Evaluations of teacher preparation programs (TPPs) based in part on the performance of program completers have emerged as an education reform strategy in several states and have become central features of the Race to the Top (RTTT) grant competition. The objective of this policy review is to examine how the state of Tennessee measured and reported…

Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, state teams have been preparing their state plans aligned with ESSA for submission in April or September 2017 to the U.S. Department of Education. Because ESSA lands much of the decision-making and responsibility in education at the state and local levels, state education leaders…

A key question facing teacher evaluation systems is how to combine multiple measures of complex constructs into composite indicators of performance. We use data from the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study to investigate the measurement properties of composite indicators obtained under various conjunctive, disjunctive (or complementary),…

In order to create conditions for students' meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students' scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers' instructional practices relate to student…

The purpose of this study was the investigation of the added value of technology of augmented reality (AR) in education and, particularly, whether this contributes to both student performance improvement, as well as the appearance of the psychological condition of Flow, which according to research, has had a positive effect on their performance…

Teacher performance pay programs are theorized to improve student achievement by incentivizing teachers, but opponents counter that teachers are not motivated by money. We used regression discontinuity techniques and data on a census of the students, teachers, and schools in a large urban minority-majority school district to show receipt of a…

This qualitative case study focused on 13 elementary teachers' perceptions of their evaluations. Using multiple schools (5) and teachers (13) we explored the impact of evaluations on instruction. Informed by Pekrun's control-value theory, our analysis focused on teachers' motivations and emotions. Teachers did not value or feel in control of their…

Despite growing calls for more accountability of teacher education programs (TEPs), there is little consensus about how to evaluate them. This study investigates the potential for using observational ratings of program completers to evaluate TEPs. Drawing on statewide data on almost 9,500 program completers, representing 44 providers (183…

Teacher value-added measures (VAM) are designed to provide information regarding teachers' causal impact on the academic growth of students while controlling for exogenous variables. While some researchers contend VAMs successfully and authentically measure teacher causality on learning, others suggest VAMs cannot adequately control for exogenous…

It is well documented that teachers can have profound effects on student outcomes. Empirical estimates find that a one standard deviation increase in teacher quality raises student test achievement by 10 to 25 percent of a standard deviation. More recent evidence shows that the effectiveness of teachers can affect long-term student outcomes, such…

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine the academic progress of students in reading, who have a learning disability in reading, as they transfer from pull-out support services to inclusion services; and (b) to examine the academic progress of general education students in reading, as they transfer from a general education setting…

Houston's experience with the Educational Value-Added Assessment System (R) (EVAAS) raises questions that other districts should consider before buying the software and using it for high-stakes decisions. Researchers found that teachers in Houston, all of whom were under the EVAAS gun, but who taught relatively more racial minority students,…

The paper draws on a series of Australian Research Council (ARC) projects aimed at understanding better the process of doctoral examination. The early phase focussed on the Australian doctorate, which functions without a Viva, while the later phase was concerned with comparing the earlier findings with analysis of the United Kingdom (UK) and New…

Some universities administer standardized tests to estimate school effects on student learning. To that end, many of those institutions choose to gather cross-sectional data (freshmen and seniors in the same academic year) rather than longitudinal data. The effects of this decision on institutional assessment results are generally unknown. The…

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to determine whether teacher cognitive and behavioral agility relates to student achievement as measured by their value-added model (VAM) score and their performance evaluation measured through the Marzano instructional practice (IP) framework, and whether that relationship is moderated by contextual…