Education Trust—West

New Education Trust—West Study Reveals Stunning Inequities in Access to Effective Teachers for Latino, African-American and Low-Income Students in Nation’s Second Largest School District

OAKLAND, CA (January 12, 2012) – Today, The Education Trust—West releases the findings of a two- year-long study of data from the second largest school district in the nation, revealing profound inequities in access to effective teaching.  In Learning Denied: The Case for Equitable Access to Effective Teaching in California’s Largest School District, The Education Trust—West finds that low-income students and students of color in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are less likely to be taught by the district’s top teachers – the very teachers capable of closing the district’s achievement gaps. These inequities are exacerbated by teacher mobility patterns and quality-blind layoffs.

“This is one of the largest and most comprehensive analyses of this type ever completed, accounting for over 17,500 teachers and more than a million students,” said report co-author Carrie Hahnel, Director of Policy and Research at The Education Trust—West. “We were able to quantify the impact of effective teachers on student learning. We looked at the extent to which students of color and students in poverty had access to effective teachers, and we also looked at the impact of quality-blind teacher layoffs.”

The report reveals that:

  • Teachers have the potential to dramatically accelerate the learning of their students – with the average student taught by a top 25% teacher (top quartile in terms of value-added) gaining half a year more of learning in English-Language Arts and four months in math than a student placed with a teacher in the bottom 25% (bottom quartile).
  • Second-graders who started off behind academically and then had three top quartile teachers accelerated to academic proficiency, while students with consecutive bottom quartile  teachers remained stuck below grade level.
  • Commonly used measures of teacher quality, such as years of experience, are poor predictors of effectiveness in the classroom. While teachers do improve over time, the differences among teachers are far greater than those between teachers at different levels of experience.  For example, the difference between a 10th-year teacher and first-year teacher is only about three and a half weeks in ELA and two and a half weeks in math.
  • Effective teachers are inequitably distributed in LAUSD with Latino, African-American and low-income students much less likely to have access to top-quartile teachers. In addition, these top teachers are more likely to leave the district’s highest need schools. 
  • Quality-blind teacher layoffs in 2009 resulted in the removal of high value-added teachers from the highest need schools. If the district had instead laid off teachers based on effectiveness, only about 5 percent of the ELA teachers and 3 percent of the math teachers actually cut by LAUSD would have been laid off.

“These findings should be cause for both optimism and deep concern,” said Arun Ramanathan, Executive Director of The Education Trust—West, a statewide education advocacy organization. “We now know that great teachers have the power to help students catch up when they’re behind.  But you can’t catch up when you don’t have access to the best teachers.”

The report reveals that a low-income student is more than twice as likely to have a low value-added ELA teacher as a higher income peer, and 66 percent more likely to have a low-value added math teacher.  Latino and African-American students are two to three times more likely to have bottom-quartile teachers in math and ELA, respectively, than their white and Asian peers. 

“Access to effective teaching is life-changing for students in our communities,” said Yolie Flores, Communities for Teaching Excellence CEO and former LAUSD Board Member. “And because we know that having an effective teacher three years in a row can literally help us close the achievement gap for poor students and students of color, we must make every effort to make sure that these students have equitable access to the most effective teachers.” 

 According to the report, state and local policies can prevent students from accessing the most effective teachers or cause students to lose access to these teachers. The report recommends that district and state leaders invest in high-quality evaluation systems to identify effective teachers and those who are failing to improve student performance. It calls for developing programs and policies that attract and retain the best teachers in the highest need schools, offering teachers the high-quality professional development that leads to gains in student achievement, and fundamentally reforming state policies that prevent local leaders from making decisions in the best interests of students. This includes ending once and for all quality-blind, “last in, first out” (LIFO) teacher layoffs.

“This report should be a wake-up call for leaders in California and throughout the nation that access to effective teaching is the education civil rights issue of our time,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles.  “To close the achievement gap, we must prioritize student needs first through state and local reforms and attract top teachers to our highest need communities, support their growth, and keep them in the classroom.”

