@workingpaper {686402,
	title = {Local Supply, Temporal Dynamics, and Unrealized Potential in Teacher Hiring},
	year = {Working Paper},
	abstract = {
	We explore the dynamics of competitive search in the K-12 public education sector. Using data from Boston Public Schools, we document how teacher labor supply varies substantially by position types, schools, and the timing of job postings. We find that early-posted positions are more likely to be filled and end up securing new hires that are better-qualified, more-effective, and more likely to remain at a school. In contrast, the number of applicants to a position is largely unassociated with hire quality, suggesting that schools may struggle to identify and select the best candidates even when there is a large pool of qualified applicants. Our findings point to substantial unrealized potential for improving teacher hiring.

},
	author = {James, J.K and Kraft, M. A. and Papay, J. P.}
}
@workingpaper {686401,
	title = {The Effect of Teacher Evaluation on Achievement and Attainment: Evidence from statewide reforms},
	year = {Working Paper},
	abstract = {
	Starting in 2009, the U.S. public education system undertook a massive effort to institute new high-stakes teacher evaluation systems. We examine the effects of these reforms on student achievement and attainment at a national scale by exploiting the staggered timing of implementation across states. We find precisely estimated null effects, on average, that rule out impacts as small as 1.5 percent of a standard deviation for achievement and 1 percentage point for high school graduation and college enrollment. We also find little evidence of heterogeneous effects across an index measuring system design rigor, specific design features, and district characteristics.

},
	author = {Bleiberg, J. and Brunner, E. and Harbatkin, E. and Kraft, M. A. and Springer, M.G.}
}
@workingpaper {683960,
	title = {School-Based Mentoring Relationships and Human Capital Formation. },
	year = {Working Paper},
	abstract = {
	We document a largely unrecognized pathway through which schools promote human capital development {\textendash} by fostering informal mentoring relationships between students and school personnel. Using longitudinal data from a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents, we explore the frequency, nature, and consequences of school-based natural mentorships. Estimates across a range of fixed effect (FE) specifications, including student FE and twins FE models, consistently show that students with school-based mentors achieve greater academic success and higher levels of post-secondary attainment. These apparent benefits are evident for students across a wide range of backgrounds but are largest for students of lower socioeconomic status.

},
	url = {https://edworkingpapers.com/ai21-441},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Bolves, A. and Hurd, N.}
}
@article {655867,
	title = {Second Time{\textquoteright}s the Charm? How Repeat Student-Teacher Matches Build Academic and Behavioral Skills},
	year = {Working Paper},
	abstract = {We examine the dynamic nature of student-teacher match quality by studying the eect\&nbsp;of having a teacher for more than one year. Using state-wide data from Tennessee and panel\&nbsp;methods, we nd that having a repeat teacher improves achievement and decreases absences,\&nbsp;truancy, and suspensions. These results are robust to a range of tests for teacher and student\&nbsp;sorting. White girls benet most academically from repeat teachers and boys of color benet\&nbsp;most behaviorally. Effects increase with the share of repeat students in a teachers class suggesting that intentional classroom assignments policies such as looping may have even larger\&nbsp;benets.},
	author = {Wedenoja, L and Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {686403,
	title = {Online Tutoring by College Volunteers: Experimental Evidence from a Pilot Program},
	journal = {American Economic Review: Papers \& Proceedings},
	volume = {112},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {614-618},
	abstract = {In-person tutoring programs can have large impacts on K-12 student achievement, but high program costs and limited local supply of tutors have hampered scale-up.\&nbsp;Online tutoring provided by volunteers can potentially reach more students in need. We implemented a randomized pilot program of\&nbsp;\&nbsp;online tutoring that paired\&nbsp;\&nbsp;college volunteers with middle school students. We estimate consistently positive but statistically insignificant effects on student achievement, 0.07s\&nbsp;for math and 0.04s\&nbsp;for reading. While our estimated effects are smaller than those for many higher-dosage in-person programs, they are from a significantly lower-cost program delivered within the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic.},
	url = {https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pandp.20221038},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and List, J. A. and Livingston, J.A. and Sadoff, S.}
}
@article {683959,
	title = {The Inequitable Effects of Teacher Layoffs: What We Know and Can Do},
	journal = {Education Finance and Policy},
	volume = {17},
	number = {2},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {367-377},
	abstract = {
	Economic downturns can cause major funding shortfalls for U.S. public schools, often forcing districts to make difficult budget cuts including teacher layoffs. In this brief, we synthesize the empirical literature on the widespread teacher layoffs caused by the Great Recession. Studies find that teacher layoffs harmed student achievement and were inequitably distributed across schools, teachers, and students. Research suggests that specific elements of the layoff process can exacerbate these negative effects. Seniority-based policies disproportionately concentrate layoffs among teachers of color who are more likely to be early career teachers. These {\textquotedblleft}last-in first-out{\textquotedblright} policies also disproportionately affect disadvantaged students because these students are more likely to be taught by early career teachers. The common practice of widely distributing pink slips warning about a potential job loss also appears to increase teacher churn and negatively impact teacher performance. Drawing on this evidence, we outline a set of policy recommendations to minimize the need for teacher layoffs during economic downturns and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable job cuts does not continue to be borne by students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

},
	url = {https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article/17/2/367/108661/The-Inequitable-Effects-of-Teacher-Layoffs-What-We},
	author = {Bleiberg, J. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {652764,
	title = {Operator versus Partner: A Case Study of Blueprint School Network{\textquoteright}s Model for School Turnaround},
	journal = {Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness},
	volume = {15},
	number = {2},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {367-393},
	abstract = {Numerous high-profile efforts have sought to {\textquotedblleft}turn around{\textquotedblright} low-performing schools. Evidence of these programs{\textquoteright} effectiveness, however, is mixed, and research offers little guidance on which types of turnaround models are more likely to succeed. We present a case study of turnaround efforts led by the Blueprint Schools Network in three schools in Boston. Using a difference-in-differences framework, we find that Blueprint raised student achievement in mathematics and ELA by at least a quarter of a standard deviation, on average. We document qualitatively how differential impacts across the three Blueprint schools relate to contextual and implementation factors. In particular, Blueprint{\textquoteright}s role as a turnaround partner (in two schools) versus school operator (in one school) shaped its ability to implement its model. As a partner, Blueprint provided expertise and guidance but had limited ability to fully implement its model. In its role as an operator, Blueprint had full authority to implement its turnaround model, but was also responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the school, a role for which it had limited prior experience.},
	url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2021.1998737?journalCode=uree20},
	author = {Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M. A. and James, J. K.}
}
@article {643763,
	title = {Can Technology Transform Communication between Schools, Teachers, and Parents? Evidence from a Randomized Field Trial},
	journal = {Education Finance and Policy},
	volume = {17},
	number = {3},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {479-501},
	abstract = {
	We study the adoption and implementation of a new mobile communication app among a sample of 132 New York City public schools. The app provides a platform for sharing general announcements and news as well as engaging in personalized two-way communication with individual parents. We provide participating schools with free access to the app and randomize schools to receive intensive support (training, guidance, monitoring, and encouragement) for maximizing the efficacy of the app. Although user supports led to higher levels of communication within the app in the treatment year, overall usage remained low and declined in the following year when treatment schools no longer received intensive supports. We find few subsequent effects on perceptions of communication quality or student outcomes. We leverage rich internal user data to explore how take-up and usage patterns varied across staff and school characteristics. These analyses help to identify early adopters and reluctant users, revealing both opportunities and obstacles to engaging parents through new communication technology.

