MCS TEI Gates FDN Proposal - Final

Submitted by Memphis City Schools July 31, 2009
TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS INITIATIVE

Executive Summary Vision of Success District Baseline Gap Identification Strategic Initiatives Internal Risks and Challenges Organizational Capacity and Partnerships Implementation and Results Capturing Lessons Learned and Evaluation Project Budget Sustainability Conclusion 1 6 9 15 16 26 27 31 51 53 58 59
Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
VISION OF SUCCESS The Memphis City Schools Teacher Effectiveness Initiative (TEI) will deepen and accelerate our existing aggressive reform agenda. It will provide the additional fuel necessary to drive dramatically improved student achievement. While many poor and minority youth achieve at the very highest academic levels, the achievement gapand its impactis real. This gap (currently narrowing much too slowly) must be closed. Of course, this achievement gap is a matter of access and experiencenot ability. We envision every child being taught by an effective teacher every day, every year. With such access to high quality learning experiences, our students lives will be changed, and our city will be transformed. DISTRICT BASELINE The conditions at present in Memphis City Schools (MCS) offer a unique combination of need, opportunity, and momentum. Our students (of whom 92% are minority and 83% are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals) require a quantum leap in academic achievement: only 6% of MCS students who elect to take the ACT (which corresponds to 3-4% of total students) are deemed college-ready in all four subject areas. There is new, determined energy to change this, and there is clearly momentum. After one year of new district leadership, accelerated reforms have laid the groundwork for a laser-like focus on teacher effectiveness. Additionally, MCS is well-positioned to tackle this difficult work due to a productive and collaborative relationship with the Memphis Education Association and a Board of Commissioners that is deeply engaged in the policy work needed to sustain education reform. Finally, MCS is in a position of strength due to experience with value-added measures (i.e. TVAAS; Mathematica) and successful implementation of an incentive pay plan. While MCS has seen some tremendous successes over the past year, there is clearly much work to be doneespecially in regards to how we think about our teachers. As The New Teacher Projects recent report suggests, we (like many districts) largely treat our teachers as widgets. We operate as if one teacher is as good for students as another. This is evidenced in and driven by our lack of a common definition of effective teaching. Therefore, we lack an informative teacher evaluation process, and we pass by many potentially crucial human capital decisions. We fail to recognize and reward excellence, and we do not address mediocrity (or worse). From our worst teachers to our very bestall are provided the same professional development opportunities, and all are compensated on the same longevity and degree-based scale. This will change. The district is positioned to implement this Teacher Effectiveness Initiative with fidelity. The current momentum in the district demonstrates our capacity to conceive and implement a reform agenda at scale. Memphis City Schools is uniquely poised to set new patterns of achievement for an urban district in the Mid-South. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES Against this backdrop, our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative consists of the following powerful efforts: Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 2
We will use a common, agreed-upon process to define and measure what we deem to be effective teaching. Our entire strategy rests upon being able to speak in an intelligent and common language about teacher effectiveness. Thus, we will create a Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) that consists of the following measures: Growth in student learning Observation of teachers practice Stakeholder perceptions Teacher knowledge We will make smarter decisions about who teaches our students. We know that all teachers are not created equal. The who is important. To ensure that all of our students have the most knowledgeable, talented, and dedicated teachers possible, we will do the following: Improve the recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure Increase the retention of effective teachers, particularly early in their careers Increase the turnover of our most ineffective teachers We will better support, utilize, and compensate our teachers. We must improve the experiences of our teachers after they are hired. To this end, we will: Improve the teacher evaluation process Connect professional support opportunities to individual need Create new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment Compensate teachers based on differentiated roles and performance Strategically place our best teachers where they are most needed We will improve the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching. We will intentionally craft the kinds of environments that help facilitate improved teaching and learning. We will: Improve principal leadership capacity Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching/learning Develop a new technology platform that will support the data-driven decision-making that is crucial to the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative
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INTERNAL RISKS AND RELATED ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY ENHANCEMENTS To ensure success, we will proactively address expected challenges on multiple levels, including the targeted bolstering of internal capacity. Some areas of concern are: Human Resources Capacity: A newly established Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness will manage our external partners and will bring the strategic functions of Human Resources for teachers under the direction of our Deputy Superintendent for Academic Operations. Teacher Acceptance and Buy-In: We expect a vocal minority to resist such dramatic changes. Therefore, we will seek external communications expertise to assist in developing and executing a comprehensive TEI communications plan. Additionally, we will continue our strong engagement of the Memphis Education Associations leadership, and we will create a collaborative MEA-MCS Teacher Center partnership. To ensure the TEMs credibility among teachers, will invest in a new Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measure, within the wellestablished department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment, that will be staffed with 5-7 new analysts and research assistants. Fidelity of Implementation: To prevent a reform du jour mentality from prevailing, we will charge our Strategic Planning and Accountability group with managing TEI implementation and on-going strategic planning for the project (including guiding mid-course adjustments). We will add two or three staff members, as well as supportive technical assistance, to bolster the capacity of our Strategic Planning and Accountability team. Sustainability: We have been aggressive in driving support and expectation in the community by establishing a very strong Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Advisory Board. Additionally, the MCS Board of Commissionersbuoyed by their long-term Reform Governance in Action trainingis strongly committed to this difficult school reform effort. Finally, continued financial sustainability of the work is paramount. As described in the budget section of this proposal, MCS has developed a detailed financial plan to leverage district resources and local philanthropic funds in addition to the TEI grant to implement the bold plan outlined in this document. In addition, the district has identified and committed savings that will ensure the ongoing sustainability of the work. EXECUTION MILESTONES, PLAN OUTCOMES, AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS We strive for the following academic achievement outcomes for MCS students by the end of the 2013-2014 school year: Average ACT score increases from 17.5 (with 68% student participation rate) to 19.0 (with 100% student participation rate) Average TCAP score increases from the 30th percentile to the 63rd percentile Graduation rate increases from 66.9% to 75% The following high-level implementation plan shows how we will achieve these results:
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Summary Implementation Plan

Year 1 2009-10 Year 2 2010-11 Year 3 2011-12 Year 4 2012-13 Year 5 2013-14
Create Common, AgreedUpon Definition of Effective Teaching

Smarter Decisions About Who Teaches MCS Students Recruit & Hire Raise Bar for Tenure Retention Exiting Improved Support for and Utilization of Teachers
Planning
Pilot
Larger-scale pilot
District-wide implementation
Every teacher has a complete TEM
TNTP partnership established Tenure Board created Retention bonus launched Career management process launched
Every teacher reviewed by Tenure Review Board
Replace transitional mentors / co -teachers with master teachers to inform
Complete TEM used decisions
Improved evaluations and prof. development
Planning
Pilot (750 teachers)
Pilot (3,500 teachers)
District-wide implementation of new evaluation
Differentiated career roles
Planning
Pilot Pilot (50 lead teachers) (50 teachers)
Pilot Pilot (300 lead teachers) (300 teachers)
Formal launch of differentiated roles
New base compensation schedule
Planning
Prepare for conversion
Launch of new salary schedule

Conversion to new salary schedule
Performance bonuses for group goals Improve the Surrounding Context School culture
Plan/Pilot (Continue EPIC Program)

Launch new group goals bonus
Initial Training
Roll-out implementation
Training and support to bolster Principal capacity
Improve principal leadership capacity

New technology platform
Launch ERP
Continue implementation
Planning periodConfidential
Not for Preliminary implementation distribution Full scale implementation Key milestones
Year 4 2012-13
Year 5 2013-14
lot
District-wide implementations
complete TEM The total cost for the TEI plan detailed in this proposal is $155.9MM. The detail on sources of funding between MCS, local philanthropic support, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is shown in the table below and explained in the project budget section of this proposal. Complete TEM used to inform decisions Every teacher has a
BUDGET
l mentors / co-teachers with master teachers
rs)
District-wide implementation of new evaluation
ers) ers)
District-wide implementation (500 Master Teachers) (600 Master Teachers)

