Report on performance-based teacher evaluation systems

Thought this might be of interest given the current national push for this type of accountability.

"...An examination of performance-based teacher evaluation systems in five states, was conducted by the 2006-2011 REL Northeast and Islands at Education Development Center, Inc. This study reviewed state education agency websites and publicly available documents for all 50 states to identify states whose performance-based teacher evaluation systems met certain criteria similar to the guidelines set forth in the 2009 Race to the Top grant competition"

The criteria were:

• Was required for practicing general educators.
• Was operational statewide as of the 2010/11 school year.
• Included multiple rating categories.
• Used multiple measures of teacher effectiveness, such as observations, self-assessments, and professional growth plans.
Five states (Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas) met these criteria.

Report is linked here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=294

Report on the world's best-performing school systems

A record for this report, "How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top," examining 25 school systems, has been added to the UNLV Libraries catalog or is available here:
http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pdf
They found 3 things that matter most: (1) getting the right people to become teachers, (2) developing them into effective instructors, and (3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child. Success is not strictly related to cost; for example, Singapore is among the top performers and yet spends less on primary education than 27 of the 30 OECD countries.

WWC reviews adolescent literacy interventions

What Works Clearinghouse reviewed five adolescent literacy intereventions. Summary findings and links to the reports are below:

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID): The WWC reviewed 66 studies that investigated the effects of AVID on adolescent learners. "One study of AVID that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations...AVID was found to have no discernible effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/avid/

Corrective Reading: A total of 129 studies reviewed by the WWC examined the effects of Corrective Reading on adolescent learners' alphabetics, reading fluency, and comprehension. "One study of Corrective Reading that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards...Corrective Reading was found to have no discernible effects on the alphabetics, reading fluency, and comprehension domains for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/corrective_reading/

Reading Plus®: The WWC reviewed 18 studies..."One study of Reading Plus^® that falls within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations...Reading Plus^® was found to have potentially positive effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/reading_plus/

Reciprocal teaching: The WWC reviewed 164 studies that investigated the effects of reciprocal teaching on adolescent learners.  "Five studies of reciprocal teaching that fall within the scope of the Adolescent Literacy review protocol meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and one study meets WWC evidence standards with reservations...Reciprocal teaching was found to have mixed effects on comprehension for adolescent learners." http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/rec_teach/

Book clubs:  The WWC identified 284 studies of book clubs for adolescent learners (1989-2009). All studies either fell outside the Adolescent Literacy review protocol or did not meet WWC evidence standards. http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/book_clubs/

WWC review of "Accelerated Reader" effectiveness

 This brief summary from IES is remarkable for at least a couple of reasons. First, of 318 studies reviewed, only two met their evidence standards (one with reservations)! Second, this is such a widely used program and yet they found "no discernible effects"... Hmmm

"The Accelerated Reader™ guided reading intervention uses reading practice and computerized quizzes to supplement regular K–12 reading instruction. The WWC reviewed 318 studies on Accelerated Reader™. One study, a randomized controlled trial, meets WWC evidence standards. A second study, a quasi-experimental design, meets WWC evidence standards with reservations. The two studies include 2,877 students in grades 4 to 8 in Oregon and Texas. Based on these studies, the WWC found the Accelerated Reader™ to have no discernible effects on reading fluency or comprehension for adolescent learners. Read the full WWC report now at http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/adolescent_literacy/accel_read/"

WWC evaluates Saxon Math textbook series for middle school

"Saxon Math is a textbook series covering grades K–12 based on incremental development and continual review of mathematical concepts to give students time to learn and practice concepts throughout the year. The series is aligned with standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and various states, and can be adapted for special education students in inclusion classrooms, pullout programs, or self-contained resource classrooms. Although content differs by course, the incremental, distributed approach of Saxon Math is the same, with mathematical concepts presented in a series of short “lessons” intended to gradually build understanding and previously-taught concepts practiced and assessed throughout the course. ...This report includes studies that investigate the potential impact of Saxon Math texts on math achievement of middle school students...

One study of Saxon Math meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and four studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. The five studies included over 6,500 students from grades 6 to 8 in 52 schools in four states.

Based on these five studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Saxon Math to be medium to large for math achievement."

