Work Plan 2002-2003

Renaissance Partnership for Improving Teacher Quality Work Plan for Year 4 (2002-2003)

1. Accountability Systems

*Project Goal:* To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. *Five Year Objective:* All eleven Renaissance institutions will develop and implement program and course changes that support teacher work samples, mentoring, and the ability of teacher candidates to facilitate learning of all children. *Year 4 Objectives:* All eleven institutions will bring their accountability systems to full operation. All eleven institutions will collect and report performance data on teacher candidates linked to P-12 student learning All eleven institutions will collect and report data on performance of graduates
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Disseminate working models of performance accountability systems	Models from three institutions distributed and on the project web site	November 2002	Project Director, Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Provide technical assistance events and options to member institutions	Description and report of technical assistance events	January 2003 June 2003	Project Director, Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators of institutions with working models
Develop and adopt a common format for collecting performance data on teacher candidates	Approved common format on web site	February 2003	Project Director, Tony Norman	Travel for Assessment Coordinators to St. Louis work sessions in January and June of 2003
Develop and adopt a range of options for collecting and reporting data on teacher graduates	Concept paper on range of options	March 2003	Tony Norman and Peter Denner	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Institutions develop Year 4 work plans for system development, candidate data collection and teacher graduate data collection	Institution work plan document	January 2003	Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Institutions implement Year 4 plans	Report of implementation progress	June 2003	Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Institutions report progress on performance accountability system	Report of implementation progress	August 2003	Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Institutions report performance data on teacher candidates and graduates	Data report	August 2003	Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Institution data is aggregated and reported for the project	Project report	September 2003	Project Director and Tony Norman	Released time for Assessment Coordinators travel to St. Louis work session in January and June of 2003

Outcome:

Fully operational data management systems that collect and report candidate performance data at admissions, pre-student teaching, exit from program and first year teacher graduates.

Measure:

Institution descriptions of performance accountability data management systems
Institution reports on performance of teacher candidates relative to teacher work samples
Institution reports on performance of first year teacher graduates

2. Teacher Work Samples

*Project Goal:* To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. *Five Year Objective:* All eleven Renaissance institutions will develop and implement the use of teacher work samples in their teacher education programs as a means of improving teaching skills and increasing the teacher’s impact on student learning. *Year 4 Objectives:* Institutions will expand the implementation of teacher work samples toward the inclusion of all teacher candidates Institutions will increase the performance levels of student teachers on teacher work samples
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Implement TWS fall program with expanded resources	Fall progress report	January 2003	TWS Coordinator	Released time of TWS Coordinator
Institutions establish a process to develop site validity and reliability data	Plan document	January 2003	Assessment Coordinators	Released time of TWS Coordinator and Assessment Coordinator for travel to St. Louis for January and June 2003 work sessions
Convene work groups to develop “Assessment Tools for Teachers” manual	Next draft of assessment tools manual	January 2003	Project Director and Tony Norman	Travel for assessment tools task force work group (one session in fall 2002, one session in spring 2003) support for manual development
Conduct January 2003 work session to report fall semester performance and progress, review assessment materials, benchmark new TWS exemplars and share successes and challenges	Agenda and report of progress at work session	February 2003	Project Director	Travel for institution work groups, including TWS Coordinator, Assessment Coordinator and Mentoring Coordinator to St. Louis work sessions in January and June 2003
Implement TWS spring program with expanded resources	Spring progress report	June 2003	TWS Coordinator	Released time for TWS Coordinator for support for TWS training
Convene work group to make final revisions on “Assessment Tools for Teachers” manual	Final draft of assessment tools manual	August 2003	Project Director and Tony Norman	Travel for assessment tools task force work group (one fall 2002 and one spring 2003 work sessions) support for manual development
Plan and conduct June 2003 work sessions to report spring semester performance progress, present and share instructional materials, benchmark new exemplars and establish scoring agreement across institutions	Agenda and report of progress at work session	July 2003	Project Director	Travel for institution work groups, including TWS Coordinator, Assessment Coordinator and Mentoring Coordinator to St. Louis work sessions in January and June 2003

Outcome:

A minimum of 1,000 teacher work samples will be completed across the eleven project sites
Each institution will close the gap towards 100% proficiency (level 3) by 25%

Measure:

Report the number of completed and scored work samples by institution
Report on scored level of performance by institution

