Beginning Educator Support and Training Program

The Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee is a joint, bipartisan, statutory committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. It was established in 1972 to evaluate the efficiency, effectiveness, and statutory compliance of selected state agencies and programs, recommending remedies where needed. In 1975, the General Assembly expanded the committee's function to include investigations, and during the 1977 session added responsibility for "sunset" (automatic program termination) performance reviews. The committee was given authority to raise and report bills in 1985.

The program review committee is composed of 12 members. The president pro tempore of the Senate, the Senate minority leader, the speaker of the house, and the House minority leader each appoint three members.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

VI. APPENDICES

The Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee authorized a study of Connecticut's Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) program in April 2007. The study focused on the effectiveness of BEST in achieving its intended objectives of supporting beginning teachers in Connecticut and assessing their overall skills and qualifications. The program's overall purpose is to ensure public school students in Connecticut are taught by teachers who have been determined competent in accordance with the teaching standards approved by the State Board of Education (SBOE). For this reason, the BEST program is most appropriately viewed as one component of Connecticut's educator continuum structured to ensure teacher effectiveness. Findings and recommendations accordingly were made in several areas, including proposals to ensure the state's teacher preparation programs instruct future teachers in how to teach according to the state standards and BEST, to improve support provided to beginning teachers, and to make the assessment more effective.

The program review committee believes that if the state expects its teachers to teach according to the principles contained in Connecticut's teaching standards and measured through the BEST assessment, three critical components must be coordinated. First, prospective teachers in Connecticut need to be instructed in the state's teaching standards and the BEST program starting during their teacher preparation. Second, the BEST program – in both its support and assessment components – must ensure teachers learn and use effective teaching practices as embedded in the state standards. Third, teachers must be held to those same standards for the rest of their careers in Connecticut. Although entire the educator continuum was not part of the original focus of this study, there is agreement among State Department of Education (SDE) personnel, program staff, administrators, and teachers' union representatives that more than just the BEST program must be strengthened if Connecticut expects its teachers to fully learn and consistently implement the state's teaching standards.

The Beginning Educator Support and Training program was developed as the state's teacher induction program during the late 1980s by the State Department of Education in conjunction with input from educators throughout the state. Changes to the program's support and assessment components have been made over the past two decades, although the program's goals have remained the same. Most notably, the BEST assessment method changed to the current portfolio¹ in the late 1990s, concurrently with the adoption of new state teaching standards that emphasized the importance of student learning. For the 2006-07 school year, a total of 42,843 certified teachers provided instruction in Connecticut public schools with just over 4,900 beginning teachers participating in the BEST program in some capacity.

The financial resources available to BEST declined sharply in the early 1990s. The program's budget currently is about $4 million. BEST is administered by SDE with contracted assistance from the six Regional Educational Service Centers (RESCs) around the state and a firm specializing in occupational assessments. Overall, the committee found SDE has focused mainly on the assessment component of BEST, to the detriment of the support component.

Future teachers in Connecticut receive their first instruction in how to teach (i.e., pedagogy), as well as their first teaching experiences, during their teacher preparation. The state's 20 teacher preparation programs are required by regulation to teach their teacher candidates according to BEST and the state's teaching standards. The committee found, however, it is unclear to what extent the programs' curricula are aligned with BEST or the standards. Further, an analysis of BEST assessment data revealed few significant differences among the rates at which teacher preparation programs graduates fail the BEST assessment.

All educators new to teaching in Connecticut must receive BEST support. Support is given mainly by designated mentors, with a range of supplemental support provided by other teachers and administrators at beginning teachers' schools and districts, SDE, and the RESCs.

The committee found the area of BEST in most need of attention is the level and quality of support for beginning teachers. A key goal of the support component of BEST is to familiarize beginning teachers with Connecticut's teaching standards, which are the foundation of the BEST assessment and describe how all the state's teachers are supposed to be teaching. For a large portion of beginning teachers in Connecticut who responded to the committee staff's survey, however, this level of meaningful support is not reached.

The committee recommended changes be made to ensure beginning teachers receive proper support through BEST during their initial years of teaching in the state. The goal of the recommendations is to ensure all beginning teachers receive substantive mentoring from trained mentors with relevant expertise. Improved support will better prepare beginning teachers for the BEST assessment and for teaching according to the state's teaching standards. In addition, national research indicates strengthened support may lead to other positive results, including lower costs to school districts due to reduced teacher turnover and positive gains in student achievement resulting from more effective teaching. With the committee's recommendations, the BEST support component should provide beginning teachers with more consistent and substantive support that builds up to the BEST assessment.

By the end of their second year, approximately 90 percent of beginning teachers must complete the BEST assessment, which currently is a portfolio.² The committee study determined the portfolio – as an assessment method – is a valid and reliable instrument. The portfolio assessment generally meets the program's key goal of ensuring all beginning teachers are at or above the minimum level of competency as measured against the state's standards within the Common Core of Teaching. There is a low percentage – usually ten percent annually – of beginning teachers who do not pass their portfolio assessments on the first attempt, and only one to two percent ultimately fail after three attempts. It stands to reason that the higher the pass rate, the stronger the indication that teachers meet at least the minimum standards for effective teaching established in Connecticut.

