Project Activities
Using a multi-armed randomized control trial (RCT) design, the researchers will randomly assign approximately 100 participating schools to participate in either the BLfSL PL and personalized coaching sessions, the PL sessions only, or business-as-usual (BAU) practice. The PL sessions involve four 1-day workshops over the course of a school year, and the coaching involves both in-person and virtual meetings with facilitators to develop strategies for meeting school improvement needs. The researchers will collect data from students, teachers, and leaders to understand whether and how the BLfSL program impacts the key outcomes of student achievement and educator turnover.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This study is being conducted in schools served by the State of Texas' Region 13 Education Service Center (ESC13).
Sample
The study will include a representative sample of approximately 100 schools being served by ESC13 that include students in grades 3 through 8 and that also participate in the state's standardized achievement assessment.
BLfSL is a professional learning (PL) program that focuses on improving student learning through promoting effective instructional leadership practices. BLfSL participants engage in four 1-day PL sessions and eight personalized coaching sessions (both in-person and virtually) delivered to leadership teams over the course of a single school year. BLfSL includes four major enhancements to prior IES-funded BL program:
- inclusion of leadership teams (principals, assistant principals, teacher leaders, and aspiring leaders) rather than individual principals to develop a shared vision for school improvement via collaboration and collective efficacy
- integration of McREL's What Matters Most® (WMM) framework, which stresses key pathways for supporting student learning through instructional leadership
- inclusion of a module to increase leaders' knowledge of effective teaching practices and ways in which leaders can ensure consistent use of those practices in classrooms
- the addition of personalized coaching to help leaders apply BLfSL guidance to better focus, monitor, and guide their unique school improvement efforts
Research design and methods
The study will use an RCT design with school-level assignment to determine the impact of being assigned to one of three conditions: Treatment group 1: BLfSL PL sessions plus personalized coaching, Treatment group 2: only the BLfSL PL sessions, or Control group: BAU leadership practice. The researchers will use this three-group design to isolate the effects of the "base" PL program from the personalized coaching element to understand the value-added of coaching.
Control condition
The control group will engage in BAU leadership practices, which may include other leadership PL (not BLfSL).
Key measures
Measures include (1) leader surveys and practice logs for assessing leader practice and perceived quality of the PL, (2) teacher surveys to assess hypothesized intermediate outcomes of the intervention (e.g., instructional leadership, collective efficacy, instructional practice), (3) student surveys to measure intermediate outcomes of student engagement and identification with school, and (4) student achievement and educator attrition data from the Texas Education Agency.
Data analytic strategy
The researchers will use hierarchical linear models (with individuals–leaders, teachers, and students–nested in schools) to measure the impact of the two treatment conditions on key measures as compared to the BAU condition. They will also use multilevel structural equation modeling to investigate the mediated pathways from the intervention to ultimate outcomes of student achievement and educator turnover, and they will include school- and student-level demographic variables in the models as covariates and will explore moderation effects.
Cost analysis strategy
The researchers will use the ingredients method to document the economic costs associated with the BLfSL program, translating them into terms of resource usage and opportunity costs. They will also provide detailed reports on the costs incurred per school, teacher, and student, with respect to teacher-related factors like turnover and student-related outcomes such as achievement.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
This project will result in evidence of the efficacy of BLfSL on improving student outcomes and decreasing educator turnover and about the costs associated with implementing this program. The project will also result in a final dataset to be shared, peer-reviewed publications and presentations, and additional dissemination products that reach education stakeholders such as practitioners and policymakers.
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
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Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