},
	url = {https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article-abstract/17/3/479/97148/Can-Technology-Transform-Communication-Between?redirectedFrom=fulltext},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Bolves, A.}
}
@article {635877,
	title = {Can Teacher Evaluation Systems Produce High-Quality Evaluation Feedback? An Administrator Training Field Experiment},
	journal = {American Educational Research Journal},
	volume = {59},
	number = {3},
	year = {2022},
	pages = {500-537},
	abstract = {
	\&nbsp;



	A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the last decade was the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. We examine this theory by studying teachers{\textquoteright} perceptions of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district{\textquoteright}s efforts to improve feedback through an administrator training program. Teachers generally reported that evaluators were trustworthy, fair, and accurate, but that they struggled to provide high-quality feedback. We find little evidence the training program improved perceived feedback quality, classroom instruction, teacher self-efficacy, or student achievement. Our results illustrate the challenges of using evaluation systems as engines for professional growth when administrators lack the time and skill necessary to provide frequent, high-quality feedback.



	\&nbsp;

},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/00028312211024603},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Christian, A.}
}
@article {668929,
	title = {A Blueprint for Scaling Tutoring and Mentoring Across Public Schools},
	journal = {AERA Open},
	volume = {7},
	number = {1},
	year = {2021},
	pages = {1-21},
	abstract = {
	\&nbsp;



	In this thought experiment, we explore how to make access to individualized instruction and academic mentoring more equitable by taking tutoring to scale as a permanent feature of the U.S. public education system. We first synthesize the tutoring and mentoring literature and characterize the landscape of existing tutoring programs. We then outline a blueprint for integrating federally-funded and locally-delivered tutoring into the school day. High school students would serve as tutors/mentors in elementary schools via an elective class, college students in middle schools via federal work-study, and 2- and 4-year college graduates in high schools via AmeriCorps. We envision an incremental, demand-driven expansion process with priority given to high-needs schools. Our blueprint highlights a range of design tradeoffs, implementation challenges, and program costs. We estimate that targeted approaches to scaling school-wide tutoring nationally, such as focusing on K-8 Title I schools, would cost between $5 and $16 billion annually.



	\&nbsp;

},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584211042858},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Falken, G.T.}
}
@article {662632,
	title = {Sustaining a Sense of Success: The Importance of Teacher Working Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic},
	journal = {Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness},
	year = {2021},
	abstract = {COVID-19 shuttered schools across the United States, upending traditional approaches to education. We examine teachers{\textquoteright} experiences during emergency remote teaching in the spring of 2020 using responses to a\&nbsp;working conditions survey from a sample of\&nbsp;7,841 teachers across 206 schools and 9 states. Teachers reported a range of challenges related to engaging students in remote learning and balancing their professional and personal responsibilities. Teachers in high-poverty and majority Black schools perceived these challenges to be the most severe, suggesting the pandemic further increased existing educational inequities. Using data from both pre-post and retrospective surveys, we find that the pandemic and pivot to emergency remote teaching resulted in a sudden, large drop in teachers{\textquoteright} sense of success.\&nbsp;We also demonstrate how supportive working conditions in schools played a critical role in helping teachers to sustain their sense of success.\&nbsp;Teachers who could depend on their district and school-based leadership for strong communication, targeted training, meaningful collaboration, fair expectations, and recognition of their efforts were least likely to experience declines in their sense of success.},
	url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19345747.2021.1938314},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Simon, N and Lyon, M}
}
@article {651771,
	title = {The Big Problem with Little Interruptions to Classroom Learning},
	journal = {AERA Open},
	volume = {7},
	number = {1},
	year = {2021},
	pages = {1-21},
	abstract = {
	Narrative accounts of classroom instruction suggest that external interruptions, such as intercom announcements and visits from staff, are a regular occurrence in U.S. public schools. We study the frequency, nature, and duration of external interruptions in the Providence Public School District (PPSD) using original data from a district-wide survey and classroom observations. We estimate that a typical classroom in PPSD is interrupted over 2,000 times per year, and that these interruptions and the disruptions they cause result in the loss of between 10 to 20 days of instructional time. Administrators appear to systematically underestimate the frequency and negative consequences of these interruptions. We propose several organizational approaches schools might adopt to reduce external interruptions to classroom instruction. 

},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/23328584211028856},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Monti-Nussbaum, M.}
}
@magazinearticle {655137,
	title = {The Hidden Cost of Classroom Interruptions},
	journal = {Educational Leadership},
	volume = {77},
	number = {June},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {33-37},
	abstract = {Educators, I have a request. When you are finally\&nbsp;able to return to your classroom this fall{\textemdash}or\&nbsp;whenever it{\textquoteright}s possible{\textemdash}keep a tally of every\&nbsp;time learning is disrupted by interruptions\&nbsp;coming from outside your class. Keep note:How often do you have to pause instruction because of\&nbsp;intercom announcements, calls to the classroom phone,\&nbsp;and teachers, administrators and staff\&nbsp;knocking at your\&nbsp;door? Five, ten{\textemdash}even 20 times a day?},
	url = {http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/jun20/vol77/num09/The-Hidden-Cost-of-Classroom-Interruptions.aspx},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {627472,
	title = {Interpreting Effect Sizes of Education Interventions},
	journal = {Educational Researcher},
	volume = {49},
	number = {4},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {241-253},
	abstract = {
	Researchers commonly interpret effect sizes by applying benchmarks proposed by Cohen over a half century ago. However, effects that are small by Cohen{\textquoteright}s standards are large relative to the impacts of most field-based interventions. These benchmarks also fail to consider important differences in study features, program costs, and scalability. In this paper, I present five broad guidelines for interpreting effect sizes that are applicable across the social sciences. I then propose a more structured schema with new empirical benchmarks for interpreting a specific class of studies: causal research on education interventions with standardized achievement outcomes. Together, these tools provide a practical approach for incorporating study features, cost, and scalability into the process of interpreting the policy importance of effect sizes. 

