The recent turn toward core practices and practice-based teacher education has been accompanied by a growing literature on the definitions, pedagogies to teach, and assessments of core practices. Despite these developments, the field lacks core practices performance assessments designed to be used across course sections, courses, and subjects.…

Every five years, all public school educators in Maryland are required to renew their licenses to teach. This process is meant to ensure that teachers maintain competent practice and engage in career-long learning, development, and growth. Given the ambiguous relationship between licensure renewal and teacher effectiveness in the classroom--and…

Salaries are one of the most powerful policy levers states and school districts can use to attract qualified, effective, and diverse teachers. What role do states play in supporting strategic use of salaries? This report examines the state teacher compensation policies that influence districts' potential strategic use of teacher pay. It analyzes…

This study describes the development of a special education teacher observation protocol detailing the elements of effective decoding instruction. The psychometric properties of the protocol were investigated through many-facet Rasch measurement (MFRM). Video observations of classroom decoding instruction from 20 special education teachers across…

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…

This article reports on a design-based research project that is situated in a medium-size community college in Maryland. The project focused on exploring why the majority of full-time faculty was ranked as Assistant Professor or below, which did not reflect ranking at similar institutions. Under the leadership of the Provost, a task force analyzed…

State and local education agencies across the United States are increasingly adopting rigorous teacher evaluation systems. Most systems formally incorporate teacher performance as measured by student test-score growth, sometimes by state mandate. An important consideration that will influence the long-term persistence and efficacy of these systems…

This February 2015 report presents an analysis of classroom observation policies and progress in implementation in Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) states. It offers a closer look at how states are framing observations, training observers, ensuring observation quality and building a culture of educator support. The report outlines…

Faculty scholarship at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) has in the past served as a blueprint for the Black masses. Even today, HBCU faculty scholarship continues to be an informative source to communicate accurate information regarding marginalized groups. This study examines h-index scores of 65 faculty members at five…

New teacher evaluation systems have emerged as the cornerstone of the recent movement to improve public school teaching. Fueled by incentives from the federal government, state and local policymakers have sought to replace the often-cursory evaluation models of the past with more comprehensive ones. In contrast to past evaluations, which often…

Increasingly, states and districts are combining student growth measures with rigorous, rubric-aligned teacher observations in constructing teacher evaluation measures. Although the student growth or value-added components of these measures have received much research and policy attention, the results of this study suggest that the data generated…

This report offers state leaders key areas for action to continue progress in implementing evaluation systems, even as federal policies on teacher evaluation relax state requirements. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) offers its current best thinking for how state agencies can make the smartest use of funds, time and partners to refine…

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is leading and supporting the implementation of a Teacher and Principal Evaluation (TPE) system in all school districts in the state. This study examines the progress of four years of TPE implementation, 2013 to 2016. The study draws on nearly 60,000 survey responses from principals and teachers…

Today, efforts are underway across the country to transform teacher evaluation into a useful tool for improving teaching and learning. These efforts are supported by state statutes as well as by improvements in state and local data systems and the development of new student assessments. In 2015, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ)…

Comprehensive teacher evaluation systems are a core element of current state and local strategies to support improved teaching and learning in elementary and secondary education in the United States. The Study of Emerging Teacher Evaluation Systems provides descriptive information on the design and early implementation of teacher evaluation…