Changing classroom assignments and evaluation ¹

At-A-Glance

Current behavior:

Teachers teach a consistent group of students, who have a range of performance levels.

Desired behavior:

Teachers separate students by performance level and conduct frequent check-ins and planning with students to see if they should remain in their class or move to a different level.

Change approach:

Training seminar, coaching, and support from local principal.

Impact:

Teachers who felt they had more stable operating environments, and received more specific instruction on the change, implemented it more effectively.

Implications for implementing partners:

Provide specific guidance and support on desired changes; convey that the organization is committed to this change for the long-run and won’t shift to the next new idea soon.

Implications for supporting partners:

Select sites for new programs based on their overall stability and history of other reforms.

Teachers at four elementary schools were asked to try a new teaching approach for improving student achievement. The study was also designed to understand what factors support adherence to these new practices.

The teachers, from different schools in a large, urban district in Texas, were asked to assign students to classes based on their achievement levels and provide periodic assessments to see if students should be re-assigned to a different level class. Teachers and principals participated in a training seminar and received coaching from an external expert.

Teachers who felt they were operating in a more stable policy environment, with fewer reforms, were more likely to excel at implementation.

The study found two factors that correlated with higher levels of implementation: stability and specificity. Teachers who felt they were operating in a more stable policy environment, with fewer reforms, were more likely to excel at implementation. Many teachers said they were more likely to invest in the change if they thought it would be implemented for the long-term, which would provide a better payoff for the effort of learning a new practice.

Those who received more specific guidance on how to implement the change, including follow-up sessions and ongoing coaching, were also more likely to succeed. Higher specificity, in part, was simply achieved by dedicating more time to trainings and to communication with principals. Teachers reported this gave them the basic information and skills to implement the change.