Project Activities
The researchers will examine key district-varying attributes of evaluation policies: (a) the degree to which a district's evaluation policy focuses on learning-centered leadership; and (b) the extent to which a district includes principal monitoring, professional development, rewards and/or sanctions in its principal evaluation system. Researchers will first collect data from districts on their evaluation policies and also survey principals about their leadership practices and evaluation experiences. Then using mixed methods, researchers will examine the relationship(s) between the focus of district evaluation policies, enactment of leadership practices, and student performance in reading and math.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This project will take place in 25 school districts in Connecticut, Michigan, and North Carolina. Districts vary in urbanicity, student enrollment, and student demographics.
Sample
The sample includes personnel from 25 districts (approximately 75 district leaders, 300 principals, and 4,800 teachers) with variation in leadership and teaching experience, age, and race/ethnicity. Reading and math achievement data from the students (n=180,000) will also be analyzed.
Malleable factors include learning-centered leadership practices and principal evaluation policies. Identifying their relationship with each other and with student performance is important to future efforts to improve leadership and student performance.
Research design and methods
The researchers will employ a mixed method design, using surveys, interviews, district policy documents and student achievement data. The research team will administer the Vanderbilt Assessment for Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) and a researcher-developed survey to gather data on principals' experiences with principal evaluation, principal professional development, principal rewards and sanctions, and demographic information. Data from these separate survey administrations will be merged into one database for analysis. The researchers will also collect student mathematics and English language arts (ELA) tests scores in grades 3 through 8 in each of the three states in the study. Finally, researchers will conduct and district administrator interviews to determine whether, in their view, the extent to which principal evaluation policies focus on learning centered leadership is related to learning-centered leadership enactment by principals.
Control condition
Due to the exploratory nature of the research design, there is no control condition.
Key measures
Measures include estimates of the extent to which district-level principal evaluation policies (1) focus on learning-centered leadership, (2) monitor principals' practice, (3) link evaluation to professional development, and (4) use rewards and sanctions. Outcomes include principals' enactment of learning-centered leadership, measured both by the VAL-ED and by researcher-developed measures, and student scores on state standardized tests in mathematics and reading. Measures also include qualitative descriptions of processes through which principal evaluation influences principals' leadership.
Data analytic strategy
First, researchers will model the relationship between the extent to which principal evaluation policies focus on learning-centered leadership and principal enactment of learning-centered leadership using a three-level multilevel model. Second, the researchers will model the association between district policy focus and principal enactment of learning-centered leadership using the moderators described above. Third, researchers will examine whether the relationship between district policy focus and student performance is mediated by principal enactment of learning centered leadership. Fourth, the research team will analyze transcripts from administrator interviews to determine whether and how, in their view, the key attributes of principal evaluation policies are related to principals' enactment of learning-centered leadership practices.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
Products: Researchers will produce preliminary evidence of potentially promising principal evaluation policies and peer-reviewed publications.
Publications:
Donaldson, M., Mavrogordato, M., Dougherty, S. M., Ghanem, R. A., & Youngs, P. (2021). Principal evaluation under the elementary and secondary every student succeeds act: A comprehensive policy review. Education Finance and Policy, 16(2), 347-361.
Donaldson, M. L., Mavrogordato, M., Youngs, P., Dougherty, S., & Al Ghanem, R. (2021). “Doing the ‘Real’Work”: How Superintendents’ Sensemaking Shapes Principal Evaluation Policies and Practices in School Districts. AERA Open, 7, 2332858420986177.
Donaldson, M. L., Mavrogordato, M., Youngs, P., & Dougherty, S. M. (2024). Principals’ Priorities, Teacher Evaluation, and Instructional Leadership. Educational Researcher, 53(9), 487-495.
Mavrogordato, M., Youngs, P., Donaldson, M. L., Kang, H., & Dougherty, S. M. (2023). Motivating Leadership Change and Improvement: How Principal Evaluation Addresses Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sources of Motivation. Educational Administration Quarterly, 59(5), 965-1001.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
