Just a few years ago, tenure appeared low on the reform list for state policy makers and district administrators, viewed as too hot an issue politically to challenge. But it was front and center in the 2014 landmark "Vergara v. California" lawsuit, which challenged teacher tenure and related policies. Yet whether to grant tenure or not…

As the Every Student Succeeds Act is returning authority over teacher evaluation policies back to the states, policy makers at the state level have the opportunity to revise their policies. But who will they listen to when it comes to potential reforms? The author surveyed education policy makers to determine to what degree teachers, education…

Value-added models (VAMs) are becoming an important tool in improving teacher evaluation. VAMs' premise is that they can statistically isolate a teacher's effect on a student's test score. In other words, we can attribute a student's growth to a particular teacher, and VAMs' proponents contend that they should be used to make a host of personnel…