Instability in Education Systems, Randomized Controlled Trials, and Children's Achievement

The 21st Century Partnership For Stem Education, Wayne PA

Investigators

Abstract

The mobility of teachers in schools is the focus of this project. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education are developing a system of indicators to measure the magnitude and impact of changes in school system staffing, a construct they call Ambient Positional Instability. The researchers are constructing case studies of school districts working within the context of an ongoing multi-site STEM experimental study. They are mapping the accessibility of teacher positional change data in 100 of the largest school districts in the United States, working with the Council of Great City Schools, to identify potential models of that data to better understand the phenomena. As a fourth component of the study, they are conducting a review of published reports on randomized trials and interviews with the authors to examine teacher instability that is not necessarily reported in those studies. The findings from this study inform a Campbell collaboration protocol for systemic review of the evidence. Teacher mobility is caused by reassignments to grades or subjects taught, promotions or demotions to nonteaching positions, and temporary appointments, as well as school leaving. Schools are frequently indicated as being very volatile environments with much turnover of staff and students a perennial problem. Yet the extent to which this is a problem has not been well characterized, and a system of indicators of this instability does not exist. This study provides such an indicator system and much potential use for both research and evaluation purposes. The instability in teacher positions has implications for the implementation of educational interventions. It affects the sensitivity of research and evaluation to detect the impact of interventions in experimental studies. In addition, teacher mobility has implications for policy decisions at the school, district, state and federal levels.