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**Revised Equity Plan**

**December 2007**

"To ensure that poor and minority students are not being taught at
higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, and
out-of-field teachers."

**Overview 3**

**Data Analysis: Portrait of Education in Oregon 5**

Districts and Schools with significant numbers of classes taught by Non
HQT 5

> Major Findings Delineating Inequities 6

Issues Affecting Highly Qualified Teacher Data 7

Overview 7

Attrition and Retention's Effect on HQ 8

Math Graduation Requirements Cause Shortage 9

**Oregon's Efforts to Address HQT and Equity Issues 9**

State Action Plan 9

Data Driven Decisions 10

Application for Federal Funding 10

Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) Process 10

Technical Assistance 11

Compliance Monitoring 12

**Education and Training Opportunities to Achieve HQ 12**

Reading/Literacy 13

Math and Science 15

Inexperienced Teachers 15

Oregon DATA Project 17

**Conclusion 18**

**Oregon Mission and Goals**

Oregon's mission is for every student, every day, to be a success. This
is not for only some students, but all students. As a result, the
superintendent's priorities for reaching this goal are:

1.  Improving Diploma Standards

2.  Providing full-day kindergarten for all youth (targeting those in
    low-income areas)

3.  Closing the Achievement Gap

4.  Improving school and district leadership to enhance culturally
    competent practice and decision-making.

The Oregon Department of Education provides leadership in statewide
curriculum programs, school improvement efforts, and statewide testing.
 In addition, the Department acts as a liaison and monitors
implementation for a variety of state and federal programs.

**Oregon's Work**

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has implemented many new
efforts to ensure that the most qualified teachers are in each and every
classroom in the state, and students have access to culturally competent
teachers and administrators who can reduce the achievement gap and
improve academic outcomes and opportunities for all students. ODE has
done this by:

1.  Completing a thorough analysis of the HQT data submitted by
    districts this spring.

2.  Supporting the development of the State Action for Education
    Leadership Project (SAELP)

3.  Analyzing teacher attrition and retention data

4.  Providing Professional Development Initiatives in direct response to
    equity and HQT data findings

5.  Oregon Data Project

6.  Oregon Mentoring Program

7.  Analyzing Disproportional data

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has implemented many new
efforts to ensure the most qualified teachers are in each and every
classroom in the state. ODE has completed a thorough analysis of the HQT
data submitted by districts this spring. The analysis includes teacher
experience in high and low poverty and high and low minority schools.
This analysis will allow ODE to make targeted decisions regarding
necessary training and professional development needed in those
districts with inequities.

ODE staff has provided support to districts by:

-   Educating school district staff and teachers to ensure they are
    knowledgeable about HQT requirements and procedures

-   Developing a new HQT data collection system

-   Reviewing school district reporting of HQT data to ensure accuracy

-   Developing an Administrator Primer regarding HQT requirements in
    collaboration with Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC)
    and Oregon School Personnel Association (OSPA)

-   Providing a validation window for districts to view preliminary HQT
    percentages

-   Providing a more in-depth data analysis to districts regarding the
    HQT and Equity issues

-   Monitoring LEA compliance through onsite visits and desk audits

In November of 2006 districts were required to submit HQT plans to
address how they will assist teachers who are not yet HQ in all classes
that they teach as well as efforts to recruit and retain HQT. ODE is
providong technical assistance to districts as they developed and
submitted their plans. ODE is also providing follow-up assistance to
districts whose plans need revisions.

During both onsite and desk audit monitoring ODE evaluates whether or
not these plans were being implemented. ODE also reviews teacher
assignments to ensure that individual plans have been developed for each
teacher teaching a class for which they were not HQ.