Formal launch of differentiated roles
Launch of new salary schedule

Conversion to new salary schedule
goals bonus
-out implementation in expanded pilots
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ipal leadership capacity
e implementation
RESEARCH AND EVALUATION While we already have many far-reaching questions, we will surely arrive at challenging new questions and exciting new answers as we proceed. As we learn, our Strategic Planning and Accountability group will guide the necessary mid-course adjustments, supported by the ability of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment to provide high quality data and drive the districts research agenda.
VISION OF SUCCESS
Our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will produce dramatically improved student achievement, leading to expanded life opportunities for MCS students and an improved city of Memphis. The underlying premise is straightforward: of all school-level factors, it is the effectiveness of a childs teacher(s) that most greatly impacts how much he/she learns. Simply, students learn more when they are better taught. We will make the dramatic changes necessary to provide all students with the learning opportunities currently available only to students of our best teachers. ENVISIONED STUDENT OUTCOMES We expect our students to succeed against the more stringent standards and requirements of the Tennessee Diploma Project. We welcome the challenges posed by these elevated standards and more stringent graduation requirements. It is a call to action, and Memphis City Schools intends to answer it. We strive for the following academic achievement outcomes for MCS students by the end of the 2013-2014 school year: Average ACT score increases from 17.5 (with 68% student participation rate) to 19.0 (with 100% student participation rate) Average TCAP score increases from the 30th percentile to the 63rd percentile Graduation rate increases from 66.9% to 75%
To realize this vision, our overall strategy must be implemented as seamlessly as the following causal model implies:
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MCS TEI Vision and Theory of Change
Common, Agreed-upon Definition of Effective Teaching
Increased Number and Distribution of Effective Teachers
Increased Number of Students with Effective Teachers
Smarter Decisions About Who Teaches MCS Students
Improved Support for and Utilization of Teachers
Dramatically Improved Student Achievement
Improved Life Opportunities and Improved Community for the City of Memphis
Improved Context for Teaching Create Enabling Conditions to Foster Better Teaching
To be successful, we must execute each aspect of our strategy with intentionality and fidelity: We will use a common, agreed-upon process to define and measure what we deem to be effective teaching. All aspects of this Teacher Effectiveness Initiative depend on a new Teacher Effectiveness Measure which will be based on the following components: Growth in student learning: We will leverage two existing sources of value-added data (i.e. TVAAS and Mathematica) for many core subject areas. We will create assessments as needed in order to obtain value-added data for additional high impact subjects. Observation of teachers practice: We will pilot multiple methods for conducting classroom observations, including video reviews and classroom visits by professional, trained evaluative observers (including principals and peers). Stakeholder perceptions: We will survey students, parents, and colleagues in order to learn important insights about critical teacher characteristics, such as effort, professionalism, citizenship, teamwork, and academic and non-academic care for students. Teacher knowledge: We will ascertain how well our teachers understand their subject area content and pedagogy. We will make smarter decisions about who teaches our students.
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Because all teachers are not the same, we will fundamentally improve our decision-making with regard to who is provided the privilege of teaching our students: Improve recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers We will bolster our teacher pipeline by better leveraging existing partnerships that specialize in recruiting and staffing teachers for urban school systems. Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure Working within our current policy and legal frameworks, we will develop a robust tenure process that is based on our new Teacher Effectiveness Measure. Increase the retention of effective teachers, particularly early in their careers We will bolster efforts to retain our best teachers through the early years of their teaching careers (when they are mostly likely to leave). A performance-based retention bonus, vesting over three years, will be provided to our most effective first and second-year teachers to signal the districts commitment to and need for these teachers. Increase the turnover of the most ineffective teachers We will implement a new career management process which brings attention to underperformance, supporting teachers where appropriate and dismissing when necessary. We will better support, utilize, and compensate our teachers. We will improve the experiences of our teachers in terms of the support they are provided and the opportunities they are given: Improve the teacher evaluation process We will develop a trusted teacher evaluation process, based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure, which is objective, meaningful, and useful. Connect professional support opportunities to individual need We will focus professional support efforts on frequent, individualized formative observations conducted by peers. Additionally, teachers will be provided individualized support via targeted on-line professional learning opportunities. Create new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment Based on the TEM, high performing teachers will be eligible for promotions along a new career path comprised of the following teacher roles: Beginning Teacher: For their first three years of teaching, non-tenured teachers will receive significant formal mentorship and teaching support from Master teachers. Professional Teacher: A Professional Teacher will be similar to the standard role of an MCS classroom teacher today. Master Teacher: Our very best teachers will be charged with expanding their influence to larger numbers of students (and teachers).
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Compensate teachers based on differentiated roles and performance We will implement a new base compensation structure that is determined by teacher role/performance rather than service time and degree attainment. Additionally, all teachers will be provided performance-based group bonus opportunities for group attainment of student learning growth goals. Strategically place our best teachers where they are most needed To ensure that our highest-need students are taught by the most effective teachers, we will: 1) place Master teachers in the schools where they are most needed, 2) assign Master teachers to the highest-need students in their existing schools, and 3) cluster high potential teacher recruits in high-need schools. We will improve the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching. We commit to a district-wide focus on improving the surrounding context for teaching: Improve principal leadership capacity We will improve our principals capacity through multiple avenues, including targeted recruitment, rigorous performance management, strategic placement, and intensive training and development. Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching and learning In order to establish school climates that support effective teaching, we will strive to raise the expectations of teachers and administrators regarding 1) the capabilities of children and 2) the personal responsibility of teachers and administrators for student achievement. Develop a new technology platform that will support the data-driven decision-making that is crucial for the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative New technology systems will enable real-time queries of human capital data linked to student achievement and budget information.
DISTRICT BASELINE
DISTRICT LEADERSHIP In June 2008, the MCS Board of Commissioners hired as superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash, who has proven to be a much-needed catalyst for change within Memphis City Schools and the City of Memphis. He almost immediately brought a palpable change of attitude to Memphis City Schools. With the perspective of a former Chief of Accountability and System-Wide Performance, he appropriately and consistently has communicated an expectation for results. As Dr. Cash says, it is productivity that mattersnot mere activity. Indeed, the 2008-09 school year was a productive one for Memphis City Schools. Under the leadership of the Board of Commissioners, Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Irving Hamer, the district embarked on an aggressive and bold reform agenda that supports the districts strategic goals in the areas of student achievement, accountability, parent and community engagement, healthy youth development, safety, and diversity. Selected
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results include: student achievement gains in elementary, middle, and high school mathematics as well as 10th grade English and 11th grade writing assessments, a significant (49%) increase in dual enrollment, a strengthened district accountability system, enhanced family and community partnerships, four new regional school health clinics, and significant reductions in the number of serious safety incidents. Memphis City Schools is primed for the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. The initiative will be a major undertaking, but it will not be the beginning of change. Reform is already underwayin both attitude and action. These reforms have prepared the district for this transformative Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, which will accelerate and deepen the existing MCS reform agenda while benefiting from its momentum. MEMPHIS CITY SCHOOLS CONTEXT With 195 schools, Memphis City Schools serves 108,915 students, of whom the vast majority are low-income and minority: 92% of students are minority (86% African American; 6% Hispanic; 7% White; 1% Other), 83% of students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, and 83% of schools are school-wide Title 1 schools. When Superintendent Cash arrived in Memphis, his team collected as much data as possible and found six serious factors or fault lines in the district: 1) a majority of students were coming to kindergarten without pre-K literacy skills; 2) a myriad of health issues were preventing tens of thousands of students from their best work; 3) more than 30,000 students were overage for grade; 4) safety and discipline issues needed immediate attention to address a rising tide of violence; 5) one in three students changed schools at least once during the year; and 6) the district was losing on average 3,000 students each year to other districts, private schools, and home schooling. These fault lines provide context for understanding the challenges that MCS teachers face and highlight the potentially far-reaching impact of effective teachers. To different degrees, they also highlight the ways in which our citys challenges impact MCS students. Memphis is among the most troubled cities in the countryas evidenced by many indicators that are consistently among the nations very worst, such as the infant death rate (1st in U.S.; 1995-1998), children living in poverty (3rd in U.S.; 2007), and violent crime (2nd in U.S. large metropolitan areas; 2007). The percentage of college graduates in Memphis is below 24%, a figure in the lowest quartile. These dreary statistics highlight the opportunity for transformative impact. As a newly productive Memphis City Schools achieves the goals of our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, the entire City of Memphis will begin to change. This will be a story worth telling and repeating across the nation. DISTRICT-WIDE STUDENT PERFORMANCE MCS is currently in Target status according to Tennessees NCLB/AYP designation and has been in Good Standing two of the past three years. However, a relatively low state-level AYP bar masks disturbingly low levels of achievement across all grades. Tennessee is the 9th lowest scoring state on NAEP, is among the lowest in state proficiency standards, and only 6% of MCS students who elect to take the ACT are deemed college-ready in all four subject areas. On the TCAP, MCS performance has consistently lagged behind other large Tennessee districts and the state average. Overall, MCS is approximately 8-12% behind the state average for grades 3-8
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TCAP performance across all four tested subjects (Math, Reading/Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science). Despite some recent progress, there remains a significant achievement gap between major demographic groups within MCS. Of the 189 MCS schools with AYP determinations, only 54% achieved the required progress in 2008-09. There is a particular need to increase school performance at the high school level. Thirteen of the districts 32 high priority schools are high schools. The district has seen some progress with 12 of the 30 schools coming off the list this past year. Especially encouraging, 7 of 16 schools at the most challenging levels of High Priority (i.e., Corrective Action and beyond) were lifted off that list for 2009-10. While the news is encouraging, there are opportunities for great improvement. Making and maintaining AYP will become increasingly challenging over the next few years as state standards increase with the Tennessee Diploma Project. Beginning in the 2009-10 school year, the rigor of state assessments will increase significantly. Additionally, students will have to earn 22 credits (instead of 20 credits currently), complete four years of Math (instead of three currently) and complete either a Chemistry or Physics (in addition to Biology) class and a third lab science. These new requirements will effectively place all students on what was previously termed the University Path. The prior option or a Technical Path diploma will be discontinued. The dramatically increased rigor of these new state standards will further highlight the urgent need to radically improve student achievement. In the following section, we highlight the specific data that underlie each of our four main strategies for improving teacher effectiveness within MCS SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FOR TEI INITIATIVES Evidence Supporting the Need for a Common, Agreed-Upon Definition of Effective Teaching At this time, two primary methods exist within MCS for evaluating teacher effectiveness: 1) value-added metrics and 2) observation-based teacher evaluations. Value-Added Data MCS is very fortunate to have multiple sources of value-added data. These value-added models capture students test scores on standardized assessments from multiple years in order to measure how much students have learned over time. These models attribute gains in student achievement to a specific school or individual teacher. TVAAS: The Tennessee Value Added Assessment System (TVAAS), the innovative Tennessee value-added model that links students state assessment scores to individual teachers, offers tremendous under-tapped potential. TVAAS is recognized as a leading value-added model and offers an exciting opportunity to measure teacher effectiveness in MCS alongside an established state-wide comparison group. Mathematica: The Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) data, created by Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), is a second source of value-added data. This Mathematica model provides one-year value-added measurements and was created to drive the districts Teacher Incentive Fund grant, which rewards teachers and administrators based
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on student achievement gains. Currently, these data are used to rank schools based on their value-added to student achievement. Classroom Observation and Evaluation Currently, teachers receive performance evaluations from their principals based largely on classroom observations. The tools and processes that support these observations are limited, and our evaluation process is compliance-driven at best and punitive at worst. Formal evaluations are conducted by school principals using the state-provided Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment form, which includes the following indicators: 1) class planning, 2) teaching strategies, 3) assessment and evaluation, 4) learning environment, 5) professional growth, and 6) communication. In focus groups, teachers and principals believe that the evaluation tool is largely ineffective and that many principals lack the capacity to utilize it fairly and consistently. Teachers expressed frustration that evaluations are typically based on a limited sample of brief classroom observations and that they are rarely followed with timely and useful feedback. Teachers also expressed frustration at the lack of incentives or rewards to acknowledge individual excellence, as well as the lack of supports for struggling teachers. Evidence Supporting the Need to Make Smarter Decisions About Who Teaches MCS Students While there are many effective MCS teachers, various human resources challenges contribute to a teaching force that is less than optimally effective. Snapshot of Current MCS Teaching Force MCS employed approximately 6,800 classroom teachers during the 2008-09 school year. The teaching force has the following profile:
Gender 79% Female 21% Male Race 63% Black 36% White 1% Other Degree Type 45% Bachelors 32% Masters 18% Masters + 4% EDS 1% PHD License 74% Professional 9% Apprentice 17% Alternative Certification Experience 33% 0-5 years 23% 6-10 years 22% 11-20 years 23% 21+ years
Due to declining student enrollment, the total number of MCS teachers has fallen by a rate of approximately 1% per year since the 2004-05 school year. Over the same time period, tenured teachers have consistently accounted for approximately 73% of the teaching force. Recruiting & Hiring Historically, MCS has typically hired approximately 700 new teachers per year (8-12% of the total teaching force). The University of Memphis (20%), Christian Brothers University (7%), and LeMoyne-Owen College (5%) account for nearly a third of total teachers hired each year. MCS partners with multiple organizations that recruit and place teacher candidates including The New Teacher Project, which sponsors the Memphis Teaching Fellows program, and Teach for America, which places about 50 corps members in MCS schools each year. MCS averages
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between a 4:1 and 5:1 ratio of eligible candidates per new hire, which is significantly lower than the 10:1 benchmark recommended by the New Teacher Project. Human Resources processes are not optimally efficient or effective; thus, we are unable to hire many top teaching candidates. MCS teacher applicants are in the lowest quartiles of Praxis scores, and 50% of new hires have a college GPA of less than 3.0. Inaccurate enrollment forecasts, the timing of vacancies, and the teacher surplusing process all delay the offering of teaching jobs. On average, approximately 110 days, or nearly four months, elapse between the point of application submission and the date of hire. MCS typically does not provide formal job offers for the majority of candidates until the last week of July, only weeks before the start of school. This is a primary cause of our inability to hire selectively and has resulted in the need to hire between 10-15% of total hires each year on interim status, meaning they were hired to teach after September 15th of that current school year. MCS is fortunate to have existing partnerships with multiple external teacher recruitment organizations: The New Teacher Project (Memphis Teaching Fellows): MCS first partnered with TNTP in 2003-04 with the urban Teacher Hiring Initiative. In 2006, this partnership was narrowed to the Memphis Teaching Fellows, which recruits teacher candidates for harder-to-staff subject areas (yielding ~40 new teachers from ~800 applicants in each of the past two years.) In 2007, TNTP launched the Model Staffing Initiative (MSI) to provide staffing support to the 20 lowest-performing schools. Teach for America (TFA): In its first three years in MCS, TFA has averaged 50 teacher placements annually. MCS and TFA are exploring extending the commitment of TFA corps members from two to three years and plan to increase placements to 75 teachers per year. Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR): Launching this year, the Memphis Teacher Residency program is based on national teacher residency models. The MTR will eventually yield ~40-50 new teachers per year from between 800 and 1,000 applicants per year. Over the past several years, there has been little district-level coordination of these existing partnerships and likely untapped potential for strengthening the districts teacher pipeline. Teacher Retention Twenty percent of new teachers leave MCS after their first year, and more than 40% leave within three years. This three-year teacher attrition rate is particularly high for middle and high schools (42% and 52% respectively). Tenure Granting Process The current tenure process is based almost entirely on the state teacher evaluation form, which is based on a limited number of principal classroom observations. The tenure process is currently a pass-through for those teachers that remain after their first three years. Typically, 93% of eligible MCS teachers have been granted tenure. Staffing and Placement Currently, staffing and placement of new teachers is a collaborative process between the school staffing office within Human Resources and school leaders. The timing of official job offers and placements is driven in large part by the teacher transfer and surplusing processes, which are not finalized until the end of May. Therefore, only high need candidates can be extended
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formal job offers prior to June. However, in the Striving Schools, where The New Teacher Project supports early hiring and placement with its Model Staffing Initiative, principals are given the autonomy to interview and hire teachers earlier in the process (regardless of seniority). MCS is currently working to correct the surplusing and transfer process to ensure it can extend earlier job offers and earlier placement opportunities. Removal of Ineffective Teachers Currently, very few ineffective teachers are removed from their positions. Over the past four school years, an average of 50 teachers have been dismissed for performance-related reasons and 23 were formally non re-elected each year, representing less than 1% of total teachers. Partly, this is due to the lack of useful measures for teacher effectiveness. Additionally, many principals avoid the extremely cumbersome process of removing tenured teachers. In lieu of dismissal, ineffective teachers are often shuffled between schools during the surplus process. A total of 101 teachers were surplused in 2007-08, and 332 teachers were surplused in 2008-09. Evidence Supporting the Need for Improved Support, Utilization, and Compensation of MCS Teachers Professional Support Currently, professional development employs a self-select, sit and get model. Course offerings tend to be tailored for teachers with little experience and are often too generic to be useful for more experienced teachers. Based the views of teachers and administrators, there is significant opportunity to more closely tie professional support to individually identified teacher needs. Teacher Career Paths Currently, there are no differentiated career opportunities within the classroom. In focus groups, many teachers (and even some teachers-turned-administrators), expressed significant interest in differentiated teacher responsibilities with corresponding increases in compensation. Compensation At present, the MCS salary schedule only rewards experience ($77MM, 20% of total compensation) and degrees earned ($18MM, 5% of total compensation). Salary growth is consistent, with gradual increases over time. Some teachers earn additional performance-based compensation through the EPIC program, which rewards principals and teachers in high-performing schools as measured by value-added data. In 2008-09, EPIC provided $1.2MM in bonuses to about 540 educators. This program has been well received by teachers and administrators and provides a platform upon which to expand performance-based bonus opportunities to the most effective groups of teachers.
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Evidence Supporting the Need for Improved Surrounding Context for Teachers and Students School Culture While we have recently made positive strides in terms of school safety, the prevalent school culture often still inhibits effective teaching. Discipline and school environment shortcomings continue to create challenging environments for students and teachers. The results from school climate surveys (conducted annually of students, parents, and teachers) illustrate a range of negative environmental factors that correlate with student performance: schools ranked in the bottom third of school culture scores (as measured by student perception) have significantly lower student achievement levels than do other schools. Principal Leadership Capacity While principals are crucial for establishing productive school culture, it is evident that many teachers view principals as obstacles to effective teaching. Over the last two years, the teacher attrition rate was nearly twice as high (approximately 23%) in schools that were in the bottom quintile of teachers principal satisfaction compared to top quintile schools. Data Systems Although MCS collects valuable data about students and teachers, access is limited because data is stored across a number of independent databases. These independent databases do not share a common language or an ability to combine data from various systems. Many administrators and teachers are not able to access the data for themselves and must burden a central IT group with data requests. Thus, data based decision-making is hampered by a difficult and time-consuming data collection process.
GAP IDENTIFICATION
MCS has an ambitious five-year vision for driving significant improvements in teacher effectiveness and corresponding student achievement. As the previous Baseline section highlights, the district has made important recent strides, but there is still much to do. The major gaps we need to address are: ESTABLISHING A CLEAR DEFINITION OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING Achieving our vision requires a clear definition of an effective teacher. This definition will: a) be clearly understood throughout MCS, b) utilize multiple measures, and c) be supported by tools and processes that identify effective teachers. Our current definition of effective teaching is incomplete, and the district lacks alignment on a common definition of effective teaching. Similarly, we do not have the tools or processes in place to help identify effective teachers. INCREASING THE NUMBER OF EFFECTIVE TEACHERS WITHIN THE DISTRICT The second element of our vision is to increase the number of effective teachers. We will improve the recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers, provide support and recognition to retain our most effective teachers, raise the bar for tenure, and annually counsel out the most ineffective teachers. Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 15
Currently, we do not recruit, retain, and promote the most effective teachers. Our annual pool of new teacher candidates is small, and we lose approximately 40% of teachers after their first three years. We then grant tenure to ineffective teachers and fail to exit the most ineffective teachers. BROADENING THE REACH OF OUR EFFECTIVE TEACHERS The third element of our vision is to ensure that our most effective teachers impact the greatest number of our students possible by taking on new roles and responsibilities within differentiated career and compensation plans. To support teacher improvement, every teacher in the district will receive a professional development plan aligned with an annual evaluation. These evaluations will be based on a multi-dimensional Teacher Effectiveness Measure and will be supplemented with constructive and timely feedback identifying development opportunities. Our current evaluation process neither differentiates among teachers nor provides actionable feedback to link professional development and individual needs. We also fail to reward our most effective teachers with meaningful career paths or compensation. FOSTERING A CULTURE THAT SUPPORTS EFFECTIVE TEACHING The fourth element of our vision is to create a school culture that supports effective teaching. Principals will have the leadership capacity to create learning environments that facilitate effective teaching. The prevalent school culture within the district inhibits effective teaching: student discipline and school environment shortcomings make it more difficult than necessary to teach effectively.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
As described above, we have a bold vision with ambitious student achievement targets. This inspiring vision can be realized only with an equally bold and smart strategy that is executed with high fidelity. Our strategy consists of the following high-level efforts: Defining and measuring what we deem to be effective teaching Making smarter decisions about who teaches our students Better supporting, utilizing, and compensating our teachers Improving the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching We will use a common, agreed-upon process to define and measure what we deem to be effective teaching. To improve teacher effectiveness, we must first agree upon a common definition for effective teaching. We must ensure that our various stakeholders read from the same songbook, in a sense, in order to work collaboratively towards improving teacher effectiveness. As we proceed and learn, we expect that our Teacher Effectiveness Measure will continually improve. For instance, the weights assigned to each TEM component (and perhaps even the components themselves) may be adjusted in order to more accurately measure teacher effectiveness. Our Teacher Effectiveness Measure will be comprised of the following broad components:
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Overview of Proposed MCS Vision of Effective Teaching
Growth in student learning (weighted 35%) While value-added data are imperfect measures of achievement gains, they offer a valuable approximation of student learning. MCS begins from a position of tremendous strength with respect to value-added data. We will leverage two existing sources of value-added data for core subject areasTVAAS and Mathematica. We anticipate utilizing TVAAS as the main value-added measurement for the district, and we will use Mathematica as needed due to current restrictions on TVAAS (e.g. TN state law requiring three years of TVAAS data before use in teacher evaluation). We will develop additional assessments as needed to obtain value-added evidence for the majority of teachers in core academic subjects. For teachers who continue to lack value-added scores, we will increase the weights of the other three TEM components proportionally. Observation of teachers practice (weighted 35%) While growth in student learning is the ultimate desired outcome, our Teacher Effectiveness Measure will also consider the most significant school-level input: the quality of daily classroom instruction. Professional, trained observers will utilize existing intuitive observation rubrics from the field that our teachers recognize as exemplary. We will employ rubrics that emphasize student engagement and effort rather than simply a checklist of preferred teacher behaviors. We anticipate piloting multiple methods to conduct these classroom observations, including: Video reviewspotentially leveraging Teachscape and evidence collected for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research project
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Enhanced use of a standardized rubric by the school principal Wide-scale deployment of evaluative observers, including peers and colleagues As we learn over time, we will focus on the approaches that prove to be most effective and costefficient. Stakeholder perceptions (weighted 15%) The unique perspectives of students, parents, and colleagues will provide insights about various aspects of a teachers performanceboth inside and outside of the classroom. While the data collection process will be discussed collaboratively with teachers, we are initially most interested in perceptions about teachers effort, professionalism, and academic and non-academic care for students. Measurement of stakeholder perception will be survey-driven and standardized across stakeholder groups. Refining the districts existing student, parent, and teacher climate surveys to focus on teacher-specific behaviors and practices is a logical next step in the development of our mature measurement system. Such refinement will likely require both internal and external resources. For example, we plan to leverage the promising TRIPOD project student survey, which is a part of the Gates research project. Teacher content knowledge (weighted 15%) A teachers subject area mastery is a critical foundation for effective teaching. Thus, we need to know how deeply our teachers understand the content that they teach to their students. Existing and newly developed instruments will be used for teachers in all subjects areas. Assessments such as the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) test, developed at the University of Michigan, provide a great start on tools for assessing teacher knowledge. We anticipate that scores from prior Praxis exams and other standardized tests (e.g., SAT, ACT, GRE) will provide extant evidence for teachers with not more than three years of experience. Periodic assessments of teacher knowledge will help to determine whether a teachers mastery of his/her content area improves, remains steady, or worsens throughout the teaching career. Through our participation in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research project and through our own experience in the early years of this grant, we will learn how tests of content knowledge should be best incorporated into the Teacher Effectiveness Measure, particularly with respect to its effect on the overall effectiveness score (i.e. whether it is a threshold or drives magnitude) and the necessary frequency of assessment throughout a teachers career. We will make smarter decisions about who teaches our students. We recognize that all teachers are not the same. Simply, the who matters. To be a highly effective teacher, one must be multi-talentedin terms of content knowledge, pedagogical skill, the ability to engage youth, and an unyielding drive to improve student achievement. We will do everything possible to ensure that such multi-talented individualsas evidenced by their measured level of effectivenessteach our students. To do so will require bold action that significantly transforms Memphis City Schools. Improve recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers A first step in improving teacher effectiveness is to create the opportunity for a more selective teacher hiring process. We will need to expand our applicant pool to include significantly higher
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numbers of high potential teachers. Going forward, MCS will strategically leverage valuable external partners in order to bolster the teacher pipeline through targeted recruitment strategies: Build our strategic Human Resources capacity by outsourcing all teacher recruiting and staffing functions to The New Teacher Project We will strategically expand our partnership with TNTP by outsourcing all teacher recruiting and staffing services. Additionally, we will ask TNTP to provide guidance regarding internal policy and practice changes that are foundational to improved teacher recruitment and hiring. Ultimately, responsibilities of TNTP will include the following: Conducting all teacher recruitment efforts Continuing the Memphis Teaching Fellows program specifically aimed at filling hard-to-staff subject areas Providing technical assistance to principals to improve their teacher interviewing and hiring processes Operating a district-wide certification program to provide more formalized support for alternatively licensed teachers Implementing a teacher conversion program to move high-potential teachers to harder-tostaff subject areas (e.g. from Elementary to Math certification) Better coordinate and leverage outside partnerships that recruit and place high potential teachers in MCS In addition to working with local colleges and universities (e.g., University of Memphis, Rhodes College, Christian Brothers University, LeMoyne-Owen College) to ensure that they prepare high potential teachers for MCS, we will strategically manage the relationships of the existing partners in order to maximize their potential impactsultimately providing 25-30% of all new hires. (Note: Teach for America, Memphis Teacher Residency, and Memphis Teaching Fellows are described in the Baseline section.) Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure We will develop a robust tenure process that is based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure. Raising the tenure bar does not require any formal policy or legal changes. Rather, it is a matter of changing practice. We will create tenure review boards (similar to the Toledo model) that will be responsible for recommending teachers for tenure to the Superintendent. We envision regional tenure review boards, each consisting of three teachers (appointed by MEA), a principal, and the Regional Superintendent. Based on effectiveness bands for the Teacher Effectiveness Measure, there will likely be three categories of teachers: 1) teachers who will definitely be awarded tenure, 2) teachers who will definitely not be awarded teacher, and 3) teachers who should be carefully considered for tenure. The tenure review boards will carefully consider those teachers whose awarding of tenure is uncertain. As our Teacher Effectiveness Measure improves, we expect that there will be decreasing numbers of teachers for whom the tenure decision is uncertain. The tenure decision will be directly linked to a meaningful increase in compensation and career status (described below). Additionally, we plan to provide symbolic recognition of this important occasion with a formal ceremony honoring the accomplishments of newly tenured teachers.
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Increase the retention of effective teachers, particularly early in their careers Unfortunately, too many of our effective teachers leave the classroom after only a few years. A major part of the solution for increasing the number of effective teachers in MCS is to retain our effective teachers for longer periods of time. Thus, we will: Provide financial and non-financial recognition to our most effective teachers early in their careers Too many of our best teachers do not hear simple affirmation for a job well done early enough or often enough. We will change this, in part, by instituting a performance-based retention incentive program. This retention bonus, with vesting over three years, will address the very high turnover of our beginning teacherswhere we lose 40% of teachers after three years. This retention incentive program will encourage best beginning teachers to remain in MCS classrooms through their third, fourth, and fifth years, at which point they will then enjoy the additional performance-based compensation opportunities that accompany tenure (i.e. higher salary, Master Teacher role, continued group goals bonus opportunities). In their first and second year, teachers who score above a threshold on the TEM and are in the top quartile of effectiveness within their cohort will be provided a $6,000 vested retention bonus. (Note: An individual teacher is only eligible for the retention bonus once.) This retention bonus will be paid over time, pending continued employment as a teacher with Memphis City Schools. For example, a teacher who performs in the top quartile of effectiveness in Year 1 will receive the earned retention bonus as shown below: $1,000 provided when teacher returns for Year 2 $2,000 provided when teacher returns for Year 3 $3,000 provided when teacher returns for Year 4 Much effort will also be placed on non-financial aspects of this recognition. For example, there will be strong messaging about the prestige and significance of the award for new teachers including, perhaps, a ceremony honoring recipients and a senior-level district phone call to inform teachers of the honor. Finally, MCS will seek local philanthropic sponsorship to personalize and elevate the status of the recognition and will convene periodic gatherings of the award recipients. Additionally, it should be noted that many initiatives throughout this proposal will help us to retain our best teachers. Increase the turnover of the most ineffective teachers While we strive to lengthen the MCS teaching careers of our effective teachers, we must shorten those of our most ineffective teachers in order to create opportunities for more effective teachers to teach children. In order to support both teachers and students, we will: Implement a more effective career management process that supports underperforming teachers whose continued employment is in question. A formal Review Board (likely consisting of the same members as the Tenure Review Board described above) will be authorized to flag severely underperforming teachers based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure. We expect this new process will increase the number of teachers whose underperformance is highlighted and addressed with additional support where appropriate. Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 20
We anticipate a one to three-year timeframe for counseling out underperforming teachers depending on the degree and duration of a teachers underperformance. The possibility for exiting tenured and untenured teachers will begin when the Review Board flags an underperforming teacher. In most cases, teachers will be flagged after two years of performance below a TEM threshold level. (However, the Review Board will be able to flag a teacher with a single years TEM score that is alarmingly low.) Once flagged, tenured teachers will meet with the Review Board to discuss their performance. Based on the performance evaluation and the personal interview, the Review Board will then decide between two options: 1) Recommend targeted professional development to facilitate improved performance (with review of the case again after one year), or 2) Recommend dismissal to the Superintendent. Beginning Teachers (i.e. untenured teachers) will not interview with the Review Board. Instead, the principals decision to non-reelect a Beginning Teacher will be reviewed by the Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness. We will better support, utilize, and compensate our teachers. While the who is important (as described above), it is insufficient. We must improve the experiences we provide to our teachers after they are hired in terms of the support they are provided as well as the opportunities they are given. Improve the teacher evaluation process An improved teacher evaluation process is a prerequisite for the vast majority of strategies that comprise our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. We will work alongside the Memphis Education Association to develop a trusted, objective, and meaningful teacher evaluation process that is based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure. The principal will retain formal responsibility for finalizing a teachers evaluation. However, the principal will be required to base his/her assessment on the Teacher Effectiveness Measure. This new teacher evaluation tool will communicate a teachers Teacher Effectiveness Measure in absolute and relative terms and support principals in drafting commentary to explain where the teacher stands relative to MCS expectations and promotion thresholds. Additionally, the evaluation tool will identify areas for professional growth and direct the teacher to corresponding individualized professional development opportunities. Connect professional support opportunities to individual need The most immediate result of an improved teacher evaluation process will be the opportunity to tailor individualized professional development/support plans to individual teacher needs. All Master teachers (and select Professional teachers) will provide significant support to their teaching peers through frequent formative classroom observations based on the same rubric used in evaluative observations. Frequent observations will allow for timely, in-depth, and nuanced feedback to teachers regarding what is happening in the classroom, and why. Special attention will be paid to areas of need as demonstrated through the improved teacher evaluation. Frequency of observation and feedback will be crucially important, and all teachers will be observed more frequently than is currently the case. Frequency of observation will depend on a teachers career status, as follows: 1st year Beginning Teacher: 2 observations per month
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2-3rd year Beginning Teachers: 1 observation per month Professional Teachers: 1 observation every two months Master teachers: 1 observation every three months Additionally, MCS will provide teachers expanded and individualized professional development opportunities through Teachscape. Teachers will participate in on-line, job-embedded differentiated professional development to deepen their content knowledge and expand their repertoire of instructional strategies. This will allow teachers to receive much needed researchbased professional development without having to leave their daily teaching responsibilities. Create new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment Based on the TEM, high performing teachers will be eligible for promotions along a new career path comprised of the following teacher roles (compensation plan is detailed in a following section): Beginning Teacher Teachers will be Beginning Teachers for their first three years of teaching experience, before earning tenure. Beginning Teachers will receive significant support through very frequent formative observations and formal mentorship from Master Teachers (and select Professional Teachers). Professional Teacher Upon being awarded tenure, teachers will be promoted to the role of Professional Teacher. This is much like the standard role of an MCS classroom teacher today. However, this new role of Professional Teacher will be a unique, defined one that is only attained after an earned promotion. Additionally, the various changes that accompany this entire Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will cause this role to be more substantial than has previously been the case. For example, Professional Teachers will have the opportunity for advancement to the Master Teacher role, and select Professional Teachers will conduct formative teacher observations as preparation for this advancement. Master Teacher The very best teachers in Memphis City Schools will be eligible for promotion to this prestigious position and will assume the greatest responsibility for teaching as many students as possible, including those students who are the farthest behind. We know what is needed: our best teachers teaching more students, including those who need them the most. We know it can be done: it is done successfully in some schools. However, we are unsure how this can best be accomplished at such a large scale. Therefore, we will pilot multiple different methods in order to determine the best way to expand the impact of our Master Teachers, including the following: Teaching larger regular class sizes Teaching expanded lectures to multiple classes of Beginning Teachers Team teaching with Beginning Teachers to have impact on larger number of students
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Providing significant levels of formalized planning and support for beginning teachers (e.g. super-mentors) Creating/teaching online classes for broader distribution to large numbers of students throughout the district Teaching students of the greatest need Additionally, Master teachers will provide significant support to their teaching peers (especially Beginning teachers) by conducting frequent formative classroom observations based on the same rubric used in evaluative observations. To protect the instructional time, these periodic classroom observations will occur during the Master Teachers planning time. While we expect that the Master Teacher role will lengthen the teaching careers of our very best teachers, it will not be a lifetime appointment. It will be possible to return to the Professional Teacher role in the event of diminished effectiveness. Compensate teachers based on differentiated roles and performance The compensation plan described below will help to change the culture in Memphis City Schools surrounding what is valued, recognized, and rewarded. Implement a new base compensation structure based on teacher role/performance rather than service time and degree attainment Base teaching salaries will no longer be tied to experience and advanced degrees, which are not strongly linked to improved student achievement. We intend for the differentiated roles to have the following compensation structure: Beginning Teachers: Base salary will start at approximately $43,000. Because of our belief in not structuring compensation around degrees, MCS will pay the same beginning teacher salary regardless of degree level. This will therefore result in premium compensation offered to Beginning Teachers with a Bachelors degree (i.e. 8% higher than the current plan). Professional Teachers: Base salary will start at approximately $50,000. This represents a 17% salary increase for newly tenured teachers compared to the current salary schedule. Master Teachers: Base salary will start at approximately $75,000. This represents a 24% higher salary compared to Step 18 on the current salary schedule. With incremental steps and increased responsibilities, we intend for Master Teachers to be able to grow their compensation to levels approaching $90,000 to $100,000. Within these teacher roles, incremental compensation will be determined by levels of teacher effectiveness. Teachers who are deemed effective each year will move to the next step and therefore earn a performance-based increase in base compensation. Teachers who are not deemed effective each year (as measured by the Teacher Effectiveness Measure) will remain at their current step on the salary schedule. Provide performance-based bonus opportunities to groups of teachers based on group attainment of student achievement goals Teachers will also have the opportunity to earn a performance-based group bonus for achieving student growth goals. In addition to expanding the school-based incentive program (i.e. the EPIC model), we will also pilot group bonus opportunities for various types of teams (e.g. the K-3 continuum, upper elementary grade levels, secondary level content areas). We expect that
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these group bonus opportunities (i.e. $2,500 per teacher) will increase collaboration among teachers who may have previously worked in relative isolation. Strategically place our best teachers where they are most needed We will make concerted efforts to ensure that our highest need students benefit from increased exposure to the most effective teachers. Because the majority of MCS schools are high need schools, we have strategically decided not to attempt a mass redistribution of effective teachers across schools. Instead, efforts will focus on redistributing Master teachers within schools, targeted placement of Master teachers in high need schools, and thoughtful placement of newly recruited high potential teachers. Place Master Teachers with the highest-need students in their schools We will require the districts most effective teachers to teach the highest-need students as a prerequisite for attaining and maintaining the distinction of Master Teacher. The premium compensation associated with the Master Teacher role will provide strong incentive for our best teachers to teach our most struggling students. Place Master Teachers in schools where they are most needed As required, we will ask Master Teachers to teach in schools where their talents are most needed. Thus, district leadership will be able to place Master Teachers in specific high-need schools that lack Master Teachers in a particular grade or subject area. Cluster high potential teacher recruits in schools that have high concentrations of highneed students Going forward, we will strive to increasingly cluster highest-potential recruits in specific highneed schools and feeder patterns. By concentrating these high potential teachers in this way, we hope to create powerful synergies that will result in dramatic academic achievement gains for the students who are farthest behind. We will improve the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching. While a select few highly talented teachers will thrive in almost any setting, most teachers benefit from a supportive context that literally makes it easier for them to teach effectively. Therefore, we commit to a district-wide focus on improving the surrounding context for teachers and students in order to facilitate effective teaching. Improve principal leadership capacity The success of our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will be impacted by the ability of our principals to provide quality school leadership. Clearly, principals have tremendous opportunities to influence the surrounding context in which the teaching/learning process occurs. The following areas of focus will help to raise the level of MCS principal capacity: Recruitment and development As with teachers, it is crucially important to expand the principal pipeline so that we are able to hire increasing numbers of high-potential principals. To do this, we will leverage internal and external areas of expertise regarding principal development. First, our new Urban Education
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Center will provide high quality training to aspiring principals and assistant principals. Additionally, we will continue to partner with New Leaders for New Schools. Rigorous performance management for principals We will continue rigorous performance reviews to hold principals accountable for their schools performance. MCS does not back away from making difficult decisions regarding principal leadership. For example, more than 30 low-performing principals were removed from their positions following the 2008-09 school year. Going forward, the principal evaluation process will place strong emphasis on school-level retention rates of effective teachers. Holding principals accountable for the retention rates of effective teachers will motivate principals to address issues which are of greatest importance to their effective teachers. Often, this will mean addressing various school-level issues that aggregate into significant impact on a schools overall culture. Strategic placement of high performing principals We recognize that excellent principals can bring transformative change to underperforming schools. Thus, when necessary, our best principals will continue to be moved to schools where their talents and dedication are most needed. Intensive training and development for all principals Leveraging the Urban Education Center, we will provide principals the training needed to support their overall school leadership skills. Particular attention will be paid to conducting high quality teacher evaluations. Principals will have to conduct these teacher evaluations with expertise in order for our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative to function properly. This will require significant principal training and development efforts. Additionally, all MCS principals will be provided support for improving the culture of their schools. All schools will be charged with ensuring that their school environments are conducive to teaching and learning. Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching/learning In many of our schools, the prevalent school culture is a barrier to effective teaching and must be acknowledged and attended to with intentionality. While we have made strides in improving school safety, there is much work to accomplish regarding overall school environments. To tackle this challenge, we will inculcate the habits of mind that will result in a culture of achievement characterized by high expectations, decorum, respect, teamwork, citizenship, and ambition. To accomplish this, we will engage an external partner to assist us with training teachers and administrators on developing and maintaining a school climate that supports effective teaching. Such training will strive to raise the expectations of teachers and administrators regarding 1) the capabilities of children and 2) the personal responsibility of teachers and administrators for student achievement. Develop a new technology platform that will support the data-driven decision-making that is crucial for the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Implementation of this Teacher Effective Initiative will depend on the procurement of seamless technology systems that enable real-time queries of human capital data linked to student achievement and budget information. This new technology platform will aggregate all of the districts independent databases into a common platform that will facilitate the dissemination of data across the district. A common Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 25
platform will support greater data integrity by introducing a common language and data entry process that is supplemented with multiple checks to ensure validity. First, new systems will be developed to collect and integrate data inputs that are required to support the new teacher effectiveness measure. Student assessment and classroom observation data will be linked to individual teachers. New functions will develop, disseminate, and analyze survey data from stakeholders (e.g. parents, students, peers). Finally, professional development course completion and content evaluation results will be linked to individual teachers. Also, greater accessibility to data related to teacher effectiveness will facilitate the improved evaluation process. Data will be displayed in formats that can be easily used by stakeholders across the district as needed. In all, there will be improved transparency regarding the teacher evaluation process. Finally, this project will streamline transactional human resources processes to enable more time to be focused on strategic initiatives. Recruitment process will be supported by a full-service fulfillment tool. Self-service tools will empower teachers and administrators with greater responsibility over personal records (e.g. benefits, timecards and payroll information), thus reducing the time spent at the central office updating personal files. Position management tools will enable administrators to independently manage their schools human resource needs.
INTERNAL RISKS AND CHALLENGES

