ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Principals' Approaches to Developing Teacher Quality: Constraints and Opportunities in Hiring, Assigning, Evaluating, and Developing Teachers
Author: Donaldson, Morgaen L.
Date: 2011-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Teacher Effectiveness,Principals,Human Capital,Teacher Competencies,Personnel Management,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Evaluation,Educational Quality,Teacher Improvement,Administrator Role,Administrative Policy,Personnel Policy,Economic Impact,Interpersonal Competence,Cultural Influences,Professional Development,Beginning Teacher Induction,Teacher Selection,Teacher Placement,Leadership Styles,Change Strategies

There is growing evidence that, of all school resources, teachers have the largest impact on student achievement. Principals arguably play the most important role in ensuring that excellent teaching occurs in their school. How principals hire teachers, assign them to specific positions, evaluate them, and provide growth opportunities for them likely have major ramifications regarding teacher quality. For this reason, New York City, Washington D.C., and numerous other districts have undertaken large reforms to enable principals to hire higher-quality teacher candidates and use teacher evaluations to fire poorly performing instructors and identify and reward exceptional ones. This report provides key findings from a study of 30 principals working in charter and conventional schools in two northeastern states. In doing so, it aims to inform policymakers regarding how principals could exert a more positive influence on teacher quality. Overall, three key findings emerge from this research. First, principals in the sample reported more latitude on some human capital functions than others. Second, some principals felt more constrained than others in their efforts to hire, assign, evaluate, dismiss, and develop teachers. Third, whether charter or conventional, schools that were smaller, enrolled elementary students, exhibited a strong identity according to principals, and were supported in key ways by their districts seemed to offer principals fewer barriers to conducting these important human capital processes. These findings suggest that policymakers would be wise to address four major barriers to principals' ability to improve teaching quality in their schools: (1) Economic influences; (2) Contractual limitations; (3) Interpersonal challenges; and (4) Cultural impediments. The report is organized as follows: It begins by grounding the study in select research findings. It then describes the methods employed to identify the sample and collect and analyze data. It then presents the study's findings regarding hiring and assignment; evaluation and dismissal; and professional development and induction. It concludes by discussing these findings and laying out implications of this research that policymakers might consider. Data sources and analysis are appended. (Contains 1 table and 15 endnotes.)
Turning around the Nation's Lowest-Performing Schools: Five Steps Districts Can Take to Improve Their Chances of Success
Author: Baroody, Karen
Date: 2011-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Improvement Programs,Academic Achievement,School Turnaround,Achievement Gains,Low Achievement,Federal Legislation,School Districts,Intervention,Educational Improvement,Educational Resources,Financial Support,Strategic Planning,Change Strategies

Across the country, states and school districts are focusing on turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools. Unprecedented federal Race to the Top and School Improvement Grant funding accompanied by a more prescriptive approach for using the funds has raised the profile of turnaround efforts. This focus on school turnaround, while welcome, is not new. State, district, and school leaders have been trying for years to turn around persistently low-performing schools. But while some schools have made significant gains in student achievement, results overall are decidedly mixed. One of the overarching reasons for the uneven results is that districts generally have failed to recognize that persistently low-performing schools face unique challenges that require aggressive, customized, and sustained interventions. Education Resource Strategies, Inc., or ERS, has identified five steps that districts can take in designing and implementing their school improvement programs that will increase the probability that their efforts will achieve lasting improvement: (1) Understand what each school needs; (2) Quantify what each school gets and how it is used; (3) Invest in the most important changes first; (4) Customize the strategy to the school; and (5) Change the district, not just the schools. There is no silver bullet--no single solution for how to turn a failing school around. But by taking these five steps district leaders can improve their probability for sustainable and scalable success. (Contains 26 endnotes.)
Incentivizing School Turnaround: A Proposal for Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Author: Ayers, Jeremy
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Accountability,Grants,Educational Change,Elementary Secondary Education,Federal Government,Public Policy,Educational Policy,Educational Legislation,Federal Legislation,School Effectiveness,Low Achievement,School Turnaround,School Districts,Intervention,Educational Assessment,Capacity Building,Data,Incentives,States Powers

