Overview
Almost everyone agrees: Most school
district teacher evaluation systems are ineffective. Teachers complain that the
systems don’t provide guidance on how to grow and improve. Administrators argue
that current processes make it nearly impossible to fire incompetent educators.
And reformers lament that the systems fail to distinguish between excellent,
average, and subpar teachers.
The push to reform teacher evaluations
has gained unprecedented momentum. Driven in part by federal incentives, many
state legislatures have passed provisions to change the way teacher performance
is assessed. In a sharp break with past practice, the new approaches incorporate
student performance into teacher ratings.
At the same time, school districts
have been experimenting with new tools to measure how well teachers perform. Washington,
D.C., is among the districts farthest along, while significant change is under
way in such places as Chicago; Hillsborough County, Fla.; Los Angeles; Memphis,
Tenn.; New Haven, Conn.; and elsewhere.
Amid this wave of policy activity, debate
has raged. Not everyone agrees that student performance should be a dominant
element of evaluation systems. Many educators and others are deeply concerned
about anointing standardized test scores as the predominant yardstick for
measuring student gains. Critics see evaluation systems based too heavily on
growth in student test scores as prescriptions for low morale, high teacher turnover,
and even cheating by educators.
Still, states and districts are
forging ahead. And in the process, some systems developed by experts for use
around the country are attracting interest. The Danielson Frameworks
for Teaching does not
take into account student test scores in its core metrics, although school
districts and states have added that component. Developed in 1996 by former ETS
researcher Charlotte Danielson, the model is used by Chicago, Pittsburgh and
Cincinnati, among others. One issue: In interviews, Danielson has expressed
concern about using
student test scores to gauge teacher performance, saying it is challenging to
attribute gains to a single teacher.
Another evaluation system being used
in multiple sites is TAP,
which was developed in 1999 by the Milken Family Foundation and is now managed
and supported by National Institute for Excellence in Teaching. The TAP
approach incorporates value-added measures, classroom observations and peer
review. TAP is being used in schools and districts around the country, and NIET
has state partnerships with Louisiana, South Carolina, and Texas. A NIET-commissioned
report from early 2011 outlines lessons to be learned from successful elements of the
TAP program.
Additional subsections:
Publications
Trends and Early Lessons on Teach
Evaluation and Effectiveness Policies
The National
Council on Teacher Quality does a status check on how many states have
implemented teacher evaluation policies and how many have incorporated student
performance into those systems. National Council on Teacher Quality, October
2011
Fair to
Everyone: Building the Balanced Evaluations that Educators and Students Deserve
A report
from The Education Trust makes recommendations on how to improve the practice
of teacher evaluation in a way that elevates standards across the profession. The
report argues that everyone benefits from teacher-evaluation systems that gauge
performance fairly and comprehensively with a focus on professional growth that
promotes student learning. Education Trust, September 2011
Recent Teacher Effectiveness
Legislation: How to the States Stack Up?
Many
states have taken legislative or regulatory action on teacher effectiveness in
recent years. Among these, the report argues, a handful of states stand out for
the significant steps they have taken to base key personnel decisions on
meaningful evaluations of teacher effectiveness, as measured in part by impact
on student learning. There is, however, significant variety among state teacher
effectiveness laws, and each has different strengths and weaknesses. Bellwether
Education Partners, August 2011
Passing Muster: Evaluating Teacher
Evaluation Systems
The Brookings
Institution’s Brown Center Task Force on Teacher Quality looks at how federal
and state governments can prod school districts to change their teacher-evaluation
systems without dictating the parameters. It also offers guidance on how school
systems can compare their evaluation systems against others. Brookings
Institution, April 2011
The Search
for Teacher Effectiveness: A Study of Exemplary Peer Review Programs
SRI International
and J. Koppich & Associates examined the peer assistance and review (PAR)
programs in the Poway and San Juan school districts in California. One of the reasons the researchers selected
the PAR programs at these sites was because of their reputations for
excellence. The researchers argue that a fresh look at these programs was in
order, given the current policy environment. SRI International and J. Koppich
& Associates, 2011
Learning
About Teaching: Initial Findings from the Measures of Teacher Effectiveness
Project
In most public
school districts, individual teachers receive little feedback on the work they
do. Almost everywhere, teacher evaluation is a perfunctory exercise. In too
many schools principals go through the motions of visiting classrooms,
checklist in hand. In the end, virtually all teachers receive the same
“satisfactory” rating. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, January 2011
Problems with the Use of Student Test
Scores to Evaluate Teachers
While
there are good reasons for concern about the current system of teacher evaluation,
there are also good reasons to be concerned about claims that measuring
teachers’ effectiveness largely by student test scores will lead to improved
student achievement. Economic Policy Institute, August 2010
Rethinking Teacher Evaluation
A
team of researchers from the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at
the University of Chicago is studying the implementation of the Danielson
Framework in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and providing feedback to the
district on its new pilot teacher evaluation program, the Excellence in
Teaching Project. This policy brief describes the first year of implementation
in CPS and highlights key early findings and policy implications from the
study. The findings presented are relevant for policymakers contemplating how
best to support the design and development of effective teacher evaluation
systems. They are particularly important for districts seeking valid, reliable
ways to measure and evaluate the complex activity of teaching.
