This report provides our findings on how district and state leaders can improve feedback and support for teachers. Based on interviews with five school districts spanning urban, suburban and rural areas, we identified five essential practices: (1) Promoting a culture...
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Classroom observations give teachers the opportunity to receive meaningful and direct feedback about their practice. But many observers still struggle to give teachers the kind of feedback that would help them improve instruction. In this publication we summarize research, lessons...
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Classroom observations are an essential component of all rigorous teacher evaluation systems. But in far too many schools, observations are treated as a compliance exercise rather than an opportunity to improve teacher practices. In this brief, we provide state and...
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Students recognize effective teaching when they experience it, and they spend more time observing their teachers than anyone else. But only a handful of states and districts use student surveys in educator evaluations, mostly because of opposition from teachers and...
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Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) are a way to measure student growth and reinforce effective teaching practices, but they can also be resource-intensive and challenging to implement. In this brief, we explain how state and district leaders can overcome these challenges...
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Evaluation and support are intended to complement one another: Evaluation measures help teachers identify their strengths and areas for improvement, while support and professional learning help teachers improve their instruction. In this brief we explain how state and district leaders...
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Communications and engagement can make or break a new evaluation and support system. Even a well-designed system will falter if teachers don’t understand it or if they believe it was created without their input. In this brief we explain how...
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Student achievement data can be used to help states and districts improve instruction, design professional development opportunities, and assess the quality of teacher preparation programs, resulting in more effective educators. In this brief we lay out the key decision points...
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In April 2015 we worked with the Reform Support Network to bring together leaders from Delaware, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee to discuss strategies for advancing new educator compensation systems. The meeting highlighted the work of Tennessee and featured presentations...
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With its emphasis on content aligned to the actual expectations of colleges and employers, the Common Core State Standards can provide a foundational strategy for boosting student success. But success with the standards also requires that school, district and state...
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