The new data collection has allowed Oregon for the first time to analyze
data at the classroom and teacher level. The collection uses the codes
of the NCES *Federal School Codes for the Exchange of Data*. These codes
have been aligned to Oregon teaching credentials and endorsements, and
also to classes and grade levels taught. Districts entered a NCES code
for each class a teacher was teaching. These codes were then checked
against the teacher's license to determine if they were HQ for the
course. Districts immediately received notification regarding the HQ
status of each course's teacher. ODE provides technical assistance to
districts to clarify why the teacher was not HQ for particular courses
and what steps the district needs to take to get the teacher HQ. You
will see in this report that although our percentage of classes taught
by highly qualified teachers has decreased from 91.66% to 89.94% this is
also the first year districts have not self reported. We are confident
that the accuracy of our data for the 2006-07 school year is a truer
reflection of Oregon's HQT picture.

ODE has continued to provide training and technical assistance to
districts as we prepare for the data collection for the 2007-08 school
year. ODE is working with districts, which are, in-turn, working with
schools to ensure that courses are properly and uniformly coded.
Districts have also been providing additional training to building
administrators regarding the appropriate placement of teachers in core
academic subjects for which a teacher is HQ. In cases where a HQ teacher
is not available districts are submitting individual teacher plans to
ODE that include specifics on how the teacher will become HQ as
expediently as possible. We have also made improvements to our HQT data
system for the 2007-08 school year, after receiving input from many
stakeholders throughout the state.

***[Districts and Schools with significant numbers of classes taught by
Non HQT]{.underline}***

Oregon has 197 school districts and 1,217 schools. Analysis of HQT data
shows the following:

*Elementary Schools*

-   74.7% of the 787 elementary schools have 100% of their classes
    taught by HQT (588 schools)

-   90.1% of elementary schools have 90% or more of their classes taught
    by HQT (709 out of 787 schools)

-   9.9% of elementary schools have less than 90% of their classes
    taught by HQT (78 out of 787 schools)

    -   Of the 78 elementary schools with less than 90% of their classes
        taught by HQT

        -   18 are high poverty schools

        -   13 are high minority schools

> []{.mark}

*Secondary Schools*

-   10.0% of 430 secondary schools have 100% of their classes taught by
    HQT (43 schools)

-   54.0% of secondary schools have 90% or more of their classes taught
    by HQT (232 out of 430 schools)

-   46.0% of secondary schools have less than 90% of their classes
    taught by HQT (198 out of 430 schools)

    -   Of the 198 secondary schools with less than 90% of their classes
        taught by HQT

        -   24.7% are high poverty schools (49 schools)

        -   24.2% are high minority schools (48 schools)

> ***[Major Findings Delineating Inequities]{.underline}***
>
> **HQT in High Poverty/Minority Elementary Schools**

-   Elementary schools with high-minority are being taught more often by
    non-HQT in Reading: 19.08% vs. 14.86%. (Appendix E: Table 1)

-   Elementary schools with high minority are being taught more often by
    non-HQT in Math: 12.20% vs. 7.87%, (Appendix E: Table 1)

> **HQT in High Poverty/Minority Secondary Schools**

-   Secondary schools with high[^1]-poverty population are being taught
    more often by non-HQT than those with low minority populations:
    12.51% vs. 10.23% (Appendix E: Table 2)

-   Secondary schools with high-poverty populations are being taught
    more often by non-HQT in Math: 12.84% vs. 7.79%, English/LA: 11.56%
    vs. 10.58%, and Science: 14.44% vs. 13.17% (Appendix E: Table 2).

-   Secondary schools with high minority-populations are being taught
    more often by non-HQT in English/LA: 10.91% vs. 8.41% (Appendix E:
    Table 2).

> **Inexperienced Teachers in High Poverty/Minority Elementary Schools**

-   High-minority elementary schools have a higher percentage of
    inexperienced teachers (7.14% vs. 4.24%) as well as inexperienced
    teachers who are not HQ. (Appendix E, Table 3)

> **Inexperienced Teachers in High Poverty/Minority Secondary Schools**

-   Non-HQ, inexperienced teachers teach 17.02% (422/2480) of classes
    taught by inexperienced teachers in high-poverty secondary schools
    (vs. 11.39% (384/3371) in low-poverty secondary schools)

-   Non-HQ, inexperienced teachers teach 14.15% (561/3965 of classes
    taught my inexperienced teachers in high-minority secondary schools
    (vs. 13.78% (260/1887) in low-minority secondary schools)

