Effective teacher evaluation practices

A new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality analyzes six school systems that successfully strengthened their teacher evaluation systems in a way that improves teacher performance. The six systems — Dallas Independent School District, District of Columbia Public Schools, Denver Public Schools, Newark Public Schools, New Mexico, and Tennessee — differ somewhat in the details of their approach and the nature of their successes, but their teacher evaluation systems share certain features that the NCTQ considers strong practices:

• Multiple measures
• Student surveys (5 of 6 systems)
• Objective measures of student growth
• At least three rating categories
• Annual evaluations and observations for all teachers
• Professional development tied to evaluation
• Written feedback after each observation (5 of 6 systems)

Source: Putman, H., Ross, E., & Walsh, K. (2018). Making a difference: Six places where teacher evaluation systems are getting results. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality.