Teacher Evaluation

The Issue

Teacher evaluation systems across the country are undergoing dramatic changes largely due to federal policy influences including President Obama’s Race to the Top program and the conditions for states to receive waivers from certain provisions under the No Child Left Behind Act. Since principals are primarily responsible for observing and evaluating teachers, teacher evaluation is the most pressing issue for principals as of November 2012, according to a sample survey of 32 NASSP StateCoordinators (active principals or assistant principals who serve as the state’s federal advocacy liaison for NASSP).

Reports from NASSP State Coordinators on teacher evaluation, November 2012

  • As the top issue on State Coordinators’ minds, changes in teacher evaluation systems are of great interest but also anxiety. The biggest concern is the significantly increased time demands that come with new systems, including a few states that require every teacher to be evaluated every year, which is especially difficult in large high schools.
  • There seems to be either a lack of understanding or a disregard for the many other responsibilities of principals that make this increased time demand very daunting.
  • One state requires all districts to use a certain model but to apply it to all staff in the building, when it is only designed to be an evaluation tool for classroom teachers, not nurses, guidance counselors, and other school personnel.
  • Student achievement counts for up to 50% of a teacher’s evaluation in many of the revised systems.
  • Many states are in their second year of implementation, and the results are still out on the overall impact of these new systems.

NASSP Recommendations:

From NASSP’s position statement on Teacher Supervision and Evaluation, adopted February 2011:

  • Congress should establish within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) a federal definition for a “highly effective teacher” that includes criteria, such as but not limited to knowledge of subject matter; skill in planning, delivering, monitoring, and assessing students’ learning; skill in developing and maintaining positive relationships with students, parents, and colleagues; knowledge and skill in pedagogical methods to meet the needs of students with an array of learning styles and needs; and commitment to students’ learning to their utmost potential. Examples of outcome criteria that are also appropriate and necessary are students’ individual growth and progress as measured on valid and reliable standardized instruments, teacher-made tests that are aligned with the curriculum, student performance demonstrations in a variety of media, and portfolios of student work.
  • The U.S. Department of Education should support ongoing research to establish the validity and reliability of comprehensive teacher evaluation programs, further examine the efficacy of value added models of teacher evaluation, and support adequate training and professional development of evaluators to insure fidelity of implementation of evaluation models found to be effective in improving teaching and learning.

Additional recommendation:

  • Congress should integrate within ESEA language from an NASSP-supported bill to improve teacher and principal evaluation and professional development: S. 1674, The Effective Teaching and Leading Act, reintroduced by Sen. Reed (D-RI) in the 112th Congress. This bill would:

- amend Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to provide targeted assistance to schools to develop and support effective teachers, principals, school leaders, and librarians.

-Funds would also go toward developing teacher and principal evaluation systems with components that align with NASSP’s recommended indicators of teacher and principal effectiveness, such as multiple measures of student performance, including growth in student achievement.

-These evaluations would provide individual feedback to improve practice and allow for distinct ratings of teacher and principal performance.

Take Action!

1)Learn: Read more about NASSP’s summary and recommendations around teacher supervision and evaluation from our February 2011 position statement.

2)Act: Find the contact information of your Representative here and you Senators here. Ask to speak to the staff person who handles education, and, using the NASSP recommendations on this fact sheet as talking points, express:

  • Support for the teacher evaluation provisions in the Senate bill to reauthorize ESEA. This bill does not require states or districts to develop evaluations based on a certain set of criteria, and focuses on student growth and using multiple measures of performance. See NASSP’s blog and position on it here.
  • Support for the Effective Teaching and Leading Act, introduced in the 112th Congress by Sen. Reed (D-RI) as a stand-alone bill and to be integrated into a reauthorized ESEA. Read more about the bill here.
  • Opposition to the teacher evaluation provision in the House bill to reauthorize ESEA. This bill makes optional a statewide teacher evaluation system but requires a district-level evaluation system that must use student achievement data as a “significant factor” (i.e. presumably over 50%) accompanied by other multiple measures in determining a teacher’s evaluation. See NASSP’s blog and position on it here.

3)Share: Forward this fact sheet to at least one other colleague working in education and urge them to take action and share with their network too.