Project Activities Overview

  
 

 

Research 


Five Year Objective: Develop and operate an on-going research program among all Renaissance universities and their partner schools that link teacher performance to P-12 student learning.


 Overview of Project Research Activities

Improving teacher quality in this project is directly related to the ability to produce higher levels of learning for all P-12 students. This means improved teacher performance as measured in teacher work samples must have a corresponding effect on the students teacher candidates teach using their instructional units. Also, we would expect teacher candidates who show high levels of performance on teacher work samples to demonstrate the ability to produce high levels of student performance as first and second year teachers. One of the key objectives of the Renaissance Partnership is to make this connection between teacher performance and P-12 learning.

While quality teaching linked to higher levels of student learning is our long-term goal, data collection and studies that inform project operations and decision making also has been an integral part of Renaissance Partnership project activities. Studies early in the project have focused on program implementation and challenges. As teacher work samples and team mentoring have become operational, studies of candidate performance have become more numerous. Also, as candidate performance data has been generated, studies of credibility (validity and reliability) have become more important. Now, project leaders have turned their attention to the ultimate challenge of determining the effects of teacher performance on work samples to their ability to impact student learning as teachers. 

Below is a list of studies and research efforts that (a) have been completed, (b) are presently in process and (c) are projected for the future. Click on the items to obtain a summary of results, a project description or a reference of where to obtain more information.

  • Research Studies in Progress
    • Studies conducted at Eastern Michigan University
      • Pat Pokay study
      • Interview study
      • Qualitative study
      • Descriptive study
  • Research Studies Projected for Year 5
    • Performance data on teacher work samples across Renaissance Partnership Institutions

      After nearly two years of development and revision, a Renaissance Common Performance Data form has been created. (to see the form, go to: ) This form holds student demographic and achievement data, as well as teacher work sample indicator scores, that are common across all Partnership institutions. An electronic version of this form has been provided to all assessment coordinators for entering fall 2002 and spring 2003 data. Although many institutions have encountered challenges in implementing this data collection that led to partial fall 2002 data, most report that they will have nearly complete data sets for spring 2003. The separate institutional data will be combined to create a cross-institutional database. This database will be made available to assessment coordinators who are interested in studying possible relationships between student demographic and achievement data and TWS scores.

    • Studies linking teacher performance to P-12 student learning

      After a presentation in January 2003 to assessment coordinators regarding preliminary efforts to glean P-12 student learning data from TWS, institutions were invited to collaborate on a funding proposal to gather P-12 student learning data from first year teachers. Five institutions, CSU-Fresno, Emporia State, Idaho State, Middle Tennessee State, and Western Kentucky University, have chosen to develop the proposal. A survey to these institutions reveals that three of these institutions require TWS of all graduates, whereas less than 50% of students complete TWS at two institutions. More important, whereas most institutions could readily identify student achievement data collected in their state, few states require collection of achievement data every year. The next step is a multi-year proposal that requests data collection funds for the few institutions with more complete state student achievement data to lead the way in data collection and development for other institutions that need to work with their state to develop plans for yearly achievement data collection that is clearly linked to state P-12 learning standards.