Read This: Your TAPS Evaluation Score is up to You--Not Your Evaluator!

It is becoming apparent that my early predictions a year ago of defending your job by collecting, organizing, and updating evidence in notebooks (called paranoid back then) is becoming reality and possibly a necessity.

Your Evaluator may only look for as much evidence as they want to, take time to, or have time to - and then give you a score.  The score may not be a huge concern to them (even if it is a 2 or 1) because the score is not directly related to their certificate.  The teacher's evaluation score is up to the teacher, not the Evaluator.  Let me explain.

At the mid-year evaluation a friend of mine received a 2 on TAPS #6.  The Evaluator looked at two students' grades in the electronic grade book and out of 9 summative grades, those two students had either turned in none or one.  The Evaluator concluded that the teacher was not assessing well and summarily gave the teacher a 2.

The REAL story is that our of 30 or so students in the class, the Evaluator picked the two students who are ill-behaved, in ISS (in school suspension), frequently absent, and/or are two of the most troubled students in the school.  The Evaluator did not look at the entire class' grades, average, or completion status (which s/he was able to do), only the two "problem children."  Now, to me, that is either trying to be a "gotcha," a vendetta of some sort, ill-trained, or incompetence on the part of the Evaluator.  As people say, "That ain't right."  The TKES/TAPS process has been presented as a "totality of the evidence," but the evidence has to be reviewed first.

As a result, the teacher, in his/her defense (and anxiety) had to spend quite some time point out to the Evaluator other students in the same class.  The project turn-in rate and grades were quite high in fact.  Seeing the data, the Evaluator changed the 2 to a 3.

If you have ever been in a position where you had to regularly defend your job, you know the stress it creates, the morale it devastates, and the decrease in your effectiveness.  It creates a terrible work environment - especially mentally.  That teacher looked defeated.

However, in my mid-year conference, my Evaluator indicated that s/he had reviewed some of the evidence I had uploaded into The Platform (I think I have scanned and uploaded about 300 items).  That sounded good to my ears.  To me, that is an indication that s/he is trying to review the totality of the evidence, is doing his/her due diligence, and if there is a question, we can refer to it during the conference in The Platform.

I urge the effective teachers of this state to collect past and present evidence for the TAPS elements, organize it in some fashion that can be easily accessed, and take the evidence to meetings.  If you need suggestions on how to collect evidence, organize it, present it in notebooks, or uploading it into The Platform online, please see earlier blog posts of mine--also review my blog "How to pass all 10 TAPS in one lesson."  If you are going to the GMEA convention in January, stop by the poster presentation session or the Friday evening concert and let's talk.  We'll talk TKES.

Substantial Poverty in Georgia...is there anything teachers can do?

• (Dusen, p. 6)"About 57 percent of the students in Georgia's public schools are considered low-income...."  "With 27.2% of the state's children living in poverty, Georgia now has the 6th highest childhood poverty rate in the nation. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey Profile, September, 2013"
• (p. 7) "...87 percent of the school districts in Georgia serve a majority of low-income students."  "...the 2015 state budget includes a $350 million increase in education funding, but...this will do little to reverse the $8 billion in austerity cuts they've suffered in the past decade."  "'People recognize that poverty has increased, but I don't think they understand the full impact it has on the child,' says Reada Hamm...."
• (p. 8) "Poverty Rates of Georgia's 5 Largest Cities: Augusta: 27.4%, Macon: 27.4%, Savannah: 20.3%, Atlanta: 18.9%, Columbus: 18.5%"  
• (p. 9) "More than 1 in every 4 Georgia children are food insecure--28.8%.  That's more than 700,000 children under the age of 18."
• and again:  (p. 12) "87% of the school districts in Georgia serve a majority of low-income students."

As a teacher in a low-income county and school, the effects of low-income (low-socioeconomic and poverty) are real.  In Georgia, students are tired because they are taking care of siblings when they get home, students do not know when the lights may go out or the water will be turned off, parents are taken to jail, students live in homes where multiple families are sharing inadequate space, mothers have multiple boyfriends, students come home to find their belongings on the front lawn, students may not even live in a home but a storage unit.... (Dusen)

I may not be able to make changes to "the system" so that poverty is eliminated, but I can make a difference for those students in my classroom.  I found this out: A teacher can offset some of the factors of low-income situations (Cason, 2011).  My doctoral research was driven by the fact that the students in my Title 1 school were not achieving as high as the students in the higher-SES schools in the same county.  This should not be the case!  We have the same curriculum, same lesson plan design (which was the problem), and good principals, teachers, and facilities.  Why is there a disparity?