> **AYP and HQT**

-   The percentages of highly qualified teachers did not appear to
    affect schools achieving AYP; in fact, the secondary schools that
    did not make AYP had higher percentages of HQT than schools that
    made AYP. (Appendix E, Tables 5 & 6)

> **REAP**

-   REAP districts have a higher percentage of HQT than non-REAP
    districts. (Appendix E, Table 7)

> ***[Overview]{.underline}***
>
> The current production of new teachers from both Oregon and other
> states appears adequate to meet the state's needs for teachers in most
> fields and in most locations. With an estimated demand of some 3,368
> licensed educators per year and a supply pool of 7,000+, the state
> appears able to meet its needs for educators generally in the near
> future.
>
> There is evidence that school districts have successfully recruited
> additional teachers they need from other states in key shortage
> fields. For example, 29% of the new licensees in Oregon from other
> states in 2006 in the sciences were in chemistry and physics, compared
> to 21% prepared in Oregon in the sciences in these fields. Likewise,
> 84% of the new licensees from other states in foreign languages were
> in Spanish, compared to 62% prepared in Oregon in foreign languages.
> However, continued successful out of state recruitment by Oregon
> schools is questionable given the attractive incentives available now
> to teachers in shortage areas in many other states.
>
> However, Oregon's shortages in key areas will likely continue despite
> recent increases in the production of newly licensed teachers as a
> result of stepped-up recruitment of students in several Oregon
> college/university preparation programs. For example, in 2001 Oregon
> produced only 57 newly licensed math teachers and 119 science
> teachers. By 2006, Oregon produced 331 newly licensed math teachers
> and 289 science teachers. Unfortunately, these substantial increases
> did not occur in the greatest need specialties. Many of the math
> endorsements were in "basic" math, which does not permit teachers to
> teach higher-level high school math. And among the 289 new science
> endorsements, 79% of the new science endorsements were in biology and
> integrated science, which are not shortage areas. By contrast, only 7%
> of new science endorsements were in physics and 14% were in chemistry,
> which are key shortage areas.

+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| **            | **Number of New       | > **Percentage of New       |
| Endorsement** | Endorsements**        | > Science Endorsements**    |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| Biology       | 115                   | 39.8%                       |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| Integrated    | 114                   | 38.4%                       |
| Science       |                       |                             |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| Physics       | 20                    | 6.9%                        |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| Chemistry     | 40                    | 13.8%                       |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+
| **Total New   | **289**               |                             |
| Science       |                       |                             |
| E             |                       |                             |
| ndorsements** |                       |                             |
+---------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------+

-   ***[Attrition and Retention's Effect on HQ]{.underline}***

> Attrition rates for licensed staff in Oregon's public schools vary
> from year to year. In 2005-06, the attrition rate is estimated at 7.1%
> (2,544 of 35,955 left their school employment, not including those who
> left to take a position in another Oregon district). If the number of
> staff taking a leave of absence/sabbatical is reduced from this total
> (since many are expected to return to their position), the attrition
> rate is closer to 6.2%. Oregon's rate, then, is close to (and somewhat
> less than) recent national annual attrition estimates of 7-8%.

-   ***[Attrition of Inexperienced Teachers]{.underline}***

> The attrition rate for "new inexperienced teachers" in Oregon schools
> (in first three years of employment) varies from year to year and is
> viewed increasingly as a serious problem in school staffing. A recent
> review of the national literature found that "30-50% of all teachers
> leave the profession within their first three to five years of
> teaching; 75% of potential teachers who begin in undergraduate
> teaching programs leave the profession before their first year of
> teaching; 15-18% of all new teachers leave by the end of their second
> year, and as many as one-third leave by the end of their fifth year;
> and bright college graduates are less likely to enter the K-12
> teaching profession, and even if they do, they leave in a fairly short
> period of time." \[Ankeny, Oregon Research Report for Oregon Quality
> Assurance in Teaching, 4/02\]
>
> Oregon's 2002 study on attrition of new, inexperienced teachers found
> that the state's rate is similar to national rates, with about 37%
> leaving teaching after five years. Over an 11-year period, Oregon's
> average new teacher attrition rate was as follows:

-   left after one year of experience, 9.90%

-   after two years, 20.51%

-   after three years, 26.84%

-   after four years, 32.65%

-   after five years, 36.74%.

