Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Providing comprehensive reporting may be the state's most important role for ensuring the equitable distribution of teachers among schools. Maryland reports little school-level data that can help support the equitable distribution of teacher talent.
Maryland does not collect or publicly report most of the data recommended by NCTQ. The state does not provide a school-level teacher quality index that demonstrates the academic backgrounds of a school's teachers and the ratio of new to veteran teachers. Maryland also does not report on teacher absenteeism or turnover rates.
Maryland does report the percentage of highly qualified teachers. Commendably, these data are reported for each school, rather than aggregated by district. The state also reports on the percentage of teachers by years of experience at the district level.
Use a teacher quality index to report publicly about each school.
A teacher quality index, such as the one
developed by the Illinois Education Research Council, with data
including teachers' average SAT or ACT scores, the percentage of
teachers failing basic skills licensure tests at least once, the
selectivity of teachers' undergraduate colleges and the percentage of
new teachers, can shine a light on how equitably teachers are
distributed both across and within districts. Maryland
should ensure that individual school report cards include such data in a manner that translates these factors into something easily
understood by the public, such as a color-coded matrix indicating a
school's high or low score.
Publish other data that facilitate comparisons across schools.
Maryland should
collect and report other school level data that reflect the stability
of a school's faculty, including
the rates of teacher absenteeism and turnover.
Provide comparative data based on school demographics.
Report data at the school level.
Maryland should ensure that it is reporting all currently collected data at the school-level, rather than aggregated by district.
As indicated in the analysis, Maryland reiterated that it does report on the number of highly qualified teachers in the Maryland Teacher Staffing Report: 2008-2010.
Maryland also pointed out that the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF), funded through ARRA, outlined requirements that involve data collection, analysis and planning in response to indicators related to teacher evaluation and performance. As of June 30, 2011, all local school systems are required to update their web link to include the summary performance of teachers by individual school.
NCTQ is unable to find a point of disagreement. This analysis indicates that the state reports on highly qualified teachers. The state's other points deal with teacher evaluation and performance, which while important to teacher distribution, are discussed in other goals. This goal only discusses reporting.