},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0013189X20912798},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {625947,
	title = {Developing Ambitious Mathematics Instruction through Web-Based Coaching: A Randomized Field Trial},
	journal = {American Educational Research Journal},
	volume = {57},
	number = {6},
	year = {2020},
	month = {2020},
	pages = {2378-2414},
	abstract = {
	This paper describes and evaluates a web-based coaching program designed to support teachers in\&nbsp;implementing Common Core-aligned math instruction. Web-based coaching programs can be\&nbsp;operated at relatively lower costs, are scalable, and make it more feasible to pair teachers with\&nbsp;coaches who have expertise in their content area and grade level. Results from our randomized\&nbsp;field trial document sizable and sustained effects on both teachers{\textquoteright} ability to analyze instructionand on their instructional practice, as measured the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI)\&nbsp;instrument and student surveys. However, these improvements in instruction did not result in\&nbsp;corresponding increases in math test scores as measured by state standardized tests or interim\&nbsp;assessments. We discuss several possible explanations for this pattern of results.\&nbsp;

},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/VTSESNZEBFFRISIBQYQN/full},
	author = {Kraft, M.K. and Hill, H. C.}
}
@article {622521,
	title = {Teacher skill development: Evidence from performance ratings by principals},
	journal = {Journal of Policy Analysis and Management},
	volume = {39},
	number = {2},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {315-347},
	abstract = {We examine the dynamic nature of teacher skill development using panel data on principals{\textquoteright} subjective performance ratings of teachers. Past research on teacher productivity improvement has focused primarily on one important but narrow measure of performance: teachers{\textquoteright} value-added to student achievement on standardized tests. Unlike value-added, subjective performance ratings provide detailed information about specific skill dimensions and are available for the many teachers in non-tested grades and subjects. Using a within-teacher returns to experience framework, we find, on average, large and rapid improvements in teachers{\textquoteright} instructional practices throughout their first ten years on the job as well as substantial differences in improvement rates across individual teachers. We also document that subjective performance ratings contain important information about teacher effectiveness. In the district we study, principals appear to differentiate teacher performance throughout the full distribution instead of just in the tails. Furthermore, prior performance ratings and gains in these ratings provide additional information about teachers{\textquoteright} ability to improve test scores that is not captured by prior value-added scores. Taken together, our study provides new insights on teacher performance improvement and variation in teacher development across instructional skills and individual teachers. },
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pam.22193},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Papay, J. P. and Chi, O.L.}
}
@article {621685,
	title = {Teacher Accountability Reforms and the Supply and Quality of New Teachers},
	journal = {Journal of Public Economics},
	volume = {188},
	year = {2020},
	pages = {104212},
	abstract = {
	\&nbsp;



	In recent years, states have sought to increase accountability for public school teachers by implementing a package of reforms centered on high-stakes evaluation systems. We examine the effect of these reforms on the supply and quality of new teachers. Leveraging variation across states and time, we find that accountability reforms reduced the number of newly licensed teacher candidates and increased the likelihood of unfilled teaching positions, particularly in hard-to-staff schools. Evidence also suggests that reforms increased the quality of new labor supply by reducing the likelihood new teachers attended unselective undergraduate institutions. Decreases in job security, satisfaction, and autonomy are likely mechanisms for these effects.



	\&nbsp;

},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272720300761?casa_token=0PjKP37Xb94AAAAA:7Z0okXlbOAEUgA9Ljro4Vqkuh3jRQ9UH8_ysHNjrqNXXt_OHpyzZQ7PENzO6cM4vUbzah0I3oA},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Brunner, E. J. and Dougherty, S. M. and Schwegman, D. J.}
}
@article {640182,
	title = {Balancing Rigor, Replication, and Relevance: A Case for Multiple-Cohort, Longitudinal Experiments},
	journal = {AERA Open},
	volume = {5},
	number = {3},
	year = {2019},
	pages = {1-18},
	abstract = {Over the past 15 years, the education research community has advocated for the application of more rigorous research designs that support causal inferences, for research that provides more generalizable results across settings, and for the value of research-practice partnerships that inform the design of local programs and policies. However, these goals are often in tension with each other. We propose a research design {\textendash} the multi-cohort, longitudinal experimental (MCLE) design {\textendash} as one approach to balancing these competing goals of high-quality research. We illustrate the uses and benefits of MCLEs with an example from a research-practice partnership aimed at evaluating the effect of a teacher coaching program. We find that the coaching program failed to replicate its effectiveness with an initial cohort, likely due to changes in personnel, duration, and content. Our analyses can help researchers weigh the tradeoffs of different design features of MCLEs.\&nbsp; },
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858419876252},
	author = {Blazar, DL and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {507881,
	title = {Teacher Effects on Complex Cognitive Skills and Social-Emotional Competencies},
	journal = {Journal of Human Resources},
	volume = {54},
	number = {1},
	year = {2019},
	pages = {1-36},
	abstract = {\&nbsp;I exploit the random assignment of class rosters in the MET Project to estimate teacher effects on students{\textquoteright} performance on complex open-ended tasks in math and reading, as well as their growth mindset, grit, and effort in class. I find large teacher effects across this expanded set of outcomes, but weak relationships between these effects and performance measures used in current teacher evaluation systems including value-added to state standardized tests. These findings suggest teacher effectiveness is multidimensional, and high-stakes evaluation decisions are only weakly informed by the degree to which teachers are developing students{\textquoteright} complex cognitive skills and social-emotional competencies. \&nbsp;},
	url = {http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/54/1/1.full.pdf+html},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@inbook {629978,
	title = {Federal efforts to improve teacher quality},
	booktitle = {Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned},
	year = {2018},
	pages = {69-84},
	publisher = {Harvard Education Press},
	organization = {Harvard Education Press},
	abstract = {Bush{\textquoteright}s and Obama{\textquoteright}s federal education reforms were remarkably similar in their goals and ambitions. Bush{\textquoteright}s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and Obama{\textquoteright}s Race to the Top (RTTT) and NCLB state waiver programs leveraged federal funding and authority to address four broad areas: academic standards, data and accountability, teacher quality, and school turnarounds. This chapter focuses specifically on how these efforts have influenced the teaching profession. During Bush{\textquoteright}s and Obama{\textquoteright}s combined sixteen years in office, the federal government succeeded in fundamentally changing licensure requirements and evaluation systems for public school teachers. Reflecting on the successes and failures of these reforms provides important lessons about the potential and limitations of federal policy as a tool for improving the quality of the US teacher workforce.},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {618402,
	title = {Taking Teacher Coaching To Scale: Can Personalized Training Become Standard Practice?},
	journal = {Education Next},
	volume = {18},
	number = {4},
	year = {2018},
	url = {https://www.educationnext.org/taking-teacher-coaching-to-scale-can-personalized-training-become-standard-practice/$\#$},
	author = {Matthew A. Kraft and David Blazar}
}
@article {469166,
	title = {The Effect of Teacher Coaching on Instruction and Achievement: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence},
	journal = {Review of Educational Research},
	volume = {88},
	number = {4},
	year = {2018},
	pages = {547-588},
	abstract = {Teacher coaching has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional models of professional development.\&nbsp; We review the empirical literature on teacher coaching and conduct meta-analyses to estimate the mean effect of coaching programs on teachers{\textquoteright} instructional practice and students{\textquoteright} academic achievement.\&nbsp; Combining results across 60 studies that employ causal research designs, we find pooled effect sizes of 0.49 standard deviations (SD) on instruction and 0.18 SD on achievement.\&nbsp; Much of this evidence comes from literacy coaching programs for pre-kindergarten and elementary school teachers.\&nbsp; Although these findings affirm the potential of coaching as a development tool, further analyses illustrate the challenges of taking coaching programs to scale while maintaining effectiveness.\&nbsp; Average effects from effectiveness trials of larger programs are only a fraction of the effects found in efficacy trials of smaller programs. We conclude by discussing ways to address scale-up implementation challenges and providing guidance for future causal studies.},
	url = {http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654318759268},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Blazar, D. and Hogan, D.}
}
@inbook {604031,
	title = {Developing Workplaces Where Teachers Stay, Improve, and Succeed},
	booktitle = {Teaching in Context: How Social Aspects of School and School Systems Shape Teachers{\textquoteright} Development \& Effectiveness},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {15-35},
	publisher = {Harvard Education Press},
	organization = {Harvard Education Press},
	address = {Cambridge},
	url = {http://hepg.org/hep-home/books/teaching-in-context},
	author = {Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M.K.}
}
@magazinearticle {562166,
	title = {Engaging Parents Through Better Communication Systems},
	journal = {Educational Leadership},
	volume = {71},
	number = {September},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {58-62},
	abstract = {
	New research shows that frequent, personalized outreach to parents works. How can schools support the practice?