In taking on the bold agenda of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative, MCS will naturally face many risks and challenges in order to achieve our vision. We recognize this and are actively working to address and mitigate these issues, as described below as well as in the implementation section of this proposal. HUMAN RESOURCES CAPACITY Today, our Human Resources division remains primarily focused on transactional and compliance processes and will need significant capacity building to execute on a more strategic and aggressive approach to recruitment and staffing that is required by our plan. To address this challenge, MCS will engage The New Teacher Project (TNTP) to implement a start-to-finish recruitment and staffing solution. TeacherNex will collaborate with Memphis City Schools to provide support across all points of the recruitment and placement process. TNTP has developed a comprehensive proposal for MCS, and we are currently in negotiations to finalize the agreement. The costs for this partnership are included in our request for funding. In addition, we will expand our ongoing relationships with Teach for America and the Memphis Teacher Residency. A newly established Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness will strategically manage all of these external partners and will bring the strategic functions of Human Resources for teachers under the direction of our Deputy Superintendent for Academic Operations. TEACHER ACCEPTANCE AND BUY-IN The changes we are proposing are radical and far-reaching. While initial focus groups conducted with a broad range of MCS teachers and principals reveal an encouragingly high level of support
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for the direction of the initiative, we recognize that such significant changes will encounter resistance. Therefore, we will seek external communications expertise to assist in developing and executing on a comprehensive TEI communications plan. Additionally, we will continue our strong engagement of the Memphis Education Associations leadership, and we will create a collaborative MEA-MCS Teacher Center partnership. Most likely, many teachers will be anxious about the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure. We absolutely must create a TEM that is of high quality and trustworthy. Therefore, we will create a new Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measure within the well-established department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment. This new office will be staffed with 5-7 new analysts and research assistants. FIDELITY OF IMPLEMENTATION AND CONSISTENT FOLLOW-THROUGH In a dynamic organization such as MCS, too often a reform du jour mentality can prevail, thus preventing faithful implementation of initiatives. We will charge our Strategic Planning and Accountability group with managing TEI implementation and on-going strategic planning for the project (including guiding mid-course adjustments). We will add two or three staff members, as well as supportive technical assistance, to bolster the capacity of our Strategic Planning and Accountability team. POTENTIAL CHANGES IN ADMINISTRATION We also recognize that there is the ever-present risk of a change in leadership teams in large urban school districts. To sustain commitment to the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative through potential leadership changes, we have been aggressive in driving strong support and expectations in the community. In addition to the support from the MEA and the Board of Commissioners, we have convened and are engaging a broad set of local business and philanthropic leaders in this work through the Teacher Effectiveness Advisory Board. Their commitment to helping sustain this initiative is reflected in the enclosed letters of support.
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY AND PARTNERSHIPS

