scholarly journals Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Turnover in Equilibrium: Evidence From DC Public Schools

AERA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 233285842093223
Author(s):  
Jessalynn James ◽  
James H. Wyckoff
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Evaluation Policies ◽  
Induced Changes

Teacher turnover is an enduring concern in education policy and can incur substantial costs to students. Policies often address turnover broadly, yet effects turn on net differences in the effectiveness of exiting and entering teachers, in addition to the disruption dealt to classrooms. Recent research has shown mixed effects of teacher evaluation policies, but even where evaluation-induced differential turnover initially benefited students, gains might disappear or reverse as the stock of less effective teachers exits and if more effective teachers view high-stakes evaluation as burdensome. We examine evaluation–induced changes to the composition of exiting and entering teachers in Washington, D.C., the net effect of turnover on student achievement, and the role that evaluation played in teacher turnover. We find that turnover continues to improve teaching skills and student achievement, although effects have diminished. We find little evidence that high-performing teachers’ exit is associated with the evaluation system.

scholarly journals A Phenomenological Exploration of How Public School Administrators Balance Teacher Evaluation and Support of Teacher Growth

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Slattery
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Rhode Island ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Teacher Growth ◽  
Evaluation Tools ◽  
School Factors ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
The Evaluation System

<p>Educational reform efforts over the past several decades have focused on different ways to address student achievement. Since the quality of the teacher that students have is one of the biggest in-school factors that impact student achievement, schools have focused on identifying, measuring, and improving teacher quality. Some of those reform efforts have focused their attention on teacher evaluation as a way of increasing student achievement. There has been much research on the components quality evaluation tools. There is also research on ways to impact and change teacher practice. Unfortunately most evaluation tools do not impact teaching practice. Rhode Island administrators are current facing the challenge of implementing a high stakes evaluation system while also finding ways to help support growth and development of their teachers. This phenomenological study used open-ended interviews to understand how six administrators in Rhode Island negotiate that complexity. Administrators interviewed emphasized the importance of developing a trusting positive climate and utilizing this climate, along with various components of the evaluation system, to provide teachers with the kinds of support that will impact teacher growth and practice in the classroom. Administrators also expressed their frustration at some of the elements of the evaluation system and limitations they have found in their ability to impact teacher change. Findings from this study have implications for those revising or creating educator evaluation systems, as well as for administrators who must use high stakes evaluation systems while simultaneously attempting to impact teacher growth, development and change in practice.</p>

Do charter schools alleviate the negative effect of teacher turnover?

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karlerik Naslund ◽  
Branco Ponomariov
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Labor Practices ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Using Data

Using data on charter and public school districts in Texas, we test the hypothesis that the labor practices in charter schools, in particular their ability to easily dismiss poorly performing teachers, diminishes the negative effect of teacher turnover on student achievement and graduation rates in comparison to public schools. We find some support for this hypothesis, and discuss implications for theory and practice.

Policy Implementation, Principal Agency, and Strategic Action: Improving Teaching Effectiveness in New York City Middle Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-160
Author(s):  
Julie Cohen ◽  
Susanna Loeb ◽  
Luke C. Miller ◽  
James H. Wyckoff
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
York City ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Strategic Action ◽  
Evaluation Policies

Ten years ago, the reform of teacher evaluation was touted as a mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness. In response, virtually every state redesigned its teacher evaluation system. Recently, a growing narrative suggests these reforms failed and should be abandoned. This response may be overly simplistic. We explore the variability of New York City principals’ implementation of policies intended to promote teaching effectiveness. Drawing on survey, interview, and administrative data, we analyze whether principals believe they can use teacher evaluation and tenure policies to improve teaching effectiveness and how such perceptions influence policy implementation. We find that principals with greater perceived agency are more likely to strategically use tenure and evaluation policies. Results have important implications for principal training and policy implementation.

Strategic Retention: Principal Effectiveness and Teacher Turnover in Multiple-Measure Teacher Evaluation Systems

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 514-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason A. Grissom ◽  
Brendan Bartanen
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
Classroom Observation ◽  
Principal Effectiveness ◽  
Turnover Rates ◽  
Effective Principals ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Multiple Measure ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems

Studies link principal effectiveness to lower average rates of teacher turnover. However, principals need not target retention efforts equally to all teachers. Instead, strong principals may seek to strategically influence the composition of their school’s teaching force by retaining high performers and not retaining lower performers. We investigate such strategic retention behaviors with longitudinal data from Tennessee. Using multiple measures of teacher and principal effectiveness, we document that indeed more effective principals see lower rates of teacher turnover, on average. Moreover, this lower turnover is concentrated among high-performing teachers. In contrast, turnover rates of the lowest-performing teachers, as measured by classroom observation scores, increase substantially under higher-rated principals. This pattern is more apparent in advantaged schools and schools with stable leadership.

