members want from teachers, according to a report drawn from a series of PEF-sponsored meetings held two years ago, she said.
'Those (traits), a love of working with children, a love of teaching, good communication skills, were among the top 20 responses from the community,' Mrs. Carter said.
FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS
Area educators support the idea of effective teachers for all children, said Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jesse Register. But the federal law’s definition of a quality teacher is too simplistic in some ways and too rigid in others, Dr. Register and other education experts said. 'I find fault with a law that can declare a whole class of teachers, who were found qualified by the state, as unqualified,' Dr. Register said.
Barnett Berry, executive director of the Southeast Center for Teaching Quality, said there is more to teaching than certificates, licenses and diplomas. 'Quality teaching is knowledge of subject matter, but it is also how to teach diverse students, how to assess whether kids are learning or not learning and knowledge of children. Unfortunately the legislators are focusing on the former to the exclusion of the latter,' he said.
Hamilton County director of curriculum and instruction Charlene Becker said using a test to identify a good teacher tends to emphasize skill over content knowledge, when both are needed. 'I have a girl at Hixson High; she is an exceptional teacher, an artist,' Mrs. Becker said. 'Her Gateway scores (state required high school tests) are among the top in the system. She can’t pass the Praxis (the state licensing test). In my view there are people who can pass that test who are not as effective as some who cannot. You want high standards, but there are other factors.'
The federal requirements also will affect thousands of middle school teachers who hold general teaching licenses, said Debbie Gilliam, state director of teacher quality and special programs. Teachers who have been teaching math, science or English for years will be considered unqualified because they are not certified in their subject area, she said.
Educators worry middle schools will lose experienced, qualified teachers because of the new requirements.
'I know one middle school math teacher whose students are making three years of gain in a year, but she is not math certified,' Ms. Carter said. 'Under No Child Left Behind she is not going to be qualified, nor will she be able to teach at the middle school level.'
Ms. Gilliam said the state is working on a plan to help teachers who hold K-8 or 1-8 licenses meet the requirements, including using TVAAS scores to demonstrate proficiency. 'Our position is that if someone does not meet the requirements, let’s give them a way to meet the requirements,' Ms. Gilliam said. 'You don’t ask someone who is already licensed to go back and do something different, and that’s what No Child Left Behind is doing.'