Consortium on Chicago School Research, June 2010
Incorporating Student Performance
Measures into Teacher Evaluation Systems
Many existing
teacher evaluation systems don’t look at how effective some teachers are
compared to others in improving student performance. This study looks at three
school districts and two states that are planning to include academic
achievement measures. The report investigates how the systems look at
evaluating teachers in non-tested subjects and grades, among other issues. RAND,
2010
How
Teacher Performance Assessments Can Measure and Improve Teaching
Parents, practitioners, and policymakers agree
that the key to improving public education in America is placing highly skilled
and effective teachers in all classrooms. Yet the nation still lacks a
practical set of standards and assessments that can guarantee that teachers,
particularly new teachers, are well prepared and ready to teach. Center for
American Progress, October, 2010
Can
Teachers Be Evaluated by Their Students Test Scores? Should They Be?
Questions
remain as to whether value-added measures are a valid and appropriate tool for
identifying
and enhancing teacher effectiveness. In this report, researcher Sean Corcoran aimed
to provide an introduction to these new measures of teaching quality and put
them into the broader context of concerns over school quality and achievement gaps. Annenberg Institute for School
Reform, 2010
Using
Value-Added Assessments to Measure Teacher Effectiveness
This
report summarizes how three districts (Denver, Pittsburgh and Washington,
D.C.) and two states (Tennessee and
Delaware) have already begun or are planning to address these challenges. In
particular, the report focuses on what is and is not known about the quality of
various student performance measures school systems are using and on how the
systems are supplementing these measures with other teacher performance
indicators. RAND, 2010
The Widget Effect
The Widget Effect is a wide-ranging report
that studies teacher evaluation and dismissal in four states and 12 diverse
districts, ranging from 4,000 to 400,000 students in enrollment. The New Teacher Project, June 2009. The New
Teacher Project in 2010 followed the report with recommendations on standards
for evaluation systems in a report called Teacher Evaluation 2.0.
Teacher Evaluation Systems: The Window
for Opportunity and Reform
NEA
commissioned a review of the research literature on teacher evaluation systems,
particularly the way in which such systems serve to improve student achievement
and narrow achievement gaps. This paper discusses how to design and implement
teacher evaluation systems to meet those targets.
Approaches
to Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness: A Research Synthesis
This research synthesis provides practical
guidance for evaluating teacher effectiveness that extends beyond teachers’
contribution to student achievement gains. Learning Point Associates, June 2008
News Stories
New Teacher Evaluation Systems in Tennessee Have Rough Road Ahead
This
fall, principals and assistant principals fanned out into thousands of
Tennessee classrooms in an unprecedented effort to spend at least an
hour annually observing and rating every single teacher, guidance
counselor, social worker and librarian in the state’s public school
system. Their goal: find teachers who are struggling, figure out what
they are struggling with, and help them get better. Sarah Garland, The
Hechinger Report, Feb. 5, 2011
Using Value-Added Data to Evaluate Tennessee Teachers
To close the achievement gap between poor and affluent students in Tennessee, some students may need to learn at double the rate of their high-performing peers, according to Tennessee Department of Education materials. Sarah Garland, The
Hechinger Report, Feb. 6, 2011
Memphis’ New Teacher Evaluation System Adopted from Controversial D.C. Program
Washington, D.C. launched a controversial new teacher evaluation system
two years ago that overhauled how teachers are rated and led to the
firings of 7 percent of the teaching force—more than 280 people. Sarah Garland, The
Hechinger Report, Feb. 7, 2011
Companies, Nonprofits Making Millions Off Teacher Effectiveness Push
A movement to overhaul the teaching profession is
creating a new source of revenue for those in the business of education. More
than half of states have changed, or are in the process of changing, their laws
to factor student test scores into teacher evaluations. Most are also adding
new requirements for the classroom observations used to rate teachers, which in
many districts are often cursory and infrequent. Sarah Garland, Hechinger Report, Oct. 25,
2011
Districts
Consider Paying Teachers Based on Evaluations
Many districts across Wisconsin are developing new systems
for measuring teacher performance that aim to better distinguish superior
educators from those who are average or below par. They will likely use student
achievement growth as one measure of performance, and the results of the
evaluation may help administrators decide whom to promote, dismiss or provide
with more targeted help. Erin Richards and Tom Tolan, Milwaukee
Journal-Sentinel, Oct. 24, 2011
States Rewrite
Rules, With or Without Race to the Top
Some of the states rejected for federal “Race to
the Top” education grants are proceeding to revamp their school systems anyway
— in some cases more ambitiously than states that won. Ben Wieder,
Stateline.org, Oct. 19, 2011
Teachers Are Put to the Test
Teacher
evaluations for years were based on brief classroom observations by the
principal. But now, prodded by President Barack Obama’s $4.35 billion Race to
the Top program, at least 26 states have agreed to judge teachers based, in
part, on results from their students’ performance on standardized tests.
