Friday, June 27, 2014

Challenges in Evaluating Principal Effectiveness


The purpose of this article is to examine the assumptions underlying efforts to evaluate principal effectiveness in terms of student test scores, to review extant research on efforts to estimate principal effectiveness, and to discuss the appropriateness of including estimates of principal effectiveness in evaluations of principals. 

The authors review 10 different strategies for estimating principal effectiveness based on student test scores, representing all of the strategies currently employed by states and districts. 

The authors conclude there are currently no strategies to estimate principal effectiveness that accurately capture the independent effect of principals on student test scores; thus, these current strategies send inaccurate signals to both principals and those who make employment decisions about principals. 

This research has profound implications for states and districts implementing principal evaluation systems, particularly those making high-stakes decisions about principals based on statistical estimates of principal effectiveness. 




No comments: