Teacher accountability matters

Education Week reports (subscription) that a new study in Chicago shows that when principals got more authority to fire non-tenured teachers, the attendance rate of those teachers improved notably.

The article also says,

“In addition, principals were more likely to get rid of teachers whose students had shown less value-added achievement compared with those of other teachers, and who had fewer academic credentials and accomplishments before becoming a teacher.”

The report’s author, Brian A. Jacob, professor of education policy and economics at the University of Michigan, concludes,

“These results provide suggestive evidence that reforms along the lines of the Chicago policy might improve student achievement.”