Teaching Profession

‘Best Practices’ for Middle-Grades Students Identified

By Mary Ann Zehr — March 02, 2010 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

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 state board of education.

Researchers analyzed the relationship between students’ spring 2009 scores on California’s tests in mathematics and English/language arts and answers to surveys by 303 principals, 3,752 English and math teachers, and 157 superintendents in the state. The test scores for 200,000 students from 303 schools were examined.

Evaluating Principals

“There is a lot of discussion and national debate about how to evaluate teachers,” Michael Kirst, a professor emeritus of education at Stanford University and the principal investigator for the study, said in a Feb. 24 conference call to discuss it. “This study makes it clear that we need to have the same debate about principals and superintendents.”

States applying for the $4 billion in Race to the Top grants from the economic-stimulus funds can’t have a “firewall” between student test-score data and teacher data, under regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Education. Because of that federal requirement, California lawmakers passed legislation to do away with the firewall in that state.

Among the common practices of high-performing schools that were identified by the study were setting measurable goals for boosting test scores, having a school wide focus on improving student achievement, aligning instruction and curriculum, focusing on preparing students for academic demands in the future, and using data to monitor student progress and improve instruction.

“There are a lot of practices that support the Race to the Top grant program here,” noted Mr. Kirst. “The making of progress toward college and career standards, the importance of timely data that can be used to guide instruction and planning are also in Race to the Top.”

The study found no association between high-performing schools and their configuration of grades, such as whether they served students in grades K-8 or only grades 6, 7, and 8.

During the conference call, Trish Williams, the executive director of EdSource, highlighted the study’s finding that schools serving low-income students can do as well academically as some schools serving middle-income students if they adopt best practices.

“There is a bigger performance gap between schools serving similar types of students than schools serving different kinds of students,” she said, referring to the socioeconomic status of schools’ students.

No Cause and Effect

Robert Balfanz, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and an advising consultant to the study, also noted that the findings “break through this idea that we can’t make much progress at low-income schools.”

Edward Haertel, a professor of education at Stanford University and the study’s technical director, had one caveat, noting that the findings show a link between high-performing schools serving the middle grades and a set of best practices, but don’t show cause and effect.

“Statistically, there is no assurance that if other schools adopt these practices, they will get the same results,” he said. “The bottom line is that the practices we identified can be implemented in any of the schools.”

The EdSource study is “a very tight, well-done study,” and gives more clarity to the kinds of practices that are effective for schools serving students in the middle grades, said Deborah Kasak, the executive director of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, in Champaign, Ill. She was not involved in the study.

Ms. Kasak said she hopes the report’s findings redirect some of the national discussions about what works for students in the middle grades.

“Let’s take grade-level configuration off the table” for what should be going on in the middle grades, she said. It’s much more important, she said, to focus on how schools are educating students.

A version of this article appeared in the March 03, 2010 edition of Education Week as ‘Best Practices’ for Middle-Grades Students Identified

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Teaching Profession From Our Research Center Forget the Free Food and Gift Cards. Here's the Kind of Recognition Teachers Really Want
New survey results reveal what teachers and administrators find to be the most meaningful type of acknowledgment from a supervisor.
4 min read
Thank you card inside a brown envelope left on desk
iStock / Getty Images Plus
Teaching Profession The State of Teaching 'You Don't Know Teacher Tired': Educators Sound Off on Misconceptions
Hear what teachers featured in EdWeek's The State of Teaching Project say makes their jobs more difficult.
Frank Rivera teaches 7th grade ELA at Chaparral Star Academy in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 15, 2023.
Frank Rivera teaches 7th grade ELA at Chaparral Star Academy in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 15, 2023.
Montinique Monroe for Education Week
Teaching Profession Opinion Why I’m Happy Being ‘Just a Teacher’
Not every teacher is an aspiring administrator. That’s a good thing.
Amanda Myers
3 min read
Abstract vector illustration depicting the process of teaching and learning.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Teaching Profession What the Research Says Do Teachers Really Earn More After Leaving the Classroom? Not Necessarily
Nearly a decade after leaving a big urban district, many teachers have yet to recoup income, a study finds.
4 min read
Illustration of woman and steps made of cash.
Getty