At the same time, the committee determined several changes to the BEST portfolio assessment would make it a more meaningful process from which beginning teachers will learn. Generally, the recommendations focus on making the portfolio process less arduous for beginning teachers, while maintaining the state's goal of making sure beginning teachers meet specific teaching standards.

Changes to the BEST assessment – in conjunction with those made in the teacher preparation and BEST support areas – are designed to make the current BEST process a more useful and relevant experience that fully captures what beginning teachers have learned about effective teaching in their teacher preparation, through classroom experiences, and from their mentors during the initial years of teaching in Connecticut. Taken together, the committee's recommendations have the ability to positively impact and advance the knowledge and skills of Connecticut's beginning teachers.

The Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee adopted the following recommendations.

1. The State Department of Education should undertake a comprehensive review of the alignment of all the accredited teacher preparation programs with the state's teaching standards as contained in the Common Core of Teaching. The review should also examine how the program approval process can be used by the department of education to ensure teacher preparation programs fully align with the state's teaching standards.

2. The State Department of Education should require teacher preparation programs to use a standards-based student teaching rubric. The department should require each program to either adopt the rubric already developed, adding on to it if desired as currently is permitted, or to submit its own rubric for approval or rejection. If a program's own rubric is rejected by the department of education, the program should be required to use the standards-based rubric until a sufficient rubric is submitted and approved.

3. The State Department of Education shall examine why disparities exist in support for beginning teachers in school districts within District Reference Group I (as designated by the education department) compared to other school districts throughout the state and report its recommendations for addressing the disparities to the legislature's committee(s) of cognizance by February 1, 2009.

4. The State Department of Education should develop a data collection and evaluation system for accurately monitoring the mentoring component of BEST. As part of the data collection system, the department should require the name(s) not only of the mentor, as is currently expected, but also, when assigned, of mentor team members to be submitted by the district as part of the beginning teacher's staff file within SDE. The data collected should be used to improve the quality and relevance of mentoring required under BEST.

5. The State Department of Education should keep its mentoring monitoring efforts separate from any surveys or documents relating to assessment submitted by the beginning teachers to their mentors and/or to the department.

6. The State Department of Education should create and implement a collection of sequenced support modules based on the state standards contained in the Connecticut Common Core of Teaching, effective teaching methods, and beginning teachers' needs, through which mentors will guide their assigned new teachers. Starting no later than the 2009-2010 school year, the department should require mentors and beginning teachers to use the module system and to submit proof of its completion to their appropriate building-level administrators. Each school district should submit annual statements to the department certifying the progress of its beginning teachers in successfully completing the mentoring requirements.

7. C.G.S. Sec. 10-220a shall be amended to require a reduced classroom teaching workload for BEST mentors as determined by the school district. Those mentors who simultaneously teach part-time must have a substantially lower caseload. The workload reduction shall be structured to coincide with a beginning teacher's daily preparation time. Districts may choose to provide full-time mentors instead of, or in combination with, mentors who have a reduced classroom teaching workload. Districts shall be required not to exceed a caseload of 15 beginning teachers per full-time mentor.

8. The state shall provide funds to districts to reduce their costs of: 1) hiring additional personnel to fill classes for mentors who are currently employed as teachers; and/or 2) the salary or hourly wages for those educators hired solely to be mentors. Mentors who are employed simultaneously in another capacity shall receive their same salary.

9. C.G.S. Sec. 10-220a shall be amended to allow not only current teachers, but also retired teachers, retired administrators, teachers on leave, and education faculty from the state's various colleges and universities to become mentors.

10. The State Department of Education should work collaboratively with local school districts, Regional Educational Service Centers, and other constituencies associated with BEST to identify, recruit, and train an expanded pool of mentors.

11. The State Department of Education should standardize the frequency with which beginning teachers and their mentors/mentor teams are required to meet. The standard should take into consideration the frequency necessary to enable mentors and beginning teachers to successfully complete the mentoring module system recommended above.

12. C.G.S. Sec. 10-220a shall be amended to require beginning teachers to receive formal mentoring during their first two years in the BEST program upon receipt of their state initial teacher certification.

13. The State Department of Education should develop guidelines requiring any potential mentor to first be approved by: 1) his or her current district, for those who are employed, certified teachers; 2) his or her last school district, for those who are retired certified administrators or retired certified teachers; or 3) his or her current supervisor, for those who are employed as university professors specializing in education, or his or her former supervisor, for retired university professors specializing in education.

14. The State Department of Education should require the beginning teacher's building-level administrator to assign mentors and, where necessary, mentor team members.

15. The State Department of Education should adopt the following mentor training requirements: 1) mentors who received initial or update mentor training up to three years ago must complete an update training; 2) mentors who received initial or update training more than three years ago must complete an initial mentor training; 3) all mentors should be required to complete a mentor update training every third year since their last initial or update training; 4) all mentor trainings, initial or update, should be provided by the State Department of Education in conjunction with the Regional Educational Service Centers, and should be focused on instructing mentors in how to work through the new mentor module system (as recommended above); and 5) anyone who fails to complete these training requirements no longer will be considered eligible for assignment to a beginning teacher, until another initial mentor training is completed.

