Download Brief
Published:
March 2017
Author:
Jason A. Grissom
In this brief, we analyze data for 10 years of Tennessee SLLA test takers, including their performance evaluations, student achievement in the schools, and they teachers' survey ratings of school leadership. We found little evidence that SLLA scores predict how a principal will perform in their job.
Key Findings
- SLLA failure rates are very different depending on the race/ethnicity of the candidate
- There is little evidence that principal's pre-service SLLA scores predict available measures of principal performance for novice principals (ie. those in their first 3 years as a principal)
Methods
With assistance from TDOE, TNCRED requested complete SLLA score histories for all SLLA test takers with a Tennessee affiliation from 2004 to the spring of 2014. Complete score histories means all scores, not just the passing scores. Score history files were matched by TNCRED research assistants to restricted personnel files (PIRS/EIS/TEAM) and school information for each year. Once scores were matched to a candidate/principal and school, they were then linked to school mean scores from the 2013 TELL-TN teacher survey, a school composite TVAAS file for 2013 provided by TDOE, and student-level TCAP math and reading files for 2008 to 2013.
