Over the last decade, teacher evaluation has moved onto center stage in efforts to strengthen schooling. In this article, we address the question of whether focusing on this administrative process is likely to accomplish what reformers hope. We answer that question by examining the available evidence, both direct and indirect. We deepen the…

In the 2012-2013 school year, Chicago Public Schools unveiled its new teacher evaluation system in all of its almost 600 schools. This study draws on 32 interviews from a random sample of teachers and 2 years of survey data from more than 12,000 teachers per year to measure their perceptions of the clarity, practicality, and cost of the new…

Forty-two states and the District of Columbia have recently received waivers to the school accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). As the prospects for reauthorizing the Act in the near term are dim, these new accountability systems will be law for at least several years. Drawing on a four-part framework from the…

Growth-based approaches to federal accountability are receiving considerable attention because they have the potential to reward schools and teachers for improving student performance over time by measuring student progress at all levels of the performance spectrum, including progress by students who have not reached proficiency on state…

Value-added models help to evaluate the knowledge that school districts, schools, and teachers add to student learning as students progress through school. In this article, the well-known Education Value-Added Assessment System (EVAAS) is examined. The author presents a practical investigation of the methodological issues associated with the…

Discusses advantages and disadvantages of two types of research methodologies used to study the effect of LOGO in classroom settings: the treatment methodology and computer criticism. Stresses the importance of testable consequences. (PS)

Outlines some of the characteristics of humanistic objectives for education; e.g. humanist objectives are largely holistic, are concerned with affective aspects of learning that determine the expression of information in action; and are directed to the qualities that make us human. (Author/JM)

Presents a history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), focusing on procedural changes from 1969 to date and questions whether NAEP results should be used for accountability purposes. It recommends that NAEP should be insulated from reform efforts and that NAEP's monitoring of population levels of educational achievement…

Six deficits of this model are discussed: disparity in proponent prowess, fallible arbiters, excessive confidence in the model's potency, difficulties in framing the proposition in a manner amenable to adversary resolution, "a cat's-paw for biased decision makers," and, excessive costs. (Author/JM)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was originally used to report academic improvement or decline in the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year olds across major geographic regions. State-by-state comparison was carefully avoided. In 1988, however, Congress authorized the NAEP to conduct voluntary Trial State Assessments. (CJS)

Suggests that the National Assessment of Educational Progress's (NAEP) Trial State Assessment (TSA) will provide reliable and valid state-by-state comparisons of what students have learned and will assess their progress over time. The TSA will also provide information on home learning environments, instructional practices, educational resources,…

Suggests that the proposed state-by-state National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) will be unable to provide information about which state programs are responsible for differences in test scores. Raises concerns about its cost effectiveness and potential loss of validity if used in state comparisons. (CJS)

The accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 place high-poverty schools and racially diverse schools at a disadvantage because they rely on mean proficiency scores and require all subgroups to meet the same goals for accountability. In this article, student achievement data from six states are used to highlight…