Across the country, states and districts are designing principal evaluation systems as a means of improving leadership, learning, and school performance. Principal evaluation systems hold potential for supporting leaders' learning and sense of accountability for instructional excellence and student performance. Principal evaluation is also an…

High school improvement initiatives often focus on specific intervention strategies, programs, or priority topics (e.g., dropout intervention). However, research shows that systemic and sustainable improvement can only be achieved when initiatives are implemented with consideration for the broader education contexts in which they operate. The…

An important feature of professional development school (PDS) work is encouraging collaborative reflective dialogue that guides a partnership toward actualizing the possibilities for and mission of a PDS. This article provides a case "illustration" of a fictitious, exemplary PDS and a "protocol" that in combination can be used…

In 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Early Learning Initiative (ELI) to improve the school readiness of Washington State's children through three main strategies: (1) development of high-quality, community-wide early learning initiatives in two communities; (2) enhancement of statewide systems that support early…

Books by education experts and speakers at national professional conferences have inspired many school leaders to initiate professional learning communities (PLCs). Sustaining them effectively to raise student achievement is another matter. How can one know whether a PLC is moving toward a desired outcome? Measuring effectiveness requires an…

This paper describes key issues in conducting impact evaluations of corporate eLearning and reports the results of a study that evaluated the impact (including return on investment) of an eLearning implementation by a large telecommunications company. The program was designed to "multi-skill" over 1,000 Customer Service Officers (CSOs)…

There are a number of problems posed by employee evaluation, and professional development often suffers from similar issues. Suppose employee evaluation and professional development were intertwined in a collaborative and evolving relationship, and both components were brought to bear on linking individual and company goals. The answer is the…

The Australian Professional Teaching Standards require pre-service teachers to complete a minimum number of days of professional experience in order to graduate. Problems can arise, however, when the evaluation of their professional experience against the Standards shifts from the providers of teacher education programmes to school-based…

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is seldom mentioned in the environmental education (EE) literature, but as demonstrated by the lack and poor quality of EE evaluations, is much needed. This article focuses on an online course, Applied Environmental Education Program Evaluation (AEEPE), which provides nonformal educators with an understanding of…

This is a study of the outcomes of the professional development initiative implemented in 1993 by the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). It attempts to answer the question of whether faculty participation in structured professional development activities results in significant improvements in teaching. The primary objective of the study was…

Needs and methods for the evaluation and development of higher education administrators are reviewed in this monograph. Three major reasons for evaluation are cited: external and internal pressure, improvement of performance of individual administrators, and improvement of performance of the institution. Different approaches to evaluation are…

Effective principals are those who boost academic achievement for all students, increase the effectiveness of their teaching staffs, and consistently take leadership actions shown to improve outcomes for students. Therefore principal evaluation systems should place 70% of their weight on the ability of principals to increase student achievement…

This report sets out to provide the National Remodelling Team (NRT) with comprehensive details on stakeholders' views about the second year of the remodelling programme. This report is divided into nine chapters: (1) Introduction; (2) outlines the aims of the evaluation and the methodology used; (3) describes the findings from the survey of local…

Assessment, particularly formative assessment, is critical to knowing how a student is performing academically and how best to support that student. Teachers, especially new teachers, need ongoing support in developing and using both summative and formative assessments as an integral part of their instructional practice. Written collaboratively by…

The National Remodelling Team (NRT) was established in April 2003 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and hosted within the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). The role of the NRT was to work with local education authorities (LEAs) to support schools in the implementation of the changes to teachers' contracts introduced by…