Introducing teacher knowledge of individual students' skills (KISS), and the sources, uses, and effects of KISS [electronic resource]
Keywords: Education.

Abstract: The idea that it is important for teachers to have knowledge of the unique skills that individual children bring to the classroom is almost universally accepted. This notion is so widespread that school districts across the country continue to make substantial investments in programs designed to enhance teachers' knowledge of individual students' skills (KISS). The basic theory of action underlying these programs is that regularly gathering and analyzing student performance data will enhance teachers' KISS and thus their ability to target instruction toward students' learning needs, ultimately driving improvements in achievement. As it stands, this theory is far from proven. We know surprisingly little about KISS, let alone the effectiveness of programs aimed at increasing teachers' knowledge of individual students' skills. In this dissertation, I describe three empirical studies in which I explore the sources, uses, and effects of KISS. In the first study, I use nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to create and analyze measures of KISS for kindergarten and first grade teachers. I find that KISS, like other aspects of teacher quality, is unevenly distributed across schools and within classrooms by student race and achievement. While the sources of KISS are unclear, teachers with relatively strong KISS in one subject provide more differentiated instruction in that subject. Using student fixed effects models that control for the non-random sorting of students into classrooms, average differences in how well teachers know particular students, and baseline achievement, I find that a standard deviation increase in KISS has a positive effect on student achievement of 0.08-0.09 standard deviations. I replicate most of these results in my second study, which draws on data from a randomized controlled trial of an early literacy interim assessment program in San Francisco Unified School District -- interim assessment is one common approach to enhancing teachers' KISS. I also analyze the impact of the program on kindergarten and first grade teachers' attitudes, practices, and KISS, and students' early literacy skills and executive functioning. Surprisingly, the program did not affect teachers' KISS. Teachers in the treatment group did engage more frequently in practices recommended by the program provider than control group teachers, such as focusing on data review in grade-level meetings and using reading groups; however, they focused less on curriculum and instruction in grade-level meetings -- effects ranging from 0.19 to 0.38 standard deviations. While the program did not impact students' early literacy skills or executive functioning on average, I find some evidence that it was beneficial in schools with experience using data. In my third study, I analyze the effects of within-class ability grouping -- a potentially powerful use of KISS -- on kindergartners' and first graders' social and emotional skills, again using the ECLS-K data. I find that within-class ability grouping exhibits a broad negative relationship with students' social and emotional skills, particularly in reading, frequently grouped classrooms, and in first grade. To estimate differential grouping effects on students in different test score quartiles, I use teacher fixed effects models, the results of which can be interpreted causally so long as grouping teachers are not particularly good at promoting the socio-emotional development of students in specific quartiles of the achievement distribution in unobserved ways. I find that within-class ability grouping in kindergarten has a negative impact on the social and emotional skills of the lowest achievers and a positive impact on the highest achievers, but that the opposite is true in first grade -- effects of up to 0.15 standard deviations. The implications of these findings are discussed.