Large numbers of schools across the country are low performing and have been for years. This longstanding and widespread problem painfully reveals that individual schools are not the only ones responsible for their performance. The public school system as a whole is unable, and sometimes unwilling, to address the root causes of dysfunction. Federal policy can play an instrumental role in rectifying the systemic failures that allow schools to flounder. The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, is a ripe opportunity to revise the law's main program that supports school improvement--the School Improvement Grant fund. Therefore, the authors make four recommendations: (1) Target dollars to high-need schools and districts ready to reform so that limited federal dollars make the greatest impact; (2) Use in-depth data to identify the interventions that districts and schools should implement to achieve maximum results; (3) Build the capacity of states to support school-level reform; and (4) Construct sensible evaluation, reporting, and accountability policies that support substantial school turnaround. The authors agree with critics that some aspects of the current School Improvement Grant program could be improved to serve the needs of low-performing schools better. But they disagree that school improvement should be left entirely to states, due to the systemic nature of the problem. Thus, some form of school improvement must be part of a reauthorized ESEA. This paper lays out clear steps the federal government can take to incentivize school turnaround. (Contains 24 endnotes.)
Aspire Public Schools: From 10 Schools to 6-Million Kids
Author: Colby, Susan
Date: 2006-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Charter Schools,Educational Development,Educational Improvement,Educational Innovation,Educational Legislation,Educational Objectives,Strategic Planning,Organizational Theories,Change Strategies,Educational Change,Organizational Change,Staff Utilization,Sustainability,Financial Support

Don Shalvey (former superintendent of the San Carlos, California school district) believes strongly that every kid in California deserves a great education. This belief led him in 1993 to found the first charter school (an independently-run public school) in California. Shalvey's first charter school attracted a great deal of attention, and soon he was working with Reed Hastings, a Silicon Valley high-tech entrepreneur and former teacher, to change the state's charter laws. Their goal: to make way for more charter schools. From those early efforts, Aspire Public Schools was born. The organization launched its first two schools in the fall of 1999 in California's Central Valley. By Aspire's fifth anniversary, it was operating 10 schools in the Central Valley and Bay Area and was recognized as the leading charter management organization (CMO) in the state. Impressive as these early results were, Shalvey and his Aspire colleagues were unsatisfied; success wasn't just about opening one, or 10, or even 100 great schools. It was about &quot;transforming&quot; education for all kids in California. With this goal in mind they secured $4.7M in grants from The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the New Schools Venture Fund to expand Aspire's efforts and engaged with the Bridgespan Group in September of 2003 to chart a course for maximizing impact. This paper describes how Aspire Public Schools achieved its goals. (Contains 4 exhibits and 11 footnotes.)
Aspire Public Schools: Building the Organizational Capacity for Healthy Growth
Author: Saxton, Amy
Date: 2008-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Leadership,Public Schools,Sustainability,Capacity Building,Organizational Change,Accountability,Decision Making,Administrative Organization,Administrative Policy,Administrative Principles,Administrator Responsibility,Administrator Role,Leadership Role,Leadership Responsibility,Change Strategies,Educational Quality,Quality Assurance,Performance Technology

Two years into an aggressive expansion plan, Aspire Public Schools was on track in terms of school openings, but behind on its goals to add a layer of management. The schools were performing well, but the nonprofit's leaders were stretched paper thin and concerned about the organization's ability to perform in the face of more growth. Determined to build an organization that could support their expansion plans, the Aspire team took swift action. Their initiatives included: (1) Articulating criteria for "healthy growth" that they would use to assess expansion opportunities, thereby incorporating organizational sustainability into any future decisions about growth; (2) Addressing a profound anxiety about hiring "outsiders" and delegating responsibilities to an increasingly larger team; (3) Defining the boundaries of accountability for each of the organization's leadership positions; and (4) Clarifying decision-making authority at a broad level, and making explicit the roles and responsibilities associated with specific and potentially contentious decisions. (Contains 2 exhibits and 2 footnotes.)
Portland Public Schools: From Data and Decisions to Implementation and Results on Dropout Prevention
Author: Stid, Daniel
Date: 2009-01-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Dropouts,Public Schools,Urban Areas,High Schools,Dropout Prevention,Dropout Rate,Program Implementation,Dropout Programs,Case Studies,Developmental Studies Programs,Program Effectiveness,Effective Schools Research,School Turnaround,Strategic Planning,Performance Factors,Institutional Characteristics,At Risk Students,Management Information Systems,Intervention,Progress Monitoring,Educational Improvement,Improvement Programs,Leadership Effectiveness

