Why Does Teacher Effectiveness Matter

School systems only exist to improve student outcomes. This is the only reason for which school systems exist: causing improvements in what students know or are able to do. While school systems are complex organizations, their core function — improving student outcomes — suggests a rather straight forward priority: improve the quality of instruction that students are experiencing. If school systems do nothing else, but the quality of instruction that students are experiencing improves then the school system’s reason for existing will likely happen. If school systems do everything else perfectly — feed students lunch, transport students, provide books, maintain buildings, having a balanced budget, hire staff, etc — but the quality of instruction that students experience doesn’t improve, then the school system will fail at its reason for existing. These other things are valuable but insufficient. School systems only exist to improve student outcomes, to cause growth in what a community’s children know or are able to do.

This idea — improving the quality of instruction that students experience — has several key components. For example, if little AJ is currently serving a 10 day out of school suspension, they aren’t experiencing the quality of instruction taking place at the school. So part of the equation must focus on culture, climate, and the relationships between the student and the other people in the school. For more on this topic, visit initiatives such as StudendLedRP.org.

Addressing culture and climate is necessary but insufficient. School systems also have to be heavily calibrated toward improving the quality of instruction. While there are many variables involved in instructional quality, arguably the two most influential are the quality of instructional materials and the effectiveness of teacher instruction. For more on the topic of quality instructional materials, visit initiatives such as EdReports.org. This leaves teacher effectiveness, but of all the strategies for improving the quality of instruction that students experience, improving teacher effectiveness is probably the most challenging.

Improving Teacher Effectiveness

Improving teacher effectiveness shares a lot in common with individual and team performance in other domains. Alignment around common objectives matters, and selecting strategies that are in alignment with those objectives is huge. Short cycle assessment that lets someone see the immediate effect of their efforts is key. And having a third party observer who is familiar with the objectives and the assessments, who can observe in real time, and who can support reflection/offer feedback/offer modifications in real time – having an effective coach – is a major difference maker. When teachers have access to a heavy, routine dosage of highly effective instructional coaching, their ability to grow in effectiveness can soar. Unfortunately, many don’t have access to instructional coaching that is either effective or in high enough dosage. This is typically less a matter of intentional neglect as it is a matter of resource scarcity: not enough highly effective instructional coaches, and not enough instructional coaches to offer heavy dosages of coaching to more than one or two teachers per school. For these reasons, the quality and quantity of cognitive supports and technical supports that teachers need to continuously improve simply aren’t available. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The intention of a TeacherCopilot is to use computational intelligence systems to provide K-12 classroom educators with real-time instructional coaching.

What Is A Copilot

Non-technological means of providing real time cognitive and technical supports already exist for a variety of jobs in the form of checklists (used by astronauts, surgeons, and more) and coaches (used by teachers, athletes, and more). These are all examples of copiloting in action. In certain fields, copiloting has been augmented by technology: computer programmers have github’s copilot or Amazon’s codewhisperer, authors have a variety of tools derivative of or competing with ChatGPT, and, predictably, pilots have airplane autopilot systems. In time, computational intelligence systems will be capable of providing these same types of tools for nearly every human task. A TeacherCopilot would cause this to occur sooner rather than later for classroom teachers.

Adjacent to these examples is a similar effort being led by KhanAcademy.org: using computational intelligence to provide copilot-like services directly to students or, as we more commonly refer to this practice: tutoring. Khanmigo is their early effort at creating a tutor that students can interact with directly. Providing a copilot for students is important and valuable; it’s just a different intention than providing one for teachers.

What Would A TeacherCopilot Look Like

Consider a future classroom:
As the teacher moves through the classroom working with students, the TeacherCopilot is able to provide real time observation/feedback through an earbud. Did the teacher offer an explanation to a student, but the student still isn’t getting it? The Copilot can quietly offer a suggestion on another angle to come at the challenge from. Is there a student whose hand has been up for a while but the teacher can’t see it from their perspective? The Copilot can quietly encourage the teacher to look behind them. Has the teacher unintentionally called just one student group and not others? The Copilot can encourage a strategy for being more inclusive. Is the teacher feeling frustrated after a challenging interaction with a student? The Copilot can offer words of encouragement for the teacher, answer a question, as well as recommend any next steps for interacting with the student.

An effective TeacherCopilot – whether a person or a technology – doesn’t replace a teacher; it provides them with the supports they need to be the best version of themselves. The benefit of a technology-based TeacherCopilot, however, is that every single teacher can have one. Somewhat like this, but for teachers.