Study: 87630

Department-funded evaluation

Review Details

Reviewed: April 2022

At least one finding shows moderate evidence of effectiveness

At least one statistically significant positive finding

Meets WWC standards with reservations

For:

Department-funded evaluation (findings for New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program)

Using:

Rating:

Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a cluster quasi-experimental design that provides evidence of effects on clusters by demonstrating that the analytic sample of individuals is representative of the clusters and satisfying the baseline equivalence requirement for the clusters in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.

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

General Mathematics Achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
State test scores Math	New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program vs. Business as usual	3 Years	Grades 3-8; 226 schools	0.09	0.00	Yes	4

Literacy Achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
State test scores English Language Arts (ELA)	New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program vs. Business as usual	3 Years	Grades 3-8; 240 schools	0.06	0.00	Yes	2

School leader retention at the school outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Principal Retention	New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program vs. Business as usual	2 Years	New Principals (less than one year tenure); 1,061 schools	91.92	83.26	Yes	19

Student engagement in school outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Attendance	New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program vs. Business as usual	3 Years	Grades K-8; 152 schools	0.00	0.40	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.

Suburban, Urban
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California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee

Study Details

Setting

The study examines graduates of the Aspiring Principals program who were placed as principals in the school years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. These principals were part of several public school districts: Baltimore City Public Schools (Maryland), Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (North Carolina), Chicago Public Schools (Illinois), District of Columbia Public Schools (District of Columbia) the New York City Department of Education (New York), Oakland Unified School District (California), Prince George’s County Public Schools (Maryland), and Shelby County Schools (Tennessee).

Study sample

School-level and student characteristics are not reported. Of the principals that completed the Aspiring Principals program, 37% were White, 48% were Black, and 8% were Hispanic; 72% were female.

Intervention Group

The New Leaders Leadership Development Program targets talented teachers, instructional coaches, assistant principals, and other educators who may become promising future principals. The program consists of four components: 1) the Emerging Leaders Program, 2) National Recruitment and Admissions, 3) the Aspiring Principals Program, and 4) the Principal Institute. The Emerging Leaders Program and National Recruitment and Admissions are two different pathways for admission into the Aspiring Principals Program. The Aspiring Principals Program is a one-year residency program, similar to a medical school model. Once participants graduate from the Aspiring Principals Program and are placed in a principal position, they receive one to two years of support through the Principal Institute. Overall, the program includes experiential learning and mentoring, in addition to direct training through in-person sessions and webinars. The program components are designed to collectively lead to the placement of effective school leaders in principal positions who are able to improve school climate and teacher effectiveness, leading to improvement in reading and math achievement among students in grades K-12.

Comparison Group

Principals in the comparison condition were novice principals that had not completed the Aspiring Principals Program. These principals received the standard support available to new principals from the school district and/or their administrative credential program.

Support for implementation

No implementation support was described separate from the intervention components, which included one to two years of support for novice principals through the Principal Institute.

Additional Sources

In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.

Gates, Susan M.; Baird, Matthew D.; Doss, Christopher J.; Hamilton, Laura S.; Opper, Isaac M.; Master, Benjamin K.; Tuma, Andrea Prado; Vuolla, Mirka; Zabar, Melanie A. (2019). Preparing School Leaders for Success: Evaluation of New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program, 2012-2017: Appendixes. RAND Corporation.

Preparing School Leaders for Success: Evaluation of New Leaders' Aspiring Principals Program, 2012-2017