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CONTACT: Review of Principal Preparation Report Raises Concerns Report incorrectly implies valid causal determination for New Leaders principals EAST LANSING, Mich. (June 26, 2014) – A recently released RAND report, an evaluation of the New Leaders principal preparation program, attempted to determine the program's impact on student test scores. It concluded that New Leaders principals were slightly more effective overall than non-New Leaders principals. An academic review out today finds the report to be problematic and potentially harmful, particularly with respect to policymakers. Ed Fuller of Pennsylvania State University reviewed Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts for the Think Twice think tank review project of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC), with funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. The report was based on a statistical analysis of student achievement data on standardized tests. The conclusion of the evaluation was that students who attended schools led by New Leaders principals experienced larger achievement gains than similar students in non-New Leaders principals. Importantly, in reviewing the available research, Fuller finds no known statistical approach that can identify the independent effect of principals. In addition, Fuller finds the overall conclusion to be problematic. Specifically, he cites problems with effect sizes, the use of multiple VAMs, peer effects, and an unbalanced presentation of positive findings among his cautions for the report's usefulness. Regarding the results, Fuller finds inconsistencies across years, grade levels, and sites and that the positive results were very small. Encouragingly, Fuller finds the study provides a thoughtful approach to studying principal and principal preparation program (PPP) effectiveness. "Those seeking to evaluate principals and especially PPPs will find the study quite informative." However, Fuller finds the study may actually be harmful if used in high-stakes accountability systems. He says, "the estimates presented in the study do not capture principal effectiveness and should not be used to make high-stakes decisions about individuals or programs." Read this review at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org Find Preparing Principals to Raise Student Achievement: Implementation and Effects of the New Leaders Program in Ten Districts on the web: Think Twice, a project of the National Education Policy Center, provides the public, policymakers and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. The project is made possible by funding from the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. - ### - |
The mission of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice is to support and disseminate high quality research and reviews of research for the purpose of informing education policy and to develop research-based resources for use by those who advocate for education reform. Visit the Great Lakes Center Web Site at: http://www.greatlakescenter.org. Find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/GreatLakesCenter. |