Many school district leaders, high school administrators, and teachers--particularly those in urban areas--have struggled to reduce high school dropout rates but find themselves overwhelmed by the dimensions of the problem. Consider: Research has shown that lack of preparation in elementary and middle school, long before students reach high school, is a key factor affecting dropout rates once these students are in high school. Moreover, improving the quality of teaching and learning in high school has proven to be a very difficult arena in which to make substantial progress. These challenges are further compounded by budget constraints that limit organizational capacity and by high turnover in district leadership positions. Insofar as the average tenure for an urban superintendent is a little over two years, it is easier for others in the system to lay low and avoid major change initiatives. A series of &quot;strategic initiatives&quot; often supersede each other in sequence, rising up and then fading in importance one year to the next. There are, however, a few districts making notable progress towards reducing the number of dropouts and ensuring that students earn high school diplomas in a timely manner. One of these is the Portland, Oregon, public school system. This case study tells the story of how Portland Public Schools (PPS) began to have a positive impact in addressing the dropout problem over the course of one calendar year. In particular, it follows the district leaders' actions as they moved from data and decisions to implementation and results for those high school students most at risk of dropping out as they transitioned into the 9th grade. It is important to note that PPS's efforts to reduce its dropout rate are part of a larger strategy to transform high school education in Portland. Thus, this paper takes a step back to examine the context in which the district's leaders began their work and the overall, multi-faceted vision they articulated. From there, the case zeroes in on the specific efforts undertaken to reduce the number of high school dropouts. Finally, it assesses the progress PPS made in the first year of implementation, and in a sidebar, presents several take-away lessons--illuminated by Portland's experience--that other school leaders might find useful as they strive to reduce their own dropout rates. (Contains 1 table and 13 footnotes.)
Bullying in New York City Schools: Educators Speak out, 2009-2010
Author: Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Date: 2010-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Bullying,Public Schools,Educational Change,Teacher Surveys,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Improvement Programs,Partnerships in Education,Teacher Attitudes,Student Experience,Educational Legislation,Research Reports,Annual Reports,Trend Analysis,Social Bias,School Policy,School Administration,Change Strategies,School Safety,Child Safety,Child Advocacy

On September 3, 2008, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced Chancellor's Regulation A-832, which established a procedure for preventing and addressing student-to-student bias-based harassment in New York City public schools. Community members and advocates stood with the mayor and chancellor as they announced this important step to improve school climate for all students. Throughout the 2008-09 academic year, community groups, led by the Sikh Coalition, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) and New York City Bar Association monitored and assessed the new regulation's enforcement. That year, they  surveyed more than 1,000 students and educators in New York City public schools, and discovered a wide gap between the regulation's promise and the reality of student experiences. A report summarizing their findings, entitled &quot;Bias-Based Harassment in New York City Public Schools: A Report Card on the Department of Education's Implementation of Chancellor's Regulation A-832,&quot; was released on June 30, 2009 at a press conference in front of the Department of Education (DOE) headquarters. During the 2009-2010 school year, the organizations continued to monitor the implementation of Regulation A-832 as well as the Respect for All program. Rather than survey students again about the regulation's implementation, they chose to survey teachers, who are at the frontlines of ensuring that city schools have safe, respectful climates. In all, they surveyed about 200 teachers and other school staff members from 117 schools to gather valuable anecdotal input on the DOE's progress employing its anti-bullying measures. This report summarizes the findings from the 2009-2010 survey and provides an assessment of Chancellor's Regulation A-832 in second year. It is hoped that it will provide a road map for improving compliance with Regulation A-832 and expanding Respect for All programming, as well as encourage the DOE to quickly come into compliance with the Dignity for All Students Act, a new state law that requires schools to take affirmative measures (training, counseling, education) to prevent and respond to incidents of bullying and harassment. Appended are: (1) Numbers; (2) Methodology; and (3) Notes. (Contains 22 notes.) [This paper was co-created with the Sikh Coalition and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).]
The Power of the President: Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change
Author: Wartell, Sarah Rosen, Comp.
Date: 2010-11-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Presidents,Administrator Responsibility,Administrator Role,Change Strategies,Economic Change,Political Attitudes,Political Power,Federal Government,Governance,Government Role,Energy,Energy Management,Environment,Educational Policy,Public Policy,National Security,Economic Development,International Trade,Social Change

