Geoffrey D. Borman

Comprehensive School Reform and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis reviews research on the achievement effects of comprehensive school reform (CSR) and summarizes the specific effects of 29 widely implemented models. There are limitations on the overall quantity and quality of the research base, but the overall effects of CSR appear promising. The combined quantity, quality, and statistical significance of evidence from three models, in particular, set them apart. Whether evaluations are conducted by developers or by third-party evaluators and whether evaluators use one-group pre-post designs or control groups are important factors for understanding differences in CSR effects. Schools that implemented CSR models for 5 years or more showed particularly strong effects, and the benefits were consistent across schools of varying poverty levels. A long-term commitment to research-proven educational reform is needed to establish a strong marketplace of scientifically based CSR models.

Teacher Attrition and Retention: A Meta-Analytic and Narrative Review of the Research:

This comprehensive meta-analysis on teacher career trajectories, consisting of 34 studies of 63 attrition moderators, seeks to understand why teaching attrition occurs, or what factors moderate attrition outcomes. Personal characteristics of teachers are important predictors of turnover. Attributes of teachers’ schools, including organizational characteristics, student body composition, and resources (instructional spending and teacher salaries), are also key moderators. The evidence suggests that attrition from teaching is (a) not necessarily “healthy” turnover, (b) influenced by various personal and professional factors that change across teachers’ career paths, (c) more strongly moderated by characteristics of teachers’ work conditions than previously noted in the literature, and (d) a problem that can be addressed through policies and initiatives. Though researchers have utilized a number of national and state databases and have applied economic labor theory to questions related to teacher attrition, the authors argue that better longitudinal data on teacher career paths and more nuanced theories are needed.

Academic Resilience in Mathematics among Poor and Minority Students

Based on national data from the Prospects study, we identified the individual characteristics that distinguished academically successful, or resilient, elementary school students from minority and low-socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds from their less successful, or nonresilient, counterparts. We also formulated and tested 4 models of the risk factors and resilience-promoting features of schools: (a) effective schools; (b) peer group composition; (c) school resources; and (d) the supportive school community model. Our results suggested that minority students from low-SES backgrounds were exposed to greater risks and fewer resilience-promoting conditions than otherwise similar low-SES White students. Results, though, generally supported the applicability of uniform individual- and school-level models of academic resiliency to all low-SES students, regardless of their race. Greater engagement in academic activities, an internal locus of control, efficaciousness in math, a more positive outlook toward school, and more positive self-esteem were characteristic of all low-SES students who achieved resilient mathematics outcomes. The most powerful school characteristics for promoting resiliency were represented by the supportive school community model, which, unlike the other school models, included elements that actively shielded children from adversity.

A Multistate District-Level Cluster Randomized Trial of the Impact of Data-Driven Reform on Reading and Mathematics Achievement:

Analyzing mathematics and reading achievement outcomes from a district-level random assignment study fielded in over 500 schools within 59 school districts and seven states, the authors estimate the 1-year impacts of a data-driven reform initiative implemented by the Johns Hopkins Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE). CDDRE consultants work with districts to implement quarterly student benchmark assessments and provide district and school leaders with extensive training on interpreting and using the data to guide reform. Relative to a control condition, in which districts operated as usual without CDDRE services, the data-driven reform initiative caused statistically significant districtwide improvements in student mathematics achievement. The CDDRE intervention also had a positive effect on reading achievement, but the estimates fell short of conventional levels of statistical significance.

Final Reading Outcomes of the National Randomized Field Trial of Success for All

Using a cluster randomization design, schools were randomly assigned to implement Success for All, a comprehensive reading reform model, or control methods. This article reports final literacy outcomes for a 3-year longitudinal sample of children who participated in the treatment or control condition from kindergarten through second grade and a combined longitudinal and in-mover student sample, both of which were nested within 35 schools. Hierarchical linear model analyses of all three outcomes for both samples revealed statistically significant school-level effects of treatment assignment as large as one third of a standard deviation. The results correspond with the Success for All program theory, which emphasizes both comprehensive school-level reform and targeted student-level achievement effects through a multi-year sequencing of literacy instruction.