},
	url = {http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept17/vol75/num01/Engaging-Parents-Through-Better-Communication-Systems.aspx},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {509401,
	title = {Can schools enable parents to prevent summer learning loss? A text messaging field experiment to promote literacy skills},
	journal = {The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science},
	volume = {674},
	number = {1},
	year = {2017},
	month = {2017},
	pages = {85-112},
	abstract = {
	The vast differences in summer learning activities among\&nbsp;children present a substantial challenge to providing equal\&nbsp;educational opportunity in the United States. Most initiativesaimed at reversing summer learning loss focus on\&nbsp;school- or center-based programs. This study explores the\&nbsp;potential of enabling parents to provide literacy development\&nbsp;opportunities at home as a low-cost alternative. We\&nbsp;conduct a randomized field trial of a summer text-messaging\&nbsp;pilot program for parents focused on promoting literacy\&nbsp;skills among first through fourth graders. We find\&nbsp;positive effects on reading comprehension among third\&nbsp;and fourth graders, with effect sizes of .21 to .29 standard\&nbsp;deviations, but no effects for first and second graders.\&nbsp;Texts also increased attendance at parent-teacher conferences\&nbsp;but not at other school-related activities. Evidence\&nbsp;to inform future efforts to reverse summer learning loss isprovided by parents{\textquoteright} responses to a follow-up survey. 

},
	url = {http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0002716217732009},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Monti-Nussbaum, M.}
}
@article {428476,
	title = {The Sensitivity of Teacher Performance Ratings to the Design of Teacher Evaluation Systems},
	journal = {Educational Researcher},
	volume = {46},
	number = {7},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {378-396},
	abstract = {
	In recent years, states and districts have responded to federal incentives by instituting major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems. The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 now provides policymakers with even greater autonomy to redesign existing evaluation systems. Yet, little evidence exists to inform decisions about two key system design features {\textendash} teacher performance measure weights and performance ratings thresholds. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching study, we conduct simulation-based analyses that illustrate the critical role that performance measure weights and ratings thresholds play in determining teachers{\textquoteright} summative evaluation ratings and the distribution of teacher proficiency rates. These findings offer insights to policymakers and administrators as they refine and possibly remake teacher evaluation systems.\&nbsp; 

},
	url = {http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0013189X17726752},
	author = {Steinberg, M. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {398586,
	title = {Teacher and teaching effects on students{\textquoteright} attitudes and behaviors},
	journal = {Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis},
	volume = {39},
	number = {1},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {146-170},
	abstract = {\&nbsp;Research has focused predominantly on how teachers affect students{\textquoteright} achievement on tests despite evidence that a broad range of attitudes and behaviors are equally important to their long-term success. We find that upper-elementary teachers have large effects on self-reported measures of students{\textquoteright} self-efficacy in math, and happiness and behavior in class. Students{\textquoteright} attitudes and behaviors are predicted by teaching practices most proximal to these measures, including teachers{\textquoteright} emotional support and classroom organization. However, teachers who are effective at improving test scores often are not equally effective at improving students{\textquoteright} attitudes and behaviors. These findings lend empirical evidence to well-established theory on the multidimensional nature of teaching and the need to identify strategies for improving the full range of teachers{\textquoteright} skills. },
	url = {http://epa.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/09/22/0162373716670260.abstract},
	author = {Blazar, D. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {509406,
	title = {Gauging goodness of fit: Teachers{\textquoteright} expectations for their instructional teams in high-poverty schools},
	journal = {American Journal of Education},
	volume = {123},
	number = {4},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {553-584},
	abstract = {Teacher teams are increasingly common in urban schools. Here we analyze teachers{\textquoteright}responses to teams in six high-poverty schools. Teachers used two criteria to assessteams{\textquoteright} "goodness of fit" in meeting the demands of their work{\textemdash}whether their teamhelped them teach better and whether it contributed to a better school. Their responsesdiffered notably by school, depending largely on the principal{\textquoteright}s approach toimplementation. In the three schools where teachers assessed teams favorably,principals set a meaningful purpose for teachers{\textquoteright} collaborative work, contributedstructural and professional expertise for their deliberations, and established a safeenvironment for teachers{\textquoteright} on-the-job growth.},
	url = {http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/692663},
	author = {Charner-Laird, M. and Ng, M. and Johnson, S.M and Kraft, M.A and Papay, J.P and Reinhorn S.K}
}
@article {372196,
	title = {Revisiting the Widget Effect: Teacher Evaluation Reforms and the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness},
	journal = {Educational Researcher},
	volume = {46},
	number = {5},
	year = {2017},
	pages = {234-249},
	abstract = {
	In 2009, The New Teacher Project (TNTP){\textquoteright}s The Widget Effect documented the failure to recognize and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. We revisit these findings by compiling teacher performance ratings across 24 states that adopted major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems. In the vast majority of these states, the percentage of teachers rated Unsatisfactory remains less than 1\%. However, the full distributions of ratings vary widely across states with 0.7\% to 28.7\% rated below Proficient and 6\% to 62\% rated above Proficient. We present original survey data from an urban district illustrating that evaluators perceive more than three times as many teachers in their schools to be below Proficient than they rate as such. Interviews with principals reveal several potential explanations for these patterns.

