New Hampshire's Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE) innovative assessment system uses student scores from classroom performance assessments as well as other classroom tests for school accountability purposes. One concern is that not having annual state testing may incentivize schools and teachers away from teaching the breadth of…

A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the past decade was the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. We examine this theory by studying teachers' perceptions of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district's efforts to improve feedback…

The 2021-22 accreditation year continued to be impacted in significant ways by the ongoing nature of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. All accreditation activities, including site visits, were adjusted to reflect this new reality while maintaining full implementation of the system. This report presents information about the major activities of the…

A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the last decade was the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. We examine this theory by studying teachers' perceptions of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district's efforts to improve feedback…

The Student Achievement Initiative (SAI) is the guiding framework for the Washington state community and technical college system's goals for student success. SAI emphasizes student momentum for college success by both building college readiness (such as basic skills gains and completion of precollege education, sometimes known as developmental…

The purpose of this mixed-methods program evaluation was to determine the impact, if any, that the implementation of a voluntary performance-based compensation system had on an Ohio suburban district's goal to compensate effective teaching. The district formed a committee that researched teacher compensation systems that rewarded a variety of…

Quite commonly, reports on elementary and secondary school teachers begin with the rather obvious notion that the quality of instruction is critical to student learning. Decades of federal policymaking have been built on the premise that good pre-service preparation is an effective route to quality teaching and, ultimately, improved educational…

The study examined the impact of "POWERSOURCE"[C], an intervention consisting of formative assessments, instructional resources, and professional development designed to help teachers provide individual instruction to their students in Algebra I. This study took place in seven districts in Arizona and California during the 2007-08 school…

This study investigates the influence of Green School designation on students' achievement in state-mandated standardized tests. Data were gathered 3 years pre- and post-Green schools designation, from test pass rates in reading and mathematics for Grade 5 and Grade 8 students, and from mathematics, English language arts, and biology scores for…

In this paper we examine the research literature on teacher performance pay. Evidence clearly suggests an upsurge of interest in many states and school districts, however, expanded use of merit pay has been controversial. We briefly review the history of teacher pay policy in the U.S. and earlier cycles of interest in merit or performance-based…

When the author was a little girl, her father told her the story of how he once saw the great Harry Houdini escape from a straight jacket. In the early 1900s, Houdini fascinated thousands of people by performing feats of life-threatening daring and agility. Houdini was a professional in the traditional sense: he acted alone, kept his trade secrets…