IMPACT, Washington, D.C.'s controversial evaluation system, sets clear expectations for instruction and holds teachers to well-defined standards of performance. Now into its third year, the program appears to be meeting its goals of rewarding effective teachers and eliminating educators it considers incompetent. And it has given the public reason…

Implementing teacher evaluation systems across the United States has created both challenges and opportunities to improving teacher quality. Lessons learned at the state level illustrate a wide range of challenges with system implementation, including value-added growth scores, implementation timetables, and human capital demands (McGuinn, 2012),…

Just when educators are learning more about what constitutes effective professional development, a collaborative team of education researchers and practitioners have developed, tested, and implemented a cost-effective method of measuring and reporting on the quality of teacher professional development. The teacher professional development analysis…

Teachers can use professional development portfolios to facilitate learning and improve classroom practice. The article offers a history and description of professional development portfolios, sharing how teachers have used them and examining the influence of professional development portfolios on teachers as learners. Implications for staff…

A study group from a Wyoming school and nearby university delve into the Japanese process of lesson study, learning the differences between the Japanese and U.S. education systems and how the process can work--and does not work--in an American context. The group's understandings highlight ways that lesson study can be adapted for use in the United…

Presents five key ingredients for successful instructional improvement initiatives in districtwide programs (leadership density, knowledge of the literature, sense of priorities and realistic perspective on available energies and resources, development of a framework for teaching, and a teacher evaluation system complementary to the improvement of…

Teacher self-improvement is a concept that can be used as part of a school's program for professional development and teacher evaluation. Methods for helping teachers evaluate their own performances, for obtaining feedback from students and colleagues, for designing self-improvement programs, and for monitoring progress are described. (PP)

Describes the Iowa State University School Improvement Model approach to staff development, which uses the Computer Assisted Teacher Evaluation/Supervision (CATE/S) database program to help staff developers address critical issues. CATE/S can maintain performance evaluation data, suggest improvement strategies for teachers, and document staff…