Teacher evaluations can be used by states and districts to support and develop an exceptional workforce. Accurate evaluations based on quality data can help differentiate teacher performance, inform feedback, improve professional development, provide opportunities for pay increases and advancement, and provide rationale for teacher dismissals. Yet…

Preparing to become a music teacher educator is a complex process and one component of this process should be learning to model, demonstrate, and teach assessment practices to preservice music educators. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to discover how, and to what extent, music teacher educators (MTEs) are educated about…

This research examines how public school principals in seven U.S. states perceive the proficiency exam they must take and pass in order to evaluate their teachers. The test is centered on the states' primary teaching evaluation system, which is based on Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching. An online survey was developed and 832 out of…

This document compiles information from multiple sources to offer readers a snapshot of Preschool Development and Expansion Grant (PDG) states' progress towards implementing a full comprehensive assessment system, as well as the tools they are using for each of the components.

This research examines how public school principals in eight U.S. states perceive their teacher evaluation systems, which are based on Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching (FfT). States were selected to represent high, middle, and low scorers in the annual "Education Week" "Quality Counts" report (Education Week, 2016).…

This first analysis of aggregated data from the Kahoot! game-based player response system demonstrates that it can provide assessments of overall US student polar knowledge and identifies differences in polar knowledge across several states. A kahoot online quiz on polar topics recorded over 25,000 United States teacher-hosted classroom players…

Limited research has been done to examine teacher evaluation in rural schools. This article presents an analysis of legislation and regulation of teacher evaluation in selected rural states, highlights their commonalities and differences, reports their litigation, and speculates on potential problems that can result in rural schools. It ends with…

This brief examines the curricular policies and guidelines of the eighteen Preschool Development or Expansion Grantees. It explores how these states are addressing the curriculum-related requirements of the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) program. This brief clarifies the PDG requirements, discusses aspects of curriculum, and presents a snapshot…

In partnership with the National Charter School Resource Center (NCSRC), the National Association for Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has been conducting authorizer assessments over the past six years. However, the correlation between high-quality authorization practices and charter school impact has largely been unexplored. This report uses a…

Preschool Development Grant (PDG) grantees and Head Start programs are funded to provide high-quality preschool education and comprehensive services to families meeting federal poverty guidelines. The overlap of program standards and services across these two programs provides unique opportunities for partnerships. This document provides examples…

In this article, we explain how overly prescriptive, rigid state statutory and regulatory policy frameworks regarding teacher evaluation, tenure and employment decisions outstrip the statistical reliability and validity of proposed measures of teaching effectiveness. We begin with a discussion of the emergence of highly prescriptive state…

Inclusion programs have expanded in schools across the country as educational leaders strive to meet the needs of a more diverse group of students. In response to Special Education legislation, schools and districts implemented programs and strategies for students with disabilities in the general education setting as increasing numbers of students…

A teacher's effectiveness--the most important factor for schools in improving student achievement--is not measured, recorded, or used to inform decision making in any meaningful way. The failure of evaluation systems to provide accurate and credible information about individual teachers' instructional performance sustains and reinforces a…

This report examines the pervasive and longstanding failure to recognize and respond to variations in the effectiveness of teachers. At the heart of the matter are teacher evaluation systems, which in theory should serve as the primary mechanism for assessing such variations, but in practice tell everyone little about how one teacher differs from…

This report examines the pervasive and longstanding failure to recognize and respond to variations in the effectiveness of teachers. At the heart of the matter are teacher evaluation systems, which in theory should serve as the primary mechanism for assessing such variations, but in practice tell everyone little about how one teacher differs from…