Measurement for School Improvement: The Peril and the Promise

REL Mid-Atlantic introduces a framework for school measurement as states identify low-performing schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act for the first time in three years.

The Next Frontier in School Accountability Measures: Improving Reliability and Subgroup Inclusion at the Same Time

Bayesian adjustments can improve the reliability of states’ subgroup performance measures, making it more likely that states identify the schools that need support and improvement the most.

State and Local NAEP Declines Were More Universal Than Commonly Reported

Educators, policymakers, researchers, and parents are concerned about nationwide declines in both reading and math NAEP scores at both the 4th and 8th grade levels. We reanalyzed the NAEP results using Bayesian analysis, which can tell us the likelihood that a change was educationally meaningful.

A Better Way to Read The Nation’s Report Card

What are the 2022 NAEP results really telling us? This blog examines how to make sense of variations in the data, avoid common misunderstandings, and provide better information about the finer-grained results in states and districts.

Improving School Accountability Measures in the Wake of COVID-19: An Opportunity Borne of Necessity

School accountability requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) are back in force in 2022 after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic. State assessments were canceled everywhere when COVID-19 hit in 2020.

States: Don’t Give Up on Measuring Student Growth for 2022 Accountability!

In the first REL Mid-Atlantic blog post of the year, Brian Gill describes a potential solution for measuring student growth in 2022.

Making Sure School Performance Measures Provide the Right Diagnosis to Improve Student Outcomes

Measuring school performance has been an important component of state and federal policies for two decades.

How School Districts Can Leverage Data in These Uncertain Times

This blog post extends some ideas offered in a spring 2020 post on district leaders’ use of transparent data practices to promote accountability. This post describes ways leaders can use data to better support educators and students during the ongoing pandemic.

Advice for the Incoming Administration: Support the Safe Opening of School Buildings AND Better Remote Learning

As the country awaits widespread distribution of COVID-19 vaccines during the coming months, schools need to find ways to educate students without exposing them—and their teachers—to infection.

Strategies for Operating Schools Safely and with Minimal Disruptions During a Pandemic

The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Adam Schott and Mathematica’s Brian Gill discuss the results of 400,000 simulations intended to inform school operating and closure strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Data Help Cut Through the Uncertainty of "Back to School" Amid COVID

As schools around the country begin the 2020–2021 school year, COVID-19 remains a threat. The possibility that schools could exacerbate the pandemic is a serious concern.

Reopening Schools While Mitigating COVID-19’s Spread: How Many Days Should Students Attend?

Schools across the country face wrenchingly difficult decisions about reopening buildings for the upcoming school year in the midst of a pandemic that has not been defeated.

Using Transparency to Create Accountability When School Buildings Are Closed and Tests Are Cancelled

Schools across the country have closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and states have cancelled their spring assessments. These cancellations mark the first interruption of the annual testing cycle since the No Child Left Behind Act passed nearly 20 years ago.

Real-Time Feedback Makes an IMPACT

Principals and assistant principals play a key role in improving student outcomes, but assessing leaders’ effectiveness is hard and finding the right measure takes time. School leaders influence students in complex and indirect ways, making it difficult to measure these effects.

The Future of School Accountability: Not Set in Stone

When Congress passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, one of its aims was to restore some state authority over school accountability systems, in response to criticism that federal requirements had become too prescriptive.

Multiple Measures Are for Principal Evaluation, Too: Using Teacher Surveys to Better Understand Principal Performance

Evaluating the performance of school principals can be challenging. As we noted in previous posts, principals’ roles are complex and multi-faceted.

Charter School Research Has a Long Way to Go to Inform Policy and Practice

For now, policymakers and journalists should recognize that the research on the effectiveness of charter schools is far from definitive. Anyone who tells them otherwise should be viewed with skepticism.

RELevant: A Blog in the Service of Education

Improving school performance requires data-driven decision making from classrooms to local and state education agencies; from early childhood to higher education. We’re excited to launch RELevant, a blog that shares information to help decision makers use research to improve school performance.

Regional Educational Laboratories can be Engines for Educational Improvement

“Data driven” has become a catchphrase in education, but the execution often falls short of the ideal with educators and policymakers too often drowning in data rather than driven by data. Mathematica’s operation of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory will promote effective data-driven decision...

Redefining Accountability to Treat Teachers and Leaders Like the Professionals They Are

Outcomes-based accountability in the form of high-stakes testing has been the primary policy lever used to improve school performance, but other forms of accountability could be used to enhance schools.

Research Agenda on School Choice, Part 4: Questions on Online Schooling

We explore some of the key questions about research on online schooling.

Research Agenda on School Choice, Part 3: Questions on Private Schools

We explore some of the key questions about research on private school choice programs.

Research Agenda on School Choice, Part 2: Questions on Charter Schools

We explore some of the key questions about research on the effectiveness of charter schools.

A Research Agenda on School Choice for the New Administration, Part 1

With school choice identified as a major focus of the Trump administration, a new series will explore the questions that could be addressed to assess the impact of school choice programs on students and to help inform policy decisions.

Beyond Test Scores: Improving Research Evidence on Education

The central question in education policy—How well are schools preparing students for their futures?—cannot be answered by looking at test scores alone.