'Best Practices' for Middle-Grades Students Identified

Using students’ test scores as one part of evaluations for teachers, principals, and superintendents is associated with better academic performance at schools serving the middle grades, a report released last week has found.

Linking students’ test scores with evaluations was one of the “best practices” that high-performing schools serving students in grades 6 to 8 have in common, the report found. The practices were true of high-performing schools regardless of whether they enrolled primarily students from low-income families or mostly from middle-income families.

The study was released by EdSource, a Mountain View, Calif.-based research organization, and was funded by Reed Hastings, the chief executive officer of the DVD-rental company Netflix and a former president of the California...