Recent efforts to attract and retain effective educators and to improve teaching practices have focused on reforming evaluation and compensation systems for teachers and principals. In 2006, Congress established the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), which provides grants to support performance-based compensation systems for teachers and principals in…

Researchers at NIET [National Institute for Excellence in Teaching] and elsewhere have studied the effectiveness of TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement in raising student achievement, improving the quality of instruction, and increasing the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. This…

"TAP"™: "The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP™)" is an educator effectiveness program that aims to improve student achievement through supports and incentives for teachers. Based on the research, "TAP"™ teachers were found to have no discernible effects on student achievement in science, English…

Researchers at NIET [National Institute for Excellence in Teaching] and elsewhere continue to investigate the impact of TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. This document summarizes three new studies and several new findings showcasing TAP's effectiveness at significantly raising student achievement, improving the quality of…

As many states and districts rethink teacher supervision and evaluation, the team at the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has analyzed thousands of lesson videotapes and studied the shortcomings of current practices. The tentative conclusion: Teachers should be evaluated on three…

In the recent drive to revamp teacher evaluation and accountability, measures of a teacher's value added have played the starring role. But the star of the show is not always the best actor, nor can the star succeed without a strong supporting cast. In assessing teacher performance, observations of classroom practice, portfolios of teachers' work,…

A teacher's value-added score is intended to convey how much that teacher has contributed to student learning in a particular subject in a particular year. Different school districts define and compute value-added scores in different ways. A variety of people may see value-added estimates, and each group may use them for different purposes.…

A study incorporating components of a standards based model of teaching (Danielson, 2007) was undertaken to examine the relationship between the principal's evaluation of the teacher's effectiveness, the teacher's self-evaluation of effectiveness, and student achievement. Participants were solicited from a large school district and…

Defining and measuring teacher effectiveness is one of the most hotly debated topics in public education today. The "No Child Left Behind" Act placed considerable emphasis on high quality teaching standards, making it a focal point of study among educators, administrators, and curriculum developers. Recruitment and retention of high…

Current school reform efforts aim to improve teaching and learning with emphasis on accountability for student achievement. The success of school reform depends on the motivation and capacities of school leaders. It is important to know what effective leadership practices look like to understand the direct impact to student achievement,…

Tennessee has undertaken several wide-ranging reforms aimed at educator practice and effectiveness over the past several years, including the launch of a new teacher evaluation system, modification of teacher tenure policy, and initial implementation of Common Core State Standards. This report from the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE)…

In an attempt to increase the effectiveness of instruction in California's public schools, educators, policymakers, and researchers are looking for ways to boost the quality of teacher evaluations. This report explains the complex relationship between state policy on teacher evaluation and local practice. It also describes prevailing criticisms of…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) welcomes the efforts of federal, state, and local policymakers to find new ways to ensure an accomplished teacher for every student in America. The National Board has advanced this mission since its inception in 1987. Today, that mission is carried out by the tens of thousands of…

The purpose of the study was to determine the extent of use and experience that elementary school principals in Georgia have in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating student achievement results to evaluate teacher performance. The study included components related to principal behaviors and comfort level surrounding the teacher evaluation…

How do the six southeastern states incorporate student achievement as a component of their teacher evaluation system (or do they)? Each state uses student achievement as a component of their teacher evaluation. However, the extent to which it is expressed directly or implied in evaluation components varies from state to state. In Alabama, student…