Hampton City Schools, Virginia
National Board Certification Outcome Study, 2010-2012
Hampton City Schools had made significant investments in providing ongoing support for teachers interested in earning National Board Certification (NBC). The school district had produced more NBC teachers than almost any other school district in southeast Virginia. It wasn't known, however, to what extent these investments in National Board Certification have contributed to improving student achievement. SEG was commissioned by the school district to determine whether students taught by Hampton City Schools’ Board-certified teachers had higher academic achievement than those taught by non-board certified teachers. SEG found that students taught by Board-certified teachers had significantly higher academic achievement in the subject areas of Mathematics and Reading. The gain in test scores was particularly large for students in Mathematics classes taught by Board-certified teachers. Students of color, even more so than their white peers, benefited from instruction by Board-certified teachers.
Early Reading Intervention Implementation, 2011-2012
An evaluation of the Early Reading Initiative (ERI) was commissioned to investigate the ERI’s implementation, including, but not limited to, its fidelity of implementation. For this implementation evaluation, training and implementation were two key areas of interest for investigation. To conduct this study, SEG designed and administered a teacher survey and conducted school visits. The evaluator visited six schools selected by using an extreme sampling approach—three top-performing and three low-performing schools according to 2010-11 3rd-grade Reading SOL pass rates. During or immediately following these visits, interviews with Early Reading Intervention Assistants were conducted, along with limited classroom observations and observations of student participation. In addition to reporting on implementation and student outcomes, the final report offered recommendations for improving implementation and future research.