Publications

Sustaining a System for High-Quality Teachers, Report 2: Market Opportunities and Typical Wages for Austin Independent School District Teachers and Leavers
This report includes two studies that describe the local context for teacher employment decisions. The first examines the local labor market, and the second examines employment for teachers who left Austin Independent School District (AISD).

Professional Pathways for Teachers: 2018–2019 Evaluation Report
The purpose of this report is to help stakeholders of Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) understand and refine the methods used to measure program implementation and outcomes. This report also contains summative data on the progress of PPfT, which just completed its third year. PPfT first launched district-wide in AISD in the 2016–2017 school year, and since then the concept behind the program has been refined to that of empowering teachers and improving the quality of teaching through a multi-measure appraisal and compensation system.

Sustaining a System for High-Quality Teachers, Report 1: Key Characteristics of Austin Independent School District Teacher Leavers and Transfers
This report describes how many teachers transferred or changed jobs in AISD, remained at their schools, or left the school district after the 2013–2014 school year, along with characteristics of teachers in each group.

Professional Development and Appraisal System (PDAS) in Austin Independent School District
Correlations for PDAS scores from year to year were moderate, and experienced teachers generally outperformed their novice peers. Data suggest a weak-to-moderate relationship between 3-year averages of teachers’ PDAS and student growth scores.

AISD Pilot Teacher Appraisal System, 2011-2012
Results from the 2011-12 pilot teacher appraisal system suggest peer, administrator, and student feedback are valuable tools that can be used with Student Learning Objectives and value-added data to provide a holistic evaluation of teachers in AISD.

Austin Independent School District Pilot Teacher Appraisal System Update: Results of the 2012-2013 Student Response Survey
Feedback was obtained on 683 teachers at 12 schools from 9,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students. Students’ ratings were generally favorable and correlated with some observation-based ratings. Implications for policy are addressed.

Austin Independent School District (AISD) Pilot Teacher Appraisal System Update: 2012-2013 Focus Group and Survey Summary
This report summarizes data gathered from focus groups and a survey designed to assess teachers’ experiences with AISD's pilot teacher appraisal system. Additional data are included regarding the timing of administrators’ classroom observations.

High School Redesign: Professional Learning Communities, 2007-2008
This report summarizes the 2007-2008 evaluation results of AISD's high school professional learning communities initiative.

Measurement Validity and Reliability of Professional Pathways for Teachers: Technical Report
The purpose of this Professional Pathways for Teachers (PPfT) evaluation was to examine the measurement validity and reliability of PPfT appraisal data from the 2017–2018 school year. The PPfT appraisal is a multi-measure system that covers three areas: instructional practices (IP), professional growth and responsibilities (PGR), and two student growth measures: a teacher-level student learning objective (SLO) measure and a campus-level school-wide value-added (SWVA) measure.

Year 2 Evaluation of the Educator Excellence Innovation Program in Austin Independent School District
This report describes feedback from teachers at the six EEIP schools. EEIP includes implementation of a new teacher appraisal system, student learning objectives, professional learning communities, novice teacher mentoring, and targeted peer observation.