3. Mentoring Teams

*Project Goal:* To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. Five Year Objective: All eleven Renaissance institutions will develop and implement a team mentoring model consisting of school practitioners, arts and science faculty and teacher educators that facilitate the ability of teachers to impact student learning in partner schools. Year 4 Objectives: All project sites will establish a mentoring model (framework, organization, process and implementation plan) that: Involves teacher educators, arts & science faculty and school practitioners Is functional for the context, conditions and resources at each respective site Facilitates the performance of candidates on teacher work samples to achieve proficiency or above
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Institutions implement fall mentoring training	Fall progress report	January 2003	Mentoring Coordination	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator support for mentoring training; released time for mentors – arts & sciences and school practitioners
Institutions review existing mentoring structures and processes and revises existing model to improve candidate performance	Inventory response report	January 2003	Mentoring Coordinator	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator
Mentoring manual work group develops working draft	Mentoring manual draft	January 2003	Project Director, Georgea Langer and Jean Behrend	Travel for mentoring manual task force to work session in fall 2002 to support manual development
Project sites develop plans to remove key barriers identified in spring 2002 and implement “revised mentoring model”	Institution plans documents	January 2003	Mentoring Coordinator	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator
Institutions implement spring mentoring training	Spring progress report	June 2003	Mentoring Coordinator	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator to support mentoring training; released time for mentors – arts & sciences and school practitioners
Project sites implement draft of mentoring manual in spring semester 2003 to provide feedback	Feedback report	June 2003	Mentoring Coordinator	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator
All sites evaluate their mentoring processes and results for fall 2002 and spring 2003 and complete a revised mentoring model for implementation in Year 5 of the project	Revised model	September 2003	Mentoring Coordinator	Released time of Mentoring Coordinator
Mentoring work group produces revised draft of mentoring manual	Final draft published	August 2003	Project Director, Georgea Langer and Jean Behrend	Travel for mentoring manual task force to work session in spring 2003

Outcome:

All sites will develop and implement a team mentoring model and process for the purpose of facilitating high levels of performance on teacher work samples.

Measure:

Individual site reports on their mentoring model: components, organization, processes, implementation and results

2b. & 3b. Systemic Program Revision and Improvement in Quality of Graduates

Project Goal: To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. Five Year Objective: All eleven Renaissance institutions will fully implement an accountability system that regularly collects and reports data on the impact of their graduates on student learning. Year 4 Objectives: All project institutions complete revisions on the more than 80 content, measurement and pedagogy courses identified in the spring of 2002 to address the seven TWS processes Institutions develop a structure and process to review candidate and graduate performance data on at least an annual schedule and make appropriate improvements
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Inventory of courses under revision and development of a plan to monitor development	Inventory submitted	January 2003	Institution Coordinator	Released time for Institutional Coordinator
Design of an institutional systemic plan (structure and process)	Systemic plan document	January 2003	Institution Coordinator	Released time for Institutional Coordinator
Share draft plans across institutions; discuss insights and challenges	Plan exchange on project web site with responses	January 2003	Project Director	Released time for Institutional Coordinator
Complete systemic course and program revisions plans and processes	Report of revision progress	June 2003	Institution Coordinator	Released time for Institutional Coordinator
Implement plan and report on the results	Report of revision progress	June 2003	Institution Coordinator	Released time for Institutional Coordinator
Report on completion of course revisions in Year 4	Combined project report for revisions across all 11 institutions	September 2003	Project Director	Released time for Institutional Coordinator

Outcomes:

Completed revisions of course descriptions and syllabi
An approved systemic course and program revision plan

Measure:

Documented course changes
Plan document; description of process

4. Education Partnerships with Business

*Project Goal:* To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. *Five Year Objective:* All eleven Renaissance institutions will establish dynamic partnerships with businesses that provide increased learning opportunities for teacher candidates and/or students in partner schools. Year 4 Objective: The eleven Renaissance institutions will define as a group and individually what role they want business to serve in improving teacher quality.
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Appoint a business partnership task force	Task force named	December 2002	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director
Conduct work session to develop concept paper draft	Concept paper produced	January 2003	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director
Project-wide review of draft	Plan circulated on project web site	April 2003	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director
Task force revises draft and develops plan for Year 5	Draft revised and plan developed	June 2003	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director
Project-wide review of Year 5 plan	Report of review	August 2003	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director
Production of approved concept paper and plan	Plan part of Year 5 project work plan	September 2003	Project Director	Coordination time of Project Director

Outcome:

