In 2009, through the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative, we invested in three school districts: Hillsborough County Public Schools, Florida; Memphis City Schools, Tennessee; and Pittsburgh Public Schools, Pennsylvania, and a group of charter management organizations (CMOs): Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, California; Aspire Public Schools, California; Green Dot Public Schools, California; and Partnerships to Uplift Communities. They committed to giving teachers the feedback and support they need by incorporating multiple measures of teacher effectiveness—including classroom observations, student achievement measures, and student surveys—in their evaluation systems.
Researchers from the RAND Corporation and the American Institutes of Research are tracking the progress and impacts of the sites’ efforts. Interim findings reflect data from only the first year or two in which the changes were fully implemented in the sites. The impacts on teacher effectiveness and placement are inconclusive during the first couple of years of study; however, majorities of teachers have indicated that the feedback they received, especially from classroom observations, has prompted them to make changes in their practice. In student achievement, there have been small gains when compared to other interventions, as well as varied impacts on graduation rates. Most sites saw progress in student scores for the 2013-2014 school year which suggests further improvement ahead.
Read the three full reports.
These results provide valuable learnings for us at the foundation—and for the entire field of education—to consider. For example, while more effective teachers are in the highest needs schools, more work needs to be done to pair the most effective teachers with the highest need students within these schools. We will continue to monitor this work and build on what we learn. Read more about our learnings.
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