State thinks there's lots to learn from teacher-tracking database Friday, March 21, 2008 • BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff In the battle to reform schools, making teachers more accountable has been one of the more controversial campaigns. But that hasn't stopped New Jersey officials from recommending that 100,000-plus classroom teachers be put into a computerized tracking system. The system, which has allowed other states to hone in on teachers and better gauge how their specific students are doing, would initially focus on using data to examine how instructors are trained. It comes on the heels of a similar groundbreaking effort by the state to track students throughout their public school years and a broader effort to improve the collection and analysis of education data. So far, the state's powerful education union is taking a wait-and-see attitude toward the statewide tracking idea, which is being used in other states measure performance and, in some cases, dole out merit bonuses. Some members of the state board of education have said that is not New Jersey's intention at this point. Instead, the database would include everything from where teachers went to college to what courses they are teaching. State officials concede it could take years to implement and they are still a long way from determining how the data would be used. "There are lots and lots of reasons for having such a database (of teachers), for both the state and its decision making and also the local districts," said Willa Spicer, the state's deputy education commissioner. "But it does take some time, and will take some doing to produce one." While New Jersey now holds some basic information on all teachers, the more-detailed database is growing more common in other states and was a key recommendation in a recent study of the New Jersey's "alternate route" teachers. Alternate route teachers, who come into the field without formal education training, represent close to 40 percent of all new hires, said the study commissioned by the state. But researchers and state officials conceded it was difficult without a central database to reliably track whether these teachers were staying in the field, let alone how they were doing once in the classroom. "Without a database, there is no way to tell," said Sharon Sherman, one of the report's lead authors and a professor of education at the College of New Jersey. Taking it a step further, state officials said having more information on all teachers would help develop policy and regulations, including those involving teacher education programs in colleges and universities. The vast effort to track the state's 1.4 million students took several years to get up and running, went online this year and is still working through glitches. A majority of states have at least begun exploring different uses of a statewide database, experts say, and about a half-dozen are operating on different levels. In Texas, a central database of every teacher and student allows officials to determine whether -- and how much -- students' achievement has improved under any given teacher in any given year. That, in turn, is one factor in determining bonuses of between $3,000 and $10,000. New York City also has begun a pilot program using test scores to measure teacher performance. Tennessee gives each teacher a score based on student achievement, but only provides it to the teacher and school and prohibits it from being used in teacher evaluations. Connecticut is among the states using a statewide database to determine gaps in teacher training and in the classroom. "It can really answer some important supply and demand questions," said Heather Peske, a teacher quality expert with the Education Trust, a Washington think tank. "Are schools short in all the sciences? Or are we, for instance, overproducing biology teachers but under-producing physics teachers?" "The answers that can come out of (a database) can really help the state as a whole, as well as the educators and districts themselves," she said. The topic of the database came up before the state Board of Education as they were presented the alternate route study last month, but most were leery about using the data to evaluate teachers' performance. "There are just too many variables to that," board president Ronald Butcher said. "But think of all you can do. If there is tracking, you can do quality control on colleges ... and you can actually track the pipeline of new teachers, getting real qualitative information." John Mooney may be reached at jmooney@starledger.com, or (973) 392-1548. © 2008 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.