Technical Assistance Toolbox: Tools to Support Systemic Change Along the Educator Career Continuum

Techical Assistance Toolbox Preparation

Evaluation Overview

Preparation Recruitment, Hiring, & Retention Mentoring & Induction Professional Development Compensation Evaluation Leadership Home

A high-quality educator evaluation system can help schools and districts identify effective teachers and leaders, which research shows is the most important school-based factor that affects student achievement. As nationwide policy trends move toward identifying, supporting, and rewarding highly effective teachers, schools, districts, and states have started to recognize the importance of having a rigorous and comprehensive teacher evaluation system. Because teaching is a complex profession, designing an evaluation system that addresses this complexity is important. To capture a complete picture of a teacher's contributions to student learning, rigorous evaluation systems should:

  • Be developed with teachers and other stakeholders.
  • Establish a set of high and consistent expectations.
  • Measure teacher and student growth.
  • Use multiple measures to determine teacher performance.
  • Provide meaningful feedback.
  • Provide multiple opportunities for teachers to grow in their profession.
  • Provide structured support to teachers.

Interactive Online Tools

The TQ Center designed three interactive, online tools that provide planning guides, examples of evaluation practices, and links to resources related to the components necessary for designing and implementing high-quality educator evaluation systems.

Policy-to-Practice Brief

This TQ Center Policy-to-Practice Brief introduces five ideas for alternative measures to teacher performance, beyond classroom observations. As states look to overhaul their evaluation systems using multiple measures of performance, this brief provides examples and considerations for policymakers.

Research & Policy Brief

The following TQ Center Research & Policy Briefs examine specific areas of concern for states and districts considering revising their educator evaluation systems.

Tips & Tools Key Issues

Key Issues provide research-based strategies regarding a variety of issues related to measures of educator effectiveness. Each of the following Key Issues includes a summary of the research that identifies key areas of concern, as well as links to real-world strategies that the states and districts currently implement to address the topics.

The TQ Center has developed a significant number of resources related to teacher evaluation in the past six years. For a more comprehensive list, visit: http://resource.tqsource.org/Search/tqResources.aspx.

The Need:

The TQ Center recognized a need to share research regarding educator evaluation best practices, as well as bring together key stakeholders to discuss designing and implementing new evaluation systems.

Our Response:

The TQ Center hosted several webcasts and workshops to address the need for information dissemination.

The Need:

The Southwest Comprehensive Center and the New England Comprehensive Center approached the TQ Center for assistance developing a regional work group to discuss educator evaluation issues with their respective states.

Our Response:

The TQ Center provided resources and presented at several regional working group meetings.

The Need:

The Alaska Comprehensive Center approached the TQ Center for support in designing an educator evaluation system that meets Alaska's specific needs.

Our Response:

The TQ Center provided research, resources, and content area experts to help design a "frontier" model of teacher evaluation to support the needs of rural states and districts.

The TQ Center supports Regional Comprehensive Centers (RRCs) through explicit technical assistance efforts; in addition, the TQ Center can provide assistance in Evaluation by:

  • Working collaboratively with RCC and state education agency (SEA) teams to utilize existing tools and resources.

  • Providing technical expertise and support for ongoing webinars for RCC and SEA teacher effectiveness working groups.

  • Identifying challenges and solutions regarding student growth for the evaluation of special education teachers.

  • Identifying challenges and solutions for the evaluation of teachers of English language learners.

  • Collaborating to develop policies and practices to create and implement quality systems that support teacher effectiveness.

  • Providing information about federal requirements and opportunities for the support of teacher effectiveness.

Learn more about how Evaluation affects Mentoring & Induction, Professional Development, Compensation, and Leadership.

Techical Assistance Toolbox Professional Development Mentoring & Induction Compensation Leadership

Teacher evaluation is an essential component to a systemic approach to improving teacher effectiveness and the equitable distribution of effective teachers. Evaluation works in collaboration with three other components of the educator career continuum: professional development, compensation, and leadership.

Evaluation can link to mentoring and induction—teachers identified as highly effective can serve as mentors and coaches for a school or district mentoring and induction program. Learn more about how the TQ Center supports mentoring and induction activities.

In a comprehensive teacher evaluation system, results from evaluation should align with targeted, job-embedded professional development. Learn more about how the TQ Center supports professional development activities.

Data collected from evaluation systems should be used to help make decisions about teachers, including compensation for performance and differentiated roles, as well as providing opportunities for teacher leadership in the school. Learn more about how the TQ Center supports compensation and leadership activities.

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Phone: 877-322-8700
E-Mail: tqcenter@air.org

Addresses:

Chicago, Illinois Office:
20 North Wacker Drive
Suite 1231
Chicago, IL 60606-2901

Naperville, Illinois Office:
1120 East Diehl Road
Suite 200
Naperville, IL 60563

Washington, D.C., Office:
1000 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, DC 20007-3835

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