Equitable Access To Excellent Educators

on closing those gaps. As States implement theirplans, they will regularly assess their progressand use stakeholder feedback and performancemeasure data to inform areas for future improvement and refinement.As of December 2015, ED approved Educator EquityPlans for all 50 States, the District of Columbiaand Puerto Rico. In addition, on December 10,2015, ESEA was reauthorized by the Every StudentSucceeds Act (ESSA).6 Educator equity remains astatutory requirement in Title I, Part A7 of ESSA,and ESSA includes updated components that Stateswill need to address (Every Student Succeeds Actof 2015, P.L. 114-95, §129, Stat. 1802 (2015)).Figure 2METHODOLOGYThis report provides analysis of States’ approvedEducator Equity Plans, examining all corecomponents of the plans, including engagingstakeholders, defining key terms, identifying equitygaps, analyzing root causes, proposing equitystrategies and measuring and reporting progress. In reviewing the Educator Equity Plans anddeveloping this report, the review team used afour-step process, described in Figure 2.MethodologySTEP1IDENTIFY AREAS FOR ANALYSISConducted an initial review of Educator Equity Plans to identify areas of analysisSTEP2ORGANIZE DATACreated a review framework spreadsheet for extracting and grouping data from the Educator Equity PlansSTEP3ANALYZE DATAIdentified cross-cutting themes, outliers and potential exemplars by areas of analysisSTEP4SUMMARIZE DATAProduced a report to document the analysis results and summarize States’ Educator Equity Plans6 ED sent a Dear Colleague letter to States on December 18, 2015, to confirm with States that they should continue implementing their plans. The Dear Colleague letteris available here: n-dcl.pdf.7 See Title I, Part A, §1111(g)(1)(B) of the ESSA for the statutory requirements related to educator equity.Equitable Access to Excellent Educators3

REPORT OVERVIEWThe report summarizes State Educator EquityPlans by identifying trends and commonalities andhighlighting promising initiatives or practices. Thisreport does not assess or rate the components ofStates’ plans, comment on their quality, or discussthe States’ progress implementing their prospectiveplans to date.8Section 1 of the report summarizes how Statesengaged with stakeholders, provides an analysisof key terms States defined and examines thegaps States identified between the rates at whichlow-income and minority students are taught byinexperienced, unqualified and out-of-field teacherscompared to rates at which other students aretaught by these teachers.Section 2 focuses on the State-identified likelycauses (referred to in this report as “root causes”) foridentified equity gaps and describes 11 topic areas9into which the identified root causes fall (for definitions of topic areas, see Appendix A). Most of theseroot causes were related to three broad categories:conditions or challenges particular to working inhigh-need schools or communities, insufficienteducator preparation and ineffective human capitalmanagement systems. Because there was a greatdeal of overlap in the root causes States identifiedfor equity gaps, a root cause could be grouped intomultiple topic areas.10 Although some root causes wereidentified by many States, some States also identifiedroot causes that were unique to their contexts andthus could not be captured in topic groupings.Appendix F provides additional information aboutthe root causes identified by each State.Once States explained root causes for identified equitygaps, they identified strategies to address these rootcauses and to close the identified gaps.Section 3 highlights these strategies and notes thatthey generally fell into 15 topic areas (see AppendixA for a brief description of the 15 topic areas). Thisreport uses those areas to analyze strategies identifiedby States.Section 4 provides an analysis of Educator EquityPlans for measuring progress in eliminating identified equity gaps and publicly reporting on thatprogress. All plans included general commitmentsto measure gap reduction over time; however, manyplans lacked specific measurable performance targetsand did not identify specific performance metricsto measure the reduction of equity gaps withina specified period of time. Additionally, many plansidentified measures of strategy implementation andfocused primarily on these measures to observeprogress. Although many States did not identifyspecific performance measures, this section ofthe report highlights some promising examplesof States’ performance measures that align withselected strategies and that have measurable targetswith specific dates and timelines. States mayrequire additional support in this area to enhanceplans to measure progress and monitor States’implementation and continuous improvementof their Educator Equity Plans.8 All approved plans met minimum federal requirements for Educator Equity Plans.9 Throughout this report, the term “topic areas” refers to the groups in which this analysis categorizes the State-identified root causes and proposed strategies.10 For example, the following root cause from Alaska was grouped into two topic areas, High Educator Turnover and Inadequate Compensation/Incentives: “Stakeholders cited lack of incentives for teachers in remote rural schools to stay. Teaching in Alaska no longer represents a significant economic advantage for teachers,in that Alaska’s salaries and benefits no longer lead the nation. In addition to high teacher turnover, our data also shows high turnover of school leadership in theschools in the top quartiles of low-income and minority students” (Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, 2015, p. 20).Equitable Access to Excellent Educators4