Stephanie Banchero and David Kesmodel, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 13, 2011
In
North Jersey, Teacher Tenure Is No Sure Thing
Districts
throughout North Jersey are denying the prize of tenure to some educators who, school officials say, aren’t
performing up to standards, based on interviews with the leaders of more than a
dozen North Jersey districts. Leslie Brody, North Jersey Record, May 22, 2011
Singled-out
L.A. Unified Teacher Shares Skills With Colleagues
Miguel
Aguilar was cited as among L.A. Unified’s most effective in an L.A. Times
article on the “value-added” evaluation method. Since then, many at his Pacoima
school have adopted his methods. But budget cuts threaten his job. Jason Felch,
Los Angeles Times, April 3, 2011
'Value-Added' Teacher Evaluations: L.A. Unified Tackles a Tough Formula
Los Angeles
school district leaders are poised to plunge ahead with their own confidential
“value-added” ratings this spring, saying the approach is far more objective
and accurate than any other evaluation tool available, despite its complexity.
Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times, March 28, 2011
Evaluation of D.C. Teachers Is a Delicate Conversation
The District’s new teacher
evaluation system is becoming a national model, even as unions and some experts
question the wisdom of staking careers on it. And in the moment when school
reform meets the teachers expected to carry it out, master educators observe
teachers in class — and then have a conference that can end careers. Stephanie
McCrummen, Washington Post, March 17, 2011
Tested:
Covering Schools in the Age of the Micro-Measurement
Supporters
of value-added measurements argue that teacher evaluations require objective
rigor, calculated with statistics. Weak teachers, they argue, should not hide
behind a subjective, protective system that undermines children’s futures.
Critics counter that the calculations are incomplete, misleading, and often
wrong. LynNell Hancock, Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 2011.
Evaluating
New York Teachers, Perhaps the Numbers Do Lie
You
would think the Department of Education would want to replicate Stacey Isaacson
— a dedicated teacher who has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and
Columbia and works long hours every school day — and sprinkle Ms. Isaacsons all
over town. Instead, the department’s accountability experts have developed a
complex formula to calculate how much academic progress a teacher’s students
make in a year — the teacher’s value-added score — and that formula indicates
that Ms. Isaacson is one of the city’s worst teachers. Michael Winerip, New
York Times, March 6, 2011
Poll:
Most want easier way to fire bad teachers
An
overwhelming majority of Americans are frustrated that it’s too difficult to
get rid of bad teachers, while most also believe that teachers aren’t paid
enough, a new poll shows. Associated Press, Dec. 14, 2010
Hurdles
Emerge in Rising Effort to Rate Teachers
It
is becoming common practice nationally to rank teachers for their
effectiveness, or value added, a measure that is defined as how much a teacher
contributes to student progress on standardized tests. But the experience in
New York City shows just how difficult it can be to come up with a system that
gains acceptance as being fair and accurate. Sharon Otterman, The New York
Times, Dec. 26, 2010
Some
Central Falls High School Teachers Rated 'Unsatisfactory' in New Evaluation
Until
this fall, teacher evaluations at Central Falls High School, like many other
schools in Rhode Island, didn’t mean much. Unlike previous evaluations, the new
ones carry consequences. Administrators said they would use the findings to
make hiring decisions for the 2011-2012 school year. Jennifer D. Jordan,
Providence Journal, Nov. 29, 2010
New Evaluation Systems Split Teachers Even More
A number of
states have passed new laws and policies that tie teachers’ job security to how
well their students do in class. Some teacher groups dropped their longstanding
opposition to this idea, and now say it will be good for the profession. Still,
many teachers fear the new evaluation systems are part of an attack on their
profession. Larry Abramson, NPR, July 15, 2010
State and District Policy
States
Tennessee
Teachers
and principals are finding the new evaluation system in Tennessee overly cumbersome
and difficult to manage
Just two
months into using new teacher evaluations that the state rapidly put into
place to land Race to the Top federal funds, educators say the process
overwhelms even the best teachers and turns their focus away from students.
