Supervisor Ratings as Measures of Principal Performance: Evidence From the Tennessee Educator Accelerator Model Evaluation System in Tennessee

• In Event: Education Finance, Pay, and Productivity

Abstract

We make use of data from the Tennessee Educator Accelerator Model (TEAM) system for evaluating principals. We focus on the scores principals receive from supervisors on a standards-based rubric. We ask what the properties of these scores are and how they vary according to principal and school characteristics. We then test whether the scores predict other policy-relevant outcomes. Several variables predict scores, including principal gender and student demographics. We find that although principals’ ratings do not reliably differentiate among the different domains of school leadership defined by the rubric, TEAM ratings generally are positively associated with teachers’ and APs’ ratings of leadership quality, the states’ school value-added measures, and other measures of student test score growth.

Authors

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University

• Richard Blissett, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Hajime Mitani, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College