},
	url = {http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X17718797},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Gilmour, A. F.}
}
@article {134726,
	title = {Individualized Coaching to Improve Teacher Practice Across Grades and Subjects: New Experimental Evidence},
	journal = {Educational Policy},
	volume = {31},
	number = {7},
	year = {2017},
	month = {2017},
	pages = {1033-1068},
	abstract = {
	This paper analyzes a coaching model focused on classroom management skills and instructional practices across grade levels and subject areas. We describe the design and implementation of MATCH Teacher Coaching among an initial cohort of fifty-nine teachers working in New Orleans charter schools.\&nbsp; We evaluate the effect of the program on teachers{\textquoteright} instructional practices using a block randomized trial and find that coached teachers scored 0.59 standard deviations higher on an index of effective teaching practices comprised of observation scores, principal evaluations, and student surveys. We discuss implementation challenges and make recommendations for researcher-practitioner partnerships to address key remaining questions.

},
	url = {http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904816631099?journalCode=epxa},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Blazar, DL}
}
@magazinearticle {398591,
	title = {The Myth of the Teacher Performance Plateau},
	journal = {Educational Leadership},
	volume = {73},
	number = {May},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {36-42},
	abstract = {
	It{\textquoteright}s almost accepted as fact that teachers don{\textquoteright}t improve after their first few years on the job. New research challenges this common assumption.

