Instructional coaching can help teachers adopt new practices. In this webinar, participants explored how instructional coaching can encourage teachers to adopt new practices and whether coaching has lasting effects. This webinar featured Jim Knight, Ph.D., a Research Associate at the University of Kansas, who has been studying and writing about…

The purpose of this deconstructive case study was to conduct a Foucauldian power/knowledge analysis constructed from the perceptions of three teachers at an intermediate school in South Texas regarding the role of the teacher evaluation process and its influence on instructional practices. Using Foucault's (1977a) work on power/knowledge, of…

This article presents work from an ongoing investigation, where the objective is to understand the impact of recent Portuguese legislation--the Teaching Career Statute and its respective Evaluation of Teacher Performance regulations--on the (re)construction of teacher identity, the teaching career and professional development. From an analysis of…

Bill Frisell's new album ("Big Sur") was heralded with a short documentary about its impulse and inception: Frisell's retreat to an isolated coastal ranch in Central California. In the video, he describes the influence of the place, the dramatic and evocative landscape, and how it ultimately became the subject and theme for the…

Federal policy around supervision and evaluation has prompted state action to develop new evaluation systems to increase student achievement. Systems, such as the Framework for Educator Effectiveness implemented in Wisconsin, are tied to teacher performance as well as student achievement. This type of performance-based evaluation system relies on…

The Pittsburgh Public Schools study is the 12th district study since the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) began studying districts in-depth in 2009. The intent of these studies is to give select communities a comprehensive look at what is happening in their local school districts that may be either helping or hurting teacher quality, and…

This study examines principals' experiences implementing Skillful Observation and Coaching Laboratory (SOCL), a program designed to help principals become effective instructional leaders. Guided by Karl Weick's notion of sensemaking, this study sought to identify the components of SOCL that were implemented with fidelity and discover the factors…

Evaluation and coaching should not be linked, these authors argue. Although it's tempting for evaluators to identify deficiencies and then specify coaching as a remediation strategy, doing so turns coaching into a consequence of a poor evaluation and termination into a consequence of failed coaching. Another mistake is to use coaching as a data…

One objective of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) School Improvement Grants (SIG) and Race to the Top (RTT) program is to help states enhance their capacity to support the turnaround of low-performing schools. This capacity may be important, given how difficult it is to produce substantial and sustained achievement gains in low-performing…

In the new political landscape, lawmakers in state after state are anxiously sponsoring legislation eliminating "last-in, first-out" policies. News reports would have people believe every untenured teacher, with just a few months of experience, is a "Teacher of the Year" candidate, while every tenured professional is a money-grabbing, lazy and…

In Oakwood City School District, differentiation is--and has been for a number of years--their primary academic goal. In Oakwood, the Core Team, a group of teacher leaders and administrators that has been instrumental in the implementation of differentiation, has used Tomlinson's (2007) "fire and light" metaphor to identify strategies to ensure…

There has been a wealth of research examining learning environments as one of the variables that contributes to academic success for students studying science. A constructivist learning environment has been explored as one way to assist students in achieving greater success with science learning. There is a lack of research concerning how and if…

No Child Left Behind legislation developed goals for every student to be proficient in each academic subject by 2014. California's students are far from meeting this goal, especially in mathematics. One Southern Californian school district, renamed Green Valley Unified School District for anonymity, began using Cognitively Guided Instruction…

This study undertook an investigation of policy and practice related to teacher evaluation and development among Colorado school districts. A conceptual analysis was applied to a sample of teacher evaluation policies and process materials from 30 school districts. The study was based on policy objectives stipulated in state statute and best…

In this essay, the author describes his understanding and experience with descriptive review processes, as developed by Patricia Carini (Himley 2000) and members of the Prospect Center in North Bennington, VT. The author critically reviews the benefits and limitations of using descriptive review as a form of assessment of students, teaching…