Classroom observations have been increasingly used for teacher evaluations, and it is important to examine the measurement quality and the use of observation ratings. When a teacher is observed in multiple classrooms, his or her observation ratings may vary across classrooms. In that case, using ratings from one classroom per teacher may not be…

Recent research on multiple measures of teaching effectiveness has redefined the role of in-classroom observations in teacher evaluation systems. In particular, most states now mandate that teachers are observed on multiple occasions during the school year, and it is increasingly common that multiple raters are utilized across the different rating…

The authors argue that the criticisms of their earlier article on teacher logs ("Educational Researcher," March 2009) by Smagorinsky and Willis do not address, much less undermine, the evidence they presented as part of their validation argument about the teacher logs. Moreover, they argue that their method for studying classrooms is not nearly as…

Strengthening Pre-collegiate Education in Community Colleges (SPECC) is a multi-site action-research project, focused on teaching and learning in pre-collegiate mathematics and English language arts courses at 11 California community colleges. In this report, the author discusses the data gathered over the course of the SPECC project and reflects…

The 4Rs Program (Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution) is a "dual focus" whole school universal intervention designed to promote literacy development and social-emotional learning, that is currently being rigorously evaluated using a school-randomized trial of 18 elementary schools (9 intervention, 9 control) in New York City. The…

This paper examines evidence on the "systemic effects" of expanding school choice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Milwaukee is home to one of the nation's largest and longest-running school choice programs. If there are systemic effects from expanding school choice we should be able to see them in Milwaukee. This paper also introduces a novel…

The monograph is a complete outline for a program designed to help English departments institute logical and fair procedures for grading student essays. The contents in this monograph include "Factors in Judgments of Writing Ability,""The Effect of Bias,""Measuring Improvement in Writing,""Personal vs Staff Grading,""Standard Scores for Test…

Classroom assessment procedures of 36 teachers in grades 2 to 12 from the same suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest were studied to determine the extent to which they measure higher order thinking skills of students in mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts. Gathering information from teachers involved four steps: (1)…

Designed to contribute to the growing effort to teach critical thinking skills, this guide provides teachers with (1) a simple, usable set of definitions for recall, analysis, comparison, inference, and evaluation; (2) brief explanations of three common forms of classroom assessment (oral questioning during instruction, paper and pencil objective…

To refocus its professional development plan, Chaska Middle School East (Minnesota) looked at where student achievement was lagging. Using the Killion back-mapping model, a student-focused, data-driven, multi-step process by which teachers gather and study student data to determine where professional growth, development, or training is most…

This report, the third in a series of six, evaluates the 10 school districts that received grants from the California Department of Education to develop Level II Model Technology School (MTS) Projects intended to enhance instruction and student learning through a combination of curriculum improvement and integration of technology within a single…

This report describes the fifth in a series of investigations of the nature, role, and quality of teacher-developed classroom assessments. The purpose of this research program is to provide a clear picture of the assessment demands of the classroom so teacher educators can plan assessment training that is relevant to teachers' needs. The purpose…