The performance cycle: The association between student achievement and state policies tying together teacher performance, student achievement, and accountability

This article explores the associations between student performance and the presence of state policies that include student achievement in teacher evaluations. We examined performance among states from 2007 through 2013. Including student performance in state teacher evaluation policies is modestly associated with higher reading achievement but had no significant association with math achievement. Typically, black and Hispanic students did not experience the policy differently from their white peers. Disparities between white and black learners and between white and Hispanic students remained, signaling that these accountability policies did not eliminate racial disparities in the system.