Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Con­nCan released the following:

Research and expe­ri­ence make this clear: Great teach­ers change lives. They inspire and moti­vate stu­dents, and set them on a path for future suc­cess. By con­trast, just one under per­form­ing teacher can have a last­ing neg­a­tive impact on a student.

Given this real­ity, sig­nif­i­cant time and atten­tion has rightly been focused on ensur­ing that all chil­dren have out­stand­ing teach­ers at the front of their class­rooms. This includes improv­ing how teacher per­for­mance is eval­u­ated and using eval­u­a­tions to guide a range of deci­sions about prepa­ra­tion, recruit­ment, train­ing, assign­ment, salary, tenure and dismissal.

As states, dis­tricts and school sys­tems across the nation work towards effec­tive teacher eval­u­a­tion sys­tems, they must tackle dif­fi­cult ques­tions about design and imple­men­ta­tion. This research report aims to help by offer­ing a detailed look at the key com­po­nents of 10 teacher eval­u­a­tion models.

Con­ducted by Pub­lic Impact, Mea­sur­ing Teacher Effec­tive­ness: A Look “Under the Hood” of Teacher Eval­u­a­tion in 10 Sites looks at eval­u­a­tion efforts in three states (Delaware, Rhode Island, and Ten­nessee), five large dis­tricts (Hills­bor­ough County, FL; Hous­ton, TX; New Haven, CT; Pitts­burgh, PA; and Wash­ing­ton, DC), one char­ter man­age­ment orga­ni­za­tion (Achieve­ment First), and the Relay Grad­u­ate School of Edu­ca­tion. Con­nCAN and 50CAN jointly com­mis­sioned the report, with sup­port of the H.A. Vance Foundation.

The report pays par­tic­u­lar atten­tion to the design and imple­men­ta­tion chal­lenges that many states and dis­tricts face, includ­ing: 1) stu­dent achieve­ment mea­sures; 2) class­room obser­va­tions; 3) other non-academic mea­sures; 4) accu­racy, valid­ity, and reli­a­bil­ity; and 5) report­ing and using eval­u­a­tion results.

None of these sys­tems is per­fect, but they do show us pos­si­ble paths for­ward. Each site continually—and rightly—refines and improves its eval­u­a­tion sys­tem. As other school sys­tems take on this work, we hope this report will help edu­ca­tion lead­ers develop their own paths for­ward. Each site in the report offers proof that we can—and must—move for­ward with smart, bal­anced, and fair eval­u­a­tions of a teacher’s impact on stu­dent per­for­mance and growth. Such eval­u­a­tion sys­tems are fun­da­men­tal to ensur­ing great teach­ers for every child. Because great schools, and great teach­ers, change everything.

Read more about their research at Con­nCan.