1Analysis of StakeholderEngagement andIdentified Equity GapsEach State’s first step in developing its EducatorEquity Plan was to identify equity gaps in the ratesat which low-income and minority students are taughtby excellent educators compared to their peers.Obtaining meaningful stakeholder input and definingkey terms were integral to ensuring a commonunderstanding of the data elements being examinedand the resulting equity gaps in the context of eachState. This section provides discussion of how Statesconsulted with stakeholders, including the stakeholder groups involved, the roles of stakeholdersand the methods of stakeholder engagement.This section also highlights commonalities anddifferences in how States chose to define the fiveterms they were required to examine to calculategaps in equitable access: “inexperienced teacher,”“unqualified teacher,” “out-of-field teacher,”“low-income student,”11 and “minority student.”In addition to these five required terms, Stateshad the option to define other key terms importantto the analysis in their Educator Equity Plans(U.S. Department of Education, State Plans toEnsure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators:Frequently Asked Questions, 2015, p. 6). SeveralStates chose to analyze additional terms describingcharacteristics of the teacher, student and schoolpopulations (see Appendix I for additional terms).The most commonly defined optional term was“educator effectiveness.” This section presentsadditional analysis of State-identified terms relatedto educator effectiveness.12This section describes the equity gaps Statesidentified. Identifying these gaps was an essentialpart of the process to identify likely causes and selectstrategies to eliminate gaps and improve equitableaccess. States had to identify all existing gaps usingthe required terms. In addition, although Stateswere only required to identify equity gaps forlow-income and minority students, some Statesalso examined gaps in how additional studentpopulations are served. This analysis describes gapsin equitable access for both low-income and minoritystudents and additional student populations thatStates identified in their analyses. Further, this sectiondiscusses the data sources and metrics States usedto identify their equity gaps.STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONBringing key stakeholders together was a vital partof States’ efforts to develop their Educator EquityPlans. ED required States to prepare and submitEducator Equity Plans that “describe and providedocumentation of the steps the SEA took to consultwith LEAs, teachers, principals, pupil servicespersonnel, administrators, other staff, and parents”11 Although the statute uses the term “poor” students, for the purposes of this analysis, the term “low-income” students will be used to refer to students who areeconomically disadvantaged. States used a variety of terms for these students in their plans. This report will use the States’ chosen terms only in direct quotations;otherwise, the term “low-income” students will be used.12 “Educator effectiveness” is analyzed for two primary reasons: (1) the report provides this analysis of terms related to educator effectiveness because it was theadditional term most often selected by States and (2) because the ESSA contains new requirements that States and districts ensure that low-income and minoritystudents are not taught at greater rates than other students by “ineffective teachers.”Equitable Access to Excellent Educators5