16. C.G.S. Sec. 10-220a shall be amended to require each beginning teacher to be supported by a mentor or mentor team member who has recent experience or expertise in either: 1) the same, precise content area as the beginning teacher, for a new teacher not in elementary education; or 2) the same, precise grade level as the beginning teacher, for a new teacher who teaches elementary education. If such a match is not feasible, the beginning teacher shall be supported by a mentor who has recent experience or expertise in: 1) a similar content area, for a new teacher not in elementary education; or 2) a similar grade level, for a new teacher who teaches elementary education.

17. The State Department of Education should offer district facilitators training to enable them to understand and carry out their full scope of BEST duties. The department should work with the Regional Educational Service Centers in developing and offering the training.

18. C.G.S. Sec. 10-145b(l)(1) shall be amended to require administrators acting in an administrative or supervisory capacity at least 50 percent of their assigned time to complete a certain number of hours of training, as determined by the State Department of Education, in new teacher induction during each five-year certification period.

19. The State Department of Education should review the current Common Core of Teaching standards to determine if changes or modifications are necessary. Such review and update of the standards should be completed by July 1, 2009, and every seven years thereafter.

20. The State Department of Education shall conduct a review of possible, practical alternatives to assessing beginning teachers' knowledge and application of the state's teaching standards specified in the Common Core of Teaching. At a minimum, the review shall identify the potential costs and overall logistics associated with transitioning to another assessment model. A report summarizing the department's findings should be submitted to the legislature's committee(s) of cognizance by February 1, 2009.

21. C.G.S. Sec. 10-145f(d) shall be amended to allow teachers to complete the professional knowledge clinical assessment required for state teacher certification purposes no later than their third year of teaching in a public school in Connecticut. The provision whereby teachers, after not fulfilling the requirements of the assessment within the designated time, may petition the department to approve a plan of intervening study and experience shall be eliminated.

22. The State Department of Education should modify the BEST program to provide beginning teachers the option of when to submit their BEST portfolios. Teachers will have a choice to submit the required portfolios either in their first, second, or third years in the BEST program. Teachers will only be permitted to submit one additional portfolio upon not achieving a passing score on their first portfolio.

23. The department of education should continue to make a concerted effort to fully examine portfolio requirements across all content areas with an emphasis on identifying areas of redundancy and streamlining overall requirements. Included in such review for the 2008-09 school year should be a determination whether: 1) elementary education teachers should have a choice between submitting only a literacy- or a numeracy-based portfolio; and 2) the requirement for separate writing and literature lesson plans within the English language arts portfolio requirements is necessary or if the two components should be combined within the English language arts portfolio requirements.

24. The education department should supply prompt and sufficient notice to all teachers, mentors, administrators, district facilitators, and Regional Educational Service Centers indicating the department's approval for teachers to use DVD technology for the video portion of their portfolios beginning with portfolios submitted in May 2008. The department should also devise ways to ensure beginning teachers in the poorest urban school districts have access to equipment to fulfill their portfolio requirements. At minimum, all teachers should be informed that equipment is available for loan at each Regional Educational Service Center.

25. The State Department of Education should replace the video component of the BEST portfolio assessment with on-site classroom observations, with the state reimbursing school districts for any resulting additional costs.

26. The State Department of Education should implement a revised scoring scale for BEST portfolios based on the final ratings of: “competent” and “not competent.”

27. The education department should adopt ways to include feedback language that is as detailed as possible with portfolio results to provide beginning teachers with a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as shown by their portfolios. This includes incorporating the full scoring rubric indicating where on the performance continuum the teacher scored for each performance indicator contained in the rubric as part of the formal portfolio feedback teachers receive. The department also should consider differentiating the feedback provided to teachers who fail the portfolios to include more substantive language indicating teachers' strengths and weaknesses than is currently contained in the scoring rubrics, on which the feedback is based.

Over the years, Connecticut has modified its teacher certification requirements to increase the overall quality of teachers. In 1986, the state adopted an extensive education law that included a teacher certification overhaul. Known as the Education Enhancement Act (EEA), the law was a direct response by the state to address Connecticut's growing problem of recruiting and retaining qualified teachers.

A key component of the act provided the means for local school districts to increase teacher salaries, which was seen as a way of attracting teachers to the profession and keeping teachers in Connecticut. At the same time, the EEA strengthened the standards for teachers in several ways. Chief among those increased standards was the establishment of a three-tiered teacher certification system that codified new requirements for beginning, experienced, and veteran teachers. State certification for a beginning teacher, called initial certification, required public school teachers starting their careers in either the profession or the state to participate in a state-run teacher induction program providing support and assessment.

The teacher induction program developed at that time by the State Department of Education (SDE), in conjunction with input from educators throughout the state, was the Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) program. The program provides a combination of support for and assessment of teachers who are at the start of their teaching careers in Connecticut.³ In the first year, beginning teachers in BEST receive support, centered on mentoring. In the second year, they complete a formal skills assessment, in a portfolio format, to ensure they meet specific standards regarding effective teaching practices, which are set by the State Board of Education. Those teachers who fail the portfolio are allowed to re-submit at least one additional portfolio in their third year.

Although changes to the program's support and assessment components have been made over the past two decades, the overall purpose of BEST has remained the same since its origination: to ensure public school students in Connecticut are taught by teachers who have been determined competent in accordance with the teaching standards approved by the State Board of Education (SBOE). At the same time, the department has promoted the BEST program as a process from which beginning teachers learn about effective teaching practices contained in the state standards and strengthen their overall teaching skills, with the goal of having teachers teach according to the state standards throughout their careers. Consistent with this approach, the BEST program is most appropriately viewed as one component of Connecticut's educator continuum structured to ensure teacher effectiveness. Although the program is supposed to familiarize new teachers with and assess them on their knowledge and application of the state's teaching standards, BEST should be neither the teachers' first introduction to those standards nor their last experience with them, as recognized by SDE.

