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Title: Linking Instructional Leadership, Teaching Quality, and Student Achievement: Reflections From a Half-Full Glass


1
Linking Instructional Leadership, Teaching
Quality, and Student Achievement Reflections
From a Half-Full Glass
  • Presentation to the
  • Institute of Education Sciences
  • Annual Research Conference
  • Washington, DC
  • June 12, 2008

2
What This Study Was and Wasnt
  • It examined a theory of action in which
    instructional leadership plays a major role.
  • It was an effort to establish empirical linkages
    between steps in the theory of action.
  • It was not an evaluation of an intervention based
    on the theory of action.

3
The Theory of Action
  • Developed by the Institute for Learning (IFL) at
    the University of Pittsburgh
  • Used to inform the professional development that
    the IFL delivers to districts and schools

4
Steps in the Theory of Action
5
The Bottom Line Half-Full
  • We developed reliable quantitative indicators of
    principals leadership actions as recipients and
    providers of professional development.
  • Some statistically significant correlations exist
    between each pair of adjacent steps in the theory.

6
The Bottom Line Half-Empty
  • Data are correlational only.
  • We couldnt undertake a second round of data
    collection, so data are concurrent, further
    undercutting the ability to make causal
    inferences.
  • Some correlations between steps arent
    statistically significant.
  • Because of sample size issues, we couldnt
    statistically model the full theory.

7
Testing the Theory of Action
  • Selecting districts and schools in which to mount
    the study
  • Gathering survey, observational, and achievement
    data around these steps
  • Creating measures of the steps
  • Looking at the statistical linkages that connect
    these measures

8
Focus on Three Principles of Learning
  • Accountable Talk (AT)
  • Academic Rigor (AR)
  • Clear Expectations (CE)

9
Study Districts and Schools
  • Three districts
  • Austin
  • Region 10 in New York City
  • Saint Paul
  • 49 elementary schools
  • approx. 85 percent of students FRPL
  • higher proportion nonwhite than in other
    district schools

10
What We Did
  • Administered surveys to principals and 3rd and
    4th grade teachers in the spring of 2006
  • Conducted observations in 151 reading classes and
    151 math classes during the 2005-2006 school year
    using a version of the IQA
  • Collected data from Web sites on 3rd grade
    student achievement in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006
  • Interviewed and job-shadowed principals,
    conducted focus groups with teachers in a small
    number of case study schools in each district
  • Interviewed district and IFL personnel

11
Linking Principals PD to Teachers PD
12
Constructs Related to Professional Development
  • Constructs related to receiving professional
    development (principals and teachers)
  • Frequency
  • Value
  • Constructs related to providing professional
    development (principals)
  • Role in PD for teachers
  • Time spent with teachers on instructional
    improvement

13
Professional Development at Three Levels
  • Instruction-related
  • Related to the Principles of Learning
    collectively
  • Related to each Principle of Learning (AT, AR, CE)

14
The Analytic Approach
  • We regressed each variable at Step N on the
    variables at Step N-1 and Step N-2
  • As control variables in the regressions, we
    included the district and, for each school, the
    principals experience and the average experience
    of teachers who responded to the survey.

15
Linking Principals PD to Teachers PD
  • Principals who received more instruction-related
    PD played a more active role in PD for their
    teachers.
  • Principals who received more instruction-related
    PD and valued it more spent more time with their
    teachers on instructional improvement.
  • Teachers reported receiving more PD at schools
    whose principals reported being more actively
    involved in PD for their teachers. The teachers
    didnt, however, value the PD more.

16
Linking Teachers PD to Instructional Quality
17
Linking Teachers PD to Instructional Quality
  • In schools where teachers reported receiving more
    instruction-related PD, the reading lessons that
    were observed were of higher quality.
  • More frequent teacher PD on Accountable Talk and
    Clear Expectations was associated with higher
    scores on these outcomes in the reading lessons
    that were observed.
  • At schools where principals played a more active
    role with respect to teacher PD on Academic Rigor
    and Clear Expectations, higher scores on these
    outcomes were observed.

18
Linking Instructional Quality toStudent
Achievement
19
Linking Instructional Quality toStudent
Achievement
  • At schools where the reading and math lessons
    that were observed were of higher quality as
    measured on the IQA, higher proportions of
    students met the standard on reading and math
    assessments.
  • Higher implementation of Accountable Talk was
    associated with higher student achievement in
    both subjects.
  • Higher implementation of Academic Rigor was
    associated with higher student achievement in
    reading.
  • All of these associations also controlled for
    prior student achievement.

20
What Can We Conclude?
  • The evidence supporting the IFL theory is
    promising and suggestive.
  • But its not definitive. We cant say that one
    phenomenon caused another, only that they are
    associated.
  • Data are concurrent
  • No counterfactual
  • There are alternative explanations for many of
    our findings.

21
Other Findings of Note
  • Principals and teachers especially valued PD
    sessions in which they could learn from their
    peers.
  • Instructional quality was generally low.
  • Teachers are inaccurate reporters of their own
    teaching.

22
The Best Next Step for Research
  • A rigorous random assignment test of IFLs work

23
For futher information
  • Please contact Janet Quint at (212) 340-8816 or
  • janet.quint_at_mdrc.org
  • The report may be found at
  • www.mdrc.org
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