Policy Narratives of Accountability and Social-Emotional Learning

The paradigm of test-based accountability has been a dominant force for decades, yet some argue that we have recently witnessed a dramatic change in the key beliefs influencing educational policy. To understand the extent of this transformation, we investigated the policy narrative supporting the adoption of a multiple measure accountability system in California’s CORE Districts. Our data revealed a narrative integrating key beliefs about knowledge, accountability, and social-emotional learning. This narrative continues the major themes of the previous accountability paradigm, but with two notable differences regarding the use of measurement data and role of social-emotional learning.

On the Fusion of Multiple Measure Based Belief Structures

We introduce the concept of a fuzzy measure and describe the process of combining fuzzy measures to form new measures. We discuss the role of fuzzy measures in modeling uncertain information and its use in modeling granular uncertain information with the aid of measure based belief structures. We turn to the problem of fusing multiple measure based belief structures. First we look at the case when the belief structures being fused have the same focal elements. Then we turn to case where the structures being fused have different focal elements. Finally we compare measure-based fusion with Dempster’s rule.

Strategic Retention: Principal Effectiveness and Teacher Turnover in 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.

“Seeing the whole elephant”: Changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders to meaningfully manage accountability and improvement

School accountability and improvement policy are on the precipice of a paradigm shift. While the multiple-measure dashboard accountability approach holds great promise for promoting more meaningful learning opportunities for all students, our research indicates that this can come with substantial challenges in practice. We reflect upon the lessons learned from our recent research on the CORE districts’ use of multiple-measure data dashboards. Our research indicated that a shift to greater flexibility and locally determined capacity building efforts brings its own set of challenges. Building on this foundation and drawing upon the expertise of a central practitioner-leader, we explore these issues through one promising case: the use of these multiple-measure accountability systems in one CORE district, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). OUSD’s approach suggests that districts have substantial agency to help modify the mindsets of practitioners and the community, by modeling the values of inquiry, openness, and flexibility. By loosening the reigns, districts can give school stakeholders the space and authority to meaningfully manage their own accountability and improvement.

Linking teacher education to redesigned systems of accountability: A call for multiple measures in pre-service teacher effectiveness

In this written commentary for the special issue of Education Policy Analysis Archives focused on “Redesigning Assessment and Accountability,” we call for teacher preparation to embrace a multiple measures philosophy by providing teacher candidates with rich opportunities to engage with data from a variety of sources, beyond teacher test scores and principal evaluations. We apply and extend Bae’s (2018) argument to teacher preparation policies, urging teacher educators to develop programs that promote continuous improvement. We argue that teacher education can and should prepare candidates to engage in multiple measure systems, critically evaluate data and sense make to construct meaning, reflect on and improve their practice to meet the needs of all students, and ultimately advocate for next-generation accountability systems that authentically foreground and prioritize continuous improvement.

Conducting Midterm Performance Reviews: An Exercise for Teaching Performance Management

Although the annual performance review has received much criticism from practitioners and researchers alike, organizations continue to use coaching and/or reviews to maximize employee effectiveness and minimize liabilities. A semester class is a great context to practice skills relating to tracking and reviewing performance. This article describes how management instructors can implement performance reviews as an experiential exercise designed to improve students’ confidence related to receiving performance feedback. During a “Performance Appraisal Week,” instructors conduct individual performance reviews designed to discuss individual students’ class performance and elicit student–teacher feedback. Students experience the emotions of a professional face-to-face review, practice multiple-source and multiple-measure feedback interpretation, engage in performance-related dialogue, and consider plans to meet goals. During a full-class reflection and debrief, students apply concepts and discuss elements of performance management systems, and they build their confidence in how to navigate performance-related feedback discussions.