Beyond Ratings

To date, most of the public
narrative and pushback on new teacher evaluation systems has centered around
their use for high-stakes personnel decisions such as pay, promotion, and
dismissal. But these systems were always intended to promote and support improvements
for all teachers—not just the superstars or laggards. Why is teacher
development still missing from the public narrative on—and most teachers’ daily
experience of—evaluation?

In a new report, “Beyond
Ratings: Re-envisioning State Teacher Evaluation Systems as Tools for
Professional Growth,” New America digs deeper into this question.
Building from the National Council on Teacher Quality’s recent finding that 31
states require evaluation to inform teacher development, the report
authors examine these states’ efforts to help local education agencies (LEAs)
make good on that policy. The authors identify three key strategies—including
two-way communication, data-driven support, and ongoing monitoring—that states
must employ in order to move further towards this goal.

“To date, evaluation’s
connection to professional development has been overlooked by many states,
including those with policies requiring that such a link be made at the
local level,” Kaylan Connally explains. “But this connection is more critical
now than ever before, as most states have adopted more rigorous academic
standards which will require many teachers to make substantive shifts in their
practice,” Melissa Tooley, the report’s co-author asserts.

Beyond Ratings provides insights into what states are currently doing to help
LEAs connect evaluation and support, and explores the work of four—Colorado,
Delaware, Louisiana, and Tennessee—in depth to share promising practices and
lessons learned. Based on this research, the report makes several
recommendations for how states can use evaluation systems to better support
teacher growth—whether through policy requirements that encourage accurate,
frequent feedback or through the communication, support, and monitoring of
these policies. Though the authors acknowledge that states’ spheres of
influence and capacity will vary, they encourage states to select and tailor
those recommendations that are likely to have the highest impact for their
context.

“States, local education
agencies, and schools must work together to ensure that teachers receive
accurate, frequent, targeted feedback and suggestions for how to grow their
practice,” says Kaylan Connally. “By moving beyond ratings for personnel
decisions and toward meaningful feedback for ongoing teacher growth, we can
help ensure that all teachers—and their students—succeed,” adds Melissa Tooley.

Learn more about this work by reading the Beyond Ratings executive summary or the full policy paper.