In this blog post, David Osher, AIR vice president and international expert on school climate, social emotional learning, and student support, shares an interesting perspective about making a difference through school climate.
The federal Race to the Top competition provided significant impetus for states to adopt “value-added” models as a part of their teacher evaluation systems. This study examines how teacher evaluations are affected by incorrectly attributing changes in student's test scores to the value-added of teachers in spring classrooms, and explores ...
Many people assume that smaller classes lead to more individualized instruction and hence to better student achievement. But do they? In this 90-second video interview, senior researcher Michael Hansen argues that's not always the case.
Join AIR and WestEd for a special panel discussion, where education practitioners and experts will showcase effective talent retention strategies linked to rapid school improvement, as well as overview strategies that federal policymakers can authorize and fund under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ...
How well do classroom observation scores help us understand how much a teacher has added to his or her students’ achievement? As Rachel Garrett describes in this blog post, new research raises questions about the wisdom of basing high-stakes, summative teacher evaluations chiefly on classroom observations. ...
Developing reliable and valid national-level survey measures of instructional processes and other classroom conditions related to learning has proven exceptionally difficult. This report focuses on the size of the impact that can be expected from instruction and teachers on student achievement and on the conceptualization of measures of instruction and ...
As district leaders search for the best ways to improve student learning with the Common Core State Standards, some early implementers are giving us an opportunity to learn from their experience.This brief describes Sacramento City Unified School District’s approach to developing units of study that guide teachers’ classroom practice. The ...
Special education experts from AIR will participate in a variety of presentations, panel discussions, and poster sessions at the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) Convention and Expo. The annual convention will be in a hybrid format, with both in-person programming (March 13-16, in San Antonio, Texas) and virtual program components ...
The Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) system was designed to provide career pathways and compensation structures to attract, retain and reward effective teachers; to promote continuous improvement in Iowa’s teaching workforce; and to increase student academic achievement. This report updates the Year 1 implementation and outcome findings based on ...
The use of student test-based measures of teacher effectiveness in personnel decisions, such as tenure, is controversial. It is a major bone of contention in the recent Chicago teacher strike. The conversation here focuses on the uses, value and limitations of these measures, often called value-added measures. ...