What's the Incentive? Exploratory Analysis of the Inclusion of Building-Level Data in Teacher Effectiveness Systems

• In Event: 33.043 - The Science of Teacher Evaluation: Implications for Practice

Abstract

States around the country are reforming the way they evaluate educators. While new evaluation models have increasingly begun to incorporate value added measures, the use of building-level scores is less common. Starting in 2013-2014 and moving forward, teacher effectiveness in Pennsylvania will be measured in part by a building-level score, composing 15% of a teacher’s rating. Despite intentions of incentivizing collaboration among educators, stakeholders throughout the Commonwealth are concerned about the potential disincentive for teachers to work in low-performing schools. We find that for the majority of educators, their building-level score brings down their effectiveness score and, for a small subset, brings them down a rating level. Further research will have to look at its implications in incentivizing teacher mobility.

Authors

• James Jack, School District of Philadelphia

• Katherine Stratos, School District of Philadelphia