Evaluation of the Teacher Potential Project
Dolfin, Sarah,Richman, Scott,Choi, Jane,Streke, Andrei,DeSaw, Cheryl,Demers, Alicia,Poznyak, Dmitriy (2019). Washington D.C: Mathematica. . Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED604655
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examining12,859Students, grades4-7
Department-funded evaluation
Review Details
Reviewed: April 2023
- Department-funded evaluation (findings for Teacher Potential Project)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a cluster randomized controlled trial with low cluster-level attrition and individual-level non-response.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ELA Test Score |
Teacher Potential Project vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Novice teachers, full sample (non-response weights);
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
ELA Test Score |
Teacher Potential Project vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample (non-response weights);
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
English Language Arts state standardized test score |
Teacher Potential Project vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Full sample (complete case analysis);
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- | |
|
English Language Arts state standardized test score |
Teacher Potential Project vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Novice teachers, full sample (complete case analysis);
|
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: 48%
Male: 52% -
Race Black 46% Other or unknown 27% White 27% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 21% Not Hispanic or Latino 79% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 71% No FRPL 29%
Study Details
Setting
The study team recruited school districts in urban, rural, and suburban locations across the United States. The study team focused on relatively high-need districts where at least 40% of students were eligible to receive free and reduced-price lunch. The experiment ultimately included schools that served upper elementary and/or middle school students from 18 districts across 12 states.
Study sample
Among the participating schools, 71% of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 27% were White non-Hispanic, 46% were Black non-Hispanic, 21% were Hispanic, 6% reported another race, and 48% were female.
Intervention Group
The Teacher Potential Project (TPP) is intended to improve 4th through 8th grade student achievement in English Language Arts in high-need districts in 12 states. The intervention features a Common Core-aligned English language arts curriculum and embedded professional development supports that include institutes, personalized on-site and video-based coaching, and online supports. These structured and comprehensive resources and professional learning opportunities are designed to help prepare teachers to become more effective educators and align their instruction to the rigorous objectives of the Common Core State Standards.
Comparison Group
The comparison condition includes "business as usual" ELA instruction in grade 4-8 classrooms in recruited schools. Teachers in the comparison group likely taught as they had in the past, and comparison students were likely exposed to instruction and support services as they had been in the past.
Support for implementation
The intervention embedded professional development supports that include institutes, personalized on-site and video-based coaching, and online supports. No implementation support was described separate from the intervention components.
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).