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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.

Change in Practice in Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation

A new comprehensive study shows that Maryland is a national leader in implementing an educator evaluation system statewide.

CTAC and WestEd conducted this study through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center (MACC at WestEd) to support the Maryland State Department of Education and all of Maryland’s districts.

This report examines the perceptions of frontline educators regarding the support they receive in understanding and implementing the Teacher and Principal Evaluation (TPE) system, and the use of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) to measure student growth and improve instruction. The study includes the direct input of more than 30% of Maryland’s teachers and principals.

Drawing on three years of data, findings show that TPE implementation is generating changes in practice and perception. With each year of implementation, both principals and teachers are increasingly more positive about TPE.

Recommendations focus on ways to improve the quality, consistency and manageability of implementation within and across districts in Maryland. They are intended to help further inform and strengthen Maryland’s implementation of TPE overall and the SLO component in particular, and broaden the set of supports to frontline educators in the schools.

Real Progress in Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is making significant strides in guiding and supporting the implementation of Student Learning Objectives as well as a teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. This report examines frontline educators’ overall perceptions of TPE and key issues in implementation, including quality, consistency, and school, district and state support. The more experience frontline educators have with the new evaluation system, the higher their skill and comfort levels are with its implementation and the more their efforts focus on strengthening instruction. This report, which CTAC and WestEd prepared through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center (MACC at WestEd), also includes recommendations which focus on ways to strengthen implementation within and across districts in Maryland, while reinforcing the instructional emphasis of TPE.

It’s More Than Money: Teacher Incentive Fund–Leadership for Educators’ Advanced Performance, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

It’s More Than Money is the final evaluation of a comprehensive, performance-based system initiative in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. CTAC’s evaluation demonstrates that high-quality Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) contribute to improving teaching and bolstering student growth. Findings show statistically significant multi-year improvements in growth rates for students of teachers with SLOs compared to those in peer schools without SLOs: 12% greater growth on average in math and 13% greater growth on average in reading.

This five-year study examines the genesis, development, and implementation of the SLO approach together with the incorporation of a value-added measure approach. It provides a study in the opportunities, complexities, benefits, and challenges that arise in measuring and compensating the impact of teacher effectiveness on student growth. It is a chronicle that draws one into the promise of performance-based compensation and a cautionary tale that alerts any district starting down this path that significantly more is at stake than money alone.

Focus on Rhode Island: SLOs and Evaluation

This study assesses and reports on the implementation of the new teacher evaluation system in Rhode Island. In particular, the analysis explains the concerns of teachers, principals and superintendents, and examines ways to build better understanding and more effective implementation of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). The recommendations reinforce the integrity of the new evaluation system in Rhode Island, respond to needs emerging from the field, and increase the manageability of the new system.

Spotlight on Maryland: SLOs and Teacher and Principal Evaluation

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is a national exemplar in being transparent as it rolls out and supports a new teacher and principal evaluation (TPE) system statewide. This study focuses on how frontline educators perceive the development and implementation of the TPE system, particularly the support they received in understanding and implementing Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). Through the Mid-Atlantic Comprehensive Center, CTAC and WestEd prepared this report for MSDE. The recommendations reinforce the instructional emphasis of the new TPE system and build on the foundation of support established to date by MSDE.

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