Teachers Matter at K12 Inc.

1 October 2015 Version Matter at K12 Inc. New Efforts to Improve teacher EffectivenessLeslye Moraski Erickson, PhD, Director, Program Management, K12 Inc. Teresa Scavulli, Vice President, Academic Services, K12 Inc. Margaret Jorgensen, PhD, MBA, Chief Academic Officer, K12 Inc. 1 At K12 Inc., we know that Teachers have a powerful influence on student learning and engagement. As our instructional model has matured, the roles and responsibilities of Teachers have expanded. As we continue developing a culture of excellence, we have launched a program that focuses on ensuring and improving teacher effectiveness. This program will provide professional development and career advancement opportunities that enhance the experience of Teachers in the schools we serve, and thus make K12 an employer sought out by the best Teachers . Students in K12 school programs will benefit from this program because they will have access to expert and effective instruction and ultimately become more successful learners.

2 The connection between effective Teachers and improved student academic growth is well documented in research and in K12 s teacher effectiveness program aims to improve the culture and practice of our Teachers by focusing on specific methods, policies, practices, tools, and competencies that add structure and clarify expectations around five critical areas of a teacher s professional life cycle (illustrated in Figure 1). 1 Journal of Effective Teaching, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2002. See also the results of districts in improving the academic ratings of their schools from 2009 to 2012 such as Houston Independent School District, Houston, andDevelopRecruit and HireObtainDevelopDeployFIGURE 1: The teacher s Professional Life Cycle By focusing on making improvements in all five areas, we are ensuring that we employ, prepare, and continuously develop Teachers to deliver a superior learning experience to our students.

3 2 Program Goals and PrinciplesThe focus on effective Teachers is part of the larger Students First initiative that Nate Davis, CEO and Executive Chairman, launched in 2013 2014. In 2015 2016 K12 is focusing on three broad goals: helping students make a strong start to the school year, keeping students on track, and strengthening and supporting collaboratively across teams that have responsibility for school management, teacher training, and recruitment, K12 is committed to developing a program grounded in research-based behaviors associated with effective teaching. This foundation will enable us to identify and recognize effective Teachers , and to expand training for both new and experienced Teachers to ensure that each teacher is on a path to greater effectiveness. In order to maximize the commitment to effective teaching across the entire organization and across the schools we support, we have adopted these principles: Involve all stakeholders in designing the program to help ensure maximum acceptance.

4 Communicate clearly and broadly about the goals of the program, in ways that are transparent and easy to understand. Provide sufficient training opportunities for instructional coaches and evaluators to help ensure that the criteria are being consistently applied. Commit sufficient resources to launch and sustain a world-class teacher effectiveness Inc. is committed to allocating the resources needed to equip administrators and Teachers with the skills to deliver effective leadership and instruction that will result in all students learning. The teacher effectiveness program starts by rethinking how and when we recruit and hire our Teachers . We are developing a robust and consistent hiring process to attract the best Teachers . Our recruiting teams are both building and nurturing a talent pipeline for current and future needs, a particularly important effort given that most teacher preparation programs do not provide strong training or practice in online education.

5 Retention of current employees is also a priority. Data collected from annual teacher satisfaction surveys direct our work in three key areas: teacher training and support, professional opportunities within the teacher role, and providing a motivating and desirable pay structure. We are also focused on providing meaningful opportunities for our Teachers to participate in our company and add their voices to the national discussion of online learning. Once talented Teachers are secured and retained, the focus shifts to teacher development, effectiveness, and evaluation. 3 In many ways, the growth of virtual academies has outpaced traditional teacher education programs. Not only do Teachers in virtual academies, and to a lesser extent in blended brick-and-mortar schools, have to navigate digital tools and help their students do the same, but they also need to be able to build and sustain distance relationships while encouraging their students to do the hard work of learning.