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The Education Trust—West Issues Statement in Response to Gov. Brown’s January Budget

OAKLAND, CA (January 6, 2012) – The Education Trust—West issued the following statement in response to Governor Brown’s January budget release:

Yesterday, the Governor released his January budget. In what has become an unfortunate pattern, this Administration has focused its cuts on our state’s most vulnerable children, slashing the safety net both inside and outside our schools. All of these cuts – from the $4.8 billion education trigger cuts to the elimination of transitional kindergarten to cuts to child care and social services—will hurt children, especially children of color and low-income children. We should not have to remind the Governor that these communities now constitute a significant majority of California’s students, and in the future, will represent the majority of our state’s working population. While we are encouraged by the Governor’s proposal to spend our education dollars based on the needs of students through a weighted student formula, it certainly would not offset the damage caused by this budget’s inequitable cuts.

Improving Teacher Evaluation in California

Most teachers say they teach because they love their students, and because they love helping them to learn. And it shows. Research shows that the single most important school-based factor in improving student academic performance is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Students who have strong teachers year after year soar academically. 

Unfortunately, too many teachers—from those who are the best in the state to those who are growing professionally— receive limited feedback, whether it is praise for a job well done or constructive feedback to help them grow in their craft. 

This is because for far too long our teacher evaluation systems have been shaped by an array of state laws, district policies, union contracts, and local practices that, when combined together, prevent teachers from receiving high-quality evaluations. Teacher evaluations are often approached as little more than the tedious act of filling out a form when, in fact, they should be seen as an opportunity for teacher mentoring and development. 

The good news is there are better models being developed right here in California. Today, The Education Trust—West and Teach Plus Los Angeles release Improving Teacher Evaluation in California, an important resource to help teachers learn about new, more useful teacher evaluation processes being developed and implemented in forward-thinking districts and charter schools across the state. Take a moment to read about how Los Angeles Unified School District, the College-Ready Promise, and Lucia Mar Unified School District are each improving teacher evaluations as a critical way to improve both teaching and student outcomes.

We believe evaluation systems should enhance teacher development and guide the professional support our educators deserve. If you agree, please share this resource with your teacher networks. Together, we can take action and begin the tough work of improving California’s broken teacher evaluation system. It all begins with you.

The Education Trust—West Statement on the Nation’s Report Card Results for California

OAKLAND, CA (November 1, 2011) – The 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals that the performance of California’s fourth and eighth-grade students on the NAEP reading and math assessments has slowly improved from 2003. Yet, when you peel back the layers of data, a more comprehensive picture emerges.  California still has a long way to go, particularly for students of color and students in poverty. Achievement gaps between students of color and their white peers have remained relatively unchanged over the last two decades. And the gap in 4th grade math performance between Latino and white students has actually grown larger since 2000, from 27 to 30 points.

New Ed Trust—West Report “Turning Back the Clock” Spotlights the Negative Impact of Shortening California’s School Year on Students; Calls on State Leaders to Prevent Cuts to Critical Learning Time

OAKLAND, CA (October 31, 2011) – Today, in coordination with a broad range of advocacy organizations, the Education Trust—West, releases Turning Back the Clock: The Inequitable Impact of Shortening California’s School Year. The policy brief highlights research findings that confirm the critical importance of increased classroom time for improved student achievement, particularly for students in poverty and discusses the negative impact of decisions made to shorten California’s school year.  

The Education Trust—West’s Statement on President Obama’s Plan for Waivers to NCLB

OAKLAND, CA (September 22, 2011) – The Education Trust—West issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement that it will provide states with the opportunity to apply for waivers to No Child Left Behind (NCLB):

“President Obama’s announcement of an application process for waivers of No Child Left Behind provides California with an unprecedented opportunity to improve our education system to better serve all students. Our state’s leaders have been consistently critical of NCLB and asked for relief from its requirements without presenting a real vision for closing California’s persistent achievement gaps. They now have the flexibility to develop a new accountability system focused on cutting our state’s achievement gaps in half. They also have an opportunity to reform our broken teacher evaluation system and guarantee access to college and career ready curriculum for all students. In a state where students of color and low income students represent the majority of our student population, closing opportunity and achievement gaps and implementing critical reforms should be our leaders’ top priorities. California’s future and our students’ hopes and aspirations depend on the willingness of our state leaders to be courageous enough to turn this unprecedented opportunity into a reality.”