[ti:Testing New Ways to Recognize What Makes a Good Teacher]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:Education Report]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English
[00:02.72]Education Report.
[00:04.66]In recent years, Bill Gates
[00:07.06]has given financial support
[00:09.41]to improve American education.
[00:12.30]Late last year, the Bill
[00:14.85]and Melinda Gates Foundation
[00:17.53]launched the Measures
[00:19.20]of Effective Teaching project.
[00:21.88]The project tests new ways
[00:24.67]to recognize what makes a good teacher.
[00:28.06]Its goal is to help educators
[00:31.40]and policymakers identify
[00:34.29]and support good teaching.
[00:37.02]The study is being carried out
[00:39.86]in public school systems
[00:41.60]in seven American cities.
[00:44.30]Thousands of teachers
[00:46.29]volunteered to take part.
[00:48.53]They agreed to have their
[00:50.98]classes recorded on video,
[00:53.37]but only for observation
[00:55.41]by expert researchers.
[00:57.30]Last spring, the project
[01:00.08]collected digital videos
[01:02.28]of thirteen thousand lessons
[01:04.77]in the classrooms taught by the teachers.
[01:07.67]They were in grades four through nine.
[01:11.25]Researchers also collected
[01:13.89]information from students.
[01:15.73]They asked students to report
[01:18.92]their opinions of each teacher's classroom.
[01:22.35]Students were also tested
[01:25.34]in mathematics, English and biology.
[01:29.42]Officials recently released
[01:32.15]early results of the project study.
[01:34.99]The report says teachers' past success
[01:39.48]in raising student scores
[01:41.82]on state tests is one
[01:44.26]of the strongest signs
[01:45.75]of their ability to do so again.
[01:49.13]This is known as a teacher's "value-added."
[01:52.96]The teachers with the highest
[01:55.65]value-added scores on state tests
[01:59.04]also help students understand math
[02:02.92]or show reading ability.
[02:05.51]The results also say students
[02:08.59]know effective teaching
[02:10.68]when they experience it.
[02:12.27]The students gave comments
[02:15.21]on whether or not their teachers
[02:17.76]cared about them.
[02:19.10]They also gave opinions
[02:21.34]on how much teachers controlled
[02:24.23]or managed student behavior
[02:26.91]in the classroom.
[02:28.81]The report found that classrooms
[02:31.64]where students reported positive
[02:34.13]experiences were more likely
[02:36.62]to show greater learning gains.
[02:39.31]Another finding shows that
[02:42.79]combining different sources
[02:45.03]of information helps administrators
[02:47.97]provide better comments
[02:50.26]and suggestions to teachers.
[02:53.04]In many cases, administrators
[02:56.48]had been basing their comments
[02:58.67]on student test scores only.
[03:01.70]The Measures of Effective
[03:04.89]Teaching project continues
[03:06.98]through twenty twelve
[03:08.77]when final results
[03:09.12]will be released.
[03:11.41]Researchers plan to test a new measure
[03:15.48]that examines what a teacher knows
[03:19.06]about how to teach a subject.
[03:21.85]Experts say these findings
[03:24.53]could also help create better training
[03:27.82]and development for teachers.
[03:31.05]And that's the VOA Special English
[03:34.84]Education Report,
[03:36.58]written by Lawan Davis.
[03:38.47]Join us online at 51voa.com.
[03:45.48]You can also join us on Facebook,
[03:48.52]Twitter and YouTube
[03:50.91]at VOA Learning English.
[03:54.24]I'm Steve Ember.