Full report is linked here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/middle_math/saxon/

Evaluation of primary grade math programs

The What Works Clearinghouse rarely finds that research meets their evidence standards and even when they do, there are seldom significant results, so this seemed worth passing along.

"This quick review looks at a study that examined the relative effectiveness of four widely used early elementary school math curricula: Investigations in Number, Data and Space; Math Expressions; Saxon Math; and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics. The study authors reported that first graders attending schools assigned to the Math Expressions and Saxon Math curricula scored significantly higher on math assessments than students attending schools assigned to the Investigations in Number, Data and Space or the Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics. The WWC's assessment of this study determined that the research described in this report is consistent with WWC evidence standards. The study is a well-implemented randomized controlled trial.To view the full report please visit:http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/publications/quickreviews/QRReport.aspx?QRID=117

Study of reading intervention programs find no benefits

Effectiveness of Selected Supplemental Reading Comprehension Interventions: Impacts on a First Cohort of Fifth-Grade Students reports on the impacts on student achievement for four supplemental reading curricula that use similar overlapping instructional strategies designed to improve reading comprehension in social studies and science text. Fifth-grade reading comprehension for each of three commercially-available curricula (Project CRISS, ReadAbout, and Read for Real) was not significantly different from the control group. The fourth curriculum, Reading for Knowledge, was adapted from Success for All for this study, and had a statistically-significant negative impact on fifth-grade reading comprehension.

Recess improves 3rd graders classroom behavior--maybe

The What Works Clearinghouse provides an evaluation of a study which found that teachers report better classroom behavior when students have regular access to recess. WWC also cautions that the populations that have regular access to recess were different in several ways from the populations that didn't, and these differences may or may not have been corrected for by data analysis.

Barros, R. M., Silver, E. J., & Stein, R. E. K. (2009). School recess and group classroom behavior. Pediatrics, 123(2): 431–436.
(online access to this article is available through the UNLV Libraries)

Some positive results for the REDI program

The What Works Clearinghouse found this study met evidence standards and reports the findings.
This study examined whether the Head Start Research-based Developmentally Informed (REDI) program is more effective than the standard Head Start program at improving the language, emergent literacy, and social-emotional skills of preschoolers.
The study finds that students in the REDI group outperformed control students on one of three measures of language development (effect sizes ranged from –0.07 to 0.15) and two of three measures of emergent literacy skills (effect sizes ranged from 0.16 to 0.39).
In addition, REDI program students exhibited greater understanding of emotions, better social problem-solving skills, and higher levels of learning engagement than students in regular Head Start classrooms.

WWC assessment of "I Can Learn Pre-Algebra and Algebra" programs

Will wonders never cease! It's SO rare that any research studies ever meet WWC evidence standards that there usually isn't much to report. Here is what they say about these programs:

"One study of I CAN Learn^®Pre-Algebra and Algebra meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards and four studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. The five studies included 16,519 eighth-grade students from middle schools in California, Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.³

Based on these five studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for I CAN Learn^®Pre-Algebra and Algebra to be medium to large for math achievement."

Links to the full evaluation report are here:

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/middle_math/iclprea/

Pre-elementary Special Education study released

The National Center for Special Education Research within the Institute of Education Sciences has released the third major report from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) entitled, "The Early School Transitions and the Social Behavior of Children with Disabilities: Selected Findings from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study." PEELS involves a nationally representative sample of children, ages 3 to 5 years at entrance to the study, with diverse disabilities who are receiving preschool special education services in a variety of settings. Topics covered in the report include changes in services and eligibility at times of transition, transitions into kindergarten, and social skills and problem behavior of young children with disabilities from 2003-04 to 2005-06.

New IES Report: Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs

The evaluation reports on the impacts on student achievement of two academic programs, one for reading and one for mathematics in grades 2-5. Compared to students attending regular after-school program activities, the students selected for the after-school math program received, on average, an additional 49 hours of instruction; students selected for the reading program received 48 hours of additional instruction, on average. The evaluation found a statistically significant difference in student math achievement favoring students in the math after-school program compared with those in the regular after-school activities. There was no statistically significant difference in reading achievement between students in the reading after-school program and those in the regular after-school activities.
Go to http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20084021.asp to view, print, and download the report.