The leadership team of Memphis City Schools recognizes that many of the best-planned school reforms fail not due to the design of the concept but because of lack of attention to capacity needed for high quality implementation. We are therefore taking strong steps to ensure that we will be positioned to faithfully execute this plan. Successfully executing our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will require capabilities and talent across multiple areas and functions, described below. MCS is fortunate to have developed significant talent in many key areas and will augment our capacity as needed with outside partners. OFFICE OF TEACHER TALENT AND EFFECTIVENESS To ensure high level organizational focus on the teacher recruiting and staffing function, we are creating the Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness, which will be responsible for managing TNTP and other external recruiting partners such as TFA and MTR. Additionally, this office will be responsible for many of the aspects of the TEI project, including those focused on recruiting, staffing, evaluations, and career management. This will bring the strategic functions of HR for teachers under our Deputy Superintendent for Academic Operations, appropriately
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reflecting its importance to the core business of MCS. We will seek to hire a high level manager with classroom experience to run this group and report to Deputy Superintendent Hamer. Additionally, this office will be staffed with one senior level Director and 18 additional FTEs focused on managing outside partners for recruiting and career management for all teachers. In addition to the strategic benefit of placing teacher recruitment and staffing on the Academic side of the organization instead of the Business side, the creation of this office (and the MEA-MCS Teacher Center described below) communicates an important message about the value placed on teachers: for the first time, teachers will be represented on the districts organizational chart.
Movement of Strategic HR Functions to Academic Operations
NEW APPROACH TO TEACHER RECRUITING, HIRING, AND STAFFING In order to strategically address our significant human resources needs, we will dramatically expand our partnership with The New Teacher Project. TNTP will collaborate with Memphis City Schools to implement a start-to-finish recruitment and staffing solution. TNTP has developed a comprehensive proposal for MCS, and we are currently in discussions to finalize the agreement. Over the course of this project, TNTP will assist MCS in rebuilding the internal human resources capacity needed for this important work so that MCS could operate without external support if necessary. The effect will be to bring a laser focus and best in class expertise to the issue of increasing the quantity and quality of our incoming teachers. Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 28
MEA-MCS TEACHER CENTER Our Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will be supported by the joint collaboration between MCS and the MEA. The MEA-MCS Teacher Center is conceived as a radical reform of the traditionally confrontational labor-management relationship in education. The district envisions it playing a significant role in assisting, advising, and supporting the implementation of TEI reforms as well as the work of the entire district. PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC PLANNING The work of improving teacher effectiveness will be a core responsibility for most of our district and school-level leadership. That said, we are cognizant of the danger of allowing these initiatives to get lost amidst the urgent business of the day. For that reason, we are developing a performance management approach to keep our feet to the fire. Dr. David Hill, Coordinator of Strategic Planning and Accountability, will focus on the management of TEI implementation. To support him, we will hire two dedicated analysts who are completely dedicated to the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. This office will monitor progress against the plan and will also guide the future planning necessary for mid-course adjustments. On a monthly basis, Dr. Hill and his team will present to the TEI Executive Committee a Teacher Effectiveness Initiative progress report focused around a scorecard that tracks Implementation Milestones identified in this plan. In addition, to ensure we do not lose momentum in this process, we plan to engage an outside management consulting firm to assist in developing a Performance Management process and set of management dashboards which Dr. Hill will use to guide the implementation of TEI. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION AND GOVERNANCE APPROACH To ensure that the various stakeholders and divisions of MCS working on our Teacher Effectiveness Initiatives are coordinated, we have developed a preliminary structure to manage the process. The below graphic outlines the various groups that will be convened on a regular basis over the life of the grant and the individual roles and responsibilities.
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MCS Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Governance Structure
RESEARCH AND DATA ANALYSIS The Research and Data Analysis function will be critical to the development and roll-out of our Teacher Effectiveness Measure. We currently have a well-established and strong Research, Evaluation and Assessment (REA) group, led by Dr. John Barker (department head) and Tequilla Banks. REA has been managing outside analysts for some time to develop value-added measures, and has internally managed the administration of surveys that will form the basis of the Stakeholder Feedback component of the TEM and the evaluation of most existing projects in the district. Over the course of the project, we will build the internal capacity to create additional value-added metrics and calculate a TEM for every teacher. To do so, a new group in REA will focus on the development and management of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM). Over the course of the first year of the project, we will hire 5-7 new analysts and research assistants to build out the capacity of this group. In addition, the group will continue to evaluate the implementation of the major initiatives represented in this proposal. COMMUNICATIONS We have built broad support by engaging many stakeholders in the development of this plan, and ongoing proactive communication will be critical to further this momentum. While we have significant internal communications talent, we plan to seek external expertise to support our internal resources in developing and executing on a comprehensive internal and external
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communications plan for TEI. We believe that we can benefit tremendously from firms that have engaged in comprehensive district-wide reform efforts previously. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT As detailed in the Sustainability section, we have identified possible funding reallocations that will enable us to sustain the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. This exercise and this leadership teams experience in its first year have highlighted the need for more streamlined financial tracking and management. To do so, we intend to bring in management consulting or other external technical assistance to review and revise our budgeting and financial management approach. We will seek out and review potential partner qualifications during the first year of the proposal time period. POLICY Although much of this Teacher Effectiveness work requires no change in legislation or policy, our innovative approaches will sometimes conflict with existing policy and legislation (e.g. new salary schedule, new tenure process, etc.). Therefore, our department of Policy, Legislation, and Constituent Services will be a critical part of our efforts. Alicia Green has been integral to the development of our TEI plan and will lead the policy efforts around TEI going forward. ADVISORY BOARD We have convened a Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Advisory Board consisting of philanthropic and business leaders from the Memphis community. This group will meet quarterly to ensure continued community and local philanthropic support continues. In addition, we believe that the discipline of reporting to the Advisory Board will also ensure that focus remains on implementing the ambitious plans contained in this proposal.
IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS

The situation in MCS is urgent and we cannot wait to radically improve our teacher corps. The truth is that we are anxious to make these much needed changes. However, we are simultaneously committed to smart sequencing of our Teacher Effectiveness work in order to ensure success going forward. As our below implementation plan will indicate, our guiding principle will be to move as quickly as possible, tempered by the need to roll-out at scale only when we are confidently positioned for success. OUTCOME #1: MCS WILL CREATE A COMMON, AGREED-UPON DEFINITION OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Strategies MCS will create a common, agreedupon definition of effective teaching Expected Results Foundation established for all components of Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Key Metrics Percentage of teachers for which MCS captures data on each component of effective teaching Level of agreement among teachers and administrators regarding what it means to be an effective teacher
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Create a Common, Agreed-Upon Definition of Effective Teaching As detailed in the Strategic Initiatives section, MCS will operate parallel processes during the first two years of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative. As one of the research sites participating in The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Research plan, the district will be responsible for implementing and following the protocols established for the research project. In addition, as an intensive partnership site, the district will develop and implement a comprehensive model for improving teacher effectiveness across Memphis City Schools. We anticipate that there will be major synergies from working on both of these initiatives. Specifically, MCS anticipates that the major findings from the Gates Research Project will help inform the ultimate goal of developing a computer-based, multiple-measure system to measure effective teaching and for use in major human capital/talent management decisions. The following table provides a high-level overview of the implementation plan for each of the components of our Teacher Effectiveness Measure over the course of the next five years. The next section provides additional detail for yearly Implementation Milestones for each component of the metric.
Implementation Plan: Create Common, Agreed-Upon Definition
The detail below provides an implementation plan for both the Gates Research Project as well as MCS development of its Teacher Effectiveness Measure.
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YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Execute on the objectives of the Gates Research Plan Capture value-added data for teachers in tested subjects to measure growth in student learning Work with Teachscape to conduct evaluative observations of 500-1000 teachers Test participants in Gates Research Project (RP) content/subject area knowledge Administer TRIPOD survey for the classes of Gates Research Project Participants (RP) Milestone 2: Establish the Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measurement within the Department of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (REA), which will manage the development and implementation of new MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure Recruit and hire a coordinator for the Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measurement Recruit and hire additional staff (in conjunction with the Gates Research Project) Formalize roles and responsibilities, particularly with respect to implementation of the TEM Milestone 3: Conduct intensive training of MCS teachers and principals to improve awareness and understanding of value-added metrics throughout the district REA and Office of Teacher Effectiveness Measurement create training materials Host value-added training sessions (at Teaching and Learning Academy and individual schools) Milestone 4: Begin development of specific tools and implementation strategies for each of the major components of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure throughout the district Growth: - Continue to collect/analyze value-added data in core tested subjects - Convene task force to develop agreed-upon approach to capture value-added data for as many specialist teachers as possible (e.g., SPED, ESL, Reading specialists) Practice/Observation: - Convene task force to develop/select rubric for evaluative observations - Pilot sample professional evaluative observations of ~200 teachers (across subject areas) Knowledge: - Convene task force to review tests and determine best methodology to test teacher content knowledge across all subject areas - Determine how to include measurement of teacher knowledge as major component of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure - Office of Teacher Effectiveness will coordinate with Human Resources to populate a data file with Praxis, MAT, SAT, ACT, and GRE scores Stakeholder Perceptions: - Convene task force to develop survey instruments for stakeholder perceptions - Administer a non-binding pilot of stakeholder perceptions of teachers who opt-in
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Execute on the objectives of the Gates Research Plan Capture value-added data for teachers in tested subjects to measure growth in student learning Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 33
Work with Teachscape to conduct evaluative observations of 500-1,000 teachers Test participants in Gates Research Project (RP) content/subject area knowledge Administer TRIPOD survey for the classes of Gates Research Project Participants (RP) Milestone 2: Implement specific components developed in year 1 and continue development of additional components of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure Growth: - Continue to collect/analyze value-added data in core tested subjects - Implement methodology to capture value-added for specialists (e.g., SPED, ESL, Reading Specialists) based on existing assessment data for students with whom they work most - Plan for implementation of additional value-added data from new End of Course exams Practice/Observation: - Conduct larger scale pilot of professional evaluative observations (~1,500 teachers) - Conduct an extensive review of the video system used by the Gates Research Project to identify potential efficiencies of video observations Knowledge: - Pilot implementation of content knowledge tests developed/selected in year 1 Stakeholder Perceptions: - Administer pilot study of all survey instruments designed in year 1 to measure stakeholders perceptions
YEAR 3 (2011-12)
Milestone 1: Task force to evaluate key findings from first two years of the Gates Research Project as well as MCS experience developing Teacher Effectiveness Measure; Determine whether to proceed with video analysis or trained observers for Teacher Effectiveness Measure Ensure that key learning from Gates Research Project informs the implementation of the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure (e.g., decision on video-based observation) Analyze evidence from the research project to determine whether video observations (conducted by Teachscape as part of Gates Research Project) offers a practical alternative to classroom observations by trained observers Milestone 2: Continue implementation of MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure Growth: - Continue to collect/analyze value-added data in core tested subjects - Capture value-added data for all teachers in subjects with new End of Course exams implemented as part of the TN Diploma project - Plan implementation of additional assessments to expand value-added to additional grade levels and subject areas (as needed) Practice/Observation: - Determine final ratings instrument and method for conducting observations (e.g., Principals, PD coaches, video evaluators) - Finalize approach for full-scale implementation of conducting evaluative observations for all teachers across the district multiple times per year - Conduct initial large-scale implementation of evaluative observations (~5,000 teachers) Knowledge: Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 34
- Continued administration of content knowledge tests previously developed/selected - Develop tests for any additional subject areas (e.g., Career and Technical) - Finalize methodology for including measure of content knowledge in TEM for all teachers Stakeholder Perceptions: - Implement surveys to measure stakeholder perception in all schools across the district
YEAR 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: Complete implementation of MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure Growth: - Continue to collect/analyze value-added data in core tested subjects and in subjects for which new assessments were previously implemented - Tests in place to capture value-added data for all major academic subjects (~65% of teachers) - Implement additional assessments across grade levels and subject areas to expand the percent of teachers with value-added data (as needed) Practice/Observation: - Complete district-wide implementation of evaluative observations (all teachers) Knowledge: - Tests of teacher knowledge identified and administered for all teachers Stakeholder Perceptions: - Implement surveys to measure stakeholder perception in all schools across the district OUTCOME #2: WE WILL MAKE SMARTER DECISIONS ABOUT WHO TEACHES OUR STUDENTS
Strategies Improve the recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers. Build our strategic Human Resources capacity by outsourcing all teacher recruiting and staffing functions to The New Teacher Project. Better coordinate and leverage outside partnerships that recruit and place high potential teachers in MCS (e.g. Teach for America, Memphis Teacher Residency, Memphis Teaching Fellows). Expected Results Increased selectivity of teacher hiring process Key Metrics Ratio of applications received per hire (overall) Ratio of applications received per hire (for high-need subjects) Applicant quality (e.g. GPA, Praxis score, percentage from Tier 1 colleges/universities) Percent job offers extended by end of March, April, and May Yield of offers made Percentage of school placements of new hires made by end of May, June, and July Percentage mutual consent placements Vacancies on first day of school
Improved efficiency and effectiveness of hiring/staffing process
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Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure.
Improved effectiveness of tenured teachers
Teacher Effectiveness Measure for tenured teachers over time Percent of eligible teachers awarded tenure Retention rates of teachers in top quartile of effectiveness Correlation between initial and long-term teacher effectiveness
Increase the retention of effective teachers. Provide financial and nonfinancial recognition to our most effective teachers (based on the new, multidimensional measure of effectiveness) early in their careers. Increase the turnover of the most ineffective teachers. Implement a more effective career management process that supports underperforming teachers who are at risk of being exited.
Improved retention of effective beginning teachers
Reduced number of students with ineffective teachers
Improved effectiveness of under-performing teachers
Number of teachers exited for performance Percentage of teachers below current value-added threshold for bottom 40% Percentage of teachers flagged for performance review who are/are not dismissed
Improve the recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers Build our strategic Human Resources capacity by outsourcing all teacher recruiting and staffing functions to The New Teacher Project.
YEAR 1 (2009-2010)
Milestone 1: Strategic partnership with TNTP finalized and initiated (Fall 2009) Begin recruiting/placing candidates for 2010-11 school year Secure bridge funding from local community partners to fund TNTP before receipt of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Milestone 2: MCS management of the TNTP partnership is formalized Formalize the organizational structure and provide resources to staff the Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness Establish milestones and performance metrics to manage and evaluate the TNTP partnership Identify the reasons that the TNTP partnership with MCS (beginning in 2003-04) did not materialize/expand as originally plannedand apply lessons learned
YEARS 2-5 (2010-14)
Milestone 1: All major components of the TNTP partnership are implemented Continue managing and evaluating the TNTP partnership Create formal processes to ensure the TNTP partnership stays strong and effective
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Better coordinate and leverage outside partnerships that recruit and place high potential teachers in MCS (e.g. Teach for America, Memphis Teacher Residency, Memphis Teaching Fellows).
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Roles and responsibilities clarified for each external partner Formalize the organizational structure and provide resources to staff the Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness Conduct formal negotiations with each partner to clarify and expand their role in the district Create comprehensive recruitment strategy for MCS, including projected role for each partner Milestone 2: Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness established and equipped in order to support and manage the expanded external partnerships Focus Areas: Establish milestones and performance metrics for use in managing and evaluating the expanded external partnerships
YEARS 2-5 (2010-14)
Milestone 1: Impact of each external partner is continually expanded Ultimately, we expect our major external partners to account for approximately 250 new teacher hires per year, or roughly ~30-35% of total hires. A summary of the expected new teacher hires for each partnership is below:
Teach for America ~75 ~75-100 ~100-125 ~125-150 Memphis Teaching Fellows ~50 ~50-60 ~60-70 ~75 Memphis Teacher Residency ~20 ~30 ~40 ~50
Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Actively and formally manage relationships to ensure strong and productive partnerships Adjust partnerships over time (as needed based on data) to leverage areas of special strength Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Detailed plan developed for implementing Tenure Review Boards (Fall 2009) Meaningfully engage a broad set of teachers in the planning process Communicate the new tenure process throughout the district Select and train teachers to serve as Tenure Review Board members Milestone 2: Tenure hearings conducted using new tenure review boardswith existing teacher evaluation process (Spring 2010) Formally launch Tenure Review Boards (March 2010) Make tenure decisions in more rigorous manner, using existing teacher evaluation process Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 37
Note: We are raising the bar for tenure early because we believe that this effort is too important to delay. By necessity, we will utilize the existing teacher evaluation process in making tenure decisions. Although it is flawed, the existing teacher evaluation system provides more insight into teacher performance than is currently considered for the tenure decisions. For example, a review of 2007-08 teacher evaluations shows that between 10-15% of teachers were recommended and received tenure despite receiving formal evaluations that by policy should have disqualified them. Thus, we will immediately begin making better decisions about who receives tenure. We believe that the uneasiness surrounding the new Tenure Review Board will be better received alongside a known evaluation process than would be the case under a new teacher evaluation system that will certainly carry its own unease.
YEAR 2-3 (2010-12)
Milestone 1: Improved teacher evaluations (i.e. based on the developing Teacher Effectiveness Measure) used in tenure decisions Include (1) value-added data for teachers in tested subjects, (2) observations of practice (3) assessments of content knowledge and (4) stakeholder perceptions (as each is piloted) Continue to better utilize old/existing teacher evaluation process as needed
YEARS 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: New teacher evaluation measure is fully implemented in all tenure decisions Include (1) value-added data, (2) evaluative observations, (3) assessments of content knowledge, and (4) stakeholder perceptions in tenure decisions Determine appropriate performance threshold on TEM to inform tenure decisions Increase the retention of effective teachers. Provide financial and non-financial recognition to our most effective teachers (based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure) early in their careers.
YEAR 1 (2009-2010)
Milestone 1: Performance-based retention bonus program designed and communicated to all teachers Collaborate with MEA to structure the guidelines, policies, and communication plan Use existing data sources (e.g. EPIC value-added, principal evaluations, student climate survey, etc.) and application process to identify top quartile teachers to receive bonuses in Fall 2010
YEARS 2-3 (2010-2012)
Milestone 1: Performance-based retention bonus program implemented (i.e. based on the developing Teacher Effectiveness Measure) Award first retention bonus to top quartile of teachers that started in Year 1 In discussions with MEA, MCS will determine how to utilize components of the indevelopment Teacher Effectiveness Measure for awarding performance-based retention
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bonuses (e.g. value-added data, evaluative observations, assessments of content knowledge, stakeholder perceptions) as they are piloted/implemented across MCS Implement formal mechanism for evaluating 1) the impact of retention bonuses and 2) success at predicting long-term teacher effectiveness after first and second years of teaching
YEARS 4-5 (2012-2014)
Milestone 1: Performance-based retention bonus program implemented based on TEM for all Beginning Teachers Award retention bonus to top quartile of new teachers each year based on their TEM Continue formal mechanism for evaluating 1) the impact of retention bonuses and 2) success at predicting long-term teacher effectiveness after first and second years of teaching
Increase the turnover of our most ineffective teachers. Implement a more effective career management process that supports underperforming teachers who are at risk of being exited.
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: New career management process for underperforming teachers is commonly understood across MCS Select and train teachers to serve as Tenure Review Board members Work with MEA to finalize the processes for flagging, supporting, and exiting (when necessary) both tenured and un-tenured teachers Communicate the new career management process throughout the district, messaging that the necessary exiting of some teachers is pro-studentnot anti-teacher Milestone 2: New career management process is implementedwith existing teacher evaluation process Formally launch Tenure Review Boards (March 2010) Begin making career management decisions using existing teacher evaluation process Note: We are beginning this career management process early because we believe that this effort is too important to wait. By necessity, we will utilize the existing, flawed teacher evaluation process. Although it is flawed, the existing teacher evaluation system provides more insight into teacher performance than is currently considered and acted upon in MCS. By initiating this effort in Year 1, we will very quickly begin offering increased support teachers who need itas well as exiting those teachers who are unwilling or unable to improve. In doing so, it will begin to shift the mindset in MCS to the new reality that poor teacher performance will no longer be ignored.
YEAR 2-3(2010-12)
Milestone 1: Improved teacher evaluations (i.e. based on the developing teacher effectiveness measure) used in career management process
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Include (1) value-added data for teachers in tested subjects, (2) observations of practice (3) assessments of teacher knowledge and (4) stakeholder perceptions (as each is piloted) Continue to better utilize old/existing teacher evaluation process as needed
YEAR 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: New teacher evaluation is fully implemented in all career management decisions Include (1) value-added data, (2) evaluative observations, (3) assessments of teacher knowledge, and (4) stakeholder perceptions in tenure decisions OUTCOME #3: WE WILL BETTER SUPPORT, UTILIZE, AND COMPENSATE OUR TEACHERS
Strategies Improve the Teacher Evaluation Process
Expected Results Improved awareness and communication of teacher performance Improved teaching practice
Key Metrics Percentage of teachers receiving evaluations through improved process Percentage of teachers/principals who report that evaluation process is valuable Percentage of teachers who receive correct number of formative observations (i.e. by Beginning, Professional, and Master Teacher status) Percentage of teachers who indicate that professional support is valuable Correlation between teachers observation scores and value-added scores Percentage of students being taught by teachers in the top quartile of effectiveness Percentage of low performing students (e.g. below proficiency) being taught by teachers in top quartile of effectiveness Annual retention rates of most effective teachers Percentage of Beginning Teachers who report that their teaching craft has improved due to support/ guidance from a Master Teacher Average Teacher Effectiveness Measure across district Retention rates / average time of service for effective teachers
Connect professional development to individual need Focus professional support efforts on frequent, individualized formative observations. Create new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of impact and influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment
Expanded student access to the very best teachers
Lengthened teaching careers for our best teachers Improved support to beginning teachers, thus improving their effectiveness and retention
Compensate teachers based on Increased incentive for/recognition of effective differentiated roles and teaching performance Implement a new base compensation structure based on teacher role/performance rather than service time and degree attainment
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Provide performance-based bonus opportunities to groups of teachers based on group attainment of student achievement goals Strategically place our best teachers where they are most needed Place Master Teachers in schools where they are most needed Place the most effective (i.e. Master) teachers with the highest-need students in their schools Cluster high potential teacher recruits in schools that have high concentrations of high-need students
Increased incentive for/ collaboration around effective teaching
Percentage of teachers earning group bonus
Improved learning opportunities for highestneed students
Percentage of Master Teachers students with previous year achievement below MCS average Academic achievement gains among highest-need students Improvement (e.g., proficiency, new teacher retention) among schools participating in clustering of high potential teacher recruits Percent of schools with 2+ Master Teachers (e.g., distribution of most effective teachers throughout MCS)
Improve the Teacher Evaluation Process

YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Understand teachers and principals views of the current evaluation system and desires for new system (based on previously established high level principles). Develop and execute on communication plan regarding high-level vision for new evaluations Convene focus groups and surveys of teachers and principals Report back to teachers and principals on findings from focus groups and surveys Milestone 2: Create detailed plan for Year 2 pilots of new evaluations. Convene task force to develop pilot plan. Membership will likely include MEA leadership, School Operations Leadership, PD / Teacher Center Leadership, Principal and Teacher representatives. Planning will include: - Design of process to be tested, with particular focus on which elements of in-process Teacher Effectiveness Measure to include and what information / commentary must be added to make evaluation process effective - Selection/development of rubrics to be used in teacher observations - Development of principal and teacher training to be used - Selection and hiring of ~5 observers to conduct the pilot observations Solicitation of school site participants in pilot and selection of 15-25 pilot sites (~750 teachers). These will overlap with the sites for improved observation pilots Select 15-25 schools (~750 teachers) that choose to opt-in for teacher evaluation pilots (overlaps with pilots of classroom observation for Teacher Effectiveness Measure) Engage selected sites in finalizing plans for pilot
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YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Pilot program of new evaluation tool and process is conducted in 15-25 schools, with ~750 teachers Provide evaluations to participants in pilot evaluation program. As described in pilot planning process from Year 1, evaluations will be based on the elements of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure available at this time (Value-added data in the tested subjects, pilot evaluative observations, student, principal, and parent survey data, and tests of knowledge where available) Work with teachers involved in pilot program to gather feedback and make improvements where applicable Conduct frequent monitoring of success of pilots, including surveys of teachers and outside observations of progress Frequently monitor the success of pilots via teacher surveys and ongoing monitoring by Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness staff and Project Management Staff Incorporate lessons learned to design year 3 pilot program Recruit and select participant sites for year 3 pilot program
YEAR 3 (2011-12)
Milestone 1: Expand pilot program of evaluations to 100 schools or ~3,500 teachers (in parallel with the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure and professional support pilots) Provide evaluations to participants in pilot evaluation program over the course of the year. As described in pilot planning process from Year 1, evaluations will be based on the elements of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure available at this time (Value-added data in the tested subjects, pilot evaluative observations, student, principal, and parent survey data, and tests of knowledge where available) Work with teachers involved in pilot program to gather feedback and make improvements where applicable Frequently monitor the success of pilots via teacher surveys and ongoing monitoring by Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness staff and Project Management Staff Determine the process for broader implementation in 2012-13 Make joint decision with MEA regarding whether the new evaluation is ready for expanded roll-out in Year 4 Provide significant training and communication to rollout evaluation process to schools
YEAR 4 (2012-13)
Milestone 1: Initial district-wide implementation of new evaluation process (note: pending joint decision with MEA) Monitor implementation closely to identify areas of poor implementation Provide feedback/guidance to schools struggling with new system Apply lessons learned to make changes as needed in Year 5
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YEAR 5 (2013-14)
Milestone 1: Complete district-wide implementation of new evaluation process Monitor implementation closely to identify areas of poor implementation Provide feedback/guidance to schools struggling with new system Connect professional support to individual need. Focus professional support efforts on frequent, individualized formative observations
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Develop and prepare to execute on plan to pilot formative observation process Engage teachers and principals in defining the process and rubric for new observations Engage teachers in process to modify existing exemplary rubric for use in Year 2 pilots Recruit and select schools for pilot (in concert with pilot of evaluation process) Select pilot observers within pilot schools (e.g., likely a combination of teachers and professional development coaches) to conduct formative observations for other teachers Milestone 2: Pilot the new formative observation process with ~100 teachers Pilot observers conduct initial formative observations Create formal processes to evaluate and learn from this pilot roll-out Milestone 3: Plan to expand the new formative observation process in Year 2 Select additional pilot observers to serve as formative observers for expanded Year 3 pilot Plan for Year 3 pilot based on the learnings from Year 2 Pilot Make any required adjustments to observation rubric
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Pilot the new formative observation process for ~1,500 teachers Leverage and coordinate formative observations with the simultaneous pilot program for the new teacher evaluation process Create formal processes to evaluate and learn from this pilot roll-out of the formative observers Plan for Year 3 pilot based on the learnings from Year 2 Pilot Select additional pilot observers to serve as formative observers for expanded Year 3 pilot
YEAR 3 (2011-12)
Milestone 1: Initial large-scale implementation of formative observation for ~5,000 teachers Leverage and coordinate formative observations with the simultaneously growing pilot program for the new teacher evaluation process Incorporate key findings from Year 2 pilot program to improve the observation process Select additional pilot observers to serve as formative observers for district-wide expansion
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YEAR 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: Complete district-wide implementation of the new formative observation process Incorporate key findings from previous pilot programs Monitor implementation closely to identify areas of poor implementation Provide feedback/guidance to schools struggling with new system Shift from pilot observers conducting the formative observations to Master Teachers and aspiring Master Teachers performing formative observations during their planning periods Create new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of impact and influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Introduce the concept of differentiated teacher roles (and differentiated compensation) throughout the district Solicit feedback from teachers to formalize the vision, description, and communication of differentiated teacher roles within MCS Develop plan to communicate the concept of differentiated roles Create more detailed plan for how differentiated roles will be implemented (i.e. logistics, scheduling, etc.) Milestone 2: Develop pilot programs that will test different methods of utilizing Master Teachers (for launch in Year 2) Convene small task force of teachers and administrators to plan for multiple pilot programs for utilizing Master Teachers (e.g. larger regular class sizes, lectures to multiple classes of Beginning teachers, team teaching with Beginning Teachers, creating and offering online courses, etc.) Select schools to run pilot program for differentiated roles (Note: Pilots will need to take place at the school level due significant school-wide impact on scheduling, rosters, and staffing) Work closely with these pilot schools to select their preferred pilot programs Seek outside technical assistance to help schools plan for impact on scheduling, class size, etc. Select and train lead teachers for pilot programs (Note: In pilot phase, we do not intend to select Master Teachers due the temporary nature of pilot roles and the absence of a fully developed Teacher Effectiveness Measure)
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Launch the initial pilot programs of differentiated roles with ~50 lead teachers across approximately 15 schools Implement multiple types of pilot programs Work closely with Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness and MEA-MCS Teacher Center to identify and overcome any key challenges that arise during the school year Gather feedback/data in order to begin evaluating the different types of pilot programs Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009 Page 44
Select additional schools and lead teachers to participate in a larger pilot program in Year 3
YEAR 3 (2011-12)
Milestone 1: Expand pilot programs of differentiated roles across a broader sample of MCS schools (approximately ~300 lead teacher across 50-75 schools) Incorporate key findings from initial pilot program Work closely with Teacher Center to identify and overcome any key challenges Milestone 2: Make decisions regarding the relative effectiveness of different ways of utilizing Master (i.e. lead) Teachers Evaluate the different models tested in the pilot programs Make decisions regarding the success of various models for utilizing Master Teachers Plan for broader roll-out of differentiated roles across the district
YEAR 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: Expand roll-out of differentiated teacher roles/compensation across the district, with approximately 500 Master Teachers in year 4 and 600 in year 5. (Note: Master Teachers identified based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure) Implement differentiated roles throughout the district based on findings from previous pilots Begin to identify teachers career status (~500 Master Teachers in Year 4 and ~600 Master Teachers in year 5) based on the implementation of the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure Continue gathering feedback/data to evaluate the impact of differential roles across the district Compensate teachers based on differentiated roles and performance. Implement a new base compensation structure based on teacher role/performance rather than service time and degree attainment Implementation of the new compensation structure will correspond directly with the implementation of the new differentiated teacher roles. The roll-out plan for differentiated roles (and differentiated compensation) involves extensive planning in year 1, pilot programs of ~50 lead teachers in year 2 and ~300 lead teachers in year 3, followed by implementation in years 4 and 5. A summary of the implications for teacher compensation is below: Year 1: All teachers on current compensation schedule Year 2: All teachers on current compensation schedule; stipends for ~50 lead teachers - New teachers begin on the new salary schedule. However, these teachers continue to receive the current base salary but with expectation of shifting to the new salary schedule after earning tenure at the end of Year 4 Year 3: All teachers on current compensation schedule; stipends for ~300 lead teachers - New teachers begin on the new salary schedule. However, these teachers continue to receive the current base salary but with expectations of shifting to the new salary schedule after earning tenure at the end of Year 5 Year 4: District-wide implementation of new compensation schedule on opt-in basis:
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- All new teachers begin their careers on the new compensation schedule - Existing teachers have the opportunity to opt-in to the new salary schedule. Teachers that opt-in will be placed at a career status based on their level of effectiveness as measured by the TEM. Teachers that are eligible for higher compensation will be switched to the new schedule; however, no teacher will have their salary reduced based on their new career status. The teachers who do not opt-in will remain on the existing salary schedule - Approximately 500 Master teachers will be identified for enhanced responsibilities and additional compensation. (Note: Maintaining Master status will be contingent on successful future performance on the TEM) Year 5: District-wide implementation of new compensation schedule on opt-in basis: - All new teachers begin their careers on the new compensation schedule. - Existing teachers have the opportunity to opt-in to the new salary schedule. Teachers that opt-in will be placed at a career status based on their level of effectiveness as measured by the TEM. Teachers that are eligible for higher compensation will be switched to the new schedule; however, no teacher will have their salary reduced based on their new career status. The teachers that do not opt-in will remain on the existing salary schedule - Status for teachers that opted-in to the new schedule is confirmed based on TEM performance (Note: Some teachers might be moved from the Master Teacher role to the Professional Teacher role and therefore have compensation reduced) - Approximately 600 Master Teachers are identified for enhanced responsibilities and additional compensation (Note: Maintaining Master status is contingent on maintaining successful performance on the TEM) In addition to determining a teachers career status, the TEM will be used to determine annual increases in compensation. MCS anticipates that all annual increases in salary would be contingent on meeting/maintaining certain thresholds of performance. Provide performance-based bonus opportunities to groups of teachers based on group attainment of student achievement goals
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Design pilot of new group performance-based bonus opportunity to launch in 5-10 schools in year 2 Solicit input from teachers regarding the design of the group bonus program (leveraging the districts experience with the EPIC grant as a foundation) Select group of schools for participation in pilot program
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Conduct group bonus incentive pilot program in 5-10 schools Conduct intensive teacher training at pilot schools Launch pilot program Milestone 2: Transition management of EPIC grant program from Mathematica to REA Gain access to all Mathematica data needed to conduct the program internally (e.g. Mathematicas value-added algorithm) Build internal capability to design and administer group bonus incentive program internally
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YEAR 3-5 (2011-14)
Milestone 1: Roll-out group bonus incentive program district-wide Intensive training and communication to educate teachers throughout the district Create formal processes necessary to ensure effectiveness of group bonus incentive program Based on data-driven approach, adjust the group bonus incentive program as needed to ensure maximum effectiveness (Note: MCS might continue EPIC grant with NLNS (re-worked to be aligned to new MCS Teacher Effectiveness Measure) rather than implement a new group bonus incentive program) Strategically place our best teachers where they are most needed Place the most effective (i.e. Master) teachers with the highest-need students in their schools
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Formalize requirements/role of Master Teachers (part of Differentiated Roles initiative) Familiarize teachers with the urgency of placing the most effective teachers with the highestneed students within schools Develop process to identify the highest-need students within schools
YEARS 2-3 (2010-12)
Milestone 1: Pilot Master Teacher (i.e. lead teacher) role, while continuing development of Teacher Effectiveness Measure. (Note: Details are described in the Implementation descriptions of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (pg.32) and differentiated teacher roles (pg.43) Work with schools that will have Master Teachers in year 4 to work out how to assign teachers to classes
YEARS 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: Master Teachers teach classes with the highest-need students Ensure that secondary level Master Teachers teach classes with high need students (e.g. nonAP classes, ninth grade introductory courses, etc.) for at least half of their teaching load Milestone 2: Distribute Master Teacher to schools with greatest need Identify schools with need for greater presence of Master Teachers and make transfers (as per expectations associated with the Master Teacher role) Cluster high potential teacher recruits in schools that have high concentrations of highneed students Implementation of this strategy is inherently linked to multiple TEI initiatives focused on improving the recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers. The process of strategically clustering new teacher hires will therefore proceed in tandem with the roll-out plan for recruitment and hiring, which involves greatly expanding the districts partnership with TNTP and better coordinating and leveraging external partners (e.g. Teach for America, Memphis Teacher Residency, Memphis Teaching Fellows). As these relationships will evolve overtime,
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we similarly expect the strategy of clustering high potential teachers to be continually refined. For detail on key milestones and related focus areas, please refer to section detailing the implementation of these teacher recruitment efforts (p. 35)
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Identify set of high-needs schools that would benefit the most from receiving a group of high potential recruits from MCS strongest external recruiting partners Coordinate with TNTP to determine most appropriate participants in clustering strategy Formalize recruiting strategy to most effectively leverage external partners for these schools
YEARS 2-5 (2010-14)
Milestone 1: Groups of high-potential teachers from external partners are placed in selected schools Continued partnership between TNTP (recruiting and staffing) and the regional superintendents and school principals Analyze results across different schools and from different sources of high-potential candidates and adjust placement accordingly OUTCOME #4: WE WILL IMPROVE THE SURROUNDING CONTEXTS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
TO FOSTER EFFECTIVE TEACHING
Strategies Improved principal leadership capacity
Expected Results Improve principal support for productive learning environments
Key Metrics Average teachers principal satisfaction scores Individual Principals retention of top quartile teachers Percentage of schools with Principal satisfaction scores above threshold of top 25% and below threshold of bottom 10% based climate survey Percentage of class time spent in active teaching/ learning process Number of fights / violent incidents Percentage of teachers who report that discipline problems significantly impede the teaching/learning process Student and teacher satisfaction results from School Climate Survey Student mobility rate Retention rates of effective teachers
Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching/learning
Increased accessibility to the core teaching/learning process (i.e. improved student behavior)
Higher levels of teacher and student satisfaction Improved teacher retention
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Develop a new technology platform that will support the data-driven decision-making that is crucial for the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative
Increased accessibility and usability of data related to teacher effectiveness
Percentage of relevant staff trained on ERP system Usage rates for ERP system
Improve principal leadership capacity

YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Formalize the expanded role of the MCS Urban Education Center for providing principal training Coordinate the UEC as the vehicle for principal training throughout the district Include newly created content in 2009 UEC Executive Leadership Program Milestone 2: Formalize strategy to bolster effectiveness of existing Principals by providing additional support Design process for leveraging newly bolstered principal support team (e.g., 10 principals per additional support resource) Recruit and hire for these new intensive support positions Milestone 3: Leverage major sources (UEC Executive Leadership program, New Leaders for New Schools) to develop strong new principals and strategically place them in schools Determine schools in need of leadership change based on principal performance management Identify promising principal and assistant principal candidates through UEC and NLNS Move high-performing principals and place new principals where they are needed most
YEARS 2-5 (2010-14)
Milestone 1: Build principal capacity necessary to support the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Establish detailed calendar of professional development for existing school principals conducted through the UEC platform Continue to provide significant on-going professional development content focused on principal need Milestone 2: Implement new principal support system New hires collaborate with Regional Superintendents to provide more intensive support (e.g., 10 principals per support resource) to select group of principals Continue monitoring existing principals to determine relative strength and weaknesses Expand the principal support system to additional principals as needed Milestone 3: Continue to leverage major sources (New Leaders for New Schools, UEC Executive Leadership program) to develop strong new Principals and strategically place them in schools Determine schools in need of leadership change based on principal performance management Identify promising principal and assistant principal candidates through UEC and NLNS Move high-performing Principals and place new Principals where they are needed most
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Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching/learning

YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Establish norms for a culture of achievement within the district Incorporate guidance and training from The Efficacy Institute regarding communicating high expectations approaches to schools throughout the district Conduct district leadership training and support to align the leadership team with the beliefs and actions needed to support this approach Milestone 2: Provide culture building leadership training to enable principals to foster high expectations, decorum, teamwork, and respect in their schools Conduct needs assessment in collaboration with the Efficacy Institute to identify needs and challenges of specific schools and feeder patterns Provide group sessions for school leadership teams as well as individualized coaching for principals Provide direct training to teachers as well as parents/families in ~30 schools in the district Use a train the trainer approach to build capacity within the district
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Certify MCS personnel as Efficacy Trainers Efficacy Trainers will conduct a series of training seminars for certifying new MCS Trainers to carry out future training sessions for school leaders, teachers, and parents/families Milestone 2: Continuation of school culture building leadership training Conduct additional district leadership training Conduct needs assessment in collaboration with the Efficacy Institute to identify needs and the challenges in place within specific schools and feeder patterns Provide group sessions for school leadership teams as well as individualized coaching for specific principals
YEAR 3-5 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Continue building capacity by certifying MCS personnel as Efficacy Trainers Focus on trainer support and new trainer certification In year 3, all school training conducted by certified MCS trainers In year 4-5, focus on recertification for Trainers Milestone 2: Continue school culture building leadership training throughout the district (e.g., senior leadership, Regional Superintendents, Principals) Continue leadership training for district leadership team as well as in-depth execution support to regional teams Continue training for school leadership teams and in-depth coaching for selected Principals
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Develop a new technology platform that will support the data-driven decision-making that is crucial for the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative
YEAR 1 (2009-10)
Milestone 1: Launch the ERP Enterprise Resource Planning tool Implement core Human Resources applications (e.g. Human resources and position management tools, Payroll, iRecruitment, Time & Labor, Advanced Benefits, Self HR, Learning Management, Performance Management)
YEAR 2 (2010-11)
Milestone 1: Launch iRecruitment, Learning Management and Performance Management tools Provide complete training on Human Resources systems Use recruitment tools to support district recruitment process Track course offerings and attendance via the learning management tool
YEAR 3 (2011-12)
Milestone 1: Launch the performance evaluation tool Link to value-added, observation, stakeholder perception and teacher knowledge evaluation data Link professional development course completion and content evaluation to track Teacher Effectiveness Measure
YEAR 4-5 (2012-14)
Milestone 1: Continue to expand ERP system offerings to support teacher effectiveness initiatives within the district Identify additional tools required to support teacher effectiveness initiatives Continue to refine evaluation, recruiting and professional development tools to support the needs of the district
CAPTURING LESSONS LEARNED AND EVALUATION