Having learned, through research, the effects of poverty and low-SES environments on students and their families as they relate to getting an education in public schools, I turned my focus on the area(s) where a teacher can specifically work to counter-act some of those effects so that students from low-SES settings can achieve.

To review the entire study, including problems, data, research, findings, and literature review, please refer to this link: Doctoral Study.  To review just the specific doctoral project lesson plan, click, "GC-Doctoral Study Project-Presentation here.  The lesson plan really makes a difference in student achievement (F(1, 863) = 35.398, p < .000).  In simple terms, the students in the classrooms where the teachers who used the lesson plan scored at least a half letter grade higher than the control group.  The lesson plan is adaptable to all grades, all subjects, all levels, and is compatible with TKES.

Comments from the web site:

In this section I have attached my doctoral study entitled "Activating Prior Knowledge With Cues and Questions as an Key Instructional Strategy to Increase Student Achievement in Low Socioeconomic Middle Schools" for your review. 

Using archival data, this ex post facto study found a statistically significant difference using an ANCOVA, F(1, 863) = 35.398, p < .000, for the research question investigating the effect on student achievement when teachers specifically activate students’ prior knowledge before using the LFS model of instruction.

The resulting project from my doctoral study was a lesson plan design that incorporated activating students' prior knowledge before starting the main learning goal(s).  Prior knowledge is a critical component of learning new material, concepts, or skills; unfortunately, it is often overlooked in a rush to 'get on with the lesson.'  

"Curriculum coverage is not synonymous with learning" (p. 3)

Teachers, even though our evaluation system has changed and our stress has (probably) increased, teach.  Use the best instructional strategies (document 1), the best methods (document 2), specific goals, and direct instruction to offset some of the effects of poverty and low-socioeconomic situations.  Teachers can use the lesson plan in non-poverty areas as well.

References
Cason, M. G. (2011). Activating Prior Knowledge With Cues and Questions As a Key Instructional Strategy to Increase Student Achievement in Low Socioeconomic Middle Schools. (Ed.D. 3469058), Walden University, United States -- Minnesota. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/gcason123/doctoral-study  

Dusen, C. V. (2014, August/September). The Growing Face of Poverty. PAGE ONE, August/September, 32.

Zero TKES/TAPS Stress Now...

I must say, that after realizing how I could document and pass all 10 standards on a day where I was not even teaching has been very liberating.  I am not going to upload any more documents into The Platform.  I am not going to save copies of any more grade reports or data samples.  I am not going to update my notebooks.  I am not going to worry about any more evidence.

If you have not seen the blog post, handbook, or PowerPoint on what I did, I recommend you take a few minutes to view it--it will save you time.

I incorporated the lesson plan from my doctoral study (Doctoral Study Lesson Plan) with the TAPS Standards and Elements and made notations in my lesson for the Evaluator on how I was meeting each Standard that day.  I think it is comprehensive and convincing.  A friend of mine, who hopes to be a principal soon, said that s/he would use it to help prepare his/her teachers for TKES.

The handbook and PowerPoint can both be found on my website on this page: GC-District Walkthrough-PPT.  I prefer the PowerPoint for viewing...

Respectfully,
Glenn

TKES Conversation-January 2015

If you are going to the Georgia Music Educator's Association state convention in Savannah January 29-31, why not stop by have a conversation, share ideas, and discuss TKES?  I'll be at the poster session presenting the results of my doctoral study: "Activating Prior Knowledge with Ques and Questions as a Key Instructional Strategy to Increase Student Achievement in Low Socioeconomic Middle Schools."  The result was a lesson plan introduction that dramatically increased students' achievement compared to the teachers who did not use the lesson plan.

Using archival data, this ex post facto study found a statistically significant difference using an ANCOVA, F(1, 863) = 35.398, p < .000, for the research question investigating the effect on student achievement when teachers specifically activate students’ prior knowledge before using the LFS model of instruction.

The lesson plan from my doctoral study is used in my TKES lesson as well.

I will have copies of my "Saxophone Handbook" for you to review, "How to pass all 10 TAPS in one lesson," and other items that could assist you in a) teaching, b) TKES, c) saxophone instruction, or d) lesson plans.  All of the information is free.

I will be performing at the Friday night concert as well; it should be a good program of music.

Hope to see you there.