Date of Award

Summer 5-12-2020

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Executive Ed.D. in Education Leadership Management and Policy

Department

Education Leadership, Management and Policy

Advisor

Richard Blissett

Committee Member

Christopher Tienken

Committee Member

Ray Frederick, III

Keywords

teacher evaluation, teacher effectiveness, student achievement, accountability, standardization, standardized tests

Abstract

Abstract

The push for educational accountability and standardization in the United States gained traction with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Uniformity in the curriculum, academic standards, testing, and accountability were some of the requirements that were being touted by politicians, educators, and special interest groups. School districts across the United States were forced to develop systems to prove that teachers were teaching and students were learning. New York State enacted reform legislation under Education Law section 3012-c, which included the Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) to evaluate teachers and principals. One of the components of this evaluation system consisted of the use of New York State ELA and math scores for students as a means to measure student achievement and was incorporated into the overall ratings for teacher effectiveness.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the potential link between teacher effectiveness in New York State as measured by APPR scores and its possible relationship to student achievement as measured by New York State ELA and math scores. The study sought to examine and establish a definitive relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in New York State as a whole. Some of the essential questions of this research were as follows: What is the relationship between APPR and achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for student characteristics (enrollment, free lunch, reduced lunch, and economically disadvantaged)? What is the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement in ELA and math at the school level when controlling for teacher qualifications (experience and highest degree)? What is the relationship between student achievement in ELA/math and teacher effectiveness (APPR ratings) at the school level?

The study included schools within Orange County, Wyoming County, Westchester County, Nassau County, and Suffolk County regions in New York State.

The study included a total of 37 school districts, 155 schools, 93,340 students, and 6,915 educators. Data from the 2015–2016 New York State Education Department for both teacher and student scores were used. In 2015, Governor Cuomo issued a moratorium on the use of student achievement scores to calculate teacher APPR scores. Thus, in this study, the teacher APPR scores did not include student achievement scores. This study explored and potentially identified the relationship between teacher effectiveness and students’ achievement.

By understanding the relationship between teacher effectiveness and student achievement, individual states, New York, in particular, maybe better equipped to direct resources and assistance to school districts that are most in need.

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