District Of Columbia Public Schools Research Articles

Core Requirements, Structured Flexibility, and Local Judgment: Balancing Adherence and Adaptation in the Design and Implementation of District-Wide Professional Development

Professional development (PD) for teachers is a ubiquitous feature of the American educational landscape. Yet we know little about how districts navigate the variation in teacher learning needs when designing and implementing district-wide PD programs. In this paper, we describe how the District of Columbia Public Schools implemented an ambitious PD program called LEAP (LEarning together to Advance our Practice). Aligned with best practices, LEAP consisted of weekly group learning in content-specific teams, followed by individualized coaching support, all guided by a district-provided professional learning curriculum. We capitalize on both quantitative and qualitative data to understand how the program was implemented and how the district’s implementation efforts shaped what happened on the ground. Finally, we highlight implications for other districts interested in implementing complex PD.

Supporting Professional Learning at Scale: Evidence from the District of Columbia Public Schools

Background/Context: Professional development (PD) programs have been the primary tool school districts have used to improve teachers’ knowledge and skills, though the evidence is mixed on the degree to which these investments translate into improved outcomes for teachers and their students. Further, most research has tracked researcher-designed and researcher-implemented programs, meaning we know far less about the outcomes of PD designed and implemented by districts. Given that implementation and associated outcomes may look different without tight research parameters, we need more systematic research about district-designed and implemented PD. During early years of PD implementation, it is more likely to observe changes in more proximal outcomes, including an increased sense of trust and collaboration with colleagues, which could, in turn, support teacher retention. Any intervention, but especially those that necessitate substantial changes in instructional activities, likely takes time to promote changes to downstream outcomes like high-stakes assessments of teaching and student achievement. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: We analyze the relationship between the design and implementation of an ambitious PD/professional learning (PL) program, called Learning Together to Advance Our Practice (LEAP), and a range of outcomes across 3,000 teachers in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). We examine the extent to which teacher-reported frequency of participation in two specific PD structures—one-on-one coaching and team seminars—are each associated with improved outcomes of interest. Proximal outcomes include teacher perceptions of the PL program and peer culture at their school, as well as school- and district-wide retention. More distal measures include teacher classroom practice and student achievement. Research Design: We capitalize on researcher-designed and district-administered survey questions, along with rich administrative data, to understand the relationship between this at-scale, intensive PL program and a range of outcomes over two years, from 2016 to 2018. DCPS implemented LEAP simultaneously in every school at the beginning of the 2016–2017 school year. As a result, our ability to identify how our outcome variables would have changed in the absence of LEAP is limited. We address this issue by measuring differential implementation because the frequency of teacher participation in LEAP varied within schools, within LEAP teams within a year, or within a teacher across a two-year period. We hypothesize that more exposure to LEAP yields greater improvements in outcomes. In separate models, we attempt to limit competing explanations by controlling for: (1) observable attributes of teachers and time, and unobservable, time-invariant attributes of schools; (2) unobservable, time-invariant attributes of LEAP teams; and (3) unobservable, time-invariant attributes of teachers. Conclusions/Recommendations: We find that greater reported engagement with LEAP is associated with improved teacher perceptions of LEAP and the peer culture at their school, as well as improved teacher retention, especially at the school level. This suggests that PL programs that center within-school connections and supports for teachers—in this case, vertically structured LEAP teams led by school-based LEAP leaders—may support positive school-level outcomes. However, we find little evidence of improved teacher skills and teacher contributions to student achievement, at least in the first two years of LEAP implementation. It will take more time and research to understand the degree to which and ways in which the district’s investment in LEAP is associated with the range of desired outcomes.

The Relationship between Principals and Teacher Development: Evidence from the District of Columbia Public Schools

ABSTRACT Principals’ influence on teachers is an important route through which principals may affect student outcomes. The advent of teacher evaluation systems allows estimations of principal contributions to teacher effectiveness. Employing data from the District of Columbia Public Schools, this paper examines how principals vary in their contributions to improvements in teacher effectiveness, and the relationship between this measure of principal quality and the measures DCPS employs to assess principals’ contribution to teacher development. Results indicate that principals are associated with meaningful changes in teacher development. These estimated contributions are modestly correlated with DCPS’s measures of principal quality.

Toward inclusive internationalisation of schools: educators’ perspectives on leading students in global experiences

ABSTRACT This article focuses on internationalisation of teaching and teacher education with a specific focus on educators’ experiences in leading global mobility programmes with students. It draws on a qualitative study of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) Study Abroad Program, a fully-funded education abroad programme aimed at making K12 study abroad more accessible to a greater number of underrepresented US students. Utilising interviews with a sub-set of DCPS classroom teachers and educational staff involved in the programme, findings elaborate on educators’ perspectives on guiding students through the programme, particularly how that experience has informed educators’ own professional identities and classroom practice; their relationships with students; and the new ways that they see themselves as global education advocates.