> Oregon has also made a commitment to retention of beginning teachers
> through the passage of a new \$5 million Mentoring Bill.

-   ***[Math Graduation Requirements Cause Shortage]{.underline}***

> For a period of time, Oregon's math teacher shortage may be
> intensified by recent legislative action (2005) to raise high school
> graduation requirements to include at least 3 Carnegie units of math
> through Algebra II, up from a 2-unit requirement; and by a move to
> small high schools, in which fewer teachers are responsible for
> broader curriculum areas. Also, the State Board of Education has
> increased high school graduation requirements for all students in
> science and math, there will likely be increasing challenges to staff
> Oregon schools with highly qualified teachers in these content areas
> over the next several years.

ODE continues to look for ways to assist districts in their efforts to
employ highly qualified and effective teachers in all classrooms in the
state. Below is a description of the many ways ODE has provided support
to schools and districts as they work to meet the HQT and Equity goals.

***[State Action Plan for Developing, Implementing, and Aligning State
Teacher Standards]{.underline}***

ODE's Office of Student Learning and Partnerships (which includes
special education) has been working collaboratively with higher
education and Teachers Standards and Practices to develop a State plan
for reaching the 100% HQT goal for both Special Education and General
Education teachers. Representatives from Higher Education, TSPC, and
ODE-SLP have attended forums presented by the Center for Improving
Teacher Quality. During each of the forums, participants attended
informational sessions, and the state plan was written and revised to
represent the needs in Oregon for developing and retaining highly
qualified teachers, both in general education and special education. The
plan included three basic goals and action steps that outlined the
resources needed, resources available, person(s) responsible, others to
be involved to complete the action step, and a timeline for
implementation. The plans three basic goals were:

1.  100% of teachers in both General and Special Education will be
    highly qualified

2.  Poor and minority children, and children attending low-performing
    schools, will not be taught at higher rates than other children by
    inexperienced, less qualified and out-of-field teachers.

3.  There will be an alignment between the State Performance Plan and
    the Highly Qualified State Plan to ensure coordination of services
    between agencies.

Along with the implementation of the plan it was determined that
guidelines would be produced by ODE-SLP and districts would be empowered
to evaluate staff related to highly qualified. ODE would determine if
the placement of Highly Qualified staff is equitable in all district
schools. ODE-SLP will also review the State Performance Plan and the
Highly Qualified State Plan and do a cross-walk to see where the two
plans overlap and determine how necessary tasks can be accomplished most
efficiently. Stakeholders and partners would be identified and involved
in a meaningful way to impact Highly Qualified issues across the state.

The timeline for the implementation of this policy is designed to take 2
years. Districts and ESDs will be required to submit a plan by March of
2008 for ensuring that 100% of all teachers are highly qualified, which
includes strategies to maintain the 100% level.

***[Data Driven Decisions]{.underline}***

ODE's office of Educational Improvement and Innovations (EII) is
developing a data team to analyze the data obtained from districts to
inform our work. This analysis will allow ODE to target resources and
efforts to assist all districts in reaching 100% HQT. The teacher and
AYP data for this Equity plan will be used as a template for this type
of analysis. Information for the plan will be used to make data driven
decisions. The use of both federal and state funding will be prioritized
based on the review of the data.

***[Application for Federal Funding]{.underline}***

ODE has made some major revisions to the application districts must
submit to receive their federal funding. The new electronic submission
format includes a direct tie to teacher HQT data and the Title II-A
funding page. Districts will have this data as a result of the new data
collection system and the Title II-A funding page. They will have data
on all teachers who were determined to not be HQ for the course(s) for
which they are teaching. Particular attention will be focused on how
districts not meeting HQT AMOs are using their Title IIA funding to
increase the number of HQT staff in the specific areas of need within
the district. Technical assistance priority will be given to these
districts as the plans are implemented to help ensure they result in the
desired increases of HQT.

***[Continuous Improvement Planning (CIP) Process]{.underline}***

The Oregon Department of Education fully implemented the Oregon CIP
process for school district reporting in fall of 2005. School districts
are required biannually to use their CIP to report on their progress
toward the goal of employing 100% highly qualified teachers. If the
state finds districts that have a disproportionately high number or
percentage of classes taught by teachers not meeting the state and/or
NCLB highly qualified provisions, ODE will require districts to develop
specific, detailed plans, using a variety of suggested state strategies,
to indicate how they will reach this goal. These plans are submitted and
approved by the Department.

-   Their plans must include information on each of the following
    criteria:

> **Beginning with the fall of 2007, all students will be taught by
> highly qualified teachers in core content areas. Districts will also
> have a plan to maintain the goal of 100% of core content classes being
> taught by highly qualified teachers.**
>
> As evidenced by:

-   *A description of how teachers are being supported to meet the NCLB
    highly qualified teacher requirements.*

-   *Summary of schools and subjects where classes are not being taught
    by highly qualified teachers and the districts specific actions to
    address these issues.*

-   *District actions to ensure hiring only highly qualified teachers.*

-   *A description of the actions taken to ensure that poor and minority
    students and those in schools identified for improvement are not
    taught by inexperienced, unqualified, or out of field teachers at
    higher rates than other students.*

-   *District actions to retain highly qualified teachers.*

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-   Standard 2 in the Standards for District Success specifically
    addresses the requirements for highly qualified teachers, mentoring
    and professional development

-   Districts are able to update their data as they make progress toward
    their CIP goals.

    -   Information on CIP is posted at:
        <http://www.ode.state.or.us/schoolimprovement/cdip/07-09revisedcipuide.doc>

**The CIP plans were due to ODE in November 2007 for our review**.
Implementation of these plans is reviewed during the compliance
monitoring visits.

***[Technical Assistance]{.underline}***

In reviewing the district plans that were submitted ODE determined there
was a need for specific training to address Special Education and
Charter School requirements. Follow-up technical assistance was provided
to charter schools in conferences in February, May and November 2007.
ODE and TSPC provided training on specific HQT issues in charter
schools. One of the trainings was specifically designed for new charter
schools that will be opening in the 2007-08 school year.

To assist with HQT issues in Special Education the Office of Student
Learning and Partnerships collaborated with the Office of Educational
Improvement and Innovation to develop an IDEA Q & A document that
includes a section on Highly Qualified Staff requirements. Training was
also provided at the ODE Statewide Special Education conference in
October 2007 that specifically addressed special education teachers
teaching core subjects.

***[Compliance Monitoring]{.underline}***

The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) has completed extensive
monitoring for the 2006-07 school year. One-third of the LEAs in the
state were monitored during the last school year. The monitoring
included an onsite review of 31 LEAs and desk audits of 33 LEAs. Each of
these LEAs was monitored for implementation of the district HQT plan, as
well as individual teacher plans, for each core academic class being
taught by a non-HQT. Sixteen LEAs, or 25%, were found to be out of
compliance regarding HQT issues during the 2006-07 monitoring. Each of
those LEAs has been required to submit corrective action to show how
they will come into compliance. ODE will be monitoring an additional
one-third of the LEAs during the 2007-08 school year. During this year's
monitoring visits we are training building principals as well as Human
Resource staff regarding HQT requirements. All LEAs within the state
will be monitored by the end of the 2008-09 school year. The complete 6
year cycle for NCLB monitoring being implemented in Oregon is found at
the following link
<http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/nclb/distmongrpa-f.xls> .

ODE has made additional efforts to increase communication with
stakeholder groups such as Oregon School Personnel Association (OSPA),
Teacher Standards and Practices Commission (TSPC), Educational Service
Districts (ESD), Confederation of Oregon School Administrators (COSA),
etc. Additionally, ODE, OSPA, and TSPC resulted in the development of an
Administrator Primer to assist school personnel with understanding HQT.
ODE has worked to coordinate alignment of NCLB requirements for HQT and
Oregon licensure rules with TSPC. ODE has also provided training in
cooperation with COSA, ESDs and OSPA to assist the field with the
implementation of HQT requirements.

