Classroom Observations Biased Against Male, Black Teachers, Research Suggests

Recently in The 74, Kevin Mahnken reviewed a study out of Tennessee that shows that classroom observations, utilized for teacher effectiveness determinations, show evidence of racial and gender bias against male and Black teachers. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Significant bias has contributed to lower classroom observation scores for thousands of teachers in Tennessee Read more about Classroom Observations Biased Against Male, Black Teachers, Research Suggests[…]

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Using Transcription Analysis to Replace Traditional Classroom Observations

Writing for Fordham’s Flypaper, Amber Northern recently reviewed a new initiative that uses transcript analysis to promote teacher professional learning. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Traditional classroom observations are time and labor intensive, as they are meant to capture the many nuances of student-teacher interactions and thereby inform future practice. A recent paper from Read more about Using Transcription Analysis to Replace Traditional Classroom Observations[…]

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Teacher Improvement during the First Ten Years

A recent study from Brown University’s Matthew A. Kraft and John P. Papay and Harvard’s Olivia L. Chi uses nine years of administrative data from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina to examine teacher improvement through the lens of principal evaluations. Although teachers were evaluated on eight domains (e.g., Management of Instructional Time, Management of Student Read more about Teacher Improvement during the First Ten Years[…]

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Appraising Teachers Across the Globe: Where the U.S. Stands

Writing for FutureEd, Andreas Schleicher reviews the findings of the second volume of the  Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Excerpts of the piece appear below. TALIS, which surveyed 260,000 secondary school teachers and administrators worldwide, found that only 7 percent of teachers work in schools Read more about Appraising Teachers Across the Globe: Where the U.S. Stands[…]

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D.C. Continues to Improve its Teacher Evaluation System

Amber Northern, writing for the Fordham Institute, recently explored research on the latest iteration of the District of Columbia’s teacher evaluation system and found that continuous, thoughtful changes to the system have resulted in sustained improvements in teacher effectiveness in the city. Excerpts of the piece appear below: In their recent report, researchers Tom Dee, Read more about D.C. Continues to Improve its Teacher Evaluation System[…]

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Few States Consider Prior Job Performance When Licensing Out-of-State Teachers

New data from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) reveal that the majority of states (35) do not ask for evidence of prior successful teaching for those teachers coming from out of state who are applying for a teaching license-in spite of imposing many demands covering a host of other factors. As important, there Read more about Few States Consider Prior Job Performance When Licensing Out-of-State Teachers[…]

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States Retreat from their Own Attempts to Overhaul Educator Evaluation

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released a new report, NCTQ State of the States 2019: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policy, which documents policy reversals related to evaluation systems for both teachers and principals. Since the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a large number of states have backed away Read more about States Retreat from their Own Attempts to Overhaul Educator Evaluation[…]

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Mentoring a Student Teacher may Boost your Evaluation Scores

Writing for the Annenberg Institute at Brown University’s working paper series, researchers Matthew Ronfeldt, Emanuele Bardelli, Stacey Brockman and Hannah Mullman explore the effects of hosting a student teacher on cooperating teachers’ evaluation scores. Growing evidence suggests that preservice candidates receive better coaching and are more instructionally effective when they are mentored by more instructionally Read more about Mentoring a Student Teacher may Boost your Evaluation Scores[…]

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Race and Gender Differences in Teacher Evaluation Ratings

Over the past decade, Michigan has made changes to a number of laws related to teachers and teaching in the state’s public school system. These changes include new requirements for teacher evaluation, and the use of teacher performance ratings for decisions such as teacher tenure, dismissal and retention. Since 2011, state law has required local Read more about Race and Gender Differences in Teacher Evaluation Ratings[…]

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Rethinking the way we Coach, Evaluate, and Appreciate Teachers

Over five decades as a teacher, central office administrator, principal, leadership coach, and research reader, Kim Marshall has honed a system for  supervising, coaching, and evaluating teachers. Here are the key elements: Short, frequent, unannounced classroom visits—at least ten a year for each teacher—replacing traditional formal observations; A humble, curious, low-tech approach to visits: observing Read more about Rethinking the way we Coach, Evaluate, and Appreciate Teachers[…]

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Strong Teacher Evaluation Systems Go Hand-in-Hand With Improved Teacher Quality

Analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds tangible evidence that teacher evaluation systems, when implemented well, are coinciding with real and measurable benefits for students and teachers alike. The past decade has been marked by rapid changes in teacher evaluations. While many districts and states announced their intention to install better systems, Read more about Strong Teacher Evaluation Systems Go Hand-in-Hand With Improved Teacher Quality[…]

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In 29 States, Teachers Cannot be Dismissed due to Ineffectiveness

New analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) finds that a majority of states fail to specify teacher ineffectiveness as an explicit reason to dismiss a teacher. In Walking the Tightrope: Teacher Effectiveness and Personnel Policies, NCTQ examines if states are achieving an appropriate balance of interests between teachers and students when it Read more about In 29 States, Teachers Cannot be Dismissed due to Ineffectiveness[…]

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The Full Measure of Teacher Effectiveness

In Education Next, researcher C. Kirabo Jackson explores the results of an important study that reveals that a teacher’s effects on student behavior are more predictive than their effects on test scores — and that the teachers who are most successful in raising test scores are not the same teachers who are most successful in Read more about The Full Measure of Teacher Effectiveness[…]

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CAEP: A Bold Set of Teacher Preparation Standards Faces Challenges

Recently in Education Week, Madeline Will wrote about the challenges that the CAEP standards have faced in the past five years and the goal of strengthening teacher preparation. Excerpts of the piece appear below: The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, which was created by a 2010 merger between two national accrediting bodies, officially Read more about CAEP: A Bold Set of Teacher Preparation Standards Faces Challenges[…]

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Teacher Perceptions of Feedback and Evaluation Systems; Findings from the American Teacher Panel

In recent years, state and local education leaders across the United States have revised their teacher evaluation policies and practices in an effort to enhance the quality of evaluation measures and improve instructional practices. These teacher evaluations are often based on multiple measures of performance, including classroom observations, indicators of teachers’ contributions to their students’ Read more about Teacher Perceptions of Feedback and Evaluation Systems; Findings from the American Teacher Panel[…]

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A Policymaker’s Playbook for Transforming Teaching

District of Columbia Public Schools has been a source of some sensational headlines over the past decade, from an on-camera firing of a school principal to recent revelations of watered-down diplomas. But the school district arguably has done more to modernize public school teaching than any other in the nation. It is powerful work, yielding Read more about A Policymaker’s Playbook for Transforming Teaching[…]

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