Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts. Research Report
Gates, Susan M.; Hamilton, Laura S.; Martorell, Paco; Burkhauser, Susan; Heaton, Paul; Pierson, Ashley; Baird, Matthew; Vuollo, Mirka; Li, Jennifer J.; Lavery, Diana Catherine; Harvey, Melody; Gu, Kun (2014). RAND Corporation. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED561152
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examining6,706,262Students, gradesK-12
Grant Competition
Review Details
Reviewed: February 2018
- Grant Competition (findings for New Leaders Program )
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Baltimore High School Assessment (HSA): Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with three years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Baltimore;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
New York City Regents Exam: Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 NYC;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with two years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
Baltimore High School Assessment (HSA): Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Baltimore;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
California Standards Test: Mathematics |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; K-8 Oakland;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
New York City Regents Exam: Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with two years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 NYC;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Math |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with three years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with two years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
|
Baltimore High School Assessment (HSA): Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with three years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Baltimore;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
Memphis End-of-Course Tests: Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with three years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Memphis;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
Baltimore High School Assessment (HSA): Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 Baltimore;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
New York City Regents Exam: English |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 NYC;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
New York City Regents Exam: English |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with two years tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; 9-12 NYC;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
California Standards Test: Reading |
New Leaders Program vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with New Leader Principal with one year tenure vs. Non-New Leader Principal; K-8 Oakland;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 66%
Male: 34% -
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California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Wisconsin
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Race Black 56% White 29% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 10% Not Hispanic or Latino 90%
Study Details
Setting
The study takes place in ten school districts in the United States: Baltimore, MD; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Memphis, TN; Milwaukee, WI; New Orleans, LA; New York, NY; Oakland, CA; Prince George's County, MD; and Washington, D.C. Data from Oakland also includes charter schools not in this district but operating in the San Francisco Bay area.
Study sample
New leaders principals were 66% female, 29% white non-Hispanic, 56% black non-Hispanic, 10% Hispanic, and 58% under 40. Eighteen percent had a doctorate or education specialist degree. No information is provided on the characteristics of students or the principals in the non-New Leaders sample used for student achievement analysis.
Intervention Group
The intervention is a principal training program. New Leaders selectively recruits candidates for their principal training program. Participants go through a 1-year, residency-based training program called the Aspiring Principal Program, where they work as a school leader under a mentor principal. After this year-long training, potential principals are evaluated and endorsed by the program (if appropriate). Participants are placed into leadership positions in schools, where they receive ongoing support through mentoring, coaching, and a professional learning community.
Comparison Group
Principals that have not been selected, trained, and placed by New Leaders lead comparison schools.
Support for implementation
The New Leaders Program includes ongoing support for New Leaders Principals through coaching, mentoring, and a professional community.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).