Understanding the ability to recruit and retain qualified, competent teachers in Connecticut is a vital element of the state's public education system, and the potential impact the state's teacher certification requirements have on school district capacity to meet those objectives, the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee decided in April 2007 to examine teacher certification in two phases. This study was approved by the committee as Phase One of a two-part review of the state's teacher certification system. Phase Two of the study, as determined in more detail by the committee, is intended to examine Connecticut's teacher certification system more broadly, including its relative impact on the state's ability to recruit and retain qualified teachers, to the extent such impact can be identified.

This review of the BEST program focuses on the program's effectiveness in achieving its intended objectives of supporting beginning teachers in Connecticut and assessing their overall teaching skills and knowledge. Some areas identified for review by the committee include: examining the role of SDE and local school districts in the operation and oversight of the program; describing the process used to recruit, train, and oversee the various resource personnel associated with the program at the state and local school district levels; and assessing program activities and results to determine if the program is meeting its intended objectives.

Answering the question of whether the BEST process – in particular the portfolio, because it is intended to be a culmination of what is learned through teacher preparation and support provided through the program – is effective, is difficult and depends on which measures are used for evaluation. For example, do the standards continue to be appropriate for beginning teachers? Second, are teachers receiving a consistent level of quality support? Third, is the assessment method to evaluate beginning teachers based on the state standards appropriate and reliable? Fourth, even if the assessment method is appropriate and reliable, is it necessarily the most effective way to assess beginning teachers' knowledge, skills, and competencies? And fifth, is there a more effective way to assess beginning teachers that would improve their understanding of the state's teaching standards and ability to implement them? The committee addresses these questions in this report. A key question that remains, however, is whether the state is prepared to adopt the necessary policies and devote adequate resources to ensure the state's teacher induction program receives the support needed to fulfill its goals.

Advocates of BEST believe it is properly designed for supporting and assessing beginning teachers. Through the program, beginning teachers are provided support at the local school district level and via state efforts. At the same time, the teachers are properly evaluated through an assessment proven valid and reliable to ensure they meet minimum competency standards set by the state. Opponents, however, maintain the assessment process is overly onerous for teachers generally beginning their careers. They also question the overall efficacy of the evaluation instrument used in Connecticut to assess beginning teachers. Despite disagreement over the assessment, most advocates and critics concur that BEST gives insufficient support at varying levels to beginning teachers.

During the course of this study, including testimony received as part of the committee's public hearing on this topic, numerous, and often conflicting, ideas were offered about how to improve BEST. The committee gave careful consideration to the comments, concerns, and ideas expressed through interviews, surveys, and testimony received as this set of findings and recommendations was developed. The committee's recommendations attempt to balance the state's efforts to ensure beginning teachers meet a specific level of standards for teaching by addressing areas of the current support and assessment processes in need of improvement.

A variety of information sources was used for this report. Extensive interviews of various constituencies associated with the BEST program were conducted, including staff from the State Department of Education, representatives from the state's two teachers' unions, BEST representatives from each of the six Regional Educational Service Centers in the state, education faculty from the University of Connecticut, representatives from the Department of Higher Education's Alternate Route to Certification (ARC) program, and staff from the association representing boards of education in the state. Committee staff also attended multiple BEST training sessions and seminars for mentors, assessment scorers, administrators, and beginning teachers, at which conversations with members of each of these groups were held. An extensive literature search was conducted, and information about induction and assessment programs in other states was collected.

Key sources of information for this report were the results of three surveys conducted by the committee. All teachers who completed their first year of teaching in Connecticut during the 2006-07 school year were surveyed to receive their input regarding the support they received as part of BEST. Surveys also were sent to all teachers who completed their second year of teaching in the state during the 2006-07 school year and submitted BEST portfolios in May 2007 in order to receive their feedback regarding the portfolio process. In the final analysis, the responses for both surveys had very similar distributions of teachers according to District Reference Groups⁴ (DRGs), and for the Year Two teacher survey, portfolio scores to the overall populations of teachers. All BEST district facilitators were surveyed electronically to collect information about local school district practices and policies regarding beginning teachers. A full description of the survey methodologies and copies of the surveys sent to teachers are included in Appendix A.

This report is organized into five chapters. Chapter One provides background on the origins and components of BEST. Chapter Two describes the program's organization and resources. Chapter Three gives an overview of BEST in relation to teacher preparation programs in Connecticut and provides recommendations to ensure the programs are aligned with BEST and the state teaching standards. Chapter Four discusses the support component of the BEST program and gives recommendations to improve the quality of support. Chapter Five details the program's assessment component and provides recommendations for improving the assessment process to make it more effective. The appendices are: A) Surveys of Beginning Teachers and District Facilitators, B) Common Core of Teaching Foundational Standards, C) Additional Certification Description, D) BEST Advisory Committee Recommendations, E) Regional Educational Service Centers Map, F) Mentor Stipends, G) District Reference Groups, H) Social Studies Portfolio Rubric, I) Portfolio Scoring Reliability, J) Licensure Assessments in Other States, K) SDE Response to Public Hearing, L) Sample Portfolio Feedback Report for a Failing Portfolio, and M) Regression Analysis Methodology.