},
	url = {http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may16/vol73/num08/The-Myth-of-the-Performance-Plateau.aspx},
	author = {Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {350776,
	title = {Promise and Paradox: Measuring Students{\textquoteright} Non-cognitive Skills and the Impact of Schooling},
	journal = {Educational Evaluational and Policy Analysis},
	volume = {38},
	number = {1},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {148-170},
	abstract = {We used self-report surveys to gather information on a broad set of non-cognitive skills from 1,368 8th-graders. At the student level, scales measuring conscientiousness, self-control, grit, and growth mindset are positively correlated with attendance, behavior, and test-score gains between 4th- and 8th-grade. Conscientiousness, self-control, and grit are unrelated to test-score gains at the school level, however, and students attending over-subscribed charter schools score lower on these scales than do students attending district schools. Exploiting admissions lotteries, we find positive impacts of charter school attendance on achievement and attendance but negative impacts on these non-cognitive skills. We provide suggestive evidence that these paradoxical results are driven by reference bias, or the tendency for survey responses to be influenced by social context.},
	url = {http://epa.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/20/0162373715597298.abstract},
	author = {Martin R. West and Matthew A. Kraft and Amy S Finn and Rebecca E Martin and Angela L Duckworth and Christopher F O Gabrieli and John D E Gabrieli}
}
@article {253041,
	title = {The productivity costs of inefficient hiring practices: Evidence from late teacher hiring.},
	journal = {Journal of Policy Analysis and Management},
	volume = {35},
	number = {4},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {791-817},
	abstract = {We use matched employee-employer records from the teacher labor market to explore the trade-offs between the timing of hiring and match quality. Hiring teachers after the school year starts reduces student achievement by 0.042SD in mathematics and 0.026SD in reading. This reflects, in part, a temporary disruption effect in the first year. In mathematics, but not in reading, late-hired teachers remain persistently less effective, evidence of negative selection in the teacher labor market. Late hiring concentrates in schools that disproportionately serve disadvantaged student populations, contributing to challenges in ensuring an equitable distribution of educational resources across students.},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.21930/abstract;jsessionid=3AE066E25287E513C1FB371CF327E4F6.f04t04?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+unavailable+on+Saturday+30th+July+2016+from+08\%3A00-11\%3A00+BST+\%2F+03\%3A00-06\%3A00+EST+\%2F+15\%3A00},
	author = {Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {229076,
	title = {Can Principals Promote Teacher Development as Evaluators? A Case Study of Principals{\textquoteright} Views and Experiences},
	journal = {Educational Administration Quarterly},
	volume = {52},
	number = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {711-753},
	abstract = {Purpose: New teacher evaluation systems have expanded the role of principals as instructional leaders, but little is known about principals{\textquoteright} ability to promote teacher development through the evaluation process. We conducted a case study of principals{\textquoteright} perspectives on evaluation and their experiences implementing observation and feedback cycles to better understand whether principals feel as though they are able to promote teacher development as evaluators.\&nbsp;Research Methods: We conducted interviews with a stratified random sample of 24 principals in an urban district that recently implemented major reforms to its teacher evaluation system. We analyzed these interviews by drafting thematic summaries, coding interview transcripts, creating data-analytic matrices, and writing analytic memos.\&nbsp;Findings: We found that the evaluation reforms provided a common framework and language that helped facilitate principals{\textquoteright} feedback conversations with teachers. However, we also found that tasking principals with primary responsibility for conducting evaluations resulted in a variety of unintended consequences which undercut the quality of evaluation feedback they provided. We analyze five broad solutions to these challenges: strategically targeting evaluations, reducing operational responsibilities, providing principal training, hiring instructional coaches, and developing peer evaluation systems.\&nbsp;Implications: The quality of feedback teachers receive through the evaluation process depends critically on the time and training evaluators have to provide individualized and actionable feedback. Districts that task principals with primary responsibility for conducting observation and feedback cycles must attend to the many implementation challenges associated with this approach in order for next-generation evaluation systems to successfully promote teacher development.},
	url = {http://eaq.sagepub.com/content/52/5/711},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Gilmour, A.}
}
@article {229081,
	title = {School organizational contexts, teacher turnover, and student achievement: Evidence from panel data},
	journal = {American Educational Research Journal},
	volume = {53},
	number = {5},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {1411-1499},
	abstract = {We study the relationship between school organizational contexts, teacher turnover, and student achievement in New York City (NYC) middle schools. Using factor analysis, we construct measures of four distinct dimensions of school contexts captured on the annual NYC School Survey. We identify credible estimates by isolating variation in organizational contexts within schools over time. We find that improvements in school leadership, academic expectations, teacher relationships, and school safety are all independently associated with corresponding reductions in teacher turnover. Increases in school safety and academic expectations for students also correspond to increases in student achievement. These results are robust to a range of potential threats to validity suggesting that our findings are likely driven by an underlying causal relationship.},
	url = {http://aer.sagepub.com/content/53/5/1411.abstract},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Marinell, W.M. and Yee, D.}
}
@article {350771,
	title = {Exploring Mechanisms of Effective Teacher Coaching: A Tale of Two Cohorts From a Randomized Experiment},
	journal = {Educational Evaluational and Policy Analysis},
	volume = {37},
	number = {4},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {542{\textendash}566},
	abstract = {Although previous research has shown that teacher coaching can improve teaching practices and student achievement, little is known about specific features of effective coaching programs. We estimate the impact of MATCH Teacher Coaching (MTC) on a range of teacher practices using a blocked randomized trial and explore how changes in the coaching model across two cohorts are related to program effects. Findings indicate large positive effects on teachers{\textquoteright} practices in cohort 1 but no effects in cohort 2. After ruling out explanations related to the research design, a set of exploratory analyses suggest that differential treatment effects may be attributable to differences in coach effectiveness and the focus of coaching across cohorts.},
	url = {http://epa.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/08/20/0162373715579487.abstract},
	author = {Blazar, DL and Matthew A. Kraft}
}
@article {221241,
	title = {Teacher layoffs, teacher quality and student achievement: Evidence from a discretionary layoff policy.},
	journal = {Education Finance and Policy},
	volume = {10},
	number = {4},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {467-507},
	abstract = {Most teacher layoffs during the Great Recession were implemented following inverse-seniority policies. In this paper, I examine the implementation of a discretionary layoff policy in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. Administrators did not uniformly lay off the most or least senior teachers but instead selected teachers who were previously retired, late-hired, unlicensed, low-performing, or nontenured. Using quasi-experimental variation within schools across grades, I then estimate the differential effects of teacher layoffs on student achievement based on teacher seniority and effectiveness. Mathematics achievement in grades that lost an effective teacher, as measured by principal evaluations or value-added scores, decreased 0.05 to 0.11 standard deviations more than in grades that lost an ineffective teacher. In contrast, teacher seniority has little predictive power on the effects of layoffs. Simulation analyses show that the district selected teachers who were, on average, less effective than those teachers identified under an inverse-seniority policy, and also reduced job losses.},
	url = {http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/EDFP_a_00171$\#$.VctSEfmgwmI},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {221246,
	title = {The underutilized potential of teacher-to-parent communication: Evidence from a field experiment},
	journal = {Economics of Education Review},
	volume = {47},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {49-63},
	abstract = {We study an intervention designed to increase the effectiveness of parental involvement in their children{\textquoteright}s education.\&nbsp; Each week we sent brief individualized messages from teachers to the parents of high school students in a credit recovery program.\&nbsp; This light-touch communication increased the probability students earned credits by 6.5 percentage points {\textendash} a 41\% reduction in the proportion failing to earn credit. This improvement resulted primarily from preventing drop-outs, rather than from reducing failure or dismissal rates.\&nbsp; The intervention shaped the content of parent-child conversations with messages emphasizing what students could improve, versus what students were doing well, producing the largest effects.\&nbsp; Our results illustrate the underutilized potential of communication policies with clear but reasonable expectations for teachers and program designs that make communication efficient and effective.},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775715000497},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Rogers, T.}
}
@article {33826,
	title = {Educating Amidst Uncertainty: The Organizational Supports Teachers Need to Serve Students in High-poverty, Urban Schools},
	journal = {Educational Administration Quarterly},
	volume = {51},
	number = {5},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {753-790},
	abstract = {Purpose 
We examine how uncertainty, both about students and the context in which they are taught, remains a persistent condition of teachers{\textquoteright} work in high-poverty, urban schools. We describe six schools{\textquoteright} organizational responses to these uncertainties, analyze how these responses reflect more open- versus closed-system approaches, and examine how this orientation affects teachers{\textquoteright} work.
\&nbsp;
Research Methods
We draw on interviews with a diverse set of 95 teachers and administrators across a purposive sample of six high-poverty, urban schools in one district.\&nbsp; We analyzed these interviews by drafting thematic summaries, coding interview transcripts, creating data-analytic matrices, and writing analytic memos.
