This study used Kane's (2013) Interpretation/Use Argument (IUA) to measure validity on the Recognizing Effective Special Education Teachers (RESET) observation tool. The RESET observation tool is designed to evaluate special education teacher effectiveness using evidence-based instructional practices as the basis for evaluation. In alignment with…

Current methods of evaluating teaching in colleges and universities fail to encourage, guide, or document teaching that leads to improved student learning outcomes. Here the author presents a measure of teaching quality that is correlated with desired student outcomes, free from large confounding variables, and that can be used to compare the…

The prospects for a high-quality public education system for all students hinge on expanded roles for teachers. In particular, districts and states must create hybrid positions for teacherpreneurs: classroom experts who teach students regularly but also have time, space, and reward to spread their ideas and practices to colleagues as well as…

Despite evidence that many schools and districts have considerable discretion when hiring teachers and the existence of an extensive literature on teacher quality, little is known about how best to hire teachers. This is, in part, because predicting teacher quality using readily-observable teacher characteristics has proven difficult and there is…

Recent changes in the policy environment have led states and districts in the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northeast & Islands Region to increase the rigor of their teacher evaluation systems by including more frequent observations or student test score data. States and districts nationwide began reforming their evaluation systems as…

This study examined the relationship between teachers' perceptions of school professional climate and their satisfaction with the process for evaluating their performance. It used the responses of a nationally representative sample of teachers to examine whether teachers' satisfaction with the evaluation process was associated with two measures of…

Efficacy studies of educational programs often involve mediator analyses aimed at testing empirically appropriate theories of action. In particular, in the studies of professional development programs, the intervention targets primarily teachers' pedagogical skills and content knowledge, while the ultimate outcome is the student achievement…

Background/Context: The stakes are getting higher for teachers daily as more and more states adopt hiring, firing, and tenure-granting policies based on teacher evaluations. Even more concerning is the limited discussion about whether or not high-stakes teacher evaluation can meet the intended outcome of improved student achievement, and at what…

We investigate whether commonly used value-added estimation strategies can produce accurate estimates of teacher effects. We estimate teacher effects in simulated student achievement data sets that mimic plausible types of student grouping and teacher assignment scenarios. No one method accurately captures true teacher effects in all scenarios,…

As NIET enters its 20th year, research continues to point to the effectiveness of NIET's support and the positive impact of investing in human capital. The Winter 2020 Research Summary captures both NIET's key long-term impact, shares promising results highlighting that the TAP System [The System for Teacher and Student Advancement] sustains…

"Guidelines for Uniform Performance Standards and Evaluation Criteria for Teachers" was approved by the Virginia Department of Education on April 28, 2011. This document, effective July 1, 2012, details new guidelines for evaluating teacher performance in the state of Virginia. These guidelines have gained the attention of every educator…

The growth of teachers' professional knowledge and skills has been the topic of policy, research, and even philosophy for many decades. The assessment of English Learners (ELs), a more specific concern, has become an interest of the educational community in just the past 40 years (e.g., Harris, 1969). The authors' task in this chapter is to…

In education, there is ample evidence that some schools far outperform others at raising student achievement even when accounting for differences in the students they serve and the resources at their disposal. Differences in the human capital stock of teachers across schools cannot fully account for the differential productivity across schools. In…

Current uses of value-added modeling largely ignore or assume away the potential for teachers to be more effective with one type of student than another or in one subject than another. This paper explores the stability of value-added measures across different subgroups and subjects using administrative data from a large urban school district. For…

The authors' discussion will describe how classroom leaders at every academic level can use rubrics as a means of self-assessment. This strategy and the use of the rubric as a tool can help to provide effective feedback that can develop into a constant reflection of how effectively a teacher focuses on student success by means of their…