Set in a collective bargaining state in the Northeastern U.S., this exploratory case study investigated how a sample of 12 public school principals interpreted new teacher evaluation processes required by Race to the Top (RTTT). Principals reported that the RTTT evaluation system disrupted established routines and contractual guidelines for…

President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are promoting an early learning initiative focusing on the agenda of every four year old having equal access to high-quality early learning environments (Administration for Children and Families, 2013). One way the Federal government is supporting this proposal is through a grant;…

Responding to federal policy and recent research, states and districts have developed and begun implementing multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems. These systems generally include observational and/or student survey measures of instructional quality alongside measures of teachers' contributions to student learning (e.g., value-added models…

Educational reform in the past decade has placed a very strong emphasis on teacher accountability and student achievement. This change in focus has caused a thorough reexamination of how teacher quality and effectiveness are defined in the field, and has triggered a reform of the teacher evaluation process. As a result, generic, all-encompassing…

This brief provides a snapshot of the rules governing classroom observations used in teacher evaluations in selected Race to the Top grantees. The information was collected in response to a technical assistance request to the Reform Support Network (RSN) from Georgia, where education leaders charged with designing that State's teacher evaluation…

Evaluating teachers--whether casually or more rigorously, annually or less frequently--has long been part of the job description of many a principal and assistant principal, who often have relied on occasional observations to make their judgments. What has usually resulted are an overwhelming number of "satisfactory" ratings and the…

Context: In the past two years, states have implemented sweeping reforms to their teacher evaluation systems in response to Race to the Top legislation and, more recently, NCLB waivers. With these new systems, policymakers hope to make teacher evaluation both more rigorous and more grounded in specific job performance domains such as teaching…

Background/Context: Blended learning--a learning model in which online learning is combined with faceto- face instruction to provide a more personalized learning experience for students--has shown enormous growth in recent years. Though many policymakers and educators are optimistic about the potential of blended learning to provide the type of…

This brief describes the extent to which states required teacher evaluation policies aligned with the Race to the Top (RTT) initiative as of spring 2012. Although teacher evaluation policies appear to be rapidly evolving, documenting policy requirements in the early years of RTT implementation can help inform policymakers about the pace of policy…

North Carolina's Race to the Top (RttT) grant earmarked approximately $17.5 million to "increase the number of principals qualified to lead transformational change in low-performing schools in both rural and urban areas" (NCDPI, 2010, p.10). To accomplish this, the state established three Regional Leadership Academies (RLAs)…

With teacher evaluation a nationwide concern these days, the race is on to determine the best way to track music educators' progress. For politicians and for the public, it boils down to this: Get the lousy teachers out so the kids can score well on standardized tests. An oversimplification, perhaps, but it goes a long way toward explaining why…

Teacher observation and teacher evaluation are a given in American schools, and Charlotte Danielson's work in teacher effectiveness and professional practice has guided evaluation efforts for many years. There is a new, big kid in town, however. As Race to the Top requires documentation of student growth, and research shows that teacher…

This study reports on performance-based teacher evaluation systems in five states that have implemented such systems. It investigates two primary research questions: (1) What are the key characteristics of state-level performance-based teacher evaluation systems in the study states?; and (2) How do state teacher evaluation measures, the teaching…

Kindergarten students (N = 95) in three schools and seven classrooms were observed for on-task versus off-task behavior during three literacy instruction opportunities; small group instruction, whole group instruction and the less structured library setting over the 2011-2012 school year. Students' early literacy skills were assessed before and…

Principals are in a paradoxical position. On one hand, they're called on to use research-based strategies to improve student achievement. On the other, they're increasingly required to micromanage teachers by observing in classrooms and engaging in intensive evaluation. The authors point out that these two positions are at odds with each other. In…