In the 1987-1989 biennium, the state legislature targeted funding to pilot projects focusing on Career Enhancement, including Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) in Toledo and Columbus. Districts were required to provide matching funds to receive state funding. This concept was expanded in the 1989-1991 and 1991-1993 biennia, when funds were designated for seven districts with various Career Enhancement pilot programs, Columbus continuing to be one of seven. In the 1993-1995 biennium, the Legislative Office of Education Oversight evaluated the Career Enhancement projects. The Amended Substitute H.B. 152 provided approximately $1.1 million for Career Ladder programs per year, and the language on the line item changed from "Career Enhancement Programs" to "Career Ladders." The revised H.B. 152 also required districts to compete for funds rather than target specific districts. In addition, after an evaluation of the previous Career Enhancement options chosen by districts, the General Assembly recommended narrowing the options for funding to Peer Review in their next biennial budget. Peer Review grants are now awarded competitively throughout the state.

Development and implementation of the Columbus Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program was initiated at the district level. Using primarily district support, and specifically targeting funds from the Career Enhancement line item, Columbus Education Association (CEA) and the Columbus Board of Education initiated the PAR program in the 1985-86 academic year. The structure of the PAR program has remained consistent since its inception, and consists of two major components. The first is designed to provide assistance and assessment to entry-year teachers (intern teachers) and the second, to support experienced teachers (intervention teachers) who are having severe difficulty. Throughout the year, all teachers new to the district are provided ongoing support by a consulting teacher, who observes their teaching performance and provides individualized feedback and support. Consulting teachers are experienced, successful teachers released full-time from their teaching duties to provide assistance to intern and intervention teachers. Each intern teacher receives a minimum of 20 observations and 10 conferences and intervention teachers a minimum of 40 observations and 20 conferences throughout the year. If a teacher is struggling, the number of visits increases according to need. The focus of the observations and conferences is on performance terms identified by the district to assess teacher performance. Consulting teachers document teaching performance using subsequent conferencing sessions to debrief and address other issues that may arise. In December and March, consulting teachers prepare data-based reports on the progress of their intern or intervention teachers.

The PAR program is governed by a seven-member panel, four members represent the teachers, and three represent the administration. The chair alternates each year between the President of CEA and an administrative representative. The PAR panel is responsible for administering the program, selecting consulting teachers, receiving reports on teachers in the program, and making recommendations for contract renewal.

Ongoing collaboration between Columbus Public Schools (CPS), CEA, and The Ohio State University (OSU) is a major component of the PAR program. From the inception of PAR, faculty from OSU have offered ongoing professional development to consulting teachers in the program. Professional development includes preliminary preparation prior to school, focused professional development days, and bi-weekly meetings.

The PAR program has become the catalyst for many successful, collaborative, innovative practices between CPS, CEA, and OSU to encourage ongoing professional growth of teachers. Teachers and university faculty from the collaborative partnership work together to provide workshops and courses for graduate credit to all entry-year teachers in CPS. They are taught collaboratively, and are offered free of charge to entry-year teachers through the fee waiver agreement between CPS and OSU. One major outcome of these efforts is the large-scale involvement of entry-year teachers in action research projects designed to examine their teaching practices and the impact of those practices on their students. In the 1998-2000 school year, approximately 175 action research projects resulted from this effort.

There have been several research findings used as indicators of success, and to guide professional development programs for entry-year teachers and consulting teachers. Indicators of success include:

• Retention rate of teachers in Columbus, specifically teachers of color.
• With the ongoing support of the consulting teachers, needs of entry-year teachers have transitioned from management-related concerns to instruction-related concerns, indicating that the PAR teachers move to a higher stage of development more quickly than the general literature would indicate. Data showed that it was not until the entry-year teachers were able to address issues of survival, were they able to move toward instructional concerns and professional growth. Findings from this study supported the ability of entry-year teachers to be successful managers and instructors during their first year of teaching while receiving assistance from a teacher support program.
• Years of experience that teachers brought into a large urban school district did not show significant effects on their perceived need in this study. The implications of these findings suggest that a support system is necessary for all teachers who begin teaching in a large urban school district, whether or not they have had previous teaching experience. This finding supports the district?s decision to offer assistance to all teachers entering the district.
• In an anonymous, open-ended questionnaire, entry-year teachers were asked to comment on the impact of the PAR program on their entry-year of teaching. The comments were overwhelmingly positive, identifying specific areas of assistance from the consulting teachers. Categories of specific assistance included providing resources, emotional support, and contributing to the teachers? professional growth.
• Approximately 175 teachers were involved in an action research project from 1988-1999, focusing directly on their own teaching practice, and the impact of their teaching practice on their students? achievement.

One important feature of the PAR program is that the support available to beginning teachers offers a framework to encourage a seamless transition between the university and public school setting. Performance terms that provide the foundation of the PAR program, and licensure standards in Ohio, are aligned with the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) standards.

Institutional Mission and Context

The collaborative partnerships framing the exemplary practices described in this session is The Ohio State University College of Education, the Columbus Public Schools, and the Columbus Education Association. The Ohio State University is a major research institution and the flagship university of the State?s higher education System. It is located in the state capital, Columbus. There are approximately 48,000 students in the main campus, and 55,000 including the surrounding campuses. The College of Education is a Holmes Partnership university, and is an innovator in community/school and university partnerships, teacher education reform, urban education, and educational policy studies. Peer institutions and professional organizations recognize the College?s standards of excellence, and its graduate programs have been among the top tier of the U.S. News and World Report surveys for the past five years. The College has approximately 135 regular faculty, 500 staff, and about 3,000 students. The College was recently configured as three academic units: 1) School of Educational Policy & Leadership, 2) School of Physical Activity & Educational Services, and 3) School of Teaching & Learning. Among the schools there are 13 graduate programs and five undergraduate programs. Teacher licensure preparation occurs at the graduate level (MEd). Teacher licensure preparation programs also exist on the four regional campuses of the University. There are also several interdisciplinary centers associated with the College.

Columbus Public Schools is a large urban school district, with approximately 4,500 teachers serving 65,000 students. Just 60 percent of the students in Columbus are students of color. The average family income is $21,875.00, with $6,668.00 expenditure per pupil. Forty-two percent of the student population of Columbus has been categorized as "disadvantaged" and there is a graduation rate of 61.1%. The Columbus Education Association has been a powerful teachers? association for the Columbus teachers, with much of the credit going to John Grossman, who has been a long-term president, leading the association?s involvement in the collaborative partnership.

Key Partnerships

Daryl Siedentop, Interim Dean,
College of Education

John Grossman, President,
Columbus Education Association

Rosa Smith, Superintendent,
Columbus Public Schools

For more information, please contact:
Sandra A. Stroot, Professor,
The Ohio State University
1760 Neil Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210
Phone: (614) 292-8368
E-mail: stroot.11@osu.edu

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