Is Effective Teacher Evaluation Sustainable? Evidence from District of Columbia Public Schools

Abstract Ten years ago, many policy makers viewed the reform of teacher evaluation as a highly promising mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Recently, that enthusiasm has dimmed as the available evidence suggests the subsequent reforms had a mixed record of implementation and efficacy. Even in districts where there was evidence of efficacy, the early promise of teacher evaluation may not be sustainable as these systems mature and change. This study examines the evolving design of IMPACT, the teacher evaluation system in the District of Columbia Public Schools. We describe the recent changes to IMPACT, which include higher performance standards for lower-performing teachers and a reduced emphasis on value-added test scores. Descriptive evidence on the dynamics of teacher retention and performance under this redesigned system indicates that lower-performing teachers are particularly likely to either leave or improve. Corresponding causal evidence similarly indicates that imminent dismissal threats for persistently low-performing teachers increased both teacher attrition and the performance of returning teachers. These findings suggest that teacher evaluation can provide a sustained mechanism for improving the quality of teaching.

The Change We Cannot See: Instructional Quality and Classroom Observation in the Era of Common Core

The adoption of “College and Career Ready” standards—including Common Core State Standards—aims to raise academic expectations for students nationwide. Meeting these outcomes requires shifts in teaching, which, in turn, requires developing measures for the observation, assessment, and support of new kinds of instruction. This essay focuses on our efforts to develop such measures in a research project conducted in the District of Columbia Public Schools, which raised fundamental questions about whether existing measures can meet this challenge. By emphasizing observable elements of individual lessons, current measures produce a restricted view of instructional quality, omitting crucial elements of instruction called forth by new standards. Having identified this disconnect, we offer suggestions for developing multi-measure systems to capture a fuller picture of standards aligned teaching.

The Impact on Student Achievement of Replacing Principals in District of Columbia Public Schools

The 2007 Public Education Reform Amendment Act led to 39 percent of the principals in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) being dismissed before the start of the 2008–09 school year, and additional principal exits over the next few years. We measure the impact of replacing these principals on schoolwide student achievement by measuring the changes in achievement that occurred when principals were replaced, and comparing these changes to achievement in comparison schools within DCPS that kept the same principal. We find that after a new principal's third year in a school, average schoolwide achievement increased by 4 percentile points (0.09 standard deviations) compared with how students in the school would have achieved had DCPS not replaced the previous principal. For students in grades 6 to 8, the gains were larger and statistically significant in both math and reading.

DC Education Reform Ten Years After, Part 2: Test Cheats

Ten years ago, I worked as the Director of Assessments for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). For temporal context, I arrived after the first of the infamous test cheating scandals and left just before the incident that spawned a second. Indeed, I filled a new position created to both manage test security and design an expanded testing program. I departed shortly after Vincent Gray, who opposed an expanded testing program, defeated Adrian Fenty in the September 2010 DC mayoral primary. My tenure coincided with Michelle Rhee’s last nine months as Chancellor. There were measures that the Rhee-Henderson administrations could have adopted to substantially reduce the incidence of cheating, but they chose none that might have been effective. Rather, they dug in their heels, insisted that only a few schools had issues, which they thoroughly resolved, and repeatedly denied any systematic problem.

Lessons Learned from a District-Wide Implementation of a Computer Science Initiative in the the District of Columbia Public Schools

In this article, we use evidence to describe seven key lessons from a four-year district-wide computer science implementation project between Howard University and the District of Columbia Public Schools. These lessons are: (a) Get to know the school counselors (and other key personnel); (b) Expect personnel changes and strategic reorganization within school districts; (c) Be innovative to build and maintain community; (d) Be flexible when developing instruments and curricula; (e) Maintain a firm commitment to equity; (f) Develop tiered content and prepare to make philosophical adjustments; and (g) Identify markers of sustainability. We also include original curricula materials including the Computer Science Course Evaluation and the Computational Thinking Survey. The seven lessons and curricula materials provided in this study can be used to inform the development of future computer science researcher-practitioner partnerships.

Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS

In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers. This study examines this question by evaluating the effects of teacher turnover on student achievement under IMPACT, the unique performance-assessment and incentive system in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Employing a quasi-experimental design based on data from the first years of IMPACT, we find that, on average, DCPS replaced teachers who left with teachers who increased student achievement by 0.08 standard deviation ( SD) in math. When we isolate the effects of lower-performing teachers who were induced to leave DCPS for poor performance, we find that student achievement improves by larger and statistically significant amounts (i.e., 0.14 SD in reading and 0.21 SD in math). In contrast, the effect of exits by teachers not sanctioned under IMPACT is typically negative but not statistically significant.

