Events

Distinguished Scholar Seminar Series featuring Prof. Doug Staiger. “Providing Information on Teacher Performance to School Principals: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention in New York City.” May 13th, 4:30-6pm in Larsen G08, Harvard Graduate School of Education

The paper is co-authored by Jonah Rockoff, Tom Kane and Eric Taylor.  Abstract: A large body of research suggests that improving teacher quality is an important channel for raising student achievement.  However, in order to selectively retain highly effective teachers, or provide training to teachers who need it, school administrators must, to some degree, be able to accurately evaluate teacher performance.  One potential policy to improve teacher evaluation is the provision of information to principals on teacher effectiveness based on past student achievement outcomes.  In order to assess the merits of such a policy, the New York City Department of Education provided “value-added reports” on individual teachers to a randomly selected subset of volunteer principals.  Several important facts emerge from our analysis of this pilot study.  First, the value-added estimates reported to principals were correlated with principals’ preexisting beliefs about teacher effectiveness, as reflected in both their opinions (teacher ratings) and their actions (classroom observations). Second, principals changed their ratings of teachers in response to the information in the reports, establishing that value-added reports provided new information to principals.  Finally, our results suggest that the information in the reports raised the probability that teachers with low value-added estimates left their school after the reports were distributed Collectively, these results suggest that value-added reports provide principals with useful information that may help them raise teacher quality.  Wednesday, May 13 from 4:30-6pm in Larsen G08, Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Refreshments at 5:30.

Informing the Debate: A Panel Discussion on Boston’s Charter, Pilot, and Traditional Schools.  April 1st, 7pm Askwith Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education

The Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston hosted a panel discussion on the Center’s recent study of Boston area schools.  Tom Kane, Faculty Director, presented the results of the study, and David Luberoff, Executive Director of the Rappaport Institute, moderated a panel of Boston education policy experts including Chris Gabrieli, Mike Goldstein, Ellen Guiney, Kay Merseth, and Tom Payzant.  Wednesday, April 1st, 7pm Askwith Hall, Longfellow Hall, Harvard Graduate School of Education.  Refreshments at 6:30.

Data Partnerships for Policy Innovation Conference

On May 3rd and 4th, PPIE’s inaugural Data Partnerships for Policy Innovation Conference took place in Cambridge, MA.  Key staff from school districts from across the country collaborated with researchers from Harvard and other institutions to develop research projects with practical implications for improving student achievement.  Prospective projects to be discussed included designing performance-based evaluations for teachers, developing and validating school quality measures, and evaluating methods for principal and school leadership.