\&nbsp;
Findings 
We find that students introduced considerable uncertainty into teachers{\textquoteright} work.\&nbsp; Although most teachers we spoke with embraced the challenges of their work and the expanded responsibilities that it entailed, they recognized that their individual efforts were not sufficient to succeed.\&nbsp; Teachers consistently spoke about the need for organizational responses that addressed the environmental uncertainty of working with students from low-income families whose experience in school often has been unsuccessful. We describe four types of organizational responses {\textemdash} coordinated instructional supports, systems to promote order and discipline, socio-emotional supports for students, and efforts to engage parents {\textemdash} and illustrate how these responses affected teachers{\textquoteright} ability to manage the uncertainty introduced by their environment.\&nbsp;
\&nbsp;
Conclusions
Traditional public schools are open systems, and require systematic organizational responses to address the uncertainty introduced by their environments.\&nbsp; Uncoordinated individual efforts alone are not sufficient to meet the needs of students in high-poverty urban communities.},
	url = {http://eaq.sagepub.com/content/51/5/753.abstract},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Papay, J. P. and Charner-Laird, M. and Johnson, S. M. and Ng, M. and Reinhorn, S.}
}
@article {26711,
	title = {Productivity returns to experience in the teacher labor market: Methodological challenges and new evidence on long-term career improvement},
	journal = {Journal of Public Economics},
	volume = {130},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {105-119},
	abstract = {We present new evidence on the relationship between teacher productivity and job experience. Econometric challenges require identifying assumptions to model the within-teacher returns to experience with teacher fixed effects. We describe the bias introduced by violations of different identifying assumptions, including a new approach that we propose. Consistent with past research, we find that teachers experience rapid productivity improvement early in their careers. However, we find suggestive evidence of returns to experience later in the career, indicating that teachers continue to build human capital beyond these first years.},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272715000304},
	author = {Papay, J. P. and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {24918,
	title = {How to Make Additional Time Matter: Integrating Individualized Tutorials into an Extended Day},
	journal = {Education Finance and Policy},
	volume = {10},
	number = {1},
	year = {2015},
	pages = {81-116},
	abstract = {Support for extending the school day has gained substantial momentum despite limited causal evidence that it increases student achievement. Existing evidence is decidedly mixed, in part, because of the stark differences in how schools use additional time. In this paper, I focus on the effect of additional time in school when that time is used for individualized tutorials. In 2005, MATCH Charter Public High School integrated two hours of individualized tutorials throughout an extended school day. The unanticipated implementation of this initiative and the school{\textquoteright}s lottery enrollment policy allow me to use two complementary quasi-experimental methods to estimate program effects. I find that providing students with two hours of daily tutorials that are integrated into the school day and taught by full-time, recent college graduates increased achievement on 10th grade English language arts exams by 0.15- 0.25 standard deviations per year. I find no average effect in mathematics beyond the large gains students were already achieving, although quantile regression estimates suggest that the tutorials raised the lowest end of the achievement distribution in mathematics.},
	url = {http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/EDFP_a_00152$\#$.VctYLvmgwmI},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {134721,
	title = {Cognitive Skills, Student Achievement Tests, and Schools},
	journal = {Psychological Science},
	volume = {25},
	number = {3},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {736-744},
	abstract = {Cognitive skills predict academic performance, so schools that improve academic performance might also improve cognitive skills. To investigate the impact schools have on both academic performance and cognitive skills, we related standardized achievement test scores to measures of cognitive skills in a large sample (N=1,367) of 8th-grade students attending traditional, exam, and charter public schools. Test scores and gains in test scores over time correlated with measures of cognitive skills. Despite wide variation in test scores across schools, differences in cognitive skills across schools were negligible after controlling for 4th-grade test scores. Random offers of enrollment to over-subscribed charter schools resulted in positive impacts of such school attendance on math achievement, but had no impact on cognitive skills. These findings suggest that schools that improve standardized achievement tests do so primarily through channels other than cognitive skills.},
	url = {http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/01/15/0956797613516008},
	author = {Fin, A and Kraft, M. A. and M.R. West and Leonard, JA and Bisch, CE and Martin, RE and Sheridan, M.A. and Gabrieli, CF and JD Gabrieli}
}
@article {105236,
	title = {Ready to Lead, But How? Teachers{\textquoteright} Experiences in High-poverty Urban Schools},
	journal = {Teachers College Record},
	volume = {116},
	number = {10},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {1-50},
	abstract = {We examine how teachers in six high-poverty, urban schools of one school district respond to and participate in leadership beyond their classrooms. We found that teachers wanted to participate in developing and implementing their school{\textquoteright}s plans for change. When teachers believed that their principal took an inclusive approach to leadership, looking to them for ideas about how to improve the school, they were energized, committed to the joint effort and readily remained {\textquotedblleft}in the game.{\textquotedblright} However, when teachers thought that their principal took an instrumental approach to leadership, expecting them to comply with fixed plans or to passively endorse administrative decisions, they expressed frustration and tended to withdraw to their classroom, sometimes intending to leave the school.},
	url = {http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=17601},
	author = {Johnson, S. M. and Reinhorn, SK and Charner-Laird, M. and Kraft, M. A. and Ng, M. and Papay, J. P.}
}
@article {73071,
	title = {Can Professional Environments in Schools Promote Teacher Development? Explaining Heterogeneity in Returns to Teaching Experience},
	journal = {Educational Effectiveness and Policy Analysis},
	volume = {36},
	number = {4},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {476-500},
	abstract = {Although wide variation in teacher effectiveness is well established, much less is known about differences in teacher improvement over time. We document that average returns to teaching experience mask large variation across individual teachers, and across groups of teachers working in different schools. We examine the role of school context in explaining these differences using a measure of the professional environment constructed from teachers{\textquoteright} responses to state-wide surveys. Our analyses show that teachers working in more supportive professional environments improve their effectiveness more over time than teachers working in less supportive contexts. On average, teachers working in schools at the 75th percentile of professional environment ratings improved 38\% more than teachers in schools at the 25th percentile after ten years.},
	url = {http://epa.sagepub.com/content/36/4/476.abstract},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Papay, J. P.}
}
@article {68691,
	title = {State and local efforts to investigate the validity and reliability of scores from teacher evaluation systems},
	journal = {Teachers College Record},
	volume = {116},
	number = {1},
	year = {2014},
	pages = {1-28},
	abstract = {Context: In the past two years, states have implemented sweeping reforms to their teacher evaluation systems in response to Race to the Top legislation and, more recently, NCLB waivers. With these new systems, policy-makers hope to make teacher evaluation both more rigorous and more grounded in specific job performance domains such as teaching quality and contributions to student outcomes. Attaching high stakes to teacher scores has prompted an increased focus on the reliability and validity of these scores. Teachers unions have expressed strong concerns about the reliability and validity of using student achievement data to evaluate teachers and the potential for subjective ratings by classroom observers to be biased. The legislation enacted by many states also requires scores derived from teacher observations and the overall systems of teacher evaluation to be valid and reliable.
Focus of the study: In this paper, we explore how state education officials and their district and local partners plan to implement and evaluate their teacher evaluation systems, focusing in particular on states{\textquoteright} efforts to investigate the reliability and validity of scores emerging from the observational component of these systems.
Research design: Through a document analysis and interviews with state education officials, we explore several issues that arise in observational systems, including the overall generalizability of teacher scores, the training, certification, and reliability of observers, and specifications regarding the sampling and number of lessons observed per teacher.
Findings: Respondents{\textquoteright} reports suggest that states are attending to the reliability and validity of scores, but inconsistently; in only a few states does there appear to be a coherent strategy regarding reliability and validity in place.
Conclusions: There remain a variety of system design and implementation decisions that states can optimize to increase the reliability and validity of their teacher evaluation scores. While a state may engage in auditing scores, for instance, it may miss the gains to reliability and validity that would accrue from periodic rater retraining and recertification, a stiff program of rater monitoring, and the use of multiple raters per teacher. Most troublesome are decisions about which and how many lessons to sample, which are either mandated legislatively, result from practical concerns or negotiations between stakeholders, or, at best case, rest on broad research not directly related to the state context. This suggests that states should more actively investigate the number of lessons and lesson sampling designs required to yield high-quality scores.},
	url = {http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=17292},
	author = {Herlihy, C and Karger, E. and Pollard, C. and Hill, HC and Kraft, M. A. and Williams, M. and Howard, S.}
}
@article {26310,
	title = {The Effect of Teacher-Family Communication on Student Engagement: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment},
	journal = {Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness},
	volume = {6},
	number = {3},
	year = {2013},
	pages = {199-222},
