This is the first of four planned reports from a multiyear study focusing on the TIF grants awarded in 2010. It examines grantees’ implementation experiences and intermediate educator outcomes near the end of the first year of program implementation, before the first pay-for-performance...

Mathematica provided technical assistance in developing and estimating VAMs for use in Phase 1 of the pilot.

This paper explores how the design features of curriculum materials might influence potential opportunities to learn and student outcomes through a comparative, documentary analysis of four mathematics curricula commonly used in the United States.

Read the final report from a large-scale, rigorous study examining how four math curricula affect achievement across two years—from first through second grades. The curricula were (1) Investigations in Number, Data, and Space; (2) Math Expressions; (3) Saxon Math; and (4) Scott...

This appendix provides the details that underlie the analyses reported in the evaluation brief, “After Two Years, Three Elementary Math Curricula Outperform a Fourth.†The details are organized in six sections: Study Curricula and Design (Section A), Data Collection (Section B),...

This is the first of four planned reports from a multiyear study focusing on the Teacher Incentive Fund grants awarded in 2010. It examines grantees’ implementation experiences and intermediate educator outcomes near the end of the first year of program implementation, before the first...

Teacher value-added models (VAMs) must isolate teachers’ contributions to student achievement to be valid. Well-known VAMs use different specifications, however, leaving policymakers with little clear guidance for constructing a valid model.

Low-income students and students whose parents have not attended college typically are less likely than middle- and upper-income students to complete high school and attend college, and are thus less likely to reap the benefits of attending college. In 1965, Congress established the Talent...

This report summarizes research findings and implementation practices for teacher and principal value-added models (VAM) as a first step in the Team Pennsylvania Foundation’s pilot project to inform the development of a full, statewide model evaluation system. The report selected 21...