General News
Study documents PIP’s success
Feb 16, 2006 12:36 PM
In an independent study measuring the success of the Peer Intervention Program, nine out of 10 of the struggling teachers who were surveyed turned around their performance in the classroom and maintained a Satisfactory rating five years after leaving PIP.
“This report shows, once again, that the PIP program is the best way for us to police our own profession, as we have proposed to the mayor and chancellor,” said UFT President Randi Weingarten. “It enables well-intentioned but floundering teachers to improve their skills and really help their students with a short but intensive intervention that works. And for the few that don’t improve, it enables them to find another career and leave the profession with dignity. It seems to me that both management and labor should support that.”
The program, a cooperative effort of the UFT and the Department of Education, has been nationally recognized for either helping tenured teachers and guidance counselors upgrade their skills or assisting them in leaving the profession. Participants are self-referred and work closely with an intervenor for one year, both in the classroom and with one-on-one consultations.
“The program is evaluated annually,” PIP Coordinator Marilyn Chadwick said, “but this is the first time we had a study that was longitudinal, meaning how well the program has done over time.”
The report focused on people who participated in PIP from 2000 to 2001 and are still in the classroom. A future study will include feedback from those who were counseled into retirement or into another profession.
“One of the biggest questions for us,” Chadwick said, “is how do participants do after they’ve finished intervention? This study justifies the amount of time and intensity we put into each participant. I think the study is exciting and in terms of measuring the results of staff development, a longitudinal study is innovative.”
June Feder, who serves as counseling services liaison, said that what sets PIP apart “is the relationship that is built between participants and their intervenors, the training that the intervenors have had and the specific pedagogical strategies that have proven to be effective.”
The intervenors’ strategies found to be most useful by 45 percent of respondents were model teaching, observing and sharing feedback, and co-planning lessons.
Steven Latture, alternative careers liaison, said: “The report shows that the progress teachers make during the intervention period is sustainable. Some of the teachers who were really struggling when they applied to the program in some cases have gone on to become educational leaders in their schools and are now considered model teachers by the principal.”
The study indicated that in addition to becoming more effective teachers, 75 percent of respondents assumed additional responsibilities such as becoming school team leaders and UFT chapter leaders.
One teacher who came to PIP for help after receiving a U rating reported that, “I became a chapter leader. I work in the SAVE program. I’m a member of the leadership team and the school safety committee.
“I think PIP is a program that should be available to everyone,” he continued, “not just those who are having problems. The PI [peer intervenor] is nonjudgmental and helpful. This program should be expanded. There’s no shame in asking for help.”
In addition to getting help from their intervenors, 50 percent of participants made use of PIP’s other components. These were mostly counseling, working with an alternative careers liaison, and intervisitations — observing other educators either down the hall or in another school with their intervenors.
One teacher counted his greatest success as “being prepared, not having any dead time, walking into the class knowing what I’m going to do and having the materials to do it … just the naturalness of getting better each year after a good foundation.”
Another, who had been struggling for years, said, “I just feel so comfortable in the classroom and believe I can impart my knowledge to the students and more than adequately prepare them for success.”
Both of those teachers were among the 50 percent of participants who identified lesson planning, classroom management and student engagement as the most important areas of focus.
Another former participant reported that she had been very depressed. But after a year in PIP, after “regaining my confidence in my performance,” she rated her emotional well-being as very high.
“Sometimes this program is about causing an epiphany,” Chadwick said. “Getting people to reflect on their practice and deciding to change. We have a significant waiting list and the UFT would love to be able to expand this program.
“Overall the respondents identified teaching effectiveness as the greatest success as well as a significant increase in their emotional well-being. You have to draw a connection between the two,” Chadwick said.
