Tapping the Potential - Alliance for Excellent Education

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TA P P I N G T H E P O T E N T I A L : R E TA I N I N G A N D D E V E L O P I N G H I G H - Q U A L I T Y N E W T E A C H E R SMastery Test (CMT) and the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT). Forexample, the science portfolio requires teachers to demonstrate how they develop students’content knowledge, inquiry, and application of science knowledge as assessedon the tenth-grade CAPT. The elementary education portfolio requires teachers todemonstrate how they develop understandings of important literacy and numeracyconcepts assessed in the CMT language arts and mathematics assessment.BEST Program seminars, mentor training, and portfolio assessor training focus onunderstanding the elements of effective instruction as represented by the ConnecticutCommon Core of Teaching (CCT). The CCT competencies place an emphasis onteacher content knowledge, the teaching of a specific discipline, and the impact ofteaching on student learning.Adequate and Stable FundingSince the inception of BEST in 1989, state funding has dramatically changedbecause of state budget shortfalls. Funding for the program declined from $10 millionin 1991 to $3 million in 1992. The state provided only modest increases over the nextdecade, despite larger numbers of teachers participating in the program.Consequently, funding for BEST is significantly lower in less-affluent districts than inaffluent ones. BEST statutes currently prohibit mandatory collective bargaining overprovisions of the BEST Program; however, an increasing number of districts have usedthe permissive provisions of the law to negotiate mentor stipends or provisions forrelease time.The state and local districts share the costs of BEST, which can be broken downas follows:State shareDirect costs (program administration, training ofmentors and portfolio scorers, beginning teacherseminars and workshops, scoring of portfolios) $600/teacherIndirect costs (state staffing for programadministration, development and program evaluation) $160/teacherSubtotal state share$760/teacherDistrict share (local or federal Title II funding)Beginning teacher professional developmentRelease time (cost of substitutes)Mentor stipends(payment at discretion of local district)Subtotal district shareTotal cost$500/teacher$300/teacher$100–2,000/teacher$900–2,800/teacher$1,660–3,560/teacherEffectivenessQuantitative Benefits of BEST• Reduced attrition in the early years. A recent study of beginning teacher attrition indicatesthat approximately 6–7 percent leave the profession in Connecticut annuallyversus average national estimates of 10 percent or higher. 102 When factoring in a33
A L L I A N C E F O R E X C E L L E N T E D U C AT I O Nlongitudinal definition of attrition that excludes returning teachers, the figure is 5.7percent per year. The report suggests that several factors may contribute to higherretention, including a comprehensive induction program—BEST—that supportsnew teachers when they enter the classroom.Qualitative Benefits of BEST• Training beginning teachers to be reflective practitioners. A recent study asked beginningscience teachers to describe the effect of developing a portfolio on their professionalgrowth. 103 One teacher commented, “The science portfolio forced me to do somethingthat is not instinctive for me at this point in my teaching career. The portfolioforced me to immediately reflect on how the day’s lesson was perceived by my students.Furthermore, the portfolio allowed me to identify certain strengths and weaknessesin my teaching.”• Impacting the practice of experienced educators. More than 40 percent of the currentteacher and administrator workforce has trained to serve as mentors or portfolioassessors. An additional 25 percent participated in the BEST Program during theirearly years. This means that a significant percentage of educators have participatedin standards-based professional development and share a common language in discussingwhat constitutes effective teacher practice. A survey of special educators whowere trained as mentors and portfolio scorers showed that 83 percent of participantsmade at least moderate changes in their classroom practices as a result of the training.104 One teacher commented, “Going through the portfolio process has remindedme to include conscious reflection on lessons to target what worked and whatneeds to change.”• Promoting teachers as leaders. BEST involves teachers and other educators in its designand implementation. Over the last fifteen years, nearly eighty teachers-in-residencehave worked with state department staff in designing the BEST portfolio assessmentsystem and training for mentors, assessors, and beginning teachers. Each summer,more than 600 exemplary teachers (and administrators) meet to score the portfoliosand to decide whether the mentee teachers are qualified to continue in the profession.SummaryA major strength of Connecticut’s teacher induction system is that it focuses onimproving the effectiveness of both the novice and the experienced teacher throughstructured mentorship, extensive training for mentors and portfolio scorers, and astandards-based assessment. The portfolio assessment is content-specific anddesigned to promote teaching practices closely linked to expectations for studentperformance on the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut AcademicPerformance Test.A weakness of this system is that there is inadequate participation of Connecticutteacher preparation programs in the induction process and a need to furtherstrengthen accountability for Connecticut teacher preparation programs for the performanceof their graduates. In addition, BEST needs to more systematically andequitably acknowledge the work of mentors and assessors. This includes state finan-34
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Tapping the Potential - Alliance for Excellent Education

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