Teacher quality gaps in U.S. public schools: Trends, sources, and implications

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (8) ◽  
pp. 14-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Goldhaber ◽  
Vanessa Quince ◽  
Roddy Theobald
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
Disadvantaged Students ◽  
Policy Makers

Empirical evidence shows that disadvantaged students tend to have less-qualified and less-effective teachers than their more-advantaged peers. These teacher quality gaps (TQGs), which have existed for decades and across many measures of student disadvantage and teacher quality, are an important factor explaining student achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Research by Dan Goldhaber, Vanessa Quince, and Roddy Theobald — focusing on the sources of TQGs across different states and measures of teacher quality — suggests that policy makers should consider both the setting and the type of gap they wish to prioritize when designing policies to address TQGs.

scholarly journals Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Adnot ◽  
Thomas Dee ◽  
Veronica Katz ◽  
James Wyckoff
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Teacher Turnover ◽  
School Quality ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Policy Regime ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Quasi Experimental

In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers. This study examines this question by evaluating the effects of teacher turnover on student achievement under IMPACT, the unique performance-assessment and incentive system in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Employing a quasi-experimental design based on data from the first years of IMPACT, we find that, on average, DCPS replaced teachers who left with teachers who increased student achievement by 0.08 standard deviation ( SD) in math. When we isolate the effects of lower-performing teachers who were induced to leave DCPS for poor performance, we find that student achievement improves by larger and statistically significant amounts (i.e., 0.14 SD in reading and 0.21 SD in math). In contrast, the effect of exits by teachers not sanctioned under IMPACT is typically negative but not statistically significant.

scholarly journals The Qualifications and Classroom Performance of Teachers Moving to Charter Schools

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 233-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste K. Carruthers
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Classroom Performance ◽  
Low Performing Schools ◽  
Traditional Public Schools

Do charter schools draw good teachers from traditional, mainstream public schools? Using a thirteen-year panel of North Carolina public schoolteachers, I find that less qualified and less effective teachers move to charter schools, particularly if they move to urban schools, low-performing schools, or schools with higher shares of nonwhite students. It is unclear whether these findings reflect lower demand for teachers’ credentials and value added or resource constraints unique to charter schools, but the inability to recruit teachers who are at least as effective as those in traditional public schools will likely hinder charter student achievement.

scholarly journals The Counternarrative of Teacher Evaluation: The Kangaroo Court, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Scarlett Letter

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Allison Smith
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Evaluation Policy ◽  
Negative Experience ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Intended Use

The purpose of this sequential transformative study was to elucidate the negative experiences of teachers with performance evaluations and to juxtapose the intended use of current popular teacher evaluation reform movements to the evident implementation. One may quickly assume that negative experiences with evaluation are a result of unsatisfactory teaching practices. However, this may not accurately explain the negative experiences. This study focused on the negative experience of teacher evaluation to provide a broader understanding of the impact of new evaluation policy reform on student achievement and teacher quality. With a paucity of previous research focused on the negative impacts of teacher evaluation, this study addressed the following questions: (1) How does the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) teacher evaluation process negatively impact teachers? (2) What, if any, parallel traits exist among those teachers who had negative experiences with the PAR evaluation system? and, (3) How does the intended use of the PAR teacher evaluation process compare to the evident use of PAR? Data revealed dissonance among intent and evident use of the evaluation policy. A disproportionate number of African Americans, women over the age of 55, and teachers higher on the pay scale were referred to PAR. Vague policy language was suggested as the impetus for misuse, abuse, and biased implementation at the local level. This study suggests that policymakers and school district officials take heed of multiple perspectives and consider the negative impacts of teacher evaluation reform. Evaluation systems that prioritize teacher learning over accountability are integral to successfully improving student achievement.

scholarly journals The Compositional Effect of Rigorous Teacher Evaluation on Workforce Quality

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Berry Cullen ◽  
Cory Koedel ◽  
Eric Parsons
Keyword(s):  
School District ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
Effective Teachers ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Urban School District ◽  
Compositional Effect ◽  
Personnel Decisions ◽  
Personnel Policies ◽  
New System

We study how the introduction of a rigorous teacher evaluation system in a large urban school district affects the quality composition of teacher turnovers. With the implementation of the new system, we document increased turnover among the least effective teachers and decreased turnover among the most effective teachers, relative to teachers in the middle of the distribution. Our findings demonstrate that the alignment between personnel decisions and teacher effectiveness can be improved through targeted personnel policies. However, the change in the composition of exiters brought on by the policy we study is too small to meaningfully impact student achievement.

scholarly journals Declining Morale, Diminishing Autonomy, and Decreasing Value: Principal Reflections on a High-Stakes Teacher Evaluation System

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noelle A Paufler
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
District Culture

Since the adoption of teacher evaluation systems that rely, at least in part, on controversial student achievement measures, little research has been conducted that focuses on stakeholders’ perceptions of systems in practice, specifically the perceptions of school principals. This study was conducted in a large urban school district to better understand principals’ perceptions of evaluating teachers based on professional and instructional practices as well as student achievement (i.e., value-added scores). Principals in this study strongly expressed concerns regarding: (a) the negative impact of the teacher evaluation system on district culture and morale; (b) their lack of autonomy in evaluating teachers and making staffing decisions; and (c) their perceived lack of value as professionals in the district. Examining the implications of teacher evaluation systems, per the experiences of principals as practitioners, is increasingly important if state and local policymakers as well as the general public are to better understand the intended and unintended consequences of these systems in practice.

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