The Impact of School Progress Report Grades on School Practices in New York City

• In Event: Accountability Policy and Local Action

Abstract

This research aims to get inside the “black box” of responses to accountability by estimating the impact of changes in school letter grades on specific school practices in New York City. The study utilizes school letter grades from the school progress reports as well as teacher, parent, and student survey responses to NYC’s Learning Environment surveys, which are used to identify specific school practices that are affected by changes in letter grades (e.g., teacher collaboration/planning time, frequency of principal observations and feedback, course/activity offerings, data use, parent communication). This is valuable for education policy, as it is important to understand what factors of education production are affected by school letter grades and to identify potential unintended consequences of accountability policies.

Author

• Emilyn Ruble Whitesell, New York University