Classroom observation is an important component of teacher evaluation systems. Most states are implementing systems that assign a composite score to each teacher based on weights assigned to several different measures. Policy discussions often address this weighting, with many states adopting formulas with high weights for the summative scores…

Empirical Education Inc. conducted a quasi-experiment investigating the impact of the Alabama Math, Science, Technology Initiative (AMSTI) training. The study compared classes of fully-trained AMSTI teachers to classes taught by teachers with no AMSTI training within the same schools. The outcome measure was the ACT Aspire in math, science, and…

This paper reports findings from a multi-year study of the scale-up of Reading Apprenticeship (RA), an approach to improve academic literacy by helping teachers provide the support students need to be successful readers in the content areas. WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI), began developing the program in 1995 and has since reached…

This study explored the relationships among the components of the Arizona Department of Education's new teacher evaluation model, with a particular focus on the extent to which ratings from the state model's teacher observation instrument differentiated higher and lower performance. The study used teacher-level evaluation data collected by the…

Teacher evaluation is currently a major policy issue at all levels of the K-12 system driven in large part by current US Department of Education requirements. The main objective of this study is to explore the patterns of relationship between observational scores and value-added measures of teacher performance in math classrooms and the variation…