While the state continues to tweak the system, some fear losing good teachers
could be an unintended consequence. Julie Hubbard, The Tennessean, Oct. 5, 2011
Tennessee Teachers Find It Hard to
Make the Grade
Tennessee
overhauled its teacher evaluation system last year to win a grant from the
federal Race to the Top program. Now many teachers say they are struggling to
shine, and that's torpedoing morale. Blake Farmer, NPR, Oct. 20, 2011
Illinois
Illinois: The New Leader in Education Reform?
In June 2011 Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn
signed a law—Senate Bill 7—that overhauled state policies on teacher hiring,
tenure, reductions in force, and dismissal. This paper tells the tale of S.B.
7—of the history that laid the groundwork for it, of the maneuvering that
produced its final form, and of the lessons that may be applicable to other
states as they consider legislation on important education reforms. July 2011
Illinois Law On Teacher Tenure, Union
Rights Touted As Model For Other States
The
new Illinois law that overhauls teacher tenure, collective bargaining, layoff
procedures, and the right to strike took the stage in the nation’s capital on
Wednesday, with several key people behind the measure holding it up as a model
for other states. Mark Walsh, Catalyst Chicago, July 13, 2011
Rhode
Island
Changes
At R.I. School Fail To Produce Results
For the last
year, Central Falls High School in Rhode Island has been under a microscope.
Long considered one of the poorest-performing high schools in the state,
administrators abandoned a proposal to fire all the teachers as long as they
agreed to a so-called “transformation” plan. Now, as the school year winds
down, that plan is in shambles. Claudio Sanchez, NPR, June 13, 2011
Teachers Speed-Date For Jobs In Rhode Island
Earlier this year, the city
of Providence, R.I., fired all of its nearly 2,000 teachers, shut down five
schools and consolidated some programs. Most of the fired teachers were
rehired, but when the dust settled, 400 teachers were left without jobs. To
give them a chance to apply for 270 positions elsewhere the district,
Providence officials are using an unusual device. Elisabeth Harrison, NPR, June
12, 20
Districts
Cincinnati
Cincinnati, which
developed its system a decade ago, was one of the leaders in using peer
review to evaluate teachers. Its system earned credit in a review by Harvard
professor Thomas Kane and others because of its effective use of classroom
observations. They found a correlation between the teachers’ results on the
Teacher Evaluation System with students’ growth in test scores.
Denver
The purpose of Denver’s ProComp system isn’t
really to evaluate teachers to help them grow or to weed out ineffective
teachers. Its goal is to reward teachers with higher pay for good evaluations,
both by administrators and peers. The New Teacher Project criticized Denver’s
system in 2009, saying it doesn’t
eliminate ineffectual teachers. On the other
hand, two years later, University of Washington researcher Dan Goldhaber released
findings that indicate the system has positive elements.
Hillsborough
County, Fla.
The Hillsborough County School
District and its teachers union joined forces after the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation awarded Hillsborough $100 million in 2009 to develop the “Empowering Effective Teachers” evaluation system. It is now considered one of
the pioneers in the reform of teacher evaluation
systems. The first results showed fewer
teachers receiving top scores on evaluations than in previous years, and 1
percent receiving the lowest ratings. In the past, almost no teachers received a less-than-satisfactory score.
New
Haven
New Haven implemented a teacher evaluation system in 2010 that looked at not only student test
scores but also whether students met goals that teachers and principals set for
them. Teachers also were evaluated on their instructional practices. It used a
scale of 1 to 5, 1 meaning needs improvement and 5 meaning exemplary. Teachers
getting a 1 at the beginning of the school year were likely to face firing if
they hadn’t improved. “Developing” teachers had two years to improve to level
3, effective. Peers also would evaluate teachers with scores of 1 or 5 to confirm
a principal’s evaluation. The first year’s result: 34 teachers were fired. Forty more successfully improved.
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh’s “Research
Based Inclusive System of Evaluation” is based on the Danielson
Frameworks for Teaching. The initial
pilot had 24 schools test the new system before it was rolled out to all
66 schools in fall 2010. The plan was a
collaboration between school district management and the teachers’ union. The school
system and the teachers’ union are now working on developing a
performance-pay system that will not rely on RISE to reward teachers.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.,
made headlines when it implemented the IMPACT
teacher evaluation system in 2009. The system
uses a complex
rubric, rating teachers from 1 to 4 on a wide array of components, from
tardiness to lesson plans. The school system has received both praise and
criticism for the system. Some teachers say it’s restrictive. Some reformers argue
that the district should have piloted the system before using it with all of the district’s 3,500
teachers.