(U.S. Department of Education, State Plans to EnsureEquitable Access to Excellent Educators: FrequentlyAsked Questions, 2015, p. 6). ED advised that it wasvital for stakeholders to be engaged in all phases ofdeveloping and implementing Educator EquityPlans and for States to provide opportunities formeaningful stakeholder input and to ensure thatstakeholders involved were representative of thewhole State: “To help ensure that [an EducatorEquity Plan] is comprehensive and likely to lead tosignificant progress in eliminating gaps, and to laythe foundation for successful implementation, anSEA should provide opportunities for meaningfulinput on the proposed plans” to not only theaforementioned stakeholders but also to “teachers’representatives, non-profit teacher organizations,community-based organizations, civil rightsorganizations, organizations representing studentswith disabilities, organizations representing Englishlearners, business organizations, Indian tribes, Stateand local boards of education, institutions of highereducation (IHEs) and teacher preparation entities”(U.S. Department of Education, State Plans toEnsure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators:Frequently Asked Questions, 2015, pp. 9–10).subgroups,13 and business organizations. In additionto the stakeholder groups required for consultation,14the stakeholders States most frequently consultedincluded unions/educator associations (42 States),community members (41 States), teacher preparationprograms and IHEs (41 States), school boardmembers (36 States), policymakers (27 States), civilrights groups (26 States) and business organizations(22 States). Figure 3 presents the number of StatesFigure 3Additional stakeholder groupsengaged in State planning(by number of cher Prep/Higher Education4136School BoardStates used varying approaches to engage stakeholders in the development of Educator EquityPlans. Each plan includes information about thegroups of stakeholders the State engaged, the rolesstakeholders played in developing the EducatorEquity Plan and the methods used to engagestakeholders; highlights are described below.STAKEHOLDER GROUPS ENGAGEDIn developing their plans, States engaged with arange of stakeholders, including teachers, principalsand other school leaders, unions, school boards,policymakers, community members, parents, civilrights groups, teacher preparation programs,IHEs, organizations representing specific studentPolicy-makers27Civil Rights Group2622Business GroupsOrganizationsRepresenting Studentswith Disabilities/SPEDOrganizationsRepresenting EnglishLanguage learnersStudent Groups1610713 Organizations representing specific student subgroups include organizations representing students with disabilities and organizations representingEnglish learners.Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary andSecondary Education (2015). State plans to ensure equitable accessto excellent educators. Retrieved from html14 States were required to consult with LEAs, teachers, principals, pupil servicespersonnel, administrators, other staff, and parents (U.S. Department ofEducation, State Plans to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators:Frequently Asked Questions, 2015, p. 7).Figure reads: Forty-two States identified unions and educationassociations as additional stakeholder groups engaged in Stateplanning.Equitable Access to Excellent Educators6

