Four new reports from the Regional Education Laboratories (RELs) West, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic examine new multiple-measure teacher and leader evaluations across the nation. These reports are helping to build the literature base on the connections between educator effectiveness and evaluation.
In this study by REL West, Arizona teachers and principals in 10 volunteer pilot and partner districts reflect on their first year of implementing a multiple-measure teacher evaluation system. The study, conducted in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Education, describes challenges from the first year of implementation, teacher perceptions of the accuracy and usefulness of the piloted evaluation measures, and perceived changes in teachers’ instructional practices and in collaboration among teachers and administrators. The report identifies key issues for developers and implementers of new multi-measure teacher evaluation systems to consider.
Properties of the multiple measures in Arizona’s teacher evaluation model
This study by REL West investigates how well Arizona’s pilot teacher evaluation model differentiated between higher and lower performing teachers. The study also explores the relationships among the model’s component measures—classroom observations, stakeholder surveys, and student academic progress. The findings suggest that the model’s observation measure might be improved through further calibration and evaluator training and that aggregating observation ratings into a single composite score may not adequately represent teacher effectiveness. The study findings and methodology may also interest other state education agencies that are developing or implementing new multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems.
The utility of teacher and student surveys in principal evaluations: An empirical investigation
Do student and teacher surveys contribute relevant information on principal performance beyond existing evaluation measures? Using data from one midsize urban school district in the Midwest, REL Midwest investigated whether adding student and teacher survey measures to existing measures increased the power of a principal evaluation model to explain across-school variance in student achievement. The study found that two survey-based measures—classroom instructional environment and instructional leadership—contribute new information on the link between principals and student achievement. This information will help district superintendents, principals, and other district leaders understand the quality and utility of these surveys and make informed decisions on whether and how to include them in principal evaluations. The report also demonstrates a process for evaluating measures that are candidates for inclusion in evaluation models.
Does Pennsylvania’s tool for evaluating school leaders measure their effectiveness accurately?
A new study from REL Mid-Atlantic finds a mix of strengths and weaknesses in Pennsylvania’s Framework for Leadership tool, which rates school leaders in 19 leadership practices. This study uses data from the 2012-13 pilot evaluations to analyze three key properties of the tool: internal consistency, score variation, and concurrent validity. School leaders’ scores from different categories of leadership practices produced consistent assessments of their effectiveness. However, the scores were mostly high, regardless of whether the school leaders made large or small contributions to student achievement growth.
These findings suggest that the Framework for Leadership is based on a coherent definition of leadership quality, but that more evidence is needed on whether this tool can identify effective and ineffective school leaders.
And in case you missed it, be sure to check out these related, previously released REL products on educator evaluation:
- REL Northeast and Islands: How states use student learning objectives in teacher evaluation systems: A review of state websites
- REL Mid-Atlantic: Using alternative student growth measures for evaluating teacher performance: What the literature says
- REL Mid-Atlantic: Alternative student growth measures for teacher evaluation: Profiles of early adopting districts
- REL Mid-Atlantic: Professional practice, student surveys, and value-added: Multiple measures of teacher effectiveness in the Pittsburgh Public Schools
- REL Midwest: Comparing estimates of teacher value-added based on criterion- and norm-referenced tests referenced tests
