1.The Politics of Achievement Gaps: U.S. Public Opinion on Race-Based and Wealth-Based Differences in Test Scores
Author: Jon Valant and Daniel A. Newark
Source: Educational Researcher August/September 2016 45: 331-346.
Abstract:
For decades, researchers have documented large differences in average test scores between minority and White students and between poor and wealthy students. These gaps are a focal point of reformers’ and policymakers’ efforts to address educational inequities. However, the U.S. public’s views on achievement gaps have received little attention from researchers, despite playing an important role in shaping policymakers’ behaviors. Drawing on randomized experiments with a nationally representative sample of adults, we explore the public’s beliefs about test score gaps and its support for gap-closing initiatives. We find that Americans are more concerned about—and more supportive of proposals to close— wealth-based achievement gaps than Black-White or Hispanic-White gaps. Americans also explain the causes of wealthbased gaps more readily.

2.Evaluating Longitudinal Mathematics Achievement Growth: Modeling and Measurement Considerations for Assessing Academic Progress
Author: Lina Shanley
Source: Educational Researcher August/September 2016 45: 347-357.
Abstract:
Accurately measuring and modeling academic achievement growth is critical to support educational policy and practice. Using a nationally representative longitudinal data set, this study compared various models of mathematics achievement growth on the basis of both practical utility and optimal statistical fit and explored relationships within and between early and later mathematics growth parameters. Common patterns included a summer lag in achievement between kindergarten and Grade 1 and an association between achievement at kindergarten entry and later achievement. Notably, there were no statistically significant relationships between early and later rates of growth, and there was minimal variability in achievement growth in the late elementary and middle school grades. Challenges related to assessing academic achievement in the middle grades and modeling academic skill development are discussed.

3.Waivering as Governance: Federalism During the Obama Administration
Author: Andrew Saultz, Andrew McEachin, and Lance D. Fusarelli
Source: Educational Researcher August/September 2016 45: 358-366.
Abstract:
This article analyzes how the Obama administration used executive power to grant waivers from federal education policies and assesses whether they used this power differently than previous administrations and in other sectors (e.g., health or welfare). The executive use of waivers to shape state policy is not a new trend. However, we find that recent education waivers differ in purpose and specificity from past education waivers, as well as waivers in other social policy arenas, and that the Obama administration is using this executive power to further its policy objectives in ways that often circumvent congressional intent. As the executive branch continues to utilize waivers as a policy lever, this research has important implications for the future of federal involvement in educational policy and provides critical background for Congress’s reaction to waivers in the recently reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

4.Benefit or Burden? On the Intergenerational Inequity of Teacher Pension Plans
Author: Ben Backes, Dan Goldhaber, Cyrus Grout, Cory Koedel, Shawn Ni, Michael Podgursky, P. Brett Xiang, and Zeyu Xu
Source: Educational Researcher August/September 2016 45: 367-377.
Abstract:
Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative microdata from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities—effectively debt—owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49 state plans, an amount that exceeds 10% of current teachers’ earnings is being set aside to pay for previously accrued pension liabilities. To the extent that the costs of the unfunded liabilities drag on teacher compensation, they may exacerbate problems of teacher recruitment and retention. We briefly discuss three policy changes that could end or reduce the accumulation of unfunded liabilities in educator pension plans: (1) transition teachers to defined-contribution retirement plans, (2) transition teachers to cash-balance retirement plans, and (3) tighten the link between funding and benefit formulas within the current defined-benefit structure.

5.Building a More Complete Understanding of Teacher Evaluation Using Classroom Observations
Author: Julie Cohen and Dan Goldhaber
Source: Educational Researcher August/September 2016 45: 378-387.
Abstract:
Improving teacher evaluation is one of the most pressing but also contested areas of educational policy. Value-added measures have received much of the attention in new evaluation systems, but they can only be used to evaluate a fraction of teachers. Classroom observations are almost universally used to assess teachers, yet their statistical properties have received far less empirical scrutiny, in particular in consequential evaluation systems. In this essay, we highlight some conceptual and empirical challenges that are similar across these different measures of teacher quality. Based on a review of empirical research, we argue that we need much more research focused on observations as performance measures. We conclude by sketching out an agenda for future research in this area.