Concentrating on executive powers presents a real opportunity for the Obama administration to turn its focus away from a divided Congress and the unappetizing process of making legislative sausage. Instead, the administration can focus on the president's ability to deliver results for the American people on the things that matter most to them. The Obama administration, of course, is already using the capacity of the presidency to drive change in the public and private sector. For example, it promoted the formation of Skills for America's Future, a new public-private initiative in support of the president's goal of 5 million more community college graduates and certificates by 2020. Similarly, President Obama's recent trip to India provided an opportunity for him to win agreements that will bring significant economic benefits to U.S. firms and American workers. There is much more the president can do. The list of ideas presented in this paper offers just some of the many possible actions the administration can take using existing authority to move the country forward. [Forward by John D. Podesta]
When the Stakes Are High, Can We Rely on Value-Added? Exploring the Use of Value-Added Models to Inform Teacher Workforce Decisions
Author: Goldhaber, Dan
Date: 2010-12-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Teacher Effectiveness,Models,Merit Pay,Merit Rating,Achievement Gains,Measurement Objectives,Measurement Techniques,Evaluation Methods,Evaluation Needs,Evaluation Problems,Teacher Evaluation,Job Performance,Item Analysis,Evaluation Utilization,Predictive Validity,Outcome Measures,Accountability

The formula is simple: Highly effective teachers equal student academic success. Yet, the physics of American education is anything but. Thus, the question facing education reformers is how can teacher effectiveness be accurately measured in order to improve the teacher workforce? Given the demand for objective, quantitative measures of teacher performance and the shortcomings of many existing evaluation systems, it is not surprising that a number of districts and states have begun to utilize so called value-added models, or VAMs, to evaluate teachers. Based on the notion that gains in student test scores can be attributed to their teachers, VAMs are designed to measure the impact of individual teachers on student achievement, isolating their contribution to student learning from other factors (such as family background or class size in the early grades) that also influence student achievement. The use of VAMs is highly controversial and tends to center, at least rhetorically around the notion that VAM measures of teachers will lead to perverse incentives or the misclassification of teachers. The author would argue, however, that at least some of the policy debate on this issue masks the more fundamental issue of whether "any" system ought to differentiate teachers and act upon differences. VAMs can be the honest broker when it comes to teacher-performance evaluation, ensuring that any performance evaluation system recognizes that teachers aren't widgets when it comes to helping students learn. Yet, having said that, VAM is often treated as if it is the magical elixir for all that ails the teacher workforce. There are good reasons to believe this is not the case. Thus, the author also recommends that school systems implement a performance evaluation infrastructure that builds confidence in performance measures and provides teachers with timely feedback. (Contains 51 endnotes.)
Beyond Classroom Walls: Developing Innovative Work Roles for Teachers
Author: Kowal, Julie
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Educational Change,Teaching (Occupation),Leadership Role,Case Studies,Personnel Management,Staff Utilization,Teacher Leadership,Professional Development,Teacher Empowerment,Profiles,Innovation,Public Schools,Charter Schools,Teacher Role,Models,Scheduling,Improvement Programs,Teacher Improvement,Change Strategies

The teaching profession has long been structured around full-time classroom responsibilities that are defined by the location, timing, and schedule of the school day and a ubiquitous one-teacher-per-classroom model. In most districts, the only option for highly successful teachers to advance in the profession or serve more students is to leave the classroom to serve as an assistant principal, principal, or district administrator. Exceptions to this traditional approach exist in many schools and districts across the country. According to a 2009 national survey, more than half of teachers (56 percent) and nearly half of principals (49 percent) report that at least some teachers in their school combine part-time classroom teaching with other roles or responsibilities in their school or district. But evidence does not suggest these nontraditional roles are particularly innovative, focused on enhancing teacher quality, or designed to extend the reach of the best teachers to more students. Across the country, interest is increasing in alternative approaches to school staffing that provide more flexible work roles and advancement opportunities for highly effective teachers--both as a means to recognize and retain teachers in hard-to-staff schools, and to allow the best teachers to have a positive impact on larger numbers of students. With this growing interest, the field needs to learn what it can from early adopters of role-shifting reforms. This paper profiles two organizations--a small charter management organization based in California and a large school district in Virginia--that have recently pursued staffing innovations designed with these goals in mind. While they have taken very different approaches, both study sites offer examples of the types of roles that other districts, schools, and charter organizations can pursue to open up and professionalize teachers' work, while revealing several critical limitations related to design and implementation that the next generation of innovators should heed. (Contains 4 figures and 25 endnotes.)