NCPI researchers present TAP findings at APPAM conference

Matthew G. Springer, Dale Ballou, and Art (Xiao) Peng presented findings from their appraisal of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management’s fall conference. Their examination is the first independent, third-party appraisal on the impact of TAP on student test scores. TAP is a comprehensive school reform model designed to to attract highly qualified teachers, improve instructional effectiveness, and elevate student achievement. The researchers used a unique matched panel data set to estimate a TAP treatment effect by comparing student test score gains in schools that participated in TAP with student test score gains in non-TAP schools. Ordinary least squares estimation reveals a positive TAP treatment effect on student test score gains. This effect is virtually non-existent when using more robust estimation strategies that control for sample selection bias, which also indicate a negative TAP effect in 9th and 10th grade-level models in select specifications. The expectations is positive student test score gains in the 3rd and 4th grade-level models in TAP schools. Findings were restricted by the lack of information both on the fidelity of implementation across TAP schools and on variations of TAP programs at the school level.

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