ODE has also worked to provide training in rural districts that have
unique challenges to finding HQT. ODE provided training regarding HQT
issues to the most eastern rural districts at the Malheur Summer
Institute in July of 2007.

Administrator Primer website:

[http://www.teachoregon.com/OSPA/documents/Administrators%20HQ%20Primer%20paged.pdf](http://www.teachoregon.com/OSPA/documents/Administrators HQ Primer paged.pdf)

-   ***[Reading/Literacy]{.underline}***

***READ Oregon***

ODE provided a grant to the READ Oregon program for the last 3 years
from the Title II-A SEA Activity funds to assist more Oregon teachers in
becoming HQ in the area of reading. As reflected in Oregon's HQT data
reading is the content area with the lowest percentage of core courses
taught by HQT. Since READ Oregon provides courses through distance
education it allow enrollees to take courses without having to travel to
a college or university. Tuition assistance was provided for teachers
from schools that did not make AYP.

156 READ Oregon participants have completed the literacy practicum,
which is typically the capstone course at the end of the endorsement
program, which makes them eligible to apply to TSPC for the reading
endorsement. Sixty-one of these students completed their practicum
during the 2006-07 school year. Twenty-seven of the teachers who have
completed their literacy practicum teach in schools that did not make
AYP. Approximately 68% of this group is [beyond commuting
distance]{.underline} of one of the five READ Oregon participating
universities. Since Oregon has 85 REAP districts, as well as many others
in remote areas, this program has allowed teachers access to a high
quality reading endorsement program from their homes.

### *Oregon Reading First High Quality Professional Development*

Approximately 1000 teachers have received reading professional
development through the Oregon Reading First grant. A major source of
professional development for Oregon Reading First schools was the
**Institutes on Beginning Reading (IBRs).** IBRs are for teachers,
mentor coaches, principals, and other personnel involved in Reading
First implementation. Institute topics targeted assessing reading
performance, teaching the five components of beginning reading,
providing effective instruction within core and intervention programs,
and setting goals to improve student reading outcomes. This professional
development included time for teachers to analyze, plan, and refine
instruction.

In addition 50-60 teachers have been trained as mentor coaches. Each
school had a Reading First **mentor coach** who worked closely with
classroom teachers and school-based teams to support effective reading
instruction. Mentor coaches guided teams in coordinating instructional
support and using data to make decisions. Coaches had three main
responsibilities. First, they worked with teachers in the classroom on
improving reading instruction. Second, they ensured that the major
elements of the School-wide Beginning Reading Model were being
implemented throughout K-3. Third, they made sure the school used
student reading data to make decisions about instruction.

#### In short, the primary responsibility of coaches has been to provide staff development, support, and direction. They provided extensive explicit training and feedback to teachers about the implementation of scientifically-based reading programs, instructional strategies, and reading assessments. Prior to implementation, most of the Oregon Reading First schools did not have reading coaches. Consequently, there was an extensive amount of training required to prepare coaches for their positions. 

The training of coaches and implementation of coaches as a support
structure to teachers ties in nicely with the research showing that many
teachers leave the profession due to not receiving the support they need
to be successful teachers.

Currently ODE is looking into tying the Oregon Reading First
professional development and training to Reading endorsement programs in
colleges and universities. This will assist the state in more teachers
being highly qualified to teach reading, which is the most deficient
core academic area in the state. The expectation is this will result in
more teachers being highly qualified to teach reading in Oregon.

***Superintendent's Summer Institute***

The Oregon Department of Education in partnership with the Confederation
of School Administrators (COSA), the Oregon Education Association (OEA)
and the Oregon School Boards Association (OSBA) will be hosting the 2008
Superintendent's Summer Institute: \"Leadership for Literacy and
Learning.\"

As in previous institutes, the 2008 Institute will be focused on Middle
and High School teams of 4-12 teachers and administrators. The
partnership between ODE, OEA, COSA and OSBA demonstrates continued
commitment to excellence and the belief that by working together, the
shared vision of a quality education for all Oregon's students will be
realized. Grants are made available for schools to attend; priority for
funding was first given to schools that did not make AYP.

