Educational Researcher 44卷4期

1. Performance Screens for School Improvement: The Case of Teacher Tenure Reform in New York City

Author: Susanna Loeb, Luke C. Miller, and James Wyckoff

Source: Educational Researcher 44.4(May 2015): 199-212.

Abstract: Tenure is intended to protect teachers with demonstrated teaching skills against arbitrary or capricious dismissal. Critics of typical tenure processes argue that tenure assessments are superficial and rarely discern whether teachers in fact have the requisite teaching skills. A recent reform of the tenure process in New York City provides an unusual opportunity to learn about the role of tenure in teachers’ career outcomes. We find the reform led to many fewer teachers receiving tenure. Those not receiving tenure typically had their probationary periods extended to allow them an opportunity to demonstrate teaching effectiveness. These “extended” teachers were much more likely to leave their schools and be replaced by a teacher who was judged to be more effective.

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2. Grade Assignments and the Teacher Pipeline: A Low-Cost Lever to Improve Student Achievement?

Author: David Blazar

Source: Educational Researcher 44.4(May 2015): 213-227.

Abstract: Research on teacher stability typically focuses on the extent to which teachers remain in the same school, district, or the teaching profession from one year to the next. I investigate another facet of stability—whether teachers remain in the grade they teach. Drawing on administrative data from a large district in California, I find that high shares of teachers switch grades. Disproportionately, these are early career teachers who come from low-achieving or high-minority schools. Teachers who switch grades leave schools at higher rates than their colleagues and exhibit lower impacts on their students’ achievement. For teachers who switch to a nonadjacent grade, these negative effects can wipe out any gains due to increased experience and can persist in the year after the switch occurs.

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3. Understanding the Gap in Special Education Enrollments Between Charter and Traditional Public Schools: Evidence From Denver, Colorado

Author: Marcus A. Winters

Source: Educational Researcher 44.4(May 2015): 228-236.

Abstract: A widely cited report by the federal Government Accountability Office found that charter schools enroll a significantly smaller percentage of students with disabilities than do traditional public schools. However, thus far no hard evidence exists to definitively explain or quantify the disparity between special education enrollment rates in charter and traditional public schools. This article uses student-level data from Denver, Colorado, to map the creation and growth of the special education gap in elementary and middle school grades. The gap begins because students with disabilities are less likely to apply to charter schools in gateway grades than are nondisabled students. However, the special education gap in Denver elementary schools more than doubles as students progress between kindergarten and the fifth grade. About half of the growth in the gap in elementary grades (46%) occurs because of classification differences across sectors. The remaining 54% of the growth in the gap in elementary grades is due to differences in student mobility across sectors. However, the gap does not primarily grow—and in fact tends to shrink—due to the movement of students with disabilities across sectors and out of the city’s school system. Rather, the impact of student mobility on the gap is driven primarily by nondisabled students: Regular enrollment students are more likely to enter into charter schools, thus disproportionately reducing the percentage of students with disabilities within the charter sector.

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4. Measurement Matters: Assessing Personal Qualities Other Than Cognitive Ability for Educational Purposes

Author: Angela L. Duckworth and David Scott Yeager

Source: Educational Researcher 44.4(May 2015): 237-251.

Abstract: There has been perennial interest in personal qualities other than cognitive ability that determine success, including self-control, grit, growth mind-set, and many others. Attempts to measure such qualities for the purposes of educational policy and practice, however, are more recent. In this article, we identify serious challenges to doing so. We first address confusion over terminology, including the descriptor noncognitive. We conclude that debate over the optimal name for this broad category of personal qualities obscures substantial agreement about the specific attributes worth measuring. Next, we discuss advantages and limitations of different measures. In particular, we compare self-report questionnaires, teacher-report questionnaires, and performance tasks, using self-control as an illustrative case study to make the general point that each approach is imperfect in its own way. Finally, we discuss how each measure’s imperfections can affect its suitability for program evaluation, accountability, individual diagnosis, and practice improvement. For example, we do not believe any available measure is suitable for between-school accountability judgments. In addition to urging caution among policymakers and practitioners, we highlight medium-term innovations that may make measures of these personal qualities more suitable for educational purposes.

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5. MOOCs From the Viewpoint of the Learner: A Response to Perna et al. (2014)

Author: Eric Wiebe, Isaac Thompson, and Tara Behrend

Source: Educational Researcher 44.4(May 2015): 252-254.

Abstract: This response to Perna et al. provides an alternate approach to research on massive open online courses (MOOCs). We argue that a student-centered, theory-driven conceptualization and methodological approaches allow us to move beyond descriptive statistics and into a deeper understanding of MOOC learners. Examples using a teacher development MOOC are presented.