It is the policy of the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee to provide agencies subject to a study with an opportunity to review and comment on the recommendations prior to publication of the final report. Appendix N contains the response from the State Department of Education.

As with the start of any type of professional career, beginning teachers are faced with numerous demands. Novice teachers are concerned not only with the classes and students they will teach, but also with understanding the culture of their new schools and school districts. Learning the basic logistics of their schools can be challenging for new teachers as well.

One way to ease the transition for beginning teachers is through their participation in teacher induction programs. Such programs are intended to provide new teachers with the assistance and guidance necessary to successfully introduce them to their new careers. This support generally is delivered by assigning more experienced teachers as mentors to beginning teachers, conducting formal orientation programs, and having beginning teachers participate in formal professional development. Teacher induction programs commonly focus on some combination of the following topics:

Many view quality teacher induction programs as a way to recruit and retain teachers. If a school district recognizes, addresses, and supports the needs of beginning teachers during their first years of teaching, particularly through quality induction programs, prospective teachers may be more apt to work for such a district. At the same time, as indicated below, attrition rates for beginning teachers who participate in teacher induction programs are lower than the rates for those teachers who do not participate. Therefore, teacher induction programs can boost teacher retention. The most recent national data from the federal Department of Education indicate a majority of all public school teachers with up to five years' experience participated in a formal induction program for new teachers; approximately 60 percent did during the 1999-00 school year (SY).⁵ As highlighted in Figure I-1, the percent of teachers participating in teacher induction programs varies by district geographical location. The figure shows 58 percent of teachers in “urban” districts participated in teacher induction programs, as did 63 percent of teachers in “urban fringe/large town” districts, and 54 percent of teachers in “rural/small town” districts. The national data also indicate 47 percent of beginning teachers in public schools worked with a mentor in the same content area during the school year. Having novice teachers work with experienced mentors, particularly in the same content area, is seen by many as an important way to support new teachers as they start their teaching careers.

The national literature provides evidence that teacher induction programs are an important factor in retaining new teachers. For example, as highlighted in Figure I-2, data from a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics show for school year 1999-00, attrition rates for first-year teachers were lower when teachers received support through a formal induction or mentoring program.The overall effect new teacher induction programs have on student learning, however, is more difficult to measure. While national data in this area are limited, studies on this topic are emerging and promising.⁶ Understanding the need to more fully evaluate the impact teacher induction programs have on student achievement, the federal Department of Education has recently contracted with a private research company to conduct a national study of new teacher induction programs and their relative influence on student achievement, improvements in teacher instructional practices, and teacher retention.⁷

A statewide induction program for new teachers, BEST, has been in place in Connecticut since 1989. BEST is part of a larger, standards-based certification continuum established for most teachers in the state. The standards in place are designed to ensure teacher quality throughout the various stages of a teacher's career, from when a student decides to enter a formal teacher preparation program at a Connecticut college or university through the highest level of state certification for veteran teachers. BEST is the program within the continuum that supports and assesses teachers beginning their careers in Connecticut to ensure they meet minimum state standards necessary to continue their state teacher certifications. For school year 2006-07, the number of certified teachers in Connecticut providing student instruction totaled 42,843. Of those, 4,913 (11 percent) participated in the BEST program, which accounted for approximately 90 percent of all new teachers in the state.

BEST comprises two components: support and assessment. As detailed more in Chapter Four, support of beginning teachers required through BEST augments district orientation for new teachers. School districts are not required by law to formally conduct an orientation for teachers, but SDE estimates most, if not all, districts across the state have some form of program to acclimate new teachers to their districts. No data on district programs are formally tracked at the state level.

The assessment component of BEST, as discussed in Chapter Five, was developed as the vehicle to ensure beginning teachers meet minimum competency standards approved by the State Board of Education. Beginning teachers are evaluated as part of a state-administered assessment process within BEST. The actual instrument used to assess new teachers has changed over time, as discussed below.

Recommendations from several study groups in the early to mid-1980s helped lead to passage of the Education Enhancement Act in 1986. The act was an extensive initiative to address Connecticut's teacher shortage through attracting and retaining qualified teachers in the state's public schools. The key components of the law were a substantial increase in teacher salaries and the establishment of more rigorous standards to ensure the overall quality of teachers.

Chief among the EEA's increased standards for teachers was the creation of the Beginning Educator Support and Training program. BEST was developed to provide a statewide structure for uniform support and assistance for beginning teachers, primarily through mentoring and training. At the same time, the program established a new statewide system to assess beginning teachers' abilities in the classroom. Under the new system, only upon successful completion of the program could a beginning teacher attain the proper state certification to continue teaching in the state's public schools. Before BEST, there was no state evaluation of beginning teachers for certification purposes.

Support. BEST was implemented in 1989, and originally was a one-year commitment on the part of new teachers. A second year in the program was an option for teachers who did not satisfactorily complete the program's assessment component. School districts were, and are still, required by law to support beginning teachers during their first year as they transitioned to their new careers.

