This book presents some of the leading technical, professional, and political challenges associated with the development and implementation of teacher evaluation systems, along with characterizing some of these systems in different countries around the world. The book promotes a broader comprehension of the complexities associated with this kind…

In the 1950s and 1960s, students practiced ducking under their desks in case of an atomic bomb attack. We know that this was silly and provided no protection and many school practices that are popular today are equally silly. This book explores a wide range of what the authors label "duck and cover" policies--ideas that may have started…

This report analyses key aspects of the professional life of lower secondary teachers (ISCED 2) across Europe. It is based on qualitative Eurydice data from national policies and legislation, and quantitative data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) on practices and perceptions of teachers and school heads. Connecting these…

This policy brief aims to problematize the curricular issues that have traditionally framed schools from the 1600s onward. These framings have taught literacy as decontextualized skills, disconnected from students' lives, their consciousness, and their joy. This tradition has resulted in poor achievement, less rigor, and a lack of intellectual…

When designing attractive teacher career structures, policymakers have to take a series of complex decisions. These decisions are related not only to the number of steps within the career ladder and their associated responsibilities, but also to how these positions are articulated with the salary scale and to opportunities for professional…

An effective, well-prepared teacher workforce is central to students' mastery of deeper learning skills such as critical thinking and teamwork. This National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) policy update urges state boards of education to invigorate relicensure policies by embracing multiple tiers that support teachers throughout…

In statehouses, school boards, and communities across the US, battles are raging over the direction of education policy--from the standards that are shaping what students learn to how test results are being used to judge a teacher's performance. These battles are being waged against a backdrop of shifting demographics, rapidly developing…

Over both recent years and many decades, California districts have produced a range of substantively different approaches to teacher evaluation, demonstrating both the potential for district-level action generally and specific design options. In this report, the authors focus on teacher evaluation programs and further focus on the features of…

This guide was developed to provide guidance to states or districts wishing to monitor implementation of educator evaluation systems. It describes a three-step process: develop state guidelines for educator evaluation systems; develop data collection methods; and determine adherence criteria and review data against criteria. The process was…

This is the first book to gather and address what we have learned about the impacts and challenges of data-intensive teacher evaluation systems--a defining characteristic of the current education policy landscape. Expert researchers and practitioners speak to what we know (and what remains to be known) about evaluation measures themselves, the…

Motivated by the need to improve teaching and learning and by federal priorities reflected in requirements for grant programs such as Race to the Top and the Teacher Incentive Fund, many states are developing teacher evaluation systems that include measures of individual teachers' contributions to their students' learning growth. One way to…

Motivated by the need to improve teaching and learning and by federal priorities reflected in requirements for grant programs such as Race to the Top and the Teacher Incentive Fund, many states are developing teacher evaluation systems that include measures of individual teachers' contributions to their students' learning growth. One way to…

In education, there is ample evidence that some schools far outperform others at raising student achievement even when accounting for differences in the students they serve and the resources at their disposal. Differences in the human capital stock of teachers across schools cannot fully account for the differential productivity across schools. In…

In 2011, Indiana lawmakers established a system to evaluate teachers using existing standardized assessments as an indicator of student learning. In this study we examined one component of Indiana's evaluation system to determine whether student knowledge of the test's consequences is predictive of test performance. Using an experimental design,…

The Illinois New Millennium Initiative (NMI) is a statewide team of accomplished, early-career teachers and educators focused on classroom- and community-based solutions to improve public schools. In virtual and face-to-face collaborations, the NMI works to connect research findings with its own teaching experiences in order to design policies and…