Teacher Quality and Educational Equality: Do Teachers with Higher Standards‐Based Evaluation Ratings Close Student Achievement Gaps?

Using standards‐based evaluation ratings for nearly 400 teachers, and achievement results for over 7,000 students from grades 4–6, this study investigated the distribution and achievement effects of teacher quality in Washoe County, a mid‐sized school district serving Reno and Sparks, Nevada. Classrooms with higher concentrations of minority, poor, and low‐achieving students were more likely to be taught by teachers with lower evaluation scores. Two‐level multilevel models, nesting students within classrooms, tended to show higher mean achievement in classrooms taught by teachers of higher than lower quality, with differences of approximately one‐tenth of 1 standard deviation. Findings relating teacher quality to closing within‐classroom achievement gaps, though, were mixed. Implications are discussed related to teacher evaluation, teacher quality, and educational inequality.

The Long-Term Effects and Cost-Effectiveness of Success for All.

Several renowned early interventions have compelling evidence of enduring achievement effects for at-risk children: Perry Preschool; the Abecedarian Project; and the Tennessee Class-Size Experiment. The costs and potential for national dissemination of such model programs, though, represent key practical concerns. This article examines the long-term outcomes and costs of another popular early intervention: Success for All. Relative to controls, Success for All students completed 8th grade at a younger age, with better achievement outcomes, fewer special education placements, fewer retentions, and at the same educational expense. Further cost-effectiveness comparisons to the three prominent interventions suggest that Success for All is deserving of similar recognition as a sound educational investment that provides strong and lasting educational benefits. None of these exemplary programs, though, can be expected to be the “great equalizer.”

Examining the Relationship between Teacher Evaluation and Student Assessment Results in Washoe County.

In this article, we describe findings from an analysis of the relationship between scores on a standards-based teacher evaluation system modeled on the Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 1996) and student achievement measures in a large Western school district. We apply multilevel statistical modeling to study the relationship between the evaluation scores and state and district tests of reading, mathematics, and a composite measure of reading and mathematics. Using a value-added framework, the teacher evaluation scores were included at the 2nd level, or teacher level, of the model when other student and teacher-level characteristics were controlled. This study provided some initial evidence of a positive association between teacher performance, as measured by the evaluation system, and student achievement. The coefficients representing the effects of teacher performance on student achievement were positive and were statistically significant in 4 of 9 grade-test combinations studied.

Title I and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of Federal Evaluation Results

Despite the seeming wealth of Title I evaluation information, the educational effectiveness of the program has remained debatable. Inconsistent findings can be attributed to variations in evaluation methods. Nevertheless, results from key studies have contributed to a conventional wisdom concerning Title I and student achievement. In contrast to previous reviews, this study employed metaanalytic techniques to assess the overall impact of the program on achievement and to examine the effects of mediating methodological and programmatic factors. The data were derived from 17 federal studies, ranging from 1966 to 1993, from which 657 unique effect sizes were derived. Results indicated a modest overall impact of Title I. However, the mediating factors were significant predictors. After controlling for these effects, Title I effect sizes were more favorable as the program matured. This finding may be attributable to expanded federal oversight and the growing focus on program improvement that has evolved over the years.

Longitudinal Achievement Effects of Multiyear Summer School: Evidence From the Teach Baltimore Randomized Field Trial

Employing a randomized field trial, this 3-year study explored the effects of a multiyear summer school program in preventing the cumulative effect of summer learning losses and promoting longitudinal achievement growth, for a total treatment group of 438 students from high-poverty schools. Longitudinal outcomes for the participants were contrasted to those for 248 children randomized into a no-treatment control condition. Multilevel growth models revealed no intention-to-treat effects of assignment to the multiyear summer school program. However, student attendance patterns at the voluntary program were variable across the 3 years that the intervention was offered. Maximum likelihood mixture models, which estimated the effects of the treatment for compliers, revealed statistically significant effects on learning across all three literacy domains tested for those students who attended the Summer Academy at an above average rate across two or more of the three summers that it was offered. Relative to their control-group counterparts, treatment compliers held advantages of 40% to 50% of one grade level on the final posttests.