The core of the support provided through local school districts was the use of trained mentors. Mentors were experienced teachers within school districts recognized for their ability in the classroom. Groups of staff within each district – known as district committees – were responsible for selecting mentors. State law required that mentors: 1) be Connecticut-certified teachers; 2) have two years of satisfactory teaching experience within their current school; and 3) have an understanding of the state's teaching competencies, as discussed below.⁸

The use of mentors at the inception of BEST was, and continues to be, the primary means of the program's support component for beginning teachers. Mentor duties and responsibilities were extensive, but mainly included:⁹

BEST further required school districts to meet additional obligations for supporting beginning teachers. For example, districts were to provide “release time” from classroom duties for mentors and beginning teachers to meet during the school year. By regulation, no fewer than four school days, consisting of at least eight meetings, were required for planning, demonstration, observation, and feedback on teaching between the mentor and new teacher. The release time requirement for alternate route beginning teachers was a minimum of five school days and 10 meetings. As noted in Chapter Four, currently there are different interpretations of the release time requirement.

State law originally provided for compensation for mentors. The initial rate was $1,000 for each mentor who worked with a beginning teacher for a school year. The program also required mentors to submit activity logs to SDE. The logs served as the department's way to oversee the mentor support component of the program and hold mentors accountable for their work with beginning teachers. Mentors received their compensation only if their logs were submitted.

In FY 92, funding for mentor compensation shifted, from a state obligation to a district's discretion. Each public school district now decides whether and at what level to compensate mentors. Moreover, mentors are no longer required to submit any type of activity report to the education department. The department attributes this to several factors, including the elimination of state funding for mentor stipends in the early 1990s and limited BEST staff resources to receive and review any type of mentor reports. As a result, mentor accountability is now a function of local school districts.

Training for new mentors was a state function required under the original BEST program. A “refresher” training program for mentors who had not mentored a beginning teacher for three or more years also was required by the original program, although this obligation no longer exists. Over time, new training sessions for district personnel (e.g., administrators) have been implemented.

Assessment. The assessment component of BEST fulfills the 1986 legislative mandate that beginning teachers be required to achieve a satisfactory evaluation on a “professional knowledge clinical assessment” within one year of teaching in a public school.¹⁰ The BEST statute and regulations outline the specific assessment requirements. The way new teachers have been assessed, however, has changed over time.

Initially, the assessment of beginning teachers was based on structured classroom observations. A series of up to six classroom observations conducted by state-trained assessors over the course of the beginning teacher's first year was required. The classroom observations were conducted by two teacher assessors and two administrator assessors from outside the beginning teacher's district, and two state assessors, with each assessor responsible for one observation per teacher. The observations took place at various intervals throughout the first year and were scored by the assessors. A teacher needed to achieve a minimum score from the assessments on a rolling basis to maintain his or her state teaching certification. If the teacher did not achieve a passing final rating during his or her first year, the evaluation process would be repeated during the following school year.

The BEST assessment process required teachers to complete an assessment information form prior to each classroom observation. The form sought general descriptive information about the teacher's students and more specific information about the context and purpose of the lesson the assessor would observe. Assessors would review the completed form, and then meet with beginning teachers before the actual observation to discuss the information. After the pre-observation interview, the assessor would observe the beginning teacher give a lesson in the classroom (generally 45-60 minutes). The assessor used a standardized evaluation form to record, among other things, how the teacher engaged students, handled questions, and monitored his or her classroom. The assessor would then meet with the teacher once the evaluation was completed for a script-driven interview with cursory questions (e.g., did anything unusual happen during the class).

Following each classroom observation, the beginning teacher would receive a feedback report from the assessor outlining the teacher's strengths and areas needing attention. A composite report showing the combined, rolling scores of the independent observations also was sent to the teacher. Teachers achieving a satisfactory rating were eligible to continue their state certification; a second year of observations was available for all other teachers.

The actual tool used by assessors to evaluate teachers within the classroom observation structure was the Connecticut Competency Instrument (CCI). The CCI, unique to Connecticut, was created by a development team consisting of SDE staff, practitioners, and national researchers during the 1980s. The instrument was revised through a formal validation and testing process.

The Connecticut Competency Instrument was formulated from a set of 15 general teaching competencies originally adopted by the State Board of Education in 1984. Based on those competencies, called the Connecticut Teaching Competencies, the assessment tool/evaluation form used for the classroom observations was organized into 10 “dimensions of effective teaching behaviors.” These were grouped into three categories that mirrored what were then considered to be the major components of the instructional process: 1) classroom management; 2) instruction; and 3) assessment of student understanding.

According to SDE, the on-site classroom observation process and the Connecticut Competency Instrument had several problems. These included:

In 1993, the BEST Blue Ribbon Panel was established to examine changing the BEST program, in part because of:

The blue ribbon panel consisted of 27 members representing various constituencies, including teachers' unions, local school districts, higher education, and education associations. The purpose of the panel was twofold: 1) assist the state education department in redesigning the BEST program to meet the needs of Connecticut's students in the 1990s; and 2) suggest alternatives to the current systems of accountability and professional development for both novice and experienced teachers.¹²

Prior to the creation of the BEST panel, SDE was interested in a way to measure general and content-specific pedagogy of beginning teachers, but no assessment of that type had been developed. The department worked with the Teacher Assessment Project of Stanford University on developing new performance evaluations, including a portfolio-based assessment. SDE believed the assessment needed to integrate three types of knowledge: 1) content; 2) general pedagogical; and 3) students as learners. The department's eventual goal was to create and implement this type of assessment as part of the BEST program.