RESEARCH AND EVALUATION GOALS How much and what kind of impact does the effectiveness of a childs teacher(s) have on the quality and quantity of student learning? Simply stated, this Teacher Effectiveness Initiative will help build context surrounding this idea by addressing such issues as how, why, and in what circumstances teachers impact student learning. PROPOSED LEARNING AGENDA AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS Our learning goals will increasingly come into focus as we proceed with this effort. We already have many far-reaching questions, and we will surely arrive at challenging new questions and exciting new answers as we proceed and learn. To begin with, however, we offer the following formative and summative research questions:
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SUMMATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is the relationship of the three TEM inputs (e.g. observation of practice, teacher knowledge, and stakeholder feedback) to the outcome of achieving growth in student achievement scores? How many exposures to effective teachers is sufficient to ensure student academic success? How direct is the impact of an effective teacher on a students life outcomes (e.g., high school graduation rate, post-secondary enrollment and graduation rates, job-readiness)? What are the relative impacts of our various chosen strategies for improving teacher effectiveness? For example, which is more powerful: recruiting high potential teachers or better supporting existing teachers? (i.e. Are effective teachers born or made?) FORMATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS What personal/professional characteristics are most associated with a teachers effectiveness? If we know more about what teacher effectiveness looks like, how can we best select for it in our recruits, and can we most effectively train veteran teachers to be more effective? Is it possible to expand the impact of our best teachers (i.e., effectively teach greater numbers of students)? If so, how does that work and what does the new structure of school look like? In what ways do financial incentives impact teacher performance? What does it mean to have positive school culture and how/why does this matter? Does effective teaching take the same shape for all student populations across the district? PLAN AND PROCESS FOR ANSWERING RESEARCH QUESTIONS As a research partner with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and as a participant in an intensive partnership grant, Memphis City Schools will establish and support an Evidence-Based Review Team (EBRT) that will collect, analyze, and report to the larger community results from both the research study (e.g., how the implementation of video orbs as the data collection mechanism for observing teachers in their classrooms is proceeding) and the intensive partnership (e.g., what tests of teacher knowledge are most highly correlated with evidence of student growth). This team will consist of 12 members: five from MCS, five from Memphis higher education and corporate partners, and two external reviewers (one specialist in methodology and one content expert in K-12 education). This steering group will provide biannual reports to be used by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, MCS district leaders, the MCS Board of Commissioners, the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Advisory Board, and the Memphis community for the effective use of evidence from the project and continued guidance from outside the daily workings of the grant. Using interim findings to course correct during implementation Our Strategic Planning and Accountability staff will focus on the overall management of TEI implementation, including planning mid-course adjustments. This on-going planning will be supported by the ability of Research, Evaluation, and Assessment to provide high quality data and drive the research agenda described above.
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Sharing interim and final findings with the foundation, key stakeholders, and the field With our high levels of capacity in REA, Memphis City Schools will be able to report findings according to the schedule that is desired by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Within REA, the program evaluation staff regularly meets deadlines for the Annual (and Interim) Performance Reports (APRs) required by the federal and state grants our district holds. MCS is well positioned to communicate findings to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our stakeholders, and the larger field. Initial plans for sharing findings include the following: Regular meetings of the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Initiative executive committee to discuss lessons learned A weekly From 30K (REAs internal data-based memo) that shares Teacher Effectiveness Initiative data with key district staff and the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Advisory Board Quarterly, data-driven meetings of the MCS Teacher Effectiveness Advisory Board - At least four peer-reviewed publications each year on teacher effectiveness (working with our research partners) - Annual reports produced and shared with all stakeholders Working with third party evaluators and researchers Memphis City Schools has a long history of successful collaborations with external research partners. Currently, we are working with several partners including Mathematica Policy Research, Jobs for the Future, RAND, and The Center for Research on Education Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis. In addition to being bold and innovative as an Intensive Partnership site, Memphis City Schools is committed to being a strong collaborative partner for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation research project. We feel this two-year study will be a seminal effort to evaluate the role of value-added data in K-12 and look forward to participating. We are excited about this future learning process and are committed to taking full advantage of this tremendous opportunity to learn more about the inputs to and results of effective teaching.
PROJECT BUDGET
OVERVIEW AND TOTAL REQUEST The total five-year cost for the TEI plan is $155.95MM. Of this total, MCS is requesting a total $99.6MM from the Bill and Melinda Gants Foundation. The district plans to contribute $36.1MM over the five years to directly fund TEI costs. In addition, MCS will contribute $32.8MM over the five years to establish a reserve fund that is incremental to the $155.9MM. This will fund any unanticipated costs as well as bridge the run-rate cost of funding a new compensation plan. Finally, MCS anticipates local philanthropic support contributing $20.2MM over the grant period, which is reflected as private and other revenue in the budget template. The district has worked hard to establish an Advisory Board with representation from major local foundations and has aligned their anticipated contributions to support particular components that align with their vision and funding history.
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Additional detail for the costs is included in the attached budget template and is described below. COMMON, AGREED-UPON DEFINITION OF EFFECTIVE TEACHING A major focus of funding, particularly early in the grant period, will be to support the creation of the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM). The primary purposes for the funds will be to create the Office of TEM and to develop each component of the new measure. To support the TEM office, the district will need 7 additional FTEs at a total annual cost of $670K. In addition, to support the development of each component of the new TEM, $750K will be required annually to purchase additional assessments for grades K-2; $1.3MM is required to develop the new rubric and the technology to support classroom observation, and $600K annually to purchase the TRIPOD survey and other tools to capture stakeholder perceptions. These estimates are based on district benchmarks and market prices. The FTE costs are based on the current salary schedule; the cost of assessments and TRIPOD surveys are based on market prices and the observation-related costs are based on previous district experience. Overall, we are confident that this budget accurately reflects the cost of establishing this initiative. SMARTER DECISIONS ABOUT WHO TEACHES OUR STUDENTS To support the district in human capital management, there are five major cost components: 1) $1.4MM in additional FTEs to create the Office of Teacher Talent and Effectiveness, 2) $2.8MM in annual costs to support the partnership with TNTP, 3) $200K in annual stipends to operate the Tenure Review Boards, 4) $1.5MM to provide targeted retention bonuses and 5) $500K in annual costs for increased legal and labor arbitrations fees due to more aggressive career management expectations. Many of these costs have been estimated based on district experience. The cost to support TNTP has been provided to the district as part of the new proposal to extend their existing partnership. BETTER SUPPORT, UTILIZE, AND COMPENSATE OUR TEACHERS Supporting and recognizing the districts most effective teachers is a core element of the proposal. To support the development of a new evaluation process, the district will invest $1.5MM in stipends to involve teachers in the development and piloting of the new process. To connect PD to the individual needs of teacher, an additional $1.9MM will be spent annually on 25 high quality classroom observers and $350K for additional digital PD content. To recognize and reward effective teachers, $2MM will be used for technical assistance and stipends to help schools plan for differentiated roles and for lead teachers to pilot the Master teacher role in
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years 2 and 3. Starting in years 4 and 5, the new compensation schedule will be launched which will require an additional $28MM to support the new schedule (i.e., $3MM in higher salaries for Beginning Teachers, $14MM for Professional Teachers and $1lMM for Master Teachers). Finally, $4.8MM of group goals will be used to increase the current group goal incentive program from 5% to approximately 20% of teachers. The costs to support, utilize and compensate our teachers are based on district experience. The cost for new FTEs is based on the districts salary schedule. The costs of new professional development content and performance-based bonus programs are based on existing contracts (e.g., current Teachscape contract has been used to estimate new digital content cost and existing EPIC grant has been used to estimate cost of incentive program). To determine the incremental costs of the new salary schedule, a model was created to project the shift in compensation based on the expected placement of all teachers onto the new schedule. While we are confident in our projections, potential risks exist that we feel can be mitigated. These include: 1) for example, if video-based observations prove unfeasible, more specialized evaluators may be required to provide professional classroom observations. This could be mitigated by either increasing the number of observers (additional $1.1MM) or leveraging the existing district coaches (PDSCCs); 2) Also, further planning that will occur to fully develop the new salary schedule, estimates of incremental compensation costs may change. We have worked through the MEA to confirm our assumptions and believe, if need be, compensation targets could be adjusted slightly while still providing premium compensation to the most effective teachers. IMPROVE THE SURROUNDING CONTEXTS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS TO FOSTER EFFECTIVE TEACHING To support improved school culture, $4.5MM will be used cumulatively to foster a culture and behavior of high expectations within the district by funding Efficacy Institute training throughout the district and additional technical assistance. To build principal capacity, $6.1MM will be used to fund New Leaders for New Schools, additional support programs from the Urban Education Center and five additional FTEs working with the Regional Superintendants to help support principals. The budget also includes $13MM between Year 1 and Year 2 to fund the implementation of the human resource components of the ERP system. (Note: The cost of ERP system is included in the Implementation and Infrastructure section of the budget template) The costs associated with improving the context for effective teaching are all based on actual proposals and estimated FTE costs from the districts salary schedule. As with any contract, the potential risks for this budget come from higher costs and longer implementation time than expected. To mitigate this risk, the district will develop comprehensive implementation schedules with multiple milestones and check-ins to ensure implementation stays on-track or course corrected if need be. OVERALL IMPLEMENTATION/ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE To support the overall execution of TEI the district will partner with a number of firms with the expertise to support implementation. These partnerships include: 1) $3MM in technical assistance, 2) $630K in communication support, 3) $500K in finance support to improve the budgeting process, and 4) $800K for training and development for Board and MEA leadership.
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An additional $250K per year will be used to support the districts fiscal agent and the required additional resources within the MCS finance department to support fiscal management. These cost estimates have been based on benchmarks from leading professional service firms, previous grants to support district leadership training (e.g., RGA training for Governance reform with the Board of Directors) and from similar foundation operating costs. While benchmarks have been used to support the development of this budget, there is a risk that the costs from partners is higher than expected or that the fiscal agent requires additional support. To mitigate this risk, the district could re-allocate funds spent with other contract providers on additional technical assistant needs. To support the fiscal agent, existing FTEs could be leveraged within the district (e.g., the additional FTE added to the MCS finance department, the additional FTE added to Performance Management group). PLAN FOR FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY To support the TEI efforts after the grant period ends, the district will be required to support a run-rate cost of approximately $46MM in perpetuity ($3MM of which will come from community partners). Of this total $46MM in run-rate costs, $35MM is attributed to additional compensation paid to teachers in the form of the new salary schedule as well as group and retention bonuses. The rest of these costs are related to additional personnel and infrastructure required to sustain this work. A strategic financial plan has been created to re-allocate $68.7MM to TEI during the first five years and fund the ongoing run-rate cost by identifying opportunities to refocus existing initiatives and achieve cost savings within the district. The core components of this plan include: 1. Re-focusing existing Professional Development spending within the General Fund: ~$10MM over the next five years; ~$6MM per year after year five Within the General Fund, $16MM is spent on Professional Development for teachers. The majority of this expenditure is teacher in-service days and other PD projects deemed critical to support teacher development. $3MM will be re-allocated for TEI by reducing substitute teacher expenses related to off-site training courses and eliminating existing ineffective contracts with third-party professional development providers. An addition $3MM of existing PD funding will be re-focused to support TEI. 2. Eliminating special projects within the General Fund: $8MM over the next five years; ~$10MM per year after year five The district currently invests in a number of projects that provide instructional coaching and other classroom support to teachers (e.g., Math Improvement). As initiatives are implemented to provide more effective evaluation, more frequent observation, and expanded roles for master teachers, the need for these support functions will diminish. $8MM will be re-allocated to support programs within the TEI proposal. Additionally, $8MM is spent annually on inclassroom instructional aides. Some of these aides will no longer be required as teachers are able to manage their classrooms without this additional support; $2MM can be re-allocated to TEI.
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3. Re-deployment of Federal Funds: ~$15MM over the next five years; ~$10MM per year after year five MCS receives approximately $126MM in federal funding each year. Although these funds have restrictions on their usage, most of our TEI initiatives are focused on predominantly low-income schools, Title I Part A, Title II Part B and Title I School Improvement can, generally, be used to support teacher effectiveness. $10MM will be re-allocated to support TEI by eliminating existing ineffective professional development training services and other special projects. 4. Re-structuring opportunities: ~$37MM over the next five years; ~$18MM per year after year five MCS has identified a number of restructuring opportunities within the district that will be phased-in over the next five years to support TEI. These include: 1) $8MM re-allocated by adjusting school staffing. A number of classes within the district have a lower teacher to student ratio than what is required by Tennessee state standards. As teachers become more effective, they will be able to handle slightly larger class sizes. Over the next five years, the number of students per class can gradually increase by two students while remaining within state requirements. 2) $8MM of business efficiencies (e.g., re-negotiating large district contracts) 3) $2MM will be re-allocated to TEI by rationalizing HR through outsourcing. TEI Reserve Fund MCS recognizes that with a bold long-term plan such as this one, there is much we cannot know in advance. Therefore, we will allocate some of the savings each year to a reserve fund ($32.6MM of the $68.7MM total MCS savings will be allocated to the reserve fund over the next five years). This fund will provide for additional costs that were not anticipated in this plan. In addition, a key component of this proposal is the new compensation schedule. To fund this new schedule the district will run parallel systems over a period after the end of the grant. To provide adequate time for the district to introduce these changes, the TEI reserve fund will be used to bridge the run-rate cost of the compensation plan in years 6 through 9. Over the next five years, the district will contribute $32.6MM in additional savings to the reserve fund. FISCAL AGENT The Memphis City Schools Foundation will be the fiscal agent for the grant. The Foundations Board of Directors has been very aggressive in its commitment to ensure this completely separate/independent entity is operating on a solid basis that will give benefactors a high level of comfort knowing resources will be managed appropriately with an oversight team that has the credibility and integrity to ensure transparency. The Board of Directors represents a cross section of the Memphis community, including individuals from business, philanthropic, social and education sectors. The Memphis City Schools Foundation has been approved to operate as a charitable organization by both the Tennessee State Division of Business Services and Division of Charitable Solicitations and Gaming under Tennessee Charitable Solicitations Act, T.C.A. 48-101-501, et seq. The foundation also received formal status as a 401c3 organization according to the IRS. The foundation will utilize third party accounting and auditing firms to enhance the internal controls, fiscal integrity and accountability as outlined in its final draft of its policies and procedures manual. The foundations Executive Committee recently recommended Vince
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McCaskill to serve as its Interim Executive Director to oversee successful implementation of all policies and procedures outlined in the final draft of the foundations operations and procedures manual. Mr. McCaskill has led the effort to establish the foundation. The foundations chairperson, Ms. Kim Wirth, is also the Executive Director of the International Paper Foundation for Global Giving in her day job responsibilities. The foundations secretary, Ms. Diane Terrell, is the Vice President of Corporate Communications for FedEx and an officer on its Corporate Board. The foundations treasurer, Mr. William Mitchell, is a broker for the Mid-Souths largest real estate company (Crye-Leike Realtors). Mr. Mitchell has an extensive background in financial management. The above referenced individuals comprise the foundations Executive Committee. While the foundation is new, the people who are associated with it are experienced, respected and have exhibited their ability to be independent and strategic. The framework is in place to give us that solid foundation to build upon.
SUSTAINABILITY
Through the planning process, the TEI Executive Committee has focused on the critical need to ensure that the bold plan we enact over the next five years is sustainable after the grant period ends. Our sustainability plan focuses on two main elements: organizational sustainability and financial sustainability. ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY As noted in the Organizational Capacity and Partnerships section of the proposal, MCS has put in place multiple elements to ensure that the important work of TEI is sustained over time. We recognize that leadership changes and other environmental factors can often change priorities in any district, so we have put in place organizations and processes to ensure that MCS does not waver in its commitment to following through on this agenda. Establishment of the TEI Executive Steering Committee and TEI Implementation Team will provide senior-level organizational focus on sustained follow-through and fidelity to implementation. Creation of external advisory boards will maintain constructive pressure on the district to successfully implement the TEI plan. The TEI Advisory Board is comprised of the leading local philanthropic and business leaders and has been supporting the development of this plan. In addition, in collaboration with colleagues at MEA, we plan to create the MCS-MEA Teacher Center, which will be a joint body of MCS and MEA leadership that will continue to provide ongoing input to the implementation of the TEI plan. Capacity-building training for our leadership team, MEA colleagues, and Board of Commissioners will ensure that we are able to continue to build on the productive and collaborative relationships that have been developed over the past year. This ongoing maintenance of these relationships will be critical to strengthening the leadership groups ability to navigate the expected challenging times during the implementation period.
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FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY As noted in the Budget section, MCS has taken concrete steps to ensure that we can continue to implement the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative after the grant period ends and beyond. We have taken two main actions to do so: First, the district undertook a strategic analysis of its cost structure to identify $44MM in run-rate savings that can be realized on an ongoing basis after the five-year grant period to support our initiatives. While no savings opportunities are easy to realize, we are confident that the opportunities identified in the budget section are achievable. Second, cognizant of the fact unknown costs are sure to arise in such a bold plan, we will allocate some of the realized cost savings to a TEI reserve fund. This fund will total $32.7MM in year five. To the extent that the reserve fund is not needed during the life of the grant, it will support our efforts to transition teachers from the old compensation plan to the new plan in years six through nine as further cost savings are realized.
CONCLUSION
Memphis City Schools is pleased to submit this Teacher Effectiveness Initiative to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for funding consideration. Our students (and citys) need for the transformative work described here is great. With an appropriate sense of urgency, we are anxious to begin work on the bold plan we have developed. We recognize that this will be hard work, but we are confident that we can successfully implement this thoughtful plan. Our confidence is bolstered by the fact that Memphis City Schools approaches this work with substantial momentum: a new, results-focused leadership team is gaining traction; district leadership and the Memphis Education Association enjoy a collaborative relationship; the Board of Commissioners has developed strong capacity to support a bold reform agenda; and local community support is energized and enthusiastic. We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in this process, and we look forward to engaging with the Foundation at our final convening in Seattle.
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APPENDIX: TABLE OF CONTENTS

Student Impact, Outcomes and Execution Milestones Template Selected Baseline Data Comparison of Current and Proposed Compensation Plans Overview of MCS TEI Advisory Board 61 67 71 72
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STUDENT IMPACT, OUTCOMES, AND EXECUTION MILESTONES

Current Status Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Progress Year Progress Year Progress Year Progress Year Progress Year 1 2 3 4 5 30% 36% 44% 50% 64%
Student Impact
TCAP Percentile: District Average Predicted ACT Score: Current High School Graduation Rate:
30% 17.1
(NOTE: Reflects likely drop in score in 2009-2010 given requirement for all students to take ACT)
17.1 67%
17.4 68%
17.7 70%
18.2 72%
19.0 75%
67%
We will use a common, agreed-upon process to define and measure what we deem to be effective teaching
% of Teachers with Complete TEM % Teachers with Value-Added Growth Measures % Teachers with Professional Observations %Teachers with Assessment of Content Knowledge Stakeholder Perceptions None 3% 20% 70% 100% 100%
Strategic Outcome: Common Measure
30%
55%
65%
65%
65%
65%
None
3%
20%
70%
100%
100%
None
Plan
Pilot
100%
100%
100%
Climate surveys
Plan
Pilot
100%
100%
100%
We will make smarter decisions about who teaches our students

% of MCS Teachers with Value-Add Score Above Current Threshold for Top 20%
20%
20%
23%
25%
28%
30%
Strategic Outcome: Smarter Decisions
Increased 1 Year Retention of Top Quartile of All New Teachers (e.g., Retention Bonus recipients) Increased 3 Year Retention of Top Quartile of All New Teachers (e.g., Retention Bonus recipients) % of Teachers below current threshold for bottom two
80% retention
80% retention
83% retention
85% retention
88% retention
90% retention
60% retention
Same
Same
Same
70% retention
80% retention
40%
40%
38%
34%
29%
23%
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effectiveness quintiles Current Status Anticipated Progress Year 1 Anticipated Progress Year 2 Anticipated Progress Year 3 Anticipated Progress Year 4 Anticipated Progress Year 5
We will better support, utilize, and compensate our teachers

% of Teachers Receiving New Evaluation Number of Master Teachers % of Schools With 2+ Master Teachers 0% 0% 0% Plan Plan NA 11% Pilot (50) 70% Pilot (300) NA 100% 500 Master Teachers 100% 600 Master Teachers
Support, Utilize & Compensate
NA
33% of schools 75% of schools
We will improve the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching
% Schools with School Climate Score Above Current Threshold for Top 25% of Schools
25%
25%
30%
35%
40%
50%
Strategic Outcome: Improving Surrounding Context
% of Schools with School Climate Score Below Current Threshold for Bottom 10% % of Schools with Principal Satisfaction Score on Climate Survey Above Current Threshold for Top 25% of Schools % of Schools with Principal Satisfaction Score on Climate Survey Below Current Threshold for Bottom 10%
10%
10%
8%
5%
3%
0%
25%
25%
30%
35%
40%
50%
25%
25%
30%
35%
40%
50%
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Current Status
Anticipated Progress Year 1
Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Progress Progress Year Progress Year Year 3 4 5
We will make smarter decisions about who teaches our students
Execution Milestones
Improve recruitment and hiring of high potential teachers through partnership with TNTP Better coordinate and leverage outside partnerships that recruit and place high potential teachers in MCS MCS handles teacher recruiting/ staffing internally TNTP partnership finalized and initiated All major components of the TNTP partnership are implemented
Limited coordination of outside partnerships

TFA = ~50 MTF = ~45 MTR = 0
Teacher Talent Office established and coordinates outside partners # of teachers:

TFA = ~75 MTF = ~50 MTR = ~20
Current volume: # of teachers:

