The Pennsylvania Educator Effectiveness System strives to place an effective teacher in every classroom. This evaluation system incorporates the use of value-added growth measures, not only at the teacher level, but also at the building level. These building level scores are included in every teacher's yearly evaluation. This study sought to…

States and districts need ways of measuring principal performance that correctly identify effective principals. Unfortunately, existing research offers little guidance to policymakers on which types of performance measures provide valid information about principals' contributions to student achievement. States have therefore had to develop…

With the quantitative and G-theory methodologies, this study investigated the perceptions of assistant principals in the states of Pennsylvania and Texas about their evolving roles and responsibilities. The research results suggest there was consistency in terms of the importance of the 56 school activities to the success of schools in teaching…

This technical report is one of a series of four technical reports that describe the results of a study comparing eight alternative models for estimating school academic achievement using data from the Arizona, North Carolina, Oregon, and Pennsylvania accountability systems. The purpose of these reports was to evaluate a broad range of models…

The purpose of this research was to determine if the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System Average Growth Index (PVAAS AGI) scores, derived from standardized tests and calculated for Pennsylvania schools, provide a valid and reliable assessment of teacher effectiveness, as these scores are currently used to derive 15% of the annual…

Charter schools represent an increasingly important form of school choice in the United States. Charter schools are public schools, with a difference. Compared to traditional public schools, they are exempted from some of the state laws and regulations that govern traditional public schools. In this way, parents come to have a greater number of…

The purpose of this embedded, mixed methods, research study was to acquire knowledge regarding the Pennsylvania Educator Effectiveness system while connecting teacher effectiveness with student achievement. The sample size consisted of five administrators and 18 public school teachers. The teachers taught mathematics in grades 4 through 8 at a…

This study examines the accuracy of performance ratings from the Framework for Leadership (FFL), Pennsylvania's tool for evaluating the leadership practices of principals and assistant principals. The study analyzed four key properties of the FFL: score variation, internal consistency, year-to-year stability, and concurrent validity. Score…

This "Stated Briefly" report is a companion piece that summarizes the results of another report of the same name. This study examines the accuracy of performance ratings from the Framework for Leadership (FFL), Pennsylvania's tool for evaluating the leadership practices of principals and assistant principals. The study analyzed four key…

States across the country are developing systems for evaluating school principals on the basis of student achievement growth. A common approach is to hold principals accountable for the value added of their schools--that is, schools' contributions to student achievement growth. In theory, school value added can reflect not only principals'…

Although states and school districts have begun to evaluate school principals, there is little evidence on the validity of principal evaluation measures. To fill this gap, we examined Pennsylvania's Framework for Leadership (FFL), a tool for measuring and evaluating principals' professional practices. Using data on more than 300 principals, we…

The relationship between public education expenditures and student outcomes remains an important concern for policy analysts, educational administrators, and the public at large. While previous studies have failed to identify a consistent relationship between public investments in education and positive student outcomes, most analyses have not…

In higher education's environment of accountability, the development and assessment of student learning outcomes (SLOs) are driven by both external stakeholder requirements for accreditation and internal institutional pressures to demonstrate student learning as the core function of universities and colleges. This paper presents a framework to…

Despite a decade of reform driven by the NCLB legislation, there continues to be a significant gap in mathematics achievement between race/ethnicity and socioeconomic groupings of students. This study examines the practice of tracking and an effort to improve mathematics achievement by eliminating the general level mathematics track. The suburban…

Like many states throughout the nation, Pennsylvania is in the midst of major reforms to its teacher evaluation system. Under the new system, the state will base annual evaluations on several measures, including supervisor observations using the Framework for Teaching (FFT) and, for many teachers, their contributions to student achievement growth…