Chapter 1: Overview of the OPE Framework

There is an abundance of evidence that the peformance of our nation's public schools has leveled, and recent attention has focused the American public on the systemic inertia that hinders public school improvement. The central argument of A Grand Bargain is that we must change the system in which educators work to attract, hire and retain top talent for the teaching profession.
The strategies proposed under Operation Public Education (OPE) are familiar in all school districts: to evaluate, compensate, remediate and provide professional development for teachers and administrators. In the new era of standards and accountability for educators, it's about improving the system whereby "appropriate responsibility is paired with necessary support." (p.4)
Editors Theodore Hershberg and Claire Robertson-Kraft make clear that they are not proposing the OPE framework as an all-or-nothing approach. Instead, since each component is based on the best practices and body of research available in education, results can be gained for improving any part of the human capital system.
Much like the provisions of SB 10-191 in Colorado, the authors suggest that the time is right to use student growth measures (the result of effective teaching) to identify the most effective teachers, pay them higher salaries and advance them professionally. Conversely, we can now identify the least effective teachers, provide them with the opportunity to improve with adequate support, and then dismiss those who fail to improve.
Looking at multiple studies, the editors contend that socioeconomic factors are the best indicator of achievement level of students; however, students who enter a grade level with low achievement can make tremendous gains over the year when highly effective teachers are staffed in their classrooms.
With the knowledge that effective teaching is the number one effect size on student learning gains, it becomes imperative to cast talented actors in the education system. Not only must recruitment of talent be emphasized, but growing, supporting and appropriately compensating such talent is critical to retaining the best and brightest in the teaching profession.
The OPE framework incorporates the following components:

• Value-added assessment as the empirical component in teacher and administrator evaluation. Aggregating student scores in classrooms and schools allows for ratings of ineffective, effective and highly effective.
• Sophisticated frameworks are added to evaluate teacher actions. Teacher observations use subjective protocols with explicit rubrics to rate performance as unsatisfactory, basic, proficient or distinguished.
• Administrators are evaluated through a comprehensive portfolio process.

Based on appropriate evaluation, compensation must be added to the picture:

• Teacher and administrator compensation rewards improvement and reflects performance. Teachers and administrators compete only with themselves in advancing up a career leader that is tied to results in advancing student growth.
• All educators are included in the system, regardless of subject or specialization. Appropriate safeguards are instilled in the system to calculate performance of all educators.
• The new career ladder of education (illustrated on p.16) will balance base pay with variable pay to allow for monetary and professional advancement up the ladder. By combining results in Inputs (observations/performance rubrics) with Outputs (student assessment gains), educators are placed on one of the following hierarchical levels: apprentice, career, advanced, distinguished.

The editors spend the remainder of this introductory chapter illuminating the beliefs, knowledge and skills necessary for schools and districts to improve academic performance in the 21st Century:

• Students are not born smart; instead, they are made smart through high quality instruction.
• Standards should be considered the base level for student performance. All students must be expected to exceed the standard. Recognize that this will take more time and resources for some students.
• Students must learn to apply their knowledge in the classroom. It's not enough to memorize and recite information. Thought must advance in rigor through Bloom's Taxonomy to reach the critical thinking level.
• Differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners, whether in content, process or end product.
• Make decisions based on available data. Educators must learn how to interpret data to create appropriate interventions for each student. Know where each student is, how to measure progress, and set a clear path for each student's success.
• Students should own their academic goals and strive to reach them in a learning centered classroom.

While the entire OPE framework had not been implemented at the publication of this book, various parts of the framework had. However, the cumulative effect of implementing the framework should produce positive results in student learning. The end game of the OPE framework is "realigning the system so that the goal - increased student achievement - is tied to the interests of teachers and administrators, aided by a new system of supports." (p.26)