Publications and Reports

CTAC’s reports focus on cutting edge issues in education and community development. Our research and evaluation studies inform practice and guide policy decision-making at local, state and national levels.

Real Progress in Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is making significant strides in guiding and supporting the implementation of Student Learning Objectives as well as a teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. This report examines frontline educators’ overall perceptions of TPE and key issues in implementation, including quality, consistency, and school, district and state support. The more experience frontline educators have with the new evaluation system, the higher their skill and comfort levels are with its implementation and the more their efforts focus on strengthening instruction. This report, which CTAC and WestEd prepared through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center (MACC at WestEd), also includes recommendations which focus on ways to strengthen implementation within and across districts in Maryland, while reinforcing the instructional emphasis of TPE.

It’s More Than Money: Teacher Incentive Fund–Leadership for Educators’ Advanced Performance, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

It’s More Than Money is the final evaluation of a comprehensive, performance-based system initiative in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. CTAC’s evaluation demonstrates that high-quality Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) contribute to improving teaching and bolstering student growth. Findings show statistically significant multi-year improvements in growth rates for students of teachers with SLOs compared to those in peer schools without SLOs: 12% greater growth on average in math and 13% greater growth on average in reading.

This five-year study examines the genesis, development, and implementation of the SLO approach together with the incorporation of a value-added measure approach. It provides a study in the opportunities, complexities, benefits, and challenges that arise in measuring and compensating the impact of teacher effectiveness on student growth. It is a chronicle that draws one into the promise of performance-based compensation and a cautionary tale that alerts any district starting down this path that significantly more is at stake than money alone.

Focus on Rhode Island: SLOs and Evaluation

This study assesses and reports on the implementation of the new teacher evaluation system in Rhode Island. In particular, the analysis explains the concerns of teachers, principals and superintendents, and examines ways to build better understanding and more effective implementation of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). The recommendations reinforce the integrity of the new evaluation system in Rhode Island, respond to needs emerging from the field, and increase the manageability of the new system.

Spotlight on Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is a national exemplar in being transparent as it rolls out and supports a new teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. This study focuses on how frontline educators perceive the development and implementation of the TPE system, particularly the support they received in understanding and implementing Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). Through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center, CTAC and WestEd prepared this report for MSDE. The recommendations reinforce the instructional emphasis of the new TPE system and build on the foundation of support established to date by MSDE.

Focus on Literacy: Professional Development Audit

This report presents the findings from CTAC’s groundbreaking audit of the effectiveness of literacy professional development provided in Duval County Public Schools (Florida). The audit examines the relationship of professional development to student achievement, teachers’ instructional practices, teachers’ perceptions of their craft and of professional development, and financial expenditures. CTAC’s evaluation shows a markedly positive relationship between teacher professional development in literacy and student growth in reading—with student test scores increasing significantly for each six hours of literacy professional development for teachers.

Catalyst for Change: Pay for Performance in Denver Final Report

Catalyst for Change is the final summative report for the Denver Pay-for-Performance initiative that focused on developing a link between student achievement and teacher compensation, and launched a national movement in performance-based reform. This CTAC evaluation is a groundbreaking longitudinal study of impact of performance-based compensation on student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and systemic change. This study found that students whose teachers crafted high quality SLOs outperformed their peers and showed significantly greater gain on two independent measures of student achievement at all three school levels during all years under study. This study provided the research and evaluation base for Congressional approval of the Teacher Incentive Fund.

Pathway to Results: Pay for Performance in Denver

This report presents findings based on the halfway point of the performance-based compensation pilot in the Denver Public Schools. At the mid-point of this program, the initiative was very much in the critical phase of seeking to fully and fairly test the powerful concept—is performance-based compensation a viable and effective strategy for the Board of Education and the Teachers’ Association to use to accomplish their goals? This report contains CTAC’s analyses, findings, and recommendations, and provides the necessary foundation for the mid-course adjustments made to the initiative.

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