Using performance measurement systems for assessing the merit and worth of reforms

One highly touted use of performance measurement systems is to assess the merit and worth of reforms. In this study, the effect of the League of Professional Schools, a democratic reform initiative in Georgia, was evaluated using performance measures from the state’s educational performance measurement system. The findings indicate that the League, in combination with an antecedent condition, motivated leadership, produced more widespread participation in staff development than other schools. In addition, schools that were relatively successful in implementing the tenets of the program exhibited modestly improved levels of student achievement over similar schools. However, the League schools did not outperform schools involved in another school reform that was instituted with the same antecedent condition—motivated leadership. Although both reforms were associated with modestly better student performance, the League seemed to trigger more teacher involvement in school governance than did the alternative reform. There is, however, no evidence that the antecedent condition, motivated leadership, was not sufficient by itself to cause the higher levels of student performance. Analysis of the performance measurement data allowed the merit of the League to be assessed against several different performance standards. Although the performance of the League’s schools was positive relative to several of these performance standards, in the end it was impossible to use performance measures to show that the League was a necessary component of the causal package that resulted in improved performance.