Principals are the second-largest school-based contributor to K-12 students' academic progress. However, there is little research evaluating whether efforts to develop principals' skills improve school effectiveness. We conducted randomized controlled trial studies of the impacts of a professional development program called the Executive…

This study explores whether teacher performance trajectory over time differs by school-poverty settings. Focusing on elementary school mathematics teachers in North Carolina and Florida, we find no systematic relationship between school student poverty rates and teacher performance trajectories. In both high- (=60% free/reduced-price lunch [FRPL])…

In this invited response to Moe and Anzia (2014), we describe both the points of convergence and divergence between our prior research (2007a, 2007b) and that of Moe (2005) and Moe and Anzia (2014). We also respond to Moe and Anzia's critique of our published work. Moe and Anzia's study helps to refine the policy discussion around seniority…

We studied how six high-performing, high-poverty schools in one large Massachusetts city implemented the state's new teacher evaluation policy. The sample includes traditional, turnaround, restart, and charter schools, each of which had received the state's highest accountability rating. We sought to learn how these successful schools approached…

In this article, the authors Sarah A. Anzia and Terry M. Moe, offer a retort to William S. Koski and Elieen L. Horng's argument that their study of seniority-based transfer rules is narrow and that its findings only apply under limited circumstances. The Koski-Horng's study, by contrast, takes a broad frame--so broad that, as detailed in…

Selective colleges and universities purport to consider students' achievement in the context of the academic opportunities available in their high schools. Thus, students who "maximize" their curricular opportunities should be more likely to gain admission. Using nationally representative data, we examine the effect of "maximizing…

Collective bargaining is common in American public education, but its consequences are poorly understood. We focus here on key contractual provisions--seniority-based transfer rights--that affect teacher assignments, and we show that these transfer rights operate to burden disadvantaged schools with higher percentages of inexperienced teachers. We…

This article presents findings from a lottery-based study of the impacts of a broad set of 33 charter middle schools across 13 states on student achievement. To estimate charter school impacts, we compare test score outcomes of students admitted to these schools through the randomized admissions lotteries with outcomes of applicants who were not…

This study examines public school characteristics, and public and private school market characteristics, associated with participation among elementary-aged students in a means-tested school voucher program in Florida. Participants are more likely than eligible nonparticipants to come from disadvantaged public schools on multiple dimensions. On…

The authors use longitudinal data from one large school district to investigate the distribution of principals across schools. They find that schools serving many low-income, non-White, and low-achieving students have principals who have less experience and less education and who attended less selective colleges. This distribution of principals is…

Teach For America (TFA) recruits high-achieving college graduates to teach for 2 years in the nation's low-income schools. This study is the first to examine these teachers' retention nationwide, asking whether, when, and why they voluntarily transfer from their low-income placement schools or leave teaching altogether. Based on a survey of three…

This study is motivated by an ongoing debate about the kinds of schools that make for the best field placements during pre-service preparation. On the one hand, easier-to-staff schools may support teacher learning because they are typically better-functioning institutions that offer desirable teaching conditions. On the other hand, such field…

Employing a randomized field trial, this 3-year study explored the effects of a multiyear summer school program in preventing the cumulative effect of summer learning losses and promoting longitudinal achievement growth, for a total treatment group of 438 students from high-poverty schools. Longitudinal outcomes for the participants were…

Data for third, sixth, eighth, and twelfth graders from the 1983-84 California Assessment Program are presented to support a new theory on the relationship between the size and performance of school systems. Size appears to be related to the socioeconomic status and performance of schools and school districts. (TJH)

Recent national information is presented on the relationships among school district poverty, local fiscal needs and capacities, and Chapter 1 allocation levels. Focus is on assessing how the relationship between poverty and local fiscal capacity affects a school district's state/local revenue base. Targeting federal compensatory aid correctly is…