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An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape

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An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape Committee for the Five-Year (2009-2013) Summative Evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools Board on Testing and Assessment Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Govern- ing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineer- ing, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropri- ate balance. This study was supported by Contract No. ODCA 2013-01 between the National Academy of Sciences and the Government of the District of Columbia, Office of the District of Columbia Auditor, with additional funding from the Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences Kellogg Fund. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organiza- tions or agencies that provided support for the project. International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-37380-7 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-37380-8 Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu. Copyright 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2015). An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape. Committee for the Five-Year (2009-2013) Summative Evaluation of the District of Columbia’s Public Schools. Board on Testing and Assessment, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Acad- emy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding en- gineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineer- ing programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is presi- dent of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Insti- tute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sci- ences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. www.national-academies.org Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape COMMITTEE FOR THE FIVE-YEAR (2009-2013) SUMMATIVE EVALUATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS Carl Cohn (Cochair), School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University Lorraine McDonnell (Cochair), Department of Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara Mark Dynarski, Pemberton Research, LLC, East Windsor, NJ David Figlio, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University Sharon Lewis, Council of the Great City Schools, Washington, DC Susanna Loeb, Center for Education Policy Analysis, Stanford University Kent McGuire, Southern Education Foundation, Atlanta, GA Jenny Nagaoka, Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago Marion Orr, Department of Political Science, Brown University Diana Pullin, Lynch School of Education, Boston College Alexandra Beatty, Study Director Judith Koenig, Senior Program Officer Stuart Elliott, Director, Board on Testing and Assessment (until December 2013) Natalie Nielsen, Acting Director, Board on Testing and Assessment (from December 2013) Kelly Arrington, Senior Program Assistant v Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape BOARD ON TESTING AND ASSESSMENT David J. Francis (Chair), Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics, University of Houston Gary Chamberlain, Department of Economics, Harvard University Mark Dynarski, Pemberton Research, LLC, East Windsor, NJ Joan Herman, National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing, University of California, Los Angeles Michael Kane, Test Validity, Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ Sharon Lewis, Council of Great City Schools, Washington, DC Robert Mare, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles Diana C. Pullin, School of Education, Boston College Ann Marie Ryan, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University Brian Stecher, Education Program, The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA John Robert Warren, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota Mark Wilson, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley Rebecca Zwick, Research and Development, Educational Testing Service, Santa Barbara, CA Natalie Nielsen, Acting Director Alexandra Beatty, Senior Program Officer Judith Koenig, Senior Program Officer Kelly Arrington, Senior Program Assistant vi Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in a Changing Landscape Acknowledgments We acknowledge with sincere gratitude the many individuals who con- tributed to the committee’s 3-year effort. We begin with the many city employees and residents who assisted the committee. Many more individuals than can be listed here attended meetings, responded to telephone calls and e-mails, participated in formal interviews, and provided materials. The thoughtful perspectives they pro- vided were invaluable to the committee, and we thank them for their time and patience. We are also very grateful to the researchers who assisted us. We thank Jeffrey Henig of Teachers College, Columbia University, for his analysis of D.C.’s reforms in the context of reform in other urban districts; Drew Gitomer, Kevin Crouse, and Jeanette Joyce of Rutgers University for their analysis of the IMPACT teacher evaluation system in the context of other such systems; and Cory Koedel of the University of Missouri, Columbia, for his analysis of technical aspects of value-added modeling. We are also deeply grateful to Colleen Robinson of Boston College for her able and extensive assistance with legal research pertaining to the Public Education Reform Amendment Act. We also wish to acknowledge the members of the George Washington University consortium, DC-EdCORE, who provided analyses for the city that we drew on for this report. Members of this group attended many of the committee’s meetings and consulted with the committee on their work; we thank them for their technical expertise and collegial approach. We also want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the staff of the National Research Council (NRC) who contributed to this project. vii Copyright National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. An Evaluation of the Public Schools of the District of Columbia: Reform in
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