Teacher performance dips in high-poverty schools, context matters

Chalkbeat Ideas is a new section featuring reported columns on the big ideas and debates shaping American schools. Please join us for our next event: It’s about whether a four-year college degree is still worth it. With a panel featuring the CEO of the KIPP Foundation and a Princeton University economist, we’ll try to separate fact from fiction about the value of American higher education. This online event will be at 2 p.m. ET on March 16. You can sign up and submit questions here. In 2009, the federal government launched a remarkable educational experiment. Effective teachers were paid large bonuses ($30,000, adjusted for inflation, over two years) to move into a low-performing, high-poverty school. This reflected the moment’s zeitgeist: use test scores to identify the best teachers (and also the worst). This so-called Talent Transfer Initiative worked, according to a 2013 study: Test scores rose by 3 to 5 percentile points among students taught by transferring educators. It was an