Principal Roles, Work Demands, and Supports Needed to Implement New Teacher Evaluation

Policy makers at the federal level have embraced an educator effectiveness agenda, which in turn has driven many states across the country to rapidly develop and implement new and more complex teacher evaluation systems. It is increasingly clear that the success of these nascent teacher evaluation systems partly depends on the will, skill, and capacity of school principals, individuals who have historically been tasked with evaluating teachers. School principals have traditionally had, and will in most cases continue to have, primary responsibility for evaluating the 3.7 million public school teachers nationwide. While teacher evaluation innovations present several opportunities for improving instructional supervision and teacher quality, they also involve several challenges, especially on the part of principals. Time demands and cognitive challenges will be inevitable as principals learn about and implement new teacher evaluation systems. Simultaneously, other educational changes going to scale, including Common Core State Standards with aligned assessments and state school accountability systems, will compete for the attention of school leaders and teachers. Negotiating these changes to maximize the positive potential of evaluation reforms requires a commitment by states and districts to resources for training and support as well as policy coherence

Does strategic human capital management impact teacher mobility and student achievement? Evidence from three years of implementation in one Texas school district

textMany public school districts around the nation have implemented performance pay programs to provide teachers the opportunity to earn additional pay based on measures of student achievement. These programs aim to improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness. Existing research on performance pay demonstrates no positive impact of such programs on student and teacher outcomes; however, little research assesses the impact of performance pay combined with addition supports and working condition improvements on student achievement and teacher effectiveness. This study empirically examined the impact of teacher performance pay combined with additional human capital improvements on student growth and teacher mobility in one Texas school district. The district implemented the program in only 15 of the district’s 144 schools. Nine schools implemented the full intervention, which included performance pay, teacher supports, and working condition improvements, while six schools partially implemented the program, offering teachers the opportunity to earn performance pay only. Results demonstrate that student growth was significantly, positively related to full program implementation in math and reading; yet, the magnitude of the results was small. Over time, teacher effectiveness increased on campuses that implemented the most comprehensive version of the program. Average teacher turnover rates increased on full program campuses the year before and the year after implementation; yet, the most effective teachers remained on campuses that provided performance pay and improved working conditions. Results suggest that financial incentives combined with additional human capital improvements, rather than financial incentives alone, could lead to small improvements in student achievement and teacher effectiveness in high need, urban public schools. These findings hold implications for policymakers and researchers, providing evidence on how to best design and implement school district human capital initiatives that show promise in improving student and teacher outcomes.Educational Administratio

Analysis of Outcomes in Ischemic vs Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation A Report From the GARFIELD-AF Registry

IMPORTANCE Congestive heart failure (CHF) is commonly associated with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF), and their combination may affect treatment strategies and outcomes