Remarks from Allan Odden, Co-Director of SMHC

Today, Jim Kelly and I released an urgent report from Strategic Management of Human Capital (SMHC), Taking Human Capital Seriously: Talented Teachers in Every Classroom, Talented Principals in Every School. The report calls for close cooperation between states and districts, determined commitment from all parts of the education policy community including teachers, teacher union/associations, and administrators, and strong political leadership. The report is based on several SMHC principles, including the following:

• Develop an explicit vision of teaching and learning as one key element of an effective improvement strategy.
• Principals bear the ultimate responsibility for implementing school-wide reforms that will lead to high academic achievement for all students.
• Strategic human capital systems continually improve the teacher and principal workforce by responding appropriately to evidence of effectiveness on the job, using the two metrics of measures of teaching practice and measures of student learning.

We are proud of the bold actions this report advocates for at the state and district levels, specifically:

• At the state level, require districts to use the results of performance-based teacher and principal evaluation systems to identify professional development needs, career leadership opportunities, and specific emphases in ongoing professional development.
• At the district level, systematically develop new teacher intensive induction and mentoring.
• At the district level, provide intensive, ongoing and high quality professional development. A critical element of any reform effort is an intensive, targeted and sustained professional development program that brings consistency to teaching and assessment.

This report lays out a clear blueprint for reform.  We urge state and local policymakers to implement these recommendations as soon as they are able.

Click here to download the report.

To view other resources from SMHC, visit the Resources section of the SMHC Web site at http://www.smhc-cpre.org/resources/.

According to Daniel A. Domenech, a member of the SMHC Task force and executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, “Odden offers a sound program of ten steps school leaders can implement to significantly improve student academic achievement in their districts.” Through these steps, Odden defines the most important practices for creating strong professional communities of the future.  Notably, his chapter on the human capital side of improving performance explains that class size, location, and school demographics are challenges easily mitigated. Other chapters offer vivid illustrations about how to excel in the extremely competitive education space.  

Jack D. Dale, also a SMHC Task Force member and superintendent of Fairfax County Schools, VA declares, “Odden not only thinks big, he provides specifics examples from real school districts to support his ten-step program. His systemic analysis of school district improvement and specific examples create a road map for the nation.”

Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, also praises the book, saying “…Allan Odden vividly illustrates many of the most important practices for creating strong professional communities. From the organization of time to the development of productive curriculum and instruction, school leaders will learn how to create a framework for school reform grounded in research and the wisdom of practice.”

10 Strategies for Doubling Student Performance can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/ or directly from Corwin by telephone at 800-233-9936 or 805-499-9734, or Fax at 800-417-2466 or 805-499-5323 or online at http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book233486&.

1. A succinct summary of Race to the Top application and selection criteria;
2. An analysis of each of the four Race to the Top “assurances”: standards, data systems, great teachers and leaders, and school turnarounds;
3. Practical questions for districts and states to ask as they assess their progress and plans; and
4. Preliminary analysis of each state’s current competitiveness for funding, given its existing policy framework.

The recommended checklist for states and districts available in TNTP’s PowerPoint may be very useful in helping states and districts identify their current competitiveness for funding. It raises key questions about what elements in states’ current policy frameworks may benefit or inhibit them as they pursue Race to the Top reforms.

For additional guidance on Race to the Top, view SMHC’s “State and District Roadmaps to Federal ‘Race to the Top’ Proposals,” available here.

However, in spite of states’ assurance to array teachers by effectiveness, no state currently has the capacity to do so. Even those states that do have value-added assessment systems only cover 15 to 35 percent of teachers. In his study, Milanowski works to develop a “specification” for a state of the art performance assessment system, to help states or districts think about how they want to develop their own teaching competency model and what assessment approaches fit best with different uses of this model.

Through the SMHC State and District Reform Networks, SMHC will be working with states and districts on measurement systems and new measurement tools coming from the Gates foundation, to create a system that successfully arrays teachers credibly by effectiveness.

The working paper is available here. The final paper will come out this Fall.

What:  SMHC Webinar on Recruiting and Staffing Effective Teachers in Tough Economic Times
Who:   Allan Odden, SMHC Co-Director, and Tim Daly, President of The New Teacher Project (TNTP) and SMHC Task Force member
When: Thursday, May 21 from 1-2 pm ET

To register for the event online:
1. Go to https://widmeyer.webex.com/mw0306l/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=widmeyer
2. Click Register.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click Submit.

For assistance, please contact WebEx Technical Support 1-866-229-3239 or sara.lense@widmeyer.com, 202-667-0901. 

As reported in the Chicago Tribune, the district showed approximately a 3.7 percent increase on composite scores, and nine schools increased by 5.2 percentage points this last year. However, the district’s composite score – made up of results on reading, math and science tests – of all students meeting or exceeding state requirements still lags behind the state average.

The district’s partners in TAP include the Chicago Teachers Union, Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, The Chicago Public Education Fund, and the Joyce Foundation. Janet M. Knupp, Founding President of the Chicago Public Education Fund and SMHC Task Force Member, said “The Chicago Public Education Fund marked a significant milestone of one of its recent investments, Chicago TAP, with a press conference featuring Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public School officials. Chicago TAP is a customized initiative based on the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching’s (NIET) proven TAP model. The system encompasses performance based compensation, classroom observations, job-embedded professional development and school-based career opportunities for teachers and principals. As a result of participation in Chicago TAP, teachers can advance professionally and earn higher salaries, just as in other careers. And they can do so without leaving the place they’re needed most – the classroom.”