Exploring Issues of Implementation, Equity, and Student Achievement With Educational Software in the DC Public Schools

In this article, we present analyses from a researcher-practitioner partnership in the District of Columbia Public Schools, where we are exploring the impact of educational software on students’ academic achievement. We analyze a unique data set that combines student-level information from the district with data of student usage of a mathematics game platform: First in Math (FIM). These data offer a window into long-standing issues in the educational technology literature around implementation, equity, and student achievement. We show that time spent in FIM was correlated with improved future performance on standardized math assessments for students in Grades 4–8. However, student time spent using FIM was highly related to factors such as race, gender, and prior achievement. Such observations from data are helpful for school districts and researchers to inform equitable implementation of new technologies and maximize benefits to learners.

Incentives, Selection, and Teacher Performance: Evidence from IMPACT

Teachers in the United States are compensated largely on the basis of fixed schedules that reward experience and credentials. However, there is a growing interest in whether performance-based incentives based on rigorous teacher evaluations can improve teacher retention and performance. The evidence available to date has been mixed at best. This study presents novel evidence on this topic based on IMPACT, the controversial teacher-evaluation system introduced in the District of Columbia Public Schools by then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee. IMPACT implemented uniquely high-powered incentives linked to multiple measures of teacher performance (i.e., several structured observational measures as well as test performance). We present regression-discontinuity (RD) estimates that compare the retention and performance outcomes among low-performing teachers whose ratings placed them near the threshold that implied a strong dismissal threat. We also compare outcomes among high-performing teachers whose rating placed them near a threshold that implied an unusually large financial incentive. Our RD results indicate that dismissal threats increased the voluntary attrition of low-performing teachers by 11 percentage points (i.e., more than 50 percent) and improved the performance of teachers who remained by 0.27 of a teacher-level standard deviation. We also find evidence that financial incentives further improved the performance of high-performing teachers (effect size = 0.24).

Accounting for Co-Teaching: A Guide for Policymakers and Developers of Value-Added Models

We outline the options available to policymakers for addressing co-teaching in a value-added model. Building on earlier work, we propose an improvement to a method of accounting for co-teaching that treats co-teachers as teams, with each teacher receiving equal credit for co-taught students. Hock and Isenberg (2012) described a method known as the Full Roster Method (FRM) that is feasible and practical, but it effectively counts co-taught students more than once—these students receive a full weight with each of their teachers, so such students receive extra weight when calculating the relationship between student characteristics and achievement. The improvement, known as the Full Roster-Plus Method, allows co-taught students to receive full weight with their teachers, but all students contribute equally to the calculation of the relationship between student characteristics and achievement. To investigate how the application of this method empirically changes value-added estimates, we use data from District of Columbia Public Schools. We find that there are very small empirical differences between the two methods.

How Does Value Added Compare to Student Growth Percentiles?

We compare teacher evaluation scores from a typical value-added model to results from the Colorado Growth Model (CGM), which 16 states currently use or plan to use as a component of their teacher performance evaluations. The CGM assigns a growth percentile to each student by comparing each student's achievement to that of other students with similar past test scores. The median (or average) growth percentile of a teacher's students provides the measure of teacher effectiveness. The CGM does not account for other student background characteristics and excludes other features included in many value-added models used by states and school districts. Using data from the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), we examine changes in evaluation scores across the two methods for all teachers and for teacher subgroups. We find that use of growth percentiles in place of value added would have altered evaluation consequences for 14% of DCPS teachers. Most differences in evaluation scores based on the two methods are not related to the characteristics of students’ teachers.

The Education of District of Columbia Black Homeless Youth: Limits and Possibilities