The Strategies for Student Success Institute presents a unique
opportunity for professionals to work together to design a plan for
enhancing student success. Key features of the 2007 Superintendent's
Summer Institute included:

-   In-depth training for administrators and teacher leaders on topics
    such as Instructional Coaching, Reading and Writing in the Content
    Areas and Safe and Civil Classrooms

-   Breakout sessions focusing on critical leadership issues

-   Team planning time

-   Nationally recognized keynote speakers

-   Daily \'Nuts and Bolts\' sessions that will highlight just-in-time
    information from ODE (i.e., HQT issues and requirements,
    assessments, graduation requirements, IDEA etc.)

-   Time for all levels of school leadership to work together

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-   **[Mathematics and Science]{.underline}**

***Perkins IV Professional Development Taskforce***

Oregon's State Board of Education has just increased the graduation
requirements in both mathematics and science. ODE has developed a task
force to review how to assist districts in meeting these new
requirements. Perkins funding is being used to increase Career and
Technical Education (CTE) teacher's effectiveness in both Math and
Science. ODE has developed specific training for CTE teachers in both
math and science, in preparation for the PRAXIS exam (demonstrating
knowledge to meet HQT status). ODE is also working with CTE teachers to
meet the HQT requirements in both Math and Science, as many of these
teachers will be providing instruction in these core areas. This will
not only increase the percentage of classes taught by HQT, but also
assist with Oregon's new graduation requirements.

***Mathematics and Science Partnership Grant***

The Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) program is intended to
increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science
by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom
teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in
institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement
efforts. One of the criteria to be addressed by grant awardees was
increasing the percentage of HQT as well as improving math and science
instruction with the grant funding. One of the funded grants reviewed
their middle school science HQT data and determined that 70% of their
science teachers are not highly qualified. Professional development is
being designed and led by highly qualified science teachers to increase
teacher effectiveness in utilizing formative assessments to guide
instruction.

**Rural Math Learning Community**

Northwest Regional Comprehensive Center created a professional learning
community for the SEAs in their region (Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
Washington and Wyoming) in Fall 2007. The purpose of the PLC is to build
capacity of the SEAs to provide support to rural schools and districts
not making AYP in Mathematics. A variety of issues confront rural
schools, including recruitment and retention of qualified teachers,
administrator turnover, student achievement and dropout, access to
advance placement courses and effective professional development. The
PLC will be exploring effective models for addressing mathematics needs
in rural schools, effective mathematics instruction, retention and
recruitment of qualified teachers and other issues.

-   **[Inexperienced Teachers]{.underline}**

> ***Oregon's New Mentoring Bill***

In order to retain new teachers, we must make an effort to develop
programs to support them and provide professional development in a
format built upon their specific learning needs and of the learning
needs of the students with whom they work. In the recent report,
"Educator Supply and Demand: Implications for Staffing Oregon Schools" a
recommendation was made to policymakers to consider a statewide approach
to improve the retention of new teachers (Zanville, 2006). Oregon school
districts are currently spending nearly \$45 million dollars annually to
replace teachers and administrators. Implementing a program to support
and retain new teachers would cost far less and provide increased
benefits to schools and, most importantly, to student learning.

The teachers who recently left teaching in Oregon gave the following
five reasons: high demands of teaching, lack of planning time, lack of
time to attend to student needs, lack of support by school
administrators and level of rigor demanded of teachers. Each of these
reasons for leaving the profession can be mitigated with an effective
program for new teachers. The reality of teaching, as in most fields, is
that the education prior to entering the profession is sufficient to
**begin** work in the profession, but continued education and support is
required to sustain and retain the novice. Other professions build in
coaching and mentoring during the first years. Law, medicine, and
architecture are examples of professions where novices are provided with
support and resources during their early years.