6 Most Teachers begin their work in virtual academies without having previously taught in an online environment. This challenge shapes the expectations and experiences of Teachers in the schools we serve, and makes it even more important that our Teachers provide feedback on their work and have a voice in our schools. As part of the teacher effectiveness program, we are deploying periodic check-in surveys to understand Teachers experiences in areas of satisfaction, training, and engagement. These pulse checks are proving especially valuable in understanding the strengths that Teachers bring and the obstacles they confront at the start of the school year. Plans are underway to continue these pulse checks so that management can be proactive and responsive to Teachers enhance the K12 teaching experience, we are also continuing and strengthening various opportunities for Teachers to participate in their overall professional life.

7 This effort includes participation in a teacher Advisory Council as well as other meaningful opportunities for Teachers to share their experiences and offer critical feedback to ensure K12 is a place where Teachers know they will be heard and taken also want to offer Teachers tools to improve their own techniques while at the same time providing a career path for Teachers to develop as mentors, master Teachers , or instructional coaches, or to succeed in areas of digital development or in administrative leadership roles within the K12 environment. K12 wants to become the employer of choice for those Teachers who want to be part of this innovative effort. We want to attract these Teachers and provide a professional experience that will cause them to want to stay and be part of this new kind of learning environment. (For more detail about K12 s teacher effectiveness initiatives, see Figure 2.)

8 FIGURE 2: Improving teacher EffectivenessImproving teacher Effectiveness RECRUIT/HIRERETAINEVALUATECOACH/DEVELOPA DVANCEA ttract and win the best teachersDesign a career-long progression rampCreate consistent national measuresInduct Teachers to succeed from day oneProvide Teachers meaningful opportunities to participate in the organizationBuild and nurture a talent pipelineEstablish motivating and desirable pay structureUse multiple measures linked to learning activities and student outcomesDevelop customizable professional development resourcesBecome leaders in effective teaching and learningStructure a robust and consistent hiring processProvide strong leadership and teacher supportConstruct transparent, real-time feedback loopShape different Teachers for different rolesBecome an employer of choice for teachersAnalyze and act on new teacher feedbackFoster a culture of excellence and belongingLink teacher evaluation to student academic growth and performanceBuild teacher leadersInform K12 pedagogy 4 During the 2014 2015 school year, K12 resources were focused on building an implementation model and approach to be rolled out in pilot schools in 2015 2016, as well as adding capacity to support the rollout.

9 In addition, K12 has assembled an advisory board representing the voice of the in the summer of 2015, our teacher effectiveness program was launched in 18 virtual academies supported by K12 with dedicated staff to guide implementation, as well as incremental staff at each site and additional support from corporate staff as the school level, each of the 18 pilot schools has one or more Instructional Coaches to provide content and grade-level observation and feedback to help all Teachers (new and returning) become more effective. The Instructional Coaches were selected based on empirical evidence of successful teaching in a virtual learning environment. The Instructional Coaches are not evaluators but instead work to provide monitoring and feedback on specific behaviors associated with student learning and growth. The coaching cycle ensures that each teacher receives feedback every two weeks and has an opportunity to reflect on the feedback experience every four addition, all new Teachers have a Mentor teacher , an experienced, school-based teacher who has shown success in meeting expectations for performance and student achievement and has the skills to guide a new teacher towards those same outcomes while sustaining a positive relationship with the new Coaches and Mentor Teachers demonstrate our commitment to strengthening and supporting our Teachers .

10 In striving to improve our Teachers experience and increase their effectiveness, we aim to develop engaged and excellent Teachers because, after all, such Teachers are critical to improving student achievement. (See Figure 3.)This focus on teacher effectiveness is part of our commitment to putting students first. As Nate Davis said in his introduction to K12 s 2014 Academic Report, We succeed only when students succeed. That is our goal. That is our passion. That is our work. We are making sure that we find, prepare, and continuously support the best Teachers to do that all-important 3: Excellence in Teaching Leads to Student AchievementProgram Status to DateIMPROVE teacher ExperienceINCREASET eacher E ectivenessENGAGED Excellent TeachersSTUDENTACHIEVEMENT