We evaluate the predictive validity of the Massachusetts Candidate Assessment of Performance (CAP), a practice-based assessment of teaching skills that is now a requirement for teacher preparation program completion in Massachusetts. We find that candidates' performance on the CAP significantly predicts their in-service summative performance…

In 2012 Massachusetts implemented a new educator evaluation system designed to create a "cycle of continuous improvement" that includes self-assessment, goal setting, evidence collecting, and evaluation. This new system was supported by more than twenty years of educational research demonstrating that highly skilled teachers remain one…

We use statewide data from Massachusetts to investigate teacher performance evaluations as a measure of teaching effectiveness. Schools tend to classify most of their teachers as proficient, but we document substantial variation across schools in the extent to which ratings differentiate teachers. Using event study and teacher fixed effects…

Since the early 2000s, accountability and evaluation have been regarded by policymakers as key mechanisms for "fixing" teacher education and by many teacher education leaders as vehicles for elevating the status of the profession and uniting a fragmented field. Although educational inequity has been an enduring and endemic problem during…

Existing research has demonstrated the influence of school leaders on school and student achievement (Hallinger & Bickman, 1996; Leithwood et al., 2019). Simultaneously, the responsibilities placed on school leaders have increased since the passage of NCLB (Husband & Hunt, 2015; Mitani, 2018). Consequently, working conditions are believed…

States are responsible for setting and evaluating the standards that teacher preparation programs (TPPs) must meet for accreditation. Despite the considerable investment that states make in this process, no prior research has linked the ratings of TPPs generated by program reviews to inservice teacher performance. In this paper, we describe…

To update its teaching and departmental review processes, Phillips Academy Andover, an independent boarding school in Massachusetts, commissioned RAND Corporation researchers to review the school's policies, conduct a literature review, interview other independent high schools, develop potential recommendations for revision of Andover's processes,…

In 2012, Olin College initiated an effort to improve its faculty reappointment and promotion (R&P) system in response to a lack of alignment between faculty activities, the institutional mission, and the traditional assessment criteria defined in the faculty manual. Olin engaged in a six-step use-oriented design process that guided the…

Effective teaching practice focused on encouraging deep engagement helps all students learn and succeed. Considerable work by researchers and change agents, encouraged by national organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Research Council, has promoted greater use of evidence-based educational practices, such as…

This large-scale study used a survey to collect data on K-12 world language programming in Massachusetts public schools. Building off work by Pufahl and Rhodes (2011), this study focused on world language programs, program types, and languages offered, as well as student exclusion, program leadership, and the Seal of Biliteracy. The study resulted…

The Massachusetts educator evaluation system is used to determine the effectiveness of educators. For school psychologists, this evaluation serves as administrative supervision; and often is the only type of supervision provided despite research indicating its need in order to deliver best practices. The process of providing meaningful and…

School leadership is a key factor in school turnarounds. The general prescription for what school leaders should do tends to be this: Set high expectations for staff and students and give strong instructional supports. Most school systems recognize how tall an order this is, given everything else the principal job entails. Even principals who are…

Coherence among components of an instructional system is key to changing teachers' instructional practices in standards-based reforms. Coherence involves working across traditional silos--or system components (e.g., curriculum, professional learning, assessment)--to integrate components to avoid fragmentation of experiences for educators and…

Educator evaluation is described in the literature as those systems in place used to supervise educator excellence as well as to maximize and foster teacher capacity. There have been many changes within the last five years in the Massachusetts educator evaluation model, now called the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation. Once…

Policies that require the use of information about student achievement to evaluate teacher performance are becoming increasingly common across the United States, but there is some question as to how or whether to use student test-based teacher evaluations when student assessments change. We bring empirical evidence to bear on this issue.…