Analyzing and Reporting Data

This Ask the Team brief from the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders examines different state methods for ensuring equivalency between district evaluation systems. For the purposes of comparing data for discussions of inequitable access to great teachers and leaders, ensuring state equivalency in system development is of key importance. 

This brief describes the prevalence of the highest performing teachers in 10 purposely selected districts across seven states. The patterns suggest that students from low-income families have unequal access, on average, to the district’s highest performing teachers at the middle school level but not at the elementary level. The data also indicate that there is variation in the types of inequitable access: Some districts have an underrepresentation of the highest performing teachers in high-poverty elementary and middle schools.

During this interactive session, presenters discussed the use of performance data to support equitable access to great teachers from different perspectives. Researchers described the efforts that districts across the United States are making to address equity gaps in using performance measures, along with the challenges and the opportunities of using value-added models to examine access to great teachers. State-level policies and practices to support this work also were discussed, with Georgia as an example.

To ensure full public access, make certain that reporting is technically accurate and complete and includes a user-friendly executive summary for lay people. 

Work with local education agencies and state educator effectiveness advisory bodies to analyze, compare, and use data from identified high-quality educator evaluation systems to determine root causes of equity gaps in access to excellent teachers and leaders between and within districts. 

Find out whether a regional educational laboratory serving a state education agency can analyze extant data to help the state understand key patterns of equity gaps.

Regional comprehensive center staff can assist state education agency and educator preparation program staff to develop a framework for analyzing data. 

Access to important educational resources in California’s middle and high schools is not equal among schools that serve different student populations. Overall, the most disadvantaged populations of middle and high school students are likely to have the least access to the resources necessary for learning.

New York rural schools and districts have a high percentage of core teaching assignments filled by highly qualified teachers; there are only small differences across key factors such as poverty and the need for school improvement. Urban schools—particularly those in New York City—have fewer core assignments filled by highly qualified teachers.