Research Brief
Evaluating Efforts to Improve School Leadership
Oct 4, 2012
Given the focus on accountability in education, stakeholders are interested in evaluating whether efforts aimed at improving school leadership show results; the key criteria are student outcomes. This report describes challenges that states, districts, and other entities can expect to encounter as they evaluate efforts targeting school leadership as a way to improve student outcomes and offers suggestions for dealing with those challenges.
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 0.2 MB | Best for desktop computers. Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
ePub file | 1.7 MB | Best for mobile devices. On desktop computers and some mobile devices, you may need to download an eBook reader to view ePub files. Calibre is an example of a free and open source e-book library management application. |
mobi file | 0.3 MB | Best for Kindle 1-3. On desktop computers and some mobile devices, you may need to download an eBook reader to view mobi files. Amazon Kindle is the most popular reader for mobi files. |
State and district policymakers, as well as other organizations, such as foundations and nonprofits, are emphasizing efforts targeting school leadership as a way to improve student outcomes. Given the focus on accountability in education, policymakers and funders are interested in evaluating whether efforts aimed at improving school leadership show results; the key criteria are gains in student achievement. The use of multiple performance measures, including student achievement outcomes, is becoming standard practice in evaluation of efforts targeting both teachers and school leaders. This report describes the challenges that states, districts, and other entities can expect to encounter as they evaluate these efforts and offers suggestions for dealing with those challenges. RAND Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation, is engaged in a multiyear evaluation of the New Leaders program. New Leaders is an organization that recruits, selects, prepares, and supports school leaders to serve in urban schools. Through this project, the researchers have gained practical experience in the issues involved in evaluating efforts that are designed to improve school leadership. The lessons highlighted in this report derive from this experience. The challenges identified in this report can be mitigated through efforts to improve the availability and quality of data, by choosing suitable evaluation methods, and by appropriately interpreting the results of the evaluation.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
RAND's Evaluation of the New Leaders Program
Chapter Three
Challenges in Using Outcome Data to Evaluate School Leadership Improvement Efforts
Chapter Four
Conclusion
This work was sponsored by New Leaders. The research was conducted in RAND Education, a unit of the RAND Corporation.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Occasional paper series. RAND occasional papers may include an informed perspective on a timely policy issue, a discussion of new research methodologies, essays, a paper presented at a conference, or a summary of work in progress. All RAND occasional papers undergo rigorous peer review to help ensure that they meet high standards for research quality and objectivity.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.