SEARCH BY TOPIC

Publications and Reports

CTAC’s reports focus on cutting edge issues in education and community development. Our research and evaluation studies inform practice and guide policy decision-making at local, state and national levels.

State Action on Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Missouri Takes the Lead

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) invested more than $50 million dollars of relief funds into grants to improve educator recruitment and retention. Through the grants, DESE helped local education agencies, educator preparation programs, and community colleges across the state strengthen their existing strategies and experiment with innovative approaches for recruiting and retaining teachers.

All grant recipients participated in a four-phase evaluation process to gauge the effectiveness of the grant program. The data confirmed with 95 percent confidence that the recruitment and retention grants resulted in positive growth in Grow Your Own (GYO) program enrollment and GYO graduation. GYO programs are designed to increase the supply of new teachers into the profession by identifying students and other support staff already in the school setting who have an interest in the teaching profession. The grant evaluation data also confirmed an increase in GYO graduates ultimately being certified to teach and hired by an LEA.

Preparing Leaders for Expanded Impact: An Evaluation of the Missouri Leadership Development System

Considered one of the nation’s most comprehensive statewide principal development initiatives, the primary purpose of the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS) is to develop and support effective school leaders.

CTAC, through the Region 12 Comprehensive Center, employed a mixed-methods design for this evaluation by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to address overarching research questions. The evaluation examined areas such as educators’ overall perceptions of MLDS, the extent to which MLDS supports principals to address leadership challenges, and how principals’ perceptions of MLDS differ by school CSI (Comprehensive Support and Improvement) status, community type (city, suburban, or rural), race/ethnicity, years of experience with MLDS, and RPDC (Regional Professional Development Center) region.

From 2018–19 to 2023–24, principals and superintendents believed MLDS effectively facilitates the professional growth of school leaders in Missouri. Mentors and teachers also indicated MLDS contributes to improvement in classroom instruction and student learning.

Findings from this study help the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to continue to deepen its support to an increasingly larger number of school leaders.

Marked Impact, Anticipated Refinements: An Evaluation of the Missouri Leadership Development System

Considered one of the nation’s most comprehensive statewide principal development initiatives, the primary purpose of the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS) is to develop and support effective school leaders.

Through the Region 12 Comprehensive Center, CTAC employed a mixed-methods design for this evaluation by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to address overarching research questions. The evaluation examined areas such as educators’ overall perceptions of MLDS, the extent to which MLDS supports principals to address leadership challenges, and teacher leaders’ perceptions of their principals’ participation in MLDS.

From 2018–19 to 2022–23, principals and superintendents indicated MLDS effectively develops and supports school leaders. Teacher leaders also believed their principals’ participation in MLDS positively contributes to improvement in classroom instruction and student learning.

Findings from this study support the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to further strengthen the program by making evidence-based refinements.

Pathway to Advanced Performance: An Evaluation of the Missouri Leadership Development System

Lauded as one of the nation’s most comprehensive statewide principal development initiatives, the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS) offers professional development to every principal in the state.

This report presents learnings from the perspectives of educators across the state about the implementation of MLDS. CTAC, through the Region 12 Comprehensive Center, utilized a mixed-methods approach by collecting multiple sources of data, including surveys and interviews, and conducting artifact reviews. The analyses of the survey responses include four years of survey data (i.e., 2018–19 to 2021–22) to gauge changes in perceptions over time.

Across the four years, principals and superintendents indicated MLDS effectively develops school leaders. They also believed the program successfully addresses challenges arising from COVID-19. Classroom teachers also indicated their principals’ participation in MLDS positively affected the school and their classroom instruction.

The report presents key issues and provides recommendations to help the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education make evidence-based refinements to the program which is already reaching more than 1,200 principals.

Implementing with Fidelity and Impact: An Evaluation of the Missouri Leadership Development System

The Region 12 Comprehensive Center conducted an evaluation of the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS) to support the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in learning from educators about the implementation of MLDS across the state.

For this evaluation, R12CC used a mixed-methods approach by collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, including (a) statewide surveys of MLDS principals, superintendents, and specialists; (b) survey of classroom teachers at ten schools in four districts; (c) interviews with MLDS principals, superintendents, and specialists; (d) fall 2020 participant satisfaction survey administered by DESE; and (e) a review of MLDS documents.

The evaluation focuses on MLDS implementation during the 2020–21 school year and, building on the 2019 and 2020 formative reports, gauges changes in perceptions over time. Data show that from 2018–19 to 2020–21, principals and superintendents continuously believe the program is being implemented with fidelity and effectively develops and supports school leaders. They also see a connection, through MLDS, between leadership development and student learning. The report presents key issues and provides recommendations to assist DESE in making evidence-based refinements to MLDS.

National Trends in Formative Assessment Support

Through the Region 12 Comprehensive Center, CTAC conducted a national scan of formative assessment supports provided by state education agencies. The report presents common themes in formative assessment support, a series of supports by content and grade area as well as by modality of professional learning, and illustrative examples. It also examines collaborative efforts to support formative assessment, as well as unique approaches from individual SEAs. The approaches, tools, and resources identified can guide states focused on enhancing formative assessment supports to measure and improve student learning.

Improving Teacher Practice: Debunking the Myth of the Performance Plateau

The CEOs of two of America’s leading education consultancies join forces to argue for school districts to play a more active role in teacher development. The “disheartening” but tenacious myth that new teachers improve for a few years and then coast is dangerous because it causes HR departments to focus on the wrong things, write Bryan Goodwin and William Slotnik. Newer studies have debunked the “performance plateau” and should lead districts in the direction of career-long development for career-long improvement. They propose a four-part plan for making it happen, and point out that a handful of districts have already started.

Getting the Pieces Right: Professional Development, Compensation, and School-Wide Performance

Getting the Pieces Right is the study of the Teacher Incentive Performance Award (TIPA) initiative in Virginia’s Prince William County Public Schools. A $10.9 million, five-year program supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Incentive Fund, TIPA sought to increase student achievement in PWCS’s 30 lowest performing schools by focusing intensively on instructional improvement.

Findings show that TIPA led to statistically significant increases in student achievement in all four core subjects analyzed as measured by Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) test results. TIPA’s processes greatly increased collaboration and instructional dialogue among principals and teachers and strengthened the use of data to inform instruction.

This five-year study describes how TIPA provided incentives that fostered collaborative school-wide improvement efforts. The initiative provided “real time,” tailored professional development to teachers and customized leadership development to the 30 TIPA principals. It implemented a performance-based compensation system combining student growth and achievement measures with 23 measures of school effectiveness, such as positive school culture, effective parent engagement, and teacher leadership. And it awarded school-based compensation bonuses, with administrators/teachers in core subjects eligible for the largest awards.

« Older Entries