As states consider non-academic measures of school quality for their accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act, few are choosing to focus on the school climate in which students learn. That's not a surprise, given concerns about the validity and usefulness of existing climate surveys. However, the authors argue, a recent study…

Over the course of six years, a diverse group of school districts and charter management organizations in California ran a substantial experiment in implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in elementary and middle grades. WestEd led an extensive evaluation of that effort, the California K-8 NGSS Early Implementers Initiative,…

How are teachers experiencing the more rigorous teacher evaluation systems that many states have mandated in recent years? Donaldson, who has studied teacher evaluation reform over the past eight years, shares insights from a study of 14 Connecticut districts that have implemented the state's 2012 teacher evaluation reforms. In surveys and…

States and districts can use this tool to create their own plans for continual improvement of an observation system, no matter where they are in their implementation. Included are action steps to improve observation rubrics, observer training, observer assessment, and monitoring. A planning process is described to assess current status, determine…

Capacity is a real and pressing challenge for educators tasked with implementing robust evaluation systems that include multiple measures of performance. In response to questions from the field, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders has gathered emerging strategies from policymakers and practitioners who are grappling with capacity challenges…

This article describes an arts- and spatial thinking skill--integrated inquiry project applied to life science concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards for fourth grade students that focuses on two unifying or crosscutting themes: (1) structure (or "form") and function and (2) use of models. Students made observations and…

In early November 2013, the authors started talking about visiting the Hurley School, a dual-language school in Boston, Massachusetts. The Hurley School had spent considerable time transitioning to the Common Core State Standards on literacy, but little time addressing the shifts in math. They worried that math classes were no longer rigorous…

This article describes how a Washington State School District increased professional learning around the Common Core State Standards. The challenge was how to establish a way for career and technical education and electives teachers to learn and apply Common Core in their classes. Weaving Common Core literacy standards into vocational and…

Iowa is working to provide teachers with more effective and relevant professional development that measurably increases their instructional skills and their students' learning growth. This is particularly important as new Iowa Core Standards with higher expectations for student learning are put in place. While the Iowa Core focuses on what…

In this article, Renee Clary and James Wandersee describe the beginnings of "Classification," which lies at the very heart of science and depends upon pattern recognition. Clary and Wandersee approach patterns by first telling the story of the "Linnaean classification system," introduced by Carl Linnacus (1707-1778), who is…

We typically know children are learning when they are able to make sense of an object's materials or a situation that was previously a bit mysterious and communicate what they have figured out. But what about observing? One of the process skills listed in the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996), observation is something students have…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative, in its aim to align diverse state curricula and improve educational outcomes, calls for K-12 teachers in the United States to engage all students in mathematical problem solving along with reading and writing complex text through the use of rigorous academic content. Until recently, most teacher…

In the winter of 2008, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) released reports examining the impact of national and state accountability systems on curriculum, instruction, and student achievement in Rhode Island and Illinois. Using classroom observations and interviews with school administrators, instructional specialists, teachers, parents, and…

Performance-based assessment of teachers includes a class of measurement methods designed to assess the quality of teacher performance on one or two important aspects of teaching. It may include portfolios, structured observations, video records of practice, and teacher work samples. Performance-based assessment can be contrasted with assessments…

In 1979, Act 187, known now as the Educator Improvement Act, was mandated by the legislature of the State of South Carolina. One tenet of Act 187 was the establishment of an Educator Improvement Task Force to develop an instrument which could effectively measure minimal teaching competencies. To help in the content and design of the instrument,…