Passage of the House Bill 2574 will add \$5 million to provide mentoring
for teachers and administrators with less than 2 years of experience to
assist with this issue. The Oregon Legislature in reviewing state
teacher data realized the need for a mentoring program. Statistics have
shown that teachers who receive research-based, relevant mentoring
produce students with a higher rate of achievement. Research has also
shown that districts with teacher mentoring programs have a higher rate
of retention of teachers. These funds will be used to address the issue
of the large number of new teachers who are leaving the profession due
to the need for support as well as provide them with research based
training to increase their effectiveness. This will also increase the
number of experienced teachers in Oregon classrooms as the beginning
teachers receive the support necessary to become more confident
teachers.

ODE is committed to ensuring that poor and minority children are taught
by high qualified and effective teachers. District applications will be
reviewed and priority given to novice teachers in high poverty and high
minority schools. Priority will also be given to beginning
administrators in these schools, as research has shown that an effective
leader is also critical in assuring that teachers are supported in
becoming and increasing their effectiveness. ODE is currently developing
a High-Quality program that includes the critical elements necessary for
it to have a positive impact on not only the novice teacher, but also
training for mentors and of course increase student achievement as the
program improves teacher effectiveness. The program requires districts
to ensure a minimum of 90 hours of contact between the mentor and novice
teacher. Research based training will be provided to mentors both prior
to the beginning of the school year, and throughout the year.

-   ***[Federal Grant to Fund Oregon DATA Project]{.underline}***

The ODE was awarded \$4.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of
Education for the Oregon DATA Project, a statewide initiative to improve
student achievement by collecting, analyzing and using longitudinal data
to inform individual instruction. At the district and classroom levels,
teachers will be able to use formative data to design effective
curricula for their students.

The grants are intended to help the states generate and use accurate and
timely data to meet reporting requirements, support decision-making, and
aid education research. Longitudinal data systems enhance the ability of
states to efficiently and accurately manage, analyze, and use education
data.

In line with the goals of No Child Left Behind to use
scientifically-based research data to improve education, the data
systems developed with funds from these grants will help states,
districts, schools, and teachers make data-driven decisions to improve
student learning, as well as facilitate research to increase student
achievement and close achievement gaps. The grantees will be expected to
submit annual and final reports on the status of the development and the
implementation of these systems.

Oregon school districts currently collect information about students and
staff into electronic databases. Portions of these data are delivered to
the state Department of Education in order to meet compliance
requirements. In most cases, however, that is the limit of the use of
these data. Data are not aggregated, shared, analyzed or effectively
used as a part of improving student achievement.

School districts and regional Education Service Districts are beginning
to make investments in regional data warehouses and starting to train
teachers and administrators how to use data to inform instruction. The
Oregon Legislature is making an \$8.4 million investment in a project
that facilitates compliance reporting and the movement of standardized
student transcripts horizontally across the state. The Pre-Kindergarten
thru Grade 16 Integrated Data System (KIDS) is an enterprise-level data
warehouse with standardized business rules for transporting, securing,
managing and using data.

The outcomes of the project will include a system of regional data
warehouses containing highly aggregated local and state level data,
coupled with professional development that will allow teachers and
administrators to effectively engage in ad-hoc query and analysis of
instructionally relevant student-level data from nearly anywhere in the
state.

This grant will allow ODE the capacity to produce a more thorough data
analysis for districts to utilize as they prepare their Continuous
Improvement Plans.

**[Conclusion]{.underline}**

ODE continues to analyze the data from the new collection to make
informed decisions on the use of both state and federal funds to assist
with the goal of 100% of our classrooms being taught by HQT. District
and school progress will continue to be monitored throughout the year
using a variety of techniques. Technical assistance will then be
provided as needed to both schools and districts to help them reach the
100% goal.

Oregon is committed to having effective teachers in all classrooms in
the state. As demonstrated in the Equity Plan, we are continuing to
focus our efforts on content areas with the lowest percentage of HQT.
The new mentoring bill will also enable us to provide training to
beginning teachers to not only help us retain them, but also increase
their effectiveness.

[^1]: The designation of "High Minority" and "High Poverty" is the
    higher quartile, while "Low Minority" and "Low Poverty" is the lower
    quartile.