In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the number of charter schools in New Orleans has rapidly expanded. During the 2012/13 school year--the period covered by this study--of the 85 public schools in New Orleans, 75 were chartered, enrolling more than 84 percent of all public school students in the city in 92 different school campuses. This study…

This study examines the accuracy of performance ratings from the Framework for Leadership (FFL), Pennsylvania's tool for evaluating the leadership practices of principals and assistant principals. The study analyzed four key properties of the FFL: score variation, internal consistency, year-to-year stability, and concurrent validity. Score…

This report looks at student growth in Arkansas school districts disaggregated by district poverty and by the district's value-added performance relative to other districts. We estimated district value-added performance statistics by subject and grade level (8 and 11-12) for longitudinal student cohorts, using statistical models that adjusted for…

We compare teacher preparation programs in Missouri based on the effectiveness of their graduates in the classroom. The differences in effectiveness between teachers from different preparation programs are very small. In fact, virtually all of the variation in teacher effectiveness comes from within-program differences between teachers. Prior…

School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

Unlike in elementary school, high-school teacher effects may be confounded with both selection to tracks and unobserved track-level treatments. I document sizable confounding track effects, and show that traditional tests for the existence of teacher effects are likely biased. After accounting for these biases, high-school algebra and English…

A total of 687 children, aged 7 through 11, was interviewed in fall, 1974 to determine the extent to which the Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine television programs communicated "pro-social" messages to its audience. Viewers of four different episodes of the Globetrotters were questioned about the program they had seen. Among the…

This report presents information on similarities and differences between U.S. high school sophomores as studied at three points in time over the past 22 years, with a focus on cohort demographics, academic programs and performance, extracurricular activities, life values, and educational/occupational aspirations. It provides an update to the…

In 1990, a study was conducted to identify the work values and degree of job satisfaction of potential minority leaders in community colleges and technical institutes, and to examine the relationship between participation in a minority leadership development program and work values and job satisfaction. The study sample was drawn from an applicant…