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MONMOUTH – Leading educators from around the country will gather at the Extending the Culture of Evidence: Teacher Work Samples and Other Promising Practices conference in Portland from July 19 to 21 to work together on ways to develop evidence and improve practices in teacher preparation. The focus will be on types of evidence used in teacher preparation programs to document the effectiveness of teachers and the programs that prepare them. The conference will particularly focus on Teacher Work Sample Methodology (TWSM).
Teacher Work Sample
Teacher Work Sample (TWS) was created at Western Oregon University more than 25 years ago. TWS is a form of performance assessment that connects teacher classroom instruction to gains in student performance allowing teacher preparation programs the capability to document their candidates’ ability to impact student learning through their instruction.
The steps involved in TWS allow teachers to modify their curriculum to their specific group of students to produce the best results for their learning. First, examine the context of the group of students to be taught. Then determine the national and state standards for the students at that level. Next, align the curriculum with the standards to ensure that benchmarks are met.
Then give a pretest to find out what the students already know or don’t know about the subject.
Plan instruction based on the results of the pretest and the needs of the students, such as whether they are talented and gifted or are using English as a second language.
Next, teach the material, adapted to the various learning styles then give a post-test. Analyze results of pre and post assessment data to determine how well the students mastered the material taught. Lastly, reflect on what worked and what didn’t and determine what steps need to be taken to address those who did not master the material.
A Teacher Work Sample is not intended for every lesson plan; rather it creates a mental model for teachers to help them take a critical look at who they are teaching and adapt their methods to achieve the best results for the students. This system is intended for teachers entering the field to help them adjust to a productive approach to teaching.
This methodology has been adopted as part of Oregon’s Teacher Standards and Practices Commission requirements for licensure, and has become a weighted component for national accreditation.
Importance of this conference
- As teacher preparation responds to more demands for accountability, promising practices such as those focused on in this conference can help:
- document the impact of teacher preparation,
- better prepare teachers to help students meet state and national standards and
- provide future direction for research, policy, and practice in teacher education.
Key people presenting at the conference
- Del Schalock, Ph.D., professor at The Teaching Research Institute (TRI) at WOU
Schalock has been the lead developer and advocate of TWSM since its inception more than 25 years ago. He has been actively engaged in education research, development and improvement in Oregon since joining TRI in 1961. He has worked closely with Oregon's Teacher Standards and Practices Commission and the Oregon Board of Education to align teacher preparation and licensure requirements with the state's evolving model of standards-based schooling. Schalock has led numerous externally funded research efforts around teacher effectiveness, as defined by student progress in learning as well as a three-county coalition for school improvement through the enhancement of curriculum, instruction, and teacher preparation/evaluation (the Valley Education consortium) between 1971 and 1991 that also anchored to student progress in learning.
- Lee Shulman, president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching [Stanford, Calif.]
Shulman is the winner of the 2006 Grawemeyer Award and was the first Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and professor (by courtesy) of psychology at Stanford University. He was previously professor of educational psychology and medical education at Michigan State University, serving as a member of that faculty from 1963 to 1982. He was the founding co-director of the Institute for Research on Teaching (IRT) at Michigan State University from 1976 to 1981. Shulman's research and writings have dealt with the study of teaching and teacher education; the growth of knowledge among those learning to teach; the assessment of teaching; medical education; the psychology of instruction in science, mathematics and medicine; the logic of educational research; and the quality of teaching in higher education.
- Sharon Robinson, Ph.D., president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education [Washington, D.C.]
Robinson is a nationally known leader in education rights for disadvantaged students. The former president of the Educational Testing Service’s Educational Policy Leadership Institute, she is a lifelong civil rights activist who received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Kentucky, where she also earned her doctorate in educational administration and supervision. Before joining ETS, Robinson was assistant secretary of education with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement. She also held a variety of leadership positions at the National Education Association, including director of the National Center for Innovation, NEA’s research and development arm, and she recently served as interim deputy director of the National PTA’s Programs and Legislation office.
- Donna Gollnick, Ph.D., senior vice president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education [Washington, D.C.]
Gollnick manages the accreditation process for NCATE, including staffing the Unit Accreditation Board, which determines the accreditation status of professional education units. Donna is immediate past president of the National Association for Multicultural Education. One of Donna's major contributions to multicultural education has been working with education professionals across the United States to ensure that national accreditation standards include requirements for teachers and other school personnel to be prepared to help all students learn. Diversity is currently one of six NCATE standards that must be met by colleges and universities to be nationally accredited.
- Tricia Coulter, Ph.D., director of the Teaching Quality and Leadership Institute at the Education Commission of the States [Denver, Colo.]
As director, Coulter is responsible for coordinating research and policy work related to teaching and leadership quality within the institute and in collaboration with the work of other ECS Institutes. Currently, the TQL Institute is engaged in work on strengthening leadership through innovative efforts by districts and looking at differentiated compensation systems for teachers. Prior to joining ECS, Coulter worked as a senior policy analyst at the State Higher Education Executive Officers organization. There she had primary responsibility for all teacher quality research and policy work and initiatives.
- Raymond Pecheone, Ph.D., director of the School Redesign Network at Stanford University [Palo Alto, Calif.]
Prior to assuming his present position, Pecheone was director of the Performance Assessment Center at Stanford University working on the development of pre-service portfolios for prospective teachers for the University of California higher education campuses, and the development of a performance-based system for student assessment as part of the Stanford Redesign School Network. Pecheone has held leadership roles in the Connecticut State Department of Education in curriculum, research, testing and assessment. As bureau chief, he oversaw the development and implementation of curriculum guides; teacher and administrator induction and evaluation programs. His teacher induction program, the Beginning Educator Support and Training Program, has received national attention and received an award of excellence for educational innovations by the Education Commission of the States.
- Robin White, senior program and policy director of the Academy for Educational Development [Washington, D.C.]
White has worked in the design, implementation, and evaluation of education reform and improvement efforts for more than 20 years. As senior program and policy director for the AED National Institute for Work and Learning, she specializes in program evaluation as well as technical assistance and capacity building related to research, evaluation, and performance measurement. In the past 10 years, she has conducted site visits in more than a dozen states, providing technical assistance and leading case study teams for a variety of research projects and evaluations. She also coordinates state activities for the U.S. Department of Education's Performance Measurement Initiative, which seeks to identify the next generation of secondary and post-secondary performance measures and accountability systems.
A full conference schedule and biographies on all speakers and presenters can be found at http://www.wou.edu/provost/extprogram/tws_conference/tws2006conf.html. The conference is sponsored by Western Oregon University, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Education Commission of the States.
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Interview contacts:
Attendance at keynotes and sessions, and interviews on-site during the conference can be arranged by calling Lisa Pulliam at 503-838-8163.
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