that engaged each stakeholder group. Appendix Bincludes a full list of stakeholders cited in EducationEquity Plans.Several States described their efforts to ensure thatstakeholders were representative of all their communities. For example, Connecticut15 took attendanceat its three initial stakeholder meetings to assess thediversity of participants. Connecticut then reviewedattendance at its stakeholder meetings, which showedthat students, civil rights groups and school principalswere not well represented during the face-to-facemeetings. As a result, Connecticut held additionalmeetings with those under-represented stakeholdergroups (Connecticut State Department of Education,2015, p. 10). Oklahoma, which has a large NativeAmerican population and many rural districts,made efforts to ensure that representatives of thesecommunities were included in the stakeholderengagement process (Oklahoma State Departmentof Education, 2015, p. 6). Oklahoma indicated thatteachers and other stakeholders in the state expressedappreciation for having a seat at the table to identifygaps and potential strategies alongside otherstakeholders. Oklahoma noted that in an atmospherewith multiple perceptions (positive and negative)about the field of teaching, including teachers inthe development of the plans helped to recognizethem and their specialized professional knowledgeand expertise (Oklahoma State Department ofEducation, 2015, p. 10).Many States also leveraged established stakeholdergroups to discuss their Educator Equity Plans. Forexample, in Nebraska, members of the ESEA/NoChild Left Behind (NCLB) Committee of Practitioners,which the State formed as part of the 2001 NCLBrequirements, played an integral role in the State’splan by identifying root causes and strategies(Nebraska Department of Education, 2015, p. 6).STAKEHOLDERS’ ROLES IN DEVELOPINGEQUITY PLANSStates worked with stakeholders to review data onequity gaps, analyze equity gaps and identify rootcauses and strategies for eliminating the gaps. Thelevel of stakeholder engagement varied by State.Thirty-eight States reported that stakeholders helpedidentify possible root causes and strategies for theidentified gaps. In five of those States, stakeholderscategorized and prioritized root causes into themesand provided insights on proposed strategies. Innine States, stakeholders reviewed draft EducatorEquity Plans and offered input for revisions. SomeStates involved internal stakeholders within theSEA in developing the initial content and draftingthe Educator Equity Plans, which a larger group ofexternal stakeholders then reviewed. For example,Minnesota established both a steering committeeof stakeholders to design and guide the work of theplan and a stakeholder advisory committee to providefeedback and input on the plan (MinnesotaDepartment of Education, 2015, p. 4).METHODS OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENTEach State used a variety of methods to engagestakeholders, including in-person and virtualmeetings, focus groups, electronic communicationand surveys (see Figure 4). States reported thatusing multiple methods helped them reach diversestakeholders. For instance, Michigan conducteda presentation of its Educator Equity Plan at theMay 12, 2015, State Board of Education meeting.Michigan also video-streamed all State Boardof Education meetings, so stakeholders and thegeneral public, both in-person and virtually, hadthe opportunity to learn about the plan (Michigan Department of Education, 2015, p. 4). RhodeIsland facilitated a webinar for school and LEAleaders that included an overview of its Educator Equity Plan process and progress as a way tosupport those invited stakeholders who could nottravel to in-person meetings but still wanted toprovide feedback about the Educator Equity Plan(Rhode Island Department of Education, 2015, p. 11).15 Throughout this report, specific State examples are called out in bold text.Equitable Access to Excellent Educators7

Figure 4Methods of stakeholder engagement(by number of 16Surveys14Virtual Meetingsor Webinars14Focus Groups7Source: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary andSecondary Education (2015). State plans to ensure equitable accessto excellent educators. Retrieved from htmlFigure reads: Forty-eight States conducted in-person meetings toinform the development of their Educator Equity Plans.To ensure broader stakeholder participation in thecreation and implementation of their EducatorEquity Plans, several States included discussionsof their plans in scheduled meetings of establishedstakeholder groups. By using this approach, Utah,for example, “maximized the limited availability ofstaff and engaged a large number of interested parties”(Utah State Office of Education, 2015, p. 4).States also attempted to ensure that the engagementprocess was accessible to all stakeholders. Forexample, New Jersey made available options forauxiliary aid and services16 at in-person stakeholdermeetings so that all stakeholders, including thosewith disabilities, would have opportunities to engagein all phases of the strategic planning and interactivediscussion process (New Jersey Department ofEducation, 2015, p. 10). Oregon and Wisconsinensured that staff members with data analysisexpertise were available during stakeholder meetingsto help participants accurately interpret data (OregonDepartment of Education, 2015, p. 9; WisconsinDepartment of Public Instruction, 2015, p. 5).Some States described using tools and structureddiscussion protocols to help facilitate and guidestakeholder conversations about the Educator EquityPlans. States using this strategy reported thatstructured discussion protocols helped organize theconversation; they ensured the facilitator(s) coveredmain topics, provided participants multipleopportunities to give feedback and engagedparticipants in varied interactive activities to supporta meaningful learning exchange among adultlearners. For instance, Delaware used structuredprotocols to ensure that all groups present atin-person stakeholder meetings participated, whichenabled stakeholders to provide input at each stageof the planning process (Delaware Department ofEducation, 2015, p. 22). Washington used a stakeholder focus group protocol “to lead stakeholdersthrough a review of the Equity Data Profiles, identifyroot causes of equity gaps and collaborate on strategiestargeted to the root causes. The focus group protocolwas designed with simple step-by-step instructions,templ

Plans for all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition, on December 10, 2015, ESEA was reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). 6. Educator equity remains a statutory requirement in Title I, Part A. 7. of ESSA, and ESSA