A BluePrint for Success: Case Studies of Successful - Educational ...

A Blueprint for Success
Aspiring Teachers
Students apply to be “aspiring teachers” (interns) as college freshmen and are recruited from area colleges.
Because BSP is relatively new, none of its graduates are yet eligible to apply to be aspiring
teachers. Once BSP students enter college, it is the intention of the program to encourage them to
apply, although aspiring teachers may still come from outside the program. Aspiring teachers act as
role models for BSP middle and high school students and BSP attempts to recruit a diverse range of
students to be aspiring teachers. A goal is to have role models who “look like” the BSP students
served. Aspiring teachers get to work with educational professionals to develop and refine curricula
for the summer programs and have opportunities to mentor BSP students and be mentored by professional
teachers.
Data-­‐Driven Practices
Unlike other programs in the Breakthrough Collaborative, BSP utilizes a logic model to guide program
assessment and determine if goals are being met. The logic model specifies the inputs and activities
of the program along with the outcome goals for middle and high school and college (aspiring
teachers) students. Examples of the outcomes data collected include grades in core and honors
classes, ACT/SAT proficiency scores, high school graduation, college enrollment, scholarship
amounts and sources, college persistence, and college completion. The Saint Paul Public Schools
provide the program with student grade and state assessment (MCA) data. BSP staff meet weekly
with high school seniors to determine their college enrollment and scholarship amounts. Alumni
surveys are used to track BSP alumni while they are in college. External verification of outcomes is
done through evaluation studies with Wilder Research. Students’ grades are checked bi-weekly so
that interventions (tutoring) can occur in a timely fashion. Everything else is collected on a yearly
basis to guide process improvements, as needed. Every year the staff use the data to modify work
plans. BSP staff meet monthly to determine program-wide areas of improvement, and when program
gaps are identified, they set up a planning team to organize and implement new ideas.
The CSU/UC Mathematics Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) instrument is given to middle
school students at the beginning and end of the summer program and the data are used to prepare
teachers to target specific instruction to students’ needs and to measure improvements. Professional
educators work closely with aspiring teachers to implement the lesson plans with students. Other
standardized instruments are not as useful, but are occasionally utilized, including the Minnesota
Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) that measure whether students are proficient in various subjects.
As BSP students tend to be proficient, the data are not very useful in designing instructional
interventions. The pre- and post-test data are crucial to constructing effective summer lessons and to
measuring the success of the instruction. The national collaborative offered teaching development
opportunities to the various programs’ teachers and BSP found these to be valuable in preparing the
aspiring teachers and professional educators to engage with BSP students. The data show kids now
learn with higher gains in summer than they did in previous years.
Educational Policy Institute 13 www.educationalpolicy.org