Evaluation of the Teacher Potential Project

This study assesses the implementation and impacts of the Teacher Potential Project (TPP), a program designed by EL Education and which includes an English language arts (ELA) standards-aligned curriculum and embedded professional development for teachers. The study uses a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to assess the impacts of TPP on the instructional practice outcomes of ELA teachers in grades 3 through 8 and the ELA achievement outcomes of their students. The RCT includes 70 elementary and middle schools (35 treatment and 35 control) in 18 relatively high-need districts that were randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions within matched pairs of schools in three cohorts that began participating in the 2014-2015, 2015-2016, and 2016-2017 school years. Treatment schools engaged in TPP for one year while control schools continued with business as usual. The study also uses a two-year quasi-experimental design (QED) study to assess the impact of extending implementation of TPP to a second year on teacher instructional practice and student ELA achievement outcomes. EL Education recruited 22 of the study schools (10 treatment and 12 control) in five districts in one cohort to participate in a second year of the study. The study team collected a variety of data for the evaluation of TPP, including teacher surveys and classroom observations administered in fall and spring each year and student administrative records. Impacts of TPP on ELA teacher instructional practices and student ELA achievement were estimated using multivariate regression methods. The implementation evaluation found that the TPP ELA curriculum was implemented in all schools, and that there was generally high school-level implementation fidelity of the TPP professional development components in the first and second years of TPP among the novice ELA teachers. The impact evaluation found positive impacts of TPP on ELA teachers' overall instructional practices after one year compared to teachers who used their district-provided curriculum and participated in their district's professional development supports. After two years of teacher participation, impacts on their students' ELA achievement were roughly equivalent to 1.4 months of typical student improvement, or moving an average student scoring at the 50th percentile to the 54th percentile. The findings be useful to districts and policymakers aiming to support teachers and students in the context of rigorous state standar