Steven M. Kimball

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.

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.

Assessing the Promise of Standards-Based Performance Evaluation for Principals: Results from a Randomized Trial

Principals (N = 76) in a large western U.S. school district were randomly assigned to be evaluated using either a new standards-based system or to continue with the old system. It was hypothesized that principals evaluated with the new system would report clearer performance expectations, better feedback, greater fairness and system satisfaction, and spending more effort on priorities emphasized in the new system. Surveys and interviews were used to assess these perceptions. The hypotheses about feedback and satisfaction were supported. The study also revealed several issues with implementing standards-based evaluation, including competition with many other messages that define performance expectations for principals.