TFA = ~75 MTF = ~50 MTR = ~20
# of teachers:
TFA = ~75-100 MTF = ~50-60 MTR = ~30
# of teachers:
# of teachers:
TFA = ~100-125 TFA = ~125-150 MTF = ~60-70 MTF = ~75 MTR = ~40 MTR = ~50
Execution Milestones: Smarter Decisions
Increase the retention of effective teachers, particularly early in their careers
No targeted retention program in place
Performance-based retention bonus program designed and communicated
Performancebased retention bonus program implemented: awards given to top 25% of new teachers Tenure hearings conducted for all teachers using existing evaluations, stakeholder perception data Tenure hearings conducted for all teachers using existing evaluations, stakeholder perception data Tenure hearings conducted for all teachers using full Teacher Effectiveness Measure Tenure hearings conducted for all teachers using full Teacher Effectiveness Measure
Raise the bar and improve the process for granting tenure
Tenure decision process dependent primarily on individual principal recommendation
Detailed plan developed for implementing Tenure Review Boards (Fall 2009) Tenure hearings conducted for all teachers using existing evaluations Full pool of Tenure Review Board Members selected and trained; processes developed with MEA and communicated Initial group of low performing teachers flagged for review Tenure review boards formally launched (3/10) and make recommendations on first cohort based on available data
Increase the turnover of our most ineffective teachers
Dismissal of existing teachers done on ad hoc basis
Low performing teachers flagged for review Tenure review boards make recommendations based on available data Tenure review boards make recommendations based on available data Tenure review boards make recommendations on full Teacher Effectiveness Measure Tenure review boards make recommendations on full Teacher Effectiveness Measure
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Current Status
We will better support, utilize, and compensate our teachers
Improve the teacher evaluation process Teacher Detailed plan for evaluations based Year 2 pilots mostly on completed principals classroom observation Professional development is focused primarily through sit and get sessions All teachers have same level of responsibility (regardless of effectiveness) New formative observation process piloted with ~100 teachers Concept of differentiated teacher roles and differentiated compensation introduced Pilot program of new evaluation tool launched in 15-25 schools with ~750 teachers New formative observation process piloted with ~1,500 teachers Pilot programs of differentiated roles conducted with ~50 lead teachers across approximately 15 schools Expanded pilot program of evaluations launched in 100 schools with ~3,500 teachers New formative observation process implemented with ~5,000 teachers Pilot programs of differentiated roles conducted (approximately ~300 lead teachers across 50-75 schools) Decisions made regarding the ROI of different ways of utilizing Master (i.e. lead) teachers Existing teachers remain on current compensation schedule; New teachers given expectation that salary schedule post-tenure will be based on performance & accomplishment Existing teachers remain on current compensation schedule; New teachers given expectation that salary schedule post-tenure will be based on performance & accomplishment New compensation schedule introduced: New teachers begin on new schedule New evaluation process using TEM Measure launched for all schools, all teachers New formative observation process implemented district-wide ~500 Master teachers named based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure ~600 Master teachers in year 5 (incremental naming of ~100 based on the new Teacher Effectiveness Measure)
Execution Milestones: Support, Utilize and Compensate
Connect professional support opportunities to individual need Creates new and differentiated career paths that promote teachers to increasing levels of impact and influence based on their effectiveness and accomplishment
Pilot programs developed
MCS implements a new base compensation structure based on teacher role/performance rather than service time and degree attainment
Existing salary schedule rewards service time and additional degrees rather than effectiveness
All teachers on current compensation schedule
New compensation system run in parallel with old system for those that opted out:
New teachers Existing teachers begin on new opt-in to new plan schedule and are converted to preliminary Professional or Master status based on their performance on the Teacher Effectiveness Measure Teachers that opt-out continue on current salary schedule
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Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Anticipated Current Status Progress Year 1 Progress Year 2 Progress Year 3 Progress Year 4 Progress Year 5 MCS provides performancebased bonus opportunities to groups of teachers based on group attainment of student achievement goals MCS places the most effective (i.e. Master) teachers with the highestneed students in their schools EPIC Grant provides ~$1.2MM in annual performance bonuses based on school level value-added scores Plan for pilot of new group performancebased bonus opportunity developed Pilot of group bonus incentive program conducted in 510 schools Group bonus incentive program rolledout district-wide
Execution Milestones: Support, Utilize and Compensate
There are no requirements for the most effective teachers to teach specific high-needs students
Requirements/ Role of Master teachers developed
Pilots of Master Teacher (i.e. lead teacher) role conducted
Pilots of Master Teacher (i.e. lead teacher) role conducted
Master Teachers teach classes with the highestneed students Master Teachers moved to schools with too few Master teachers as needed
Master Teachers teach classes with the highestneed students Master Teachers moved to schools with too few Master teachers as needed
Cluster high potential teacher recruits in schools that have high concentrations of high-need students
No concerted system-wide placement effort
High-needs schools within feeder patterns identified
Groups of highpotential teachers placed in selected schools, support provided and results closely monitored
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Current Status
Strategic Outcome: We will improve the surrounding contexts for teachers and students to foster effective teaching
Improve school culture to create conditions that foster effective teaching/learning Climate surveys illustrate school culture challenges and discipline issues at many MCS schools Norms regarding high expectations school decorum established with help of outside technical support District leadership training conducted Improve principal Climate surveys leadership illustrate a wide capacity range in teachers perception of principals effectiveness Planning Principal training completed to delivered through deliver training on UEC school culture through Urban Education Center Hiring completed for 5 Principal coaches; coaches begin work with targeted principals High performing principals moved to highest need schools; low performing principals removed Develop a new technology platform that will support the datadriven decisionmaking that is crucial to the success of the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative MCS operates as a Contract finalized network of with Enterprise independent Resource databases that do Planning vendor not share a common language ERP tool launched or an ability to combine data from various systems Recruitment, Learning Management and Performance Management tools launched Performance evaluation tool launched (link to all components of Teacher Effectiveness Measure) Leadership training conducted for all school leaders MCS-based trainers trained Ongoing Schoolbased training conducted by MCS-based trainers
Execution Milestones: Improve Surrounding Context
Page 66
APPENDIX: SELECTED BASELINE DATA

Evaluations: Teacher Evaluations Have Been Based Solely on Principals Observations
Retention: ~20% of New Teachers Leave MCS After Their First Year and More Than 40% Leave the District After Three Years
Page 67
Tenure: Only 40% of Teachers Remained at MCS and Were Eligible for Tenure, Of Those 93% Were Re-elected and Awarded Tenure
Measure of Effectiveness: There is a Wide Range of Value -Add Performance of Teachers Within and Between Schools
Elementary School (Rank #1)
1.00
Elementary School (Rank #82)

1.00 0.94
0.50
0.49 0.34 0.32 0.28
0.50
0.25 0.22 0.10 0.02 0.01
Value-Add Score
Value-Add Score
0.00
0.00
-0.12 -0.16
-0.15 -0.33
-0.22 -0.23 -0.30 -0.34 -0.43 -0.57 -0.58 -0.58
-0.50
-0.46
-0.50
Teacher 10
Teacher 11
Teacher 12
Teacher 1
Teacher 2
Teacher 3
Teacher 4
Teacher 5
Teacher 6
Teacher 7
Teacher 8
Teacher 9
Teacher 10
-1.00
-1.00
District Rank
42
93
117
149
187
226
434
608
630 2,008 2,261 2,318
District Rank
877
2,039 2,137 2,149 2,229 2,262 2,307 2,341 2,343 2,346
The dispersion of effective teachers creates a lottery ticket effect for students even in the districts high-performing schools; MCS must extend the impact of its most effective teachers
Source: Mathematica/EPIC Value-Add Data
Teacher 11
Teacher 1
Teacher 2
Teacher 3
Teacher 4
Teacher 5
Teacher 6
Teacher 7
Teacher 8
Teacher 9
Page 68
Compensate: MCS Salary Schedule Rewards Experience and Degrees; ~25% of Teacher Compensation is Based on These Criteria
Context: There is Wide Discrepancy in School Culture and Principal Leadership Capacity Among MCS Schools
Teacher Perception of School Climate (Elementary)
Top 5 Schools
100%
99% 99% 98%
98%
Teacher Perception of Principal Leadership (Elementary)

Top 5 Schools Bottom 5 Schools
Bottom 5 Schools
99%
98%
100%
98%
98%
97%
96%
80%
Average Climate Score=78%
80%
Principal Satistfaction Score
Average Prinicpal Satisfaction (71%)
School Climate Score
60%
60%
40%
39%
37%
35% 31% 29%
40%
33% 32% 22% 22% 21%
20%
20%
School 10
School 1
School 2
School 3
School 4
School 5
School 6
School 7
School 8
School 9
0%
In many schools, improving school culture and principal leadership is necessary to create conditions that support all other TEI reforms
Source: MCS Clim ate Survey
School 10
School 1
School 2
School 3
School 4
School 5
School 6
School 7
School 8
School 9
0%
Page 69
Retention: Teacher Retention Is Related to Teachers Level of Satisfaction With Their Principal
Page 70
APPENDIX: COMPARISON OF CURRENT AND PROPOSED COMPENSATION PLANS

Overview of Current vs. Proposed Compensation Schedule: Illustrative Current and Proposed Salary Curves for MCS Teachers
Overview of Current vs. Proposed Compensation Schedule
Page 71
APPENDIX: MCS TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS INITIATIVE ADVISORY BOARD

To ensure broad community support, Memphis City Schools has convened a TEI Advisory Board, consisting of top leaders from the local philanthropic, business and political communities. The group has been integrally involved in developing the TEI proposal, meeting twice over the past two months and providing valuable feedback on the draft proposal. Letters of support from many of the members are included in a separate enclosure. Members of the board are below:
RONALD BELZ
President and Chief Operating Officer Belz Enterprises
TERESA SLOYAN
Executive Director Hyde Family Foundations
COMMISSIONER HENRI E. BROOKS

District 2 Commissioner Shelby County Schools
BRAD SMITH
Executive Director Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE),
STEPHANIE BUTLER
Manager of Corporate Contributions FedEx Corporation
BLAIR TAYLOR
President Memphis Tomorrow
E'THELE S. HILLIARD
President Partners in Public Education
GREG THOMPSON
Education Program Director Hyde Family Foundations
ROBERTA MACK
President Memphis City Schools Parent Assembly Committee
TALANA L. VOGEL, ED.D.

Dean of the College of Education University of Memphis
TOM MARINO
Executive Director The Poplar Foundation
KIM WIRTH
Executive Director International Papers Foundation and Employee Relief Fund
SCOTT MCCORMICK
Executive Director Plough Foundation
BERT WOLF
Partner Husch, Blackwell Sanders LLP
GEORGE SLADE JR.

Senior Vice President First Tennessee Bank
Page 72
APPENDIX: LETTERS OF SUPPORT

MCS has been working closely with many partners in Memphis and across Tennessee to develop the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative plan. Many of those key stakeholders have expressed their support in the form of the enclosed letters of support. The letters in this section are as follows: Memphis City Schools Board of Commissioners Tomeka Hart, Commissioner Memphis Education Association Stephanie Fitzgerald, MEA President; Ken Foster, MEA Executive Director Office of the Governor, State of Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen Tennessee State Board of Education Gary Nixon, Executive Director Shelby County Government A.C. Wharton, Shelby County Mayor Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) Senator Bill Frist, Steering Committee Chairman Memphis Tomorrow Blair Thomas, President J.R. Hyde III Family Foundations Barbara Hyde, President The Poplar Foundation Tom Marino, Executive Director Memphis Philanthropic Partners o Community Foundation of Greater Memphis Bob Fockler, President o Partners in Public Education Ethele Hilliard, President o Poplar Foundation Tom Marino, Executive Director o Plough Foundation Scott McCormick, Executive Director o Hyde Family Foundations Teresa Sloyan, Executive Director o Assisi Foundation Jan Young, Executive Director o Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation Lauren Young, Executive Director New Leaders for New Schools o Jon Schnur, CEO o Janice Crawford, Executive Director Memphis New Leaders for New Schools Teach For America Tennessee Bradley Leon, Executive Director
Page 1
COMMISSIONERS:
July 29, 2009
Martavius Jones, President Stephanie Gatewood, Vice President Betty Mallott
Dr. Vicki L. Phillips Director, Education United States Program Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation P.O. Box 23350 Seattle, WA 98102 Re: Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Grant
Patrice J. Robinson Dr. Jeff Warren Dr. Sharon A. Webb Tomeka R. Hart Dr. Freda Williams Dr. Kenneth T. Whalum, Jr.
Dear Dr. Phillips: On behalf of the Board of Commissioners of the Memphis City Schools, I am writing to express the Boards full support and commitment to the plan outlined in our proposal for the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative grant. As a Board we have set ambitious goals to raise the level of achievement and college readiness in Memphis and we believe that raising the level of effectiveness of our teaching corps is fundamental to achieving that vision. We are committed to providing the MCS management team with the governance support to execute on the bold and necessary plan presented in our proposal. It is important to note that we are able to provide that support in large part due to our ongoing work with the Reform Governance in Action program. Through this work, our board and leadership team have developed an extremely productive working relationship that will facilitate our collective ability to execute on the proposed plan of action to raise the level of Teacher Effectiveness in Memphis City Schools. In addition, we are currently putting into place a policy framework that will further support the management teams ability to take the steps outlined in the proposal. I look forward to the opportunity to speak directly with you and your team at the convening in Seattle this coming week to further discuss our teams plan. Thank you very much for your consideration. Sincerely,
Tomeka R. Hart, MCS Commissioner District 7
________________________________________________________________________________ 2597 Avery Avenue Memphis, TN 38112 (901) 416-5447 / (901) 416-5591 Fax www.mcsk12.net
126 Flicker Street Memphis, Tennessee 38104 901/454-0966 Fax 901/454-9979 www.gomea.com
July 29, 2009
Dr. Vicki L. Phillips Director, Education United States Program Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation P.O. Box 23350 Seattle, WA 98102 Re: Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Grant Dear Dr. Phillips: On behalf of the Memphis Education Association, we are writing to express our commitment to helping develop the Memphis City Schools plan to improve teacher effectiveness throughout our district. Over the past three months we have collaborated with our colleagues at MCS and the Board of Commissioners to create our proposal for the Teacher Effectiveness Initiative grant. We understand that this is a bold plan that will require a culture shift from the Board of Education, the administration, and the members of Memphis Education Association. Based on our collaborative working relationship with the MCS leadership team, we believe that we are collectively prepared to take on that challenge. We look forward to continuing this relationship as we work through all the areas of the grant. As part of our commitment to addressing that challenge, MEA leadership pledges to work as hard as possible to communicate to our members the concept of this plan and to gain their support for the new ideas we are proposing. We are confident that buy-in from the members will be critical to the success of this initiative and that with the high level of communication we are achieving, this buy-in is possible here in Memphis. Sincerely,
Stephanie Fitzgerald MEA President ds
Ken Foster MEA Executive Director
To whom it may concern: I am writing in support of Memphis City Schools grant application to the Gates Foundation. I can think of no city whose students suffer more from the impact of poverty and the achievement gap; no city that is as uniquely positioned to benefit from collaboration with the Gates Foundation; no city where there is a greater appetite for deep and lasting education reform. It is for these reasons that Teach For America in Memphis is eager to strengthen its relationship with Memphis City Schools through a partnership with the Gates Foundation. Over the past four years, Teach For America and Memphis City Schools have worked together to recruit 50 corps members per year to teach in our citys lowest-performing schools. Though we have seen progress, we know that the achievement gap is a moral issue that requires a forceful response and as many of our most outstanding future leaders as possible. Therefore, we are acutely interested in becoming a much larger percentage of the districts new hires and have already begun to explore doubling our incoming corps each year over the next two years. In addition to corps growth, we have already met with Dr. Cash and his team to discuss revising our professional services agreement to deeply cluster our corps members. At present, we are operating in 45 schools; we would like to concentrate that number to 20 or fewer schools. By focusing our numbers, we can maximize our impact and serve as a national pilot that examines the impact of greater corps concentration. We are also excited for our corps members to be part of a more thorough review of the state of Tennessees value-add data. We believe that this data will prove invaluable as a resource to inform the recruitment, selection, training, and support of all future corps members. We are already working with the district and the state to isolate trends in our highest-performing teachers but, with greater access and further study, we believe that this collaboration could have national impact. According to the American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 15% of citizens in Memphis over the age of 25 have a bachelors degree. Though this is certainly troubling, Memphis is positioned to respond. We know that when given the right opportunities, our students can achieve at the highest level. Through a partnership with the Gates Foundation, Memphis City Schools and Teach For America can build a relationship of national consequence. Sincerely,
Bradley Leon Executive Director Teach For America Tennessee
Page 1

MCS TEI Gates FDN Proposal - Final

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Submitted by Memphis City Schools July 31, 2009

TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS INITIATIVE

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Summary Implementation Plan

Create Common, AgreedUpon Definition of Effective Teaching

Complete TEM used decisions

Improved evaluations and prof. development

Pilot (750 teachers)

Pilot (3,500 teachers)

Differentiated career roles

Pilot Pilot (50 lead teachers) (50 teachers)

Pilot Pilot (300 lead teachers) (300 teachers)

New base compensation schedule

Prepare for conversion

Launch of new salary schedule

Plan/Pilot (Continue EPIC Program)

Improve principal leadership capacity

l mentors / co-teachers with master teachers

District-wide implementation (500 Master Teachers) (600 Master Teachers)

Launch of new salary schedule

-out implementation in expanded pilots

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

ipal leadership capacity

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

MCS TEI Vision and Theory of Change

Common, Agreed-upon Definition of Effective Teaching

Increased Number and Distribution of Effective Teachers

Increased Number of Students with Effective Teachers

Smarter Decisions About Who Teaches MCS Students

Improved Support for and Utilization of Teachers

Dramatically Improved Student Achievement

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Overview of Proposed MCS Vision of Effective Teaching

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

INTERNAL RISKS AND CHALLENGES

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY AND PARTNERSHIPS

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

MCS Teacher Effectiveness Initiative Governance Structure

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009

Improved efficiency and effectiveness of hiring/staffing process

Memphis City Schools Proposal | Submitted July 31, 2009