Based on SDE's work developing an integrated assessment tool for beginning teachers, the department's collaboration with outside consultants, including the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards,¹³ and the endorsement of the BEST Blue Ribbon Panel, a second generation of the BEST program was initiated. The main change to the program was the development of a portfolio-based evaluation tool for new teachers.

Portfolio-based evaluation. In 1995, SDE began pilot-testing a content-specific assessment process based on a portfolio (i.e., a structured written document and video developed by the beginning teacher around a unit of classroom instruction). The portfolio instrument was developed in accordance with standards for educational and psychological testing developed by the Joint Commission of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. SDE also worked with the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), which is part of the Council of Chief State School Officials, on developing a prototype for the mathematics content area.

The portfolio was systematically tested by SDE for its reliability and validity as a formal measurement tool for beginning teachers, including review and consultation from Professional Evaluation Services and the Educational Testing Service. SDE also involved various constituencies within Connecticut in developing the portfolio, including teachers, administrators, and higher education faculty.¹⁴

The BEST program's new assessment process based on a content-specific portfolio format was implemented incrementally from 1999 to 2005, as indicated in Table I-1.¹⁵ Beginning teachers in the English language arts, mathematics, and science content areas were the first to complete and submit portfolios as their formal assessments under BEST for the 1999-00 school year. Over the next four years, portfolios for the remaining seven content areas were researched, developed, tested, and implemented. World languages, the last of the 10 content areas to transition to the portfolio format, was added in the 2004-05 school year.

At the same time the new portfolio assessment instrument was being developed, SDE was working on a revised set of competency standards for teachers. The Common Core of Teaching (CCT) was ultimately adopted by the State Board of Education in 1999 replacing the previous CTC discussed earlier. The CCT articulates the expectations and understandings teachers must have about their professional knowledge and practice (i.e., pedagogy), students, and evaluation of student learning. As with the development of the portfolio, the department involved various constituencies in establishing the teaching standards.

The Common Core of Teaching includes foundational skills and competencies that are common to all teachers from pre-K through Grade 12. The CCT also includes discipline-specific professional standards that represent knowledge, skills, and competencies unique for teachers in the 10 content areas that require portfolio assessments. (Appendix B provides the foundational standards of the Common Core of Teaching.)

The Common Core of Teaching, which was based on the national research current in 1999, represented a shift in how effective teaching was viewed. Moreover, the relevant competencies previously assessed through the Connecticut Competency Instrument were integrated into the standards used in the Common Core of Teaching.

It is important to note that the Common Core of Teaching standards extend beyond BEST, although the BEST teaching portfolio has been designed to assess the foundational skills and the discipline-specific standards contained in the CCT. The CCT incorporates the full continuum of standards-based teaching in Connecticut, and also serves as the foundation for the: 1) state's definition of effective teaching; and 2) guidelines for teacher evaluation, professional development, and the issuance of continuing education units.

Connecticut has three levels of teacher certification, as outlined in Table I-2. The table shows the type of state teaching certificate, the duration of the certificate, and the requirements either to advance to the next-level certificate upon expiration of a teacher's current certificate or to maintain the professional educator certificate, which is the state's highest level teacher certificate. Additional descriptions of the Durational Shortage Area Permit and the state's Alternate Route to Certification program are provided in Appendix C.

Beginning teachers must complete the BEST program to obtain their provisional educator certification, currently the second level of the state's three-tiered teacher certification structure. A beginning teacher in the following categories is required to participate in the BEST program:

Table I-3 highlights the support and assessment requirements for beginning teachers in their first through third years in the BEST program. For most individuals, participation in the program is a two-year process. During their first year, all beginning teachers required to participate in BEST are to receive support from either a state-trained mentor or mentor team, regardless of the subject they teach. As the table also shows, the formal assessment of beginning teachers typically occurs in their second year in the program. A third year is an option, if necessary, for those who fail to submit a satisfactory portfolio or who are granted a deferral.

Although the vast majority of beginning teachers in Connecticut are required to participate in both the support and assessment components of BEST, there are some exceptions. Table I-4 shows which teachers, based on their state teacher certification codes, are included in the support and assessment category, the support only category, or those for whom the BEST program does not apply.

Beginning teachers are automatically enrolled in the BEST program by their school districts. Districts are responsible for informing SDE of all beginning teachers hired each year. Based on the registration information, the beginning teacher is provided with the necessary BEST program materials. Among other information, beginning teachers receive a BEST program guide CD-ROM, which describes the program and details what is required of beginning teachers. The information for beginning teachers is also available online through the SDE and BEST websites. Beginning teachers registered into BEST after December 31 of a given school year are considered late registrants and will start their participation in BEST the following school year.

BEST Advisory Committee. A recent development regarding the BEST program was the creation of a BEST Advisory Committee by SDE in late 2005. The committee was part of a larger committee process convened by the department to examine Connecticut's educator continuum from a macro-perspective. Similar to the BEST Blue Ribbon Panel of 1993, the BEST Advisory Committee was to examine the program and recommend improvements.