PURPOSE OF THE STUDYFew cities have encountered the scale and magnitude of poverty and homelessness observed in our nation's capital, the District of Columbia (Washington, DC, the District, or DC; Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, MWCOG, 2011; National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2013). The transition from living at home to becoming homeless while overwhelming for adults, it is most difficult and psychologically traumatic for young people (Durham, 2003; Tobin & Murphy, 2013; Whitbeck et al., 2007). The state of homelessness compromises the physical, mental, and emotional status of young people (American Psychological Association, APA, 2014; Center on the Developing Child, 2014; Goodman, Saxe & Harvey, 1991). Homeless youth require wide-ranging services to temper their harsh conditions.In the meantime, federal law protects homeless youth's right and access to education. The McKinney-Vento Program (1987, 2002) provides funding to school education agencies (SEA's) and local education agencies (LEA's) to ensure homeless youth's school enrollment, attendance, academic support, and inclusion in extra curricula activities are met, and requires schools to facilitate their access to medical, dental, and other health and social services (Congressional Research Services, CRS, 2013; McCallion, 2012; McKinney-Vento, 2002). Federal law protects homeless youth's school access and coverage including within school districts that do not receive McKinney-Vento federal funding (Ableidinger, 2003; Georgia Department of Education, 2011).Moreover, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) ushered accountability measures to improve the educational outcomes for all students including homeless youth (NCLB, 2001). NCLB included specific provisions to address the unique conditions and needs of homeless youth (National Center for Homeless Education, NCHE, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014). In addition, Congress provides federal funding across several agencies administered by the Department of Education (ED), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support homeless youth (CRS, 2015).Like other homeless youth, District of Columbia homeless youth represent every color, ethnic group, and religious affinity. Nevertheless, Blacks comprise 51% of District of Columbia's population (District of Columbia Department of Health, 2013. More than half (52%) of DC's Black residents are at or below the national poverty rate (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). Meanwhile, Black students represent 74.8 % of DCPS, and more than half of District of Columbia's public student population is low income (U.S. Department of Education, 2015; see Figure 1).This study is focused on DC's Black homeless youth. This is consistent with most homeless youth research, which is by and large situational specific (Braciszewski, Toro & JozefowiczSimbeni, 2011; Cauce et al., 2000). Also recognizing that the District of Columbia's Black community is characterized by its exceptional cultural history, this study expressly considers the unique conditions and nature of the Black homeless youth experience within the District's sociohistorical dynamics. Research suggests that culture has a pronounced impact on shaping the adaptive development of youth (Boyd, Richerson, & Henrich, 2011; Garcia Coll et al., 1996).Homeless youth depend on the institutional competencies of the public school system to effectively respond to their educational needs, and provide them the support systems they are legally entitled to receive. Accordingly, the availability or absence of responsive schools and wellarticulated supportive programs are of critical importance to homeless youth.Regardless, the conspicuously large number of homeless students attending the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) requires deliberate action and resolve. District legislators need to evaluate and address the factors that contribute to the rise in the number of the city's homeless youth population. …

Predictors of Long-Term Enrollment and Degree Outcomes for Community College Students: Integrating Academic, Psychosocial, Socio-demographic, and Situational Factors

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsSameano F. PorcheaSameano F. Porchea is currently a Psychometrician at Assessment Technologies Institute.Jeff AllenJeff Allen and Steve Robbins are members of the Research Division of ACT, Inc. a not-for-profit educational and workforce testing organization.Steve RobbinsJeff Allen and Steve Robbins are members of the Research Division of ACT, Inc. a not-for-profit educational and workforce testing organization.Richard P. PhelpsRichard P. Phelps is currently Director of Assessment, District of Columbia Public Schools.

Incidence of Obesity and Associated Health Risks in the District of Columbia Public Schools

A Youth Risk Behavior Study (YRBS) was conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in collaboration with the District of Columbia (DC) Public Schools and the DC Department of Health. Twenty‐seven percent of DC high school students were either overweight or obese with BMI's over 25. Eighty percent did not meet recommended levels of physical activity. These values are higher than corresponding values for the national average. Physical activity is important for both short‐ and long‐term maintenance of normal body weight. Physical activity appears to have an independent effect on health‐related outcomes in addition to weight control. These negative health conditions may substantially increase the risk of morbidity from hypertention, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, asthma, respiratory problems and cancer. Overweight youngsters are permitting TV, video games, and indiscriminate eating to take the place of regular, controlled regimes including vigorous physical activity accompanied with intelligent food selection.A proposal has been developed for the study of obesity among high school children grades 9 through 12 in the DC public schools, via a survey of 3 schools from poorer neighborhoods, and 3 schools from wealthier areas (1200 subjects). Heights, weights, BMI's and blood pressure will be recorded. Faculty and students from the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University will officiate in an attempt to interrupt these negative behavior patterns.Funded by Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI).

Innovations: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training in Developmental Responses to Trauma for Child Service Providers

Innovations: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training in Developmental Responses to Trauma for Child Service Providers

Innovations: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training in Developmental Responses to Trauma for Child Service Providers

Innovations: Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Training in Developmental Responses to Trauma for Child Service Providers

The social effects of poor classroom acoustics on students and The District of Columbia Public Schools demonstration of support through mandating the ANSI Classroom Acoustics standard

The effects that poor acoustics have on students extend beyond the classroom. This paper is to discuss the immediate and long-term results that inadequate acoustical design in the educational setting has on academic and social development and how the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) are contributing to the classroom acoustic movement. DCPS is taking a pro-active stance in educational acoustics by mandating the ANSI Draft S12.60-200X classroom acoustic standard in the transformation of ten schools a year for the next ten to fifteen years. Synthesizing the ANSI S12 standard with the DCPS Design Guidelines describes explanation of how to design for appropriate acoustics in all core-learning spaces. Examples of the existing conditions of the facilities and acoustical remediation for new and historical preservation projects will be demonstrated. In addition, experience will be shared on the International Building Code Council hearings for classroom acoustics.