A concept paper describing the role Renaissance partnership institutions want business and industry to serve in teacher and school leader preparation, building the capacity of school practitioners and supporting initiatives to improve teacher quality
A project plan to engage business and industry consistent with roles and purposes communicated in the concept paper

Measure:

Individual institution statements signed by institution provosts

5. Networking

Project Goal: To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. *Five Year Objective:* All eleven Renaissance institutions will collaborate to develop an electronic network that (1) supports sharing of information, ideas, training materials, instructional resources, and research results, and (2) stimulates interaction and dialogue among teacher educators, arts and science faculty, and school practitioners about improving teaching and learning. Year 4 Objectives: Transform the project web site from a compendium of information to a dynamic tool for promoting research-based ideas, providing materials for instruction, improving candidate performance, inter-site and intra-site communication and sharing of research results.
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Evaluate existing web site contents, format development, structure and use by role groups	Evaluation summary report	December 2002	Project Director and Web Mistress	Coordination and leadership time for Project Director; coordination time of Institution Coordinator; released time of web mistress and web site staff at University of Northern Iowa
Develop operational goals of web site for September 2004 (end of Title II Project)	Long term goal document	January 2003	Project Director and Web Mistress	Coordination and leadership time for Project Director; coordination time of Institution Coordinator; released time of web mistress and web site staff at University of Northern Iowa
Develop improvement, restructuring plan to close the gap between existing operations and future goals	Restructuring plan circulated	April 2003	Project Director	Coordination and leadership time for Project Director; coordination time of Institution Coordinator; released time of web mistress and web site staff at University of Northern Iowa
Maintain and develop existing successful web site components project component descriptions project site news project events, work sessions and training opportunities training materials TWS benchmarked exemplars concept papers and materials PowerPoint presentations	Expanded web site	October 2002 to September 2003	Project Director and Web Mistress	Coordination and leadership time for Project Director; coordination time of Institution Coordinator; released time of web mistress and web site staff at University of Northern Iowa
Pilot new features and improved features based on plan	New features on web site	January 2003 to September 2003	Project Director and Web Mistress	Coordination and leadership time for Project Director; coordination time of Institution Coordinator; released time of web mistress and web site staff at University of Northern Iowa

Outcome:

Improved web site format, structure, delivery and promotion strategies

Measure:

Level of response by different user groups

6. Research Program

Project Goal: To become accountable for the impact of the teacher candidates and graduates on student learning. Improve teacher performance in key areas and show increase in teachers’ ability to facilitate learning of all students. Five Year Objective: 5 year objective needs to be replaced with: All eleven Renaissance institution will collaborate to develop a research program that links teacher candidate performance with K-12 student learning. Year 4 Objectives: Publish reports on: change in teacher candidate performance change in faculty practices and behaviors resulting from use of teacher work samples program changes resulting from development and implementation of teacher work sample acceptable evidence of P-12 student learning credibility studies (validate and reliability) of the Renaissance model for teacher work samples Pilot studies at five institutions which measure growth of P-12 students taught by graduates who completed teacher work samples Plan and prepare for all sites to collect P-12 achievement data on students taught by teacher graduates
*Activity*	*Benchmarks*	*Time Line*	*Responsible Party*	*Resources Needed*
Complete and publish six research studies in progress	Draft of completed reports	June 2003	Respective Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Design a pilot study for achievement of students taught by graduates in five institutions	Draft study	January 2003	Tony Norman and Peter Denner	Released time for Assessment Coordinators in five institutions
Pre-test for P-12 students at five sites	P-12 students tested	January 2003	Project Director and Assessment Coordinators at respective sites	Released time for Assessment Coordinators in five institutions for P-12 assessment materials
Post test and analysis of achievement gains for students of graduates at five sites	P-12 students post tested with results posted	July 2003	Project Director and Assessment Coordinators at respective sites	Released time for Assessment Coordinators in five institutions for support for scoring P-12 assessments
Design P-12 achievement study for project year 5	Design approved by Assessment Coordinators	June 2003	Tony Norman and Assessment Coordinators	Released time for Assessment Coordinators
Prepare and obtain resources for studies of P-12 student achievement in Year 5	Proposal funded	June 2003	Project Director	Released time for Assessment Coordinators for pre-post assessments for P-12 ($7 per P-12 student)

Outcomes:

Five published research reports
Results of pilot study of P-12 students taught by graduates who completed teacher work samples
Design and plan for Year 5 study of P-12 student growth for graduates at all 11 institutions

Measure:

Quality of reports and research design