STATE CAPITOL ROOM 506	HARTFORD, CT 06106	(860) 240-0300
e-mail: pri@cga.ct.gov		www.cga.ct.gov/pri/index.htm


Table I-1. Implementation of BEST Portfolio Assessment Method by Content Area: Areas Added Each School Year
*1999-00*	*2000-01*	*2001-02*	*2003-04*	*2004-05*
● English Lang. Arts ● Mathematics ● Science	● Special Educ.	● Elementary Educ. ● Music ● Physical Educ. ● Social Studies	● Visual Arts	● World Lang.
Source: Adapted from SDE materials


Table I-2. State Teaching Certificates (Issued After July 1, 1989)
*Type of Certificate*	*Duration*	Requirements Summary*
Tier 1 Initial Educator	3 years	● Successfully completed all SDE preparation and eligibility requirements; met requirements for entrance into the BEST program
Tier 2 Provisional Educator	8 years	● Successfully completed the requirements for the initial educator certificate and either: 1) completed at least 10 school months of successful teaching in a public school and successfully completed BEST; or 2) completed at least 30 school months of successful teaching in a public school or nonpublic school approved by SBOE (or another state's education governing body) within 10 years of applying for provisional certificate; or ● Successfully taught with a provisional teaching certificate (issued prior to 1989) for the year immediately preceding applying for provisional educator certificate in a local/regional school or state-approved special education facility
Tier 3 Professional Educator	5 years upon renewal	● Successfully completed 30 school months of successful teaching in a CT public school or nonpublic school approved by SBOE while holding a provisional certificate AND successfully completed either a Master's degree or at least 30 semester hours of graduate credit ● Must complete at least 90 hours of continuing education in an SDE-approved program during each five-year renewal period
Interim Educator Certificate	1 year	● Issued for educators with Connecticut test deferrals and/or specific course deficiencies as provided by SDE certification regulations
Alternate Route to Certificate (ARC)	90 days upon renewal	● Successfully completed Alternate Route to Certification program
Durational Shortage Area Permit (DSAP: Issued to School Districts)	School Year upon renewal	● First, the district is required to assign a mentor or mentor team for at least two years. Second, the district must create and implement a special plan of supervision. Each plan must incorporate an orientation to the district and at least ten classroom observations of or demonstrations for the teacher. Holders of a DSAP must complete coursework requirements necessary to receive full certification.
* See R.C.S.A. Sec. 10-145d-409-426 for full certification requirements. Source: SDE website and PRI staff analysis


Table I-3. Overview of Current BEST Support and Assessment Requirements
*BEST Phase*	*Types of Support*	*Assessment*
Year 1	● School-based mentoring ● Statewide, regional, and online seminars	● Science safety self-assessment (recommended for all science teachers)
Year 2	● Optional school-based mentoring (except for those teaching under DSAP and for ARC graduates) ● Statewide, regional, and online seminars	● BEST portfolio assessment
Year 3 (optional)	● Portfolio Assessment Conference with SDE staff or trained portfolio scorer ● School support (optional) ● Statewide, regional, and online seminars (optional)	● BEST portfolio assessment (up to two opportunities in Year 3 to resubmit a portfolio due to a previous failure or first portfolio due to an approved deferral.)
Source: Adapted from SDE materials


Table I-4. BEST Participation Categories by SDE Certification Areas
*Category 1* *Support and Portfolio Assessment*	*Category 2* *Support Only*	*Category 3* *Certification Areas NOT Participating in BEST*
● English ● Mathematics ● Science - Biology - Chemistry - Physics - Earth Science - General Science ● Special Education ● Elementary Education ● History/Social Studies ● Art ● Music ● Physical Education ● World Languages	● Business Education ● Vocational Agriculture ● Agriculture ● Health ● Home Economics ● Technology Education ● Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages ● Partially Sighted ● Hearing Impaired ● Blind ● Teacher-coordinator Marketing Educator ● Occupational or Trade Related Subject in Technical High School ● Trade, Industrial, and Health Occupations in Comp. High School	● Driver Education ● Speech and Language Pathologist ● School Library Media Spec. ● School Counselor ● School Psychologist ● School Social Worker ● School Nurse-Teacher ● School Dental Hygienist-Teacher ● Vo-Tech Administrator ● School Business Admin. ● English to Non-Speaking Adults ● Intermediate Admin/Supv ● School Superintendent ● Reading and Language Arts Consultant ● Remedial Reading/ Remedial Language Arts ● Teacher Coord. Co-op Work Education/Diversified Occp. ● Department Chairperson ● HS Credit Diploma Program ● Ext. Diploma Program Non-Mandated Program ● Practical Nurse Ed. Instructor ● Health Occps. V-T Schools
Notes: Anyone teaching under a DSAP in one of the above subjects in the support/assessment category will be registered into BEST for the purpose of receiving support until all requirements for the initial educator or the 90-day certificate have been met. Subsequently, if teaching under an initial certificate or 90-day certificate in a subject area for which a portfolio assessment is required, the teacher must participate in and complete the portfolio requirements. Also, teachers with middle school and/or bilingual education endorsements must complete “completion standard” portfolios, which are used to evaluate beginning teachers with particular certification endorsements for which a full performance-based portfolio is not fully developed or implemented. Source: SDE, A Guide to the BEST Program for Beginning Teachers, 2006-2007

Senate

House

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

VI. APPENDICES

A. Surveys of Beginning Teachers and District Facilitators A-1