	abstract = {In this study, we seek to evaluate the efficacy of teacher communication with parents and students as a means of increasing student engagement. We estimate the causal effect of teacher communication by conducting a randomized field experiment in which 6th and 9th grade students were assigned to receive a daily phone call home and a text/written message during a mandatory summer school program. We find that frequent teacher-family communication immediately increased student engagement as measured by homework completion rates, on-task behavior and class participation. On average, teacher-family communication increased the odds a student completed their homework by 42\% and decreased instances in which teachers had to redirect students{\textquoteright} attention to the task at hand by 25\%. Class participation rates among 6th grade students increased by 49\%, while communication appeared to have a small negative effect on 9th grade students{\textquoteright} willingness to participate. Drawing upon surveys and interviews with participating teachers and students, we identify three primary mechanisms through which communication likely affected engagement: stronger teacher-student relationships, expanded parental involvement, and increased student motivation.},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2012.743636},
	author = {Kraft, M. A. and Dougherty, SM}
}
@article {37030,
	title = {Validating arguments for observational instruments: Attending to multiple sources of variation},
	journal = {Educational Assessment},
	volume = {17},
	number = {2-3},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {88-106},
	abstract = {Measurement scholars have recently constructed validity arguments in support of a variety of educational assessments, including classroom observation instruments. In this article, we note that users must examine the robustness of validity arguments to variation in the implementation ofthese instruments. We illustrate how such an analysis might be used to assess a validity argument constructed for the Mathematical Quality of Instruction instrument, focusing in particular on the 20 effects of varying the rater pool, subject matter content, observation procedure, and district context. Variation in the subject matter content of lessons did not affect rater agreement with master scores, but the evaluation of other portions of the validity argument varied according to the composition of the rater pool, observation procedure, and district context. These results demonstrate the need for conducting such analyses, especially for classroom observation instruments that are subject to 25 multiple sources of variation.},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10627197.2012.715019$\#$.Vm7k0b-gyv8},
	author = {Hill, HC and Charalambous, CY and Blazar, D. and McGinn, D. and Kraft, M. A. and Beisiegel, M. and Humez, A. and Litke, E. and Lynch, K.}
}
@article {27113,
	title = {When rater reliability is not enough: Teacher observation systems and a case for the G-study},
	journal = {Educational Researcher},
	volume = {41},
	number = {2},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {56-64},
	abstract = {In recent years, interest has grown in using classroom observation as a means to several ends, including teacher development, teacher evaluation, and impact evaluations of classroom-based interventions. While educational practitioners and researchers have developed numerous observational instruments for these purposes, many fail to specify important criteria regarding their use. In this paper, we argue that for classroom observation to succeed in its aims, improved observational systems must be developed. These systems should include not only observational instruments, but also scoring designs capable of producing reliable and cost-efficient scores and processes for rater recruitment, training and certification. To illustrate how such a system might be developed and improved, we provide an empirical example that applies Generalizability Theory to data from a mathematics observational instrument.},
	url = {http://edr.sagepub.com/content/41/2/56.full?ijkey=h774H07DfsQ4E\&keytype=ref\&siteid=spedr},
	author = {Hill, HC and Charalambous, CY and Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {24917,
	title = {How context matters in high-need schools: The effects of teachers{\textquoteright} working conditions on their professional satisfaction and their students{\textquoteright} achievement},
	journal = {Teachers College Record},
	volume = {114},
	number = {10},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {1-39},
	abstract = {Background/Context: Educational policymakers have begun to recognize the challenges posed by teacher turnover. Schools and students pay a price when new teachers leave the profession after only two or three years, just when they have acquired valuable teaching experience. Persistent turnover also disrupts efforts to build a strong organizational culture and to sustain coordinated instructional programs throughout the school. Retaining effective teachers is a particular challenge for schools that serve high proportions of low-income and minority students. Although some interpret these turnover patterns as evidence of teachers{\textquoteright} discontent with their students, recent large-scale quantitative studies provide evidence that teachers choose to leave schools with poor work environments, and that these conditions are most common in schools that minority and low-income students typically attend (Boyd et al., 2011; Ladd, 2009 \&amp; 2011; Borman \&amp; Dowling, 2008; Loeb, Darling-Hammond \&amp; Luczak, 2005). Thus, mounting evidence suggests that the seeming relationship between student demographics and teacher turnover is driven, not by teachers{\textquoteright} responses to their students, but by the conditions in which they must teach and their students are obliged to learn.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: We build on this body of work by further examining how working conditions predict both teachers{\textquoteright} job satisfaction and their career plans. We use a broad conception of the context of teachers{\textquoteright} work, paying attention not only to narrowly defined working conditions, but also to the interpersonal and organizational contexts in which teachers work. We also extend Ladd{\textquoteright}s (2009) analysis describing the relationship between the work context and student achievement. Advancing our understanding of this relationship is particularly important, given the increasing emphasis legislators place on evidence of student achievement when evaluating education policy. Specifically, we ask three research questions: (i) Do the conditions of work in Massachusetts public schools affect teachers{\textquoteright} satisfaction with their jobs and their career plans? (ii) Are schools with better conditions of work more successful in raising student performance than schools with less supportive working conditions? (iii) If the conditions of work are important, what elements of the work environment matter the most?
Research Design: In this paper, we combine a statewide survey of school working conditions (Mass TeLLS) with demographic and student achievement data from Massachusetts. We examine three primary outcomes: teacher satisfaction, teacher career intentions, and student achievement growth. From different items on the Mass TeLLS, we construct a set of nine key elements that reflect the broad-based conditions in which teachers work. We fit standard regression models that describe the relationship between each outcome and both overall conditions of work and each element separately, modeling this relationship according to the properties of our outcome variables.
Findings/Results: We find that measures of the school environment explain away much of the apparent relationship between teacher satisfaction and student demographic characteristics. The conditions in which teachers work matter a great deal to them and, ultimately, to their students. Teachers are more satisfied and plan to stay longer in schools that have a positive work context, independent of the school{\textquoteright}s student demographic characteristics. Furthermore, although a wide range of working conditions matter to teachers, the specific elements of the work environment that matter the most to teachers are not narrowly conceived working conditions such as clean and well-maintained facilities or access to modern instructional technology. Instead, it is the social conditions{\textemdash}the school{\textquoteright}s culture, the principal{\textquoteright}s leadership, and relationships among colleagues{\textemdash}that predominate in predicting teachers{\textquoteright} job satisfaction and career plans. More importantly, providing a supportive context in which teachers can work appears to contribute to improved student achievement. We find that favorable conditions of work predict higher rates of student academic growth, even when we compare schools serving demographically similar groups of students.
Conclusions/Recommendations: In short, we find that the conditions of teachers{\textquoteright} work matter a great deal. These results align with a growing body of work examining the organizational characteristics of the schools in which teachers work (Boyd et al., 2011; Ladd, 2011). Together, these studies suggest strongly that the high turnover rates of teachers in schools with substantial populations of low-income and minority students are driven largely by teachers fleeing the dysfunctional and unsupportive work environments in the schools to which low-income and minority students are most likely to be assigned. If public education is to provide effective teachers for all students, then the schools those students attend must become places that support effective teaching and learning across all classrooms.},
	url = {http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16685},
	author = {Johnson, S. M. and Kraft, M. A. and Papay, J. P.}
}
@article {24916,
	title = {From ringmaster to conductor: 10 simple techniques can turn an unruly classroom into a productive one},
	journal = {Phi Beta Kappan},
	volume = {91},
	number = {7},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {44-47},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@article {24915,
	title = {Toward a school-wide model of teaching for social justice: An examination of the best practices of two small public schools},
	journal = {Equity \& Excellence in Education},
	volume = {40},
	number = {1},
	year = {2007},
	pages = {77-86},
	abstract = {The purpose of this ethnographic study is to examine how a commitment to socially just pedagogies influences the core practices and policies of a school. This article presents a comprehensive description and analysis of two public middle schools committed to teaching for social justice: Urban Promise Academy and San Francisco Community School. From this exploratory research, I construct a school-wide model of teaching for social justice consisting of three central components: the integration of issues of social justice across the curriculum, the use of socially just teaching practices, and the creation of a socially just school community. This research further discusses the requirements and challenges of teaching for social justice in U.S. public schools. I argue for progressive educators to adopt practical, practitioner oriented models of schooling, such as the one presented in this article in order to more effectively advocate for school reform.},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10665680601076601},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
@magazinearticle {24914,
	title = {The Guatemalan elections: Reshuffling the same business elites},
	journal = {Z Magazine},
	volume = {17},
	number = {2},
	year = {2004},
	url = {http://www.zcommunications.org/the-guatemalan-elections-by-matthew-kraft},
	author = {Kraft, M. A.}
}
