The National Education Association’s (NEA) president, Dennis Van Roekel, recently announced a new action agenda for the nation’s largest teachers union. The plan aims to further the union’s goals of transforming the teaching profession and accelerating student learning, and utilizes proven best practices from teachers across the country. The three major strategies are: 1. Raising Read more about NEA President Announces Three-Part Action Agenda[…]
A report on a study of Chicago’s Pilot Teacher evaluation system was released last month by the Consortium on Chicago School Research. In 2008, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) launched the Excellence in Teaching Pilot (ETP), aimed at revamping the teacher evaluation system. The pilot was motivated by two factors: the current evaluation system had no Read more about Rethinking Teacher Evaluation: Chicago’s Experiment[…]
John Tyler of the Center for American Progress released a report last month focused on the challenges of developing evaluation systems for high school teachers, and possible solutions. Tyler believes that special attention should be paid to high school educators for three reasons: 1) high school student performance lags behind performance of students with similar Read more about Designing High Quality Evaluation Systems for High School Teachers[…]
When Tennessee was one of the first winners named in the federal Race to the Top competition, Secretary Arne Duncan praised the state’s officials for having “the courage, capacity and commitment to turn their ideas into practice that can improve outcomes for students.” Now, it appears that commendation was premature. The new teacher evaluation system, Read more about RTT Winner Tennessee Realizes You Can’t Jump Without Looking First[…]
A new teacher evaluation law in Indiana is causing concern among prospective and certified teachers. The new evaluation system includes measures of student performance that carry significant weight in the overall evaluation structure. Teachers who formerly welcomed student-teachers into their classrooms are now hesitant to do so. “They’re saying, ‘We’re not having a student teacher Read more about New Evaluations Systems May Threaten Student-Teaching Programs[…]
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its report State of the States: Trends and Early Lessons on Teacher Evaluation and Effectiveness Policies late last month that offers a closer look at what is being done across the nation with regard to teacher assessments. While admitting that it is too early to assess which Read more about State of the States: Teacher Evaluation & Effectiveness Policies[…]
This month, twenty-five education advocacy organizations released a “statement of principles” addressed to Sens. Harkin and Enzi and Reps. Kline and Miller. The statement focused on the role of teacher quality in the reauthorization of ESEA and urged the congressmen to “make every effort possible to spur states and school districts to advance new policies Read more about Education Advocates Release “Statement of Principles” on ESEA Reauthorization[…]
The continuing discussion on teacher evaluations has led many to ask how to go about evaluating teachers in non-tested subjects. Some states have chosen to instead rely heavily on classroom observations; however, a new strategy has evolved that would include a “student learning objectives” (SLO) component. SLOs are “carefully planned goals for what a student Read more about Teacher Evaluations for Non-Tested Subjects: SLOs[…]
The time of reckoning has arrived: winners of the Race to the Top competition have entered the season where they must make good on their promises to link teacher evaluation with student performance. This process is not easy, given the volatile debates that are taking place nation-wide surrounding this issue. There are several other hurdles Read more about Race to the Top Winners Feel Heat on Teacher Evaluations[…]
DCPS officials are moving to change the most controversial reform of former Chancellor Michelle Rhee: teacher evaluation. The IMPACT evaluation system requires that teachers be observed five times per year (three times by a school administrator and twice by a “master teacher”) and rated on a scale of 1 to 4; however that is changing Read more about DCPS to Change Teacher Evaluation Tool[…]
The Department of Education has invited states and schools who were awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG) to take some extra time to figure out the most crucial component: teacher evaluation. All of the schools and states eligible for the waiver are using the most popular, and arguably least rigorous, “transformational model” of school turnaround Read more about SIG Schools Get Extra Time for Teacher Evaluation Systems[…]
In an op-ed piece that appeared in the August 28 issue of the New York Daily News, well-known education scholar and author (and self-identified union critic) Frederick M. Hess blasted the recent decision by the New York state appellate court that will allow New York City to release student achievement data disaggregated on a teacher-by-teacher Read more about Keep the Teacher Data Private[…]
The Teachers of the Washington New Millennium Initiative, an institute part of the Center for Teaching Quality, released a report this week focusing on how to create a results-oriented teaching profession. The group’s recommendations are: 1. A two-tiered assessment system with improved national- and state-level standardized tests. Student assessments must be changed to evaluate their Read more about How Better Teacher & Student Assessment Can Power Up Learning[…]
A recent study authored by Will Dobbie of Harvard University suggests that teacher success can be predicted at the time of hire. For his study, Dobbie looked at Teach For America’s (TFA) admissions measures to see if they can predict teachers’ future impact on student achievement. TFA bases their selection of candidates on several criteria Read more about Predicting Teacher Success[…]
Recently the nation’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association, changed their position on including student performance in teacher evaluations. In passing the new policy, the union hopes to take a leadership role in the national movement towards revamped teacher evaluation methods. However, the union also made it clear that it continues to oppose the Read more about NEA Shifts Position on Teacher Evaluations[…]
On Friday the new IMPACT teacher evaluation results were announced by D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. All told, 413 DCPS teachers and staff have been given separation notices, but not all of the firings were directly related to IMPACT. The controversial evaluation system identified 288 DCPS teachers and staff who did not meet expectations; Read more about D.C.’s IMPACT: Round 2[…]