Principals manage test-score pressure through targeted improvement, instructional coherence, and maximizing uninterrupted instructional time¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

Interviewed CPS principals described three ways of managing pressure to raise test scores: targeted improvement based on assessment data, increasing the coherence of instructional materials, and maximizing uninterrupted instructional time. Coherence was "the most commonly identified in the principal interviews, with approximately 65 percent of principals talking about their efforts to increase instructional coherence," primarily through common instructional materials per subject. Elementary principals established no-interruption periods for literacy and math; high school principals used block scheduling and, in a few schools, an extended day approved by teacher vote.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Requires analysis of assessment data to identify weak skills, a university partner or formative assessment results in the targeted-improvement approach, and common instructional materials across classrooms for coherence.

Constraints¶

• High school principals cautioned that productive use of time within the block period was key to its success; extended-day strategies required a school-wide teacher vote and three interviewed principals failed to secure enough votes.

Target Learners¶

• Chicago Public Schools principals
• K-12 teachers and students in urban schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Improving instruction and student achievement under accountability pressure

Claims¶

• Non-instructional time averages 23 percent in observed Chicago elementary classrooms, with half of teachers at 14 percent and half at 30 percent [~W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Stoelinga, S. R., with Hart, H. and Schalliol, D. (2008). The Work of Chicago Public Schools' Principals: Leading in a Complex Context with High Stakes. Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/work-chicago-public-schools-principals