This testimonio describes my lived experience as a Latina scholar who attempted to go up for promotion to full professor at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and failed. From the time I was on the tenure clock to the present, specific instances revealed the presence of racism at the institution. I describe the roles of gatekeepers, white allies…

This article deals with my experience of struggling with mental health while trying to succeed in a management department. I will explore the realities of working as an academic in a business school, my experience as a new faculty member with mental health issues, the stigma I encountered, and how mental illness has challenged my opportunity for…

This joint statement, representing the collective position of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the Two-Year College English Association (TYCA), the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), and the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), aims to: (1) Outline collective…

I argue that teaching evaluation tools (TETs) may function as ethical codes (ECs), and answer certain demands that ECs cannot sufficiently fulfill. In order to be viable, an EC related to the teaching profession must assume a different form, and such a form is already present in several of the contemporary TETs. The TET matrix form allows for…

As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many school administrators are forced to transform traditional schooling into an online distance learning environment. This commentary addresses how some of the challenges and implications of our research in leadership and instruction of one-to-one laptop schools are applicable to establishing a distance…

This is a response to a focus article by Briggs and Peck (2015) in issue 13(2). It should have been published in issue 13(3-4) alongside a rejoinder by Briggs and Peck that did appear. Due to an oversight, it was not published there and appears here. See issue 13(3-4) for a rejoinder to this response. Briggs and Peck (2015) propose what amounts to…

It is nearly impossible today to discuss education without considering testing and evaluation. In the opening article of this volume, professors Baird, Andrich, Hopfenbeck, and Stobart (2017) lay out the challenge of putting learning and teaching first, tracing the development of the science of educational assessment and raising the question…

Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE) provided a commentary on the manuscripts in the first part of this special issue, which highlighted the benefits of edTPA and the necessity for such assessment programs to improve teacher education and strengthen teaching practices. In turn, the authors responded to the SCALE commentary.…

This webinar discussed the importance of the instructional sensitivity of assessments and encouraged dialogue about how the use of results from instructionally sensitive assessments can promote teacher effectiveness. This Q&A addressed the questions participants had for Dr. Popham following the webinar. The webinar recording and PowerPoint…

In the last few years, all but a few U.S. states have rushed to enact tougher teacher evaluation systems. Spurred by the incentives offered by two federal education initiatives--Race to the Top and the ESEA Flexibility Program--these states have designed teacher evaluation systems designed to "remove ineffective tenured and untenured…

In this article, the authors propose the use of new terminology when discussing teaching evaluations. Surveys can be considered as providing students an opportunity for "feedback" about teachers, not "evaluations" of teachers. Students, professors, and administrators should not view the surveys as an opportunity to judge a…

In this webinar, Mr. Rob Ramsdell, Vice President, Cambridge Education, discussed the use of classroom observations as one measure of teacher effectiveness in a comprehensive educator support system. Mr. Ramsdell presented research-based recommendations for improving the quality and rigor of classroom observations. This Q&A addressed the…

In the past decade, there has been important progress in the development and validation of video-based instruments that enable the systematic assessment of teaching competence with large samples of teachers, across multiple settings and populations, and by researchers other than the developers. This commentary focuses on the methodological…

The authors contend that teacher education (like K-12) is under attack by those seeking to exploit the public good and privatize education. Teacher educators find themselves on the defensive, compelled to answer questions about efficacy and accountability that do not reflect their understandings of their work, questions that do not address the…

This article presents a conversation with Charlotte Danielson. Danielson is an expert on good teaching, having analyzed the performance of what distinguished, proficient and underperforming teachers do (or don't do). Her detailed rubrics on teaching reveal the benefits to teachers, students and administrators when a common standard of practice is…