From the ECS State Policy Database: Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness - This policy database—updated weekly—is made possible by your state's fiscal support of the Education Commission of the States....

2012 State of the State Addresses: Governors' Top Education Issues PDF - This analysis highlights the education issues prioritized by governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C. in their 2012 state of the state addresses. The state leaders explained that increasing the quality and availability of education, from preschool through postsecondary, was essential to recovering from the recession, spurring economic growth, remaining competitive, and to the health and well-being of each state's citizens. Top issues include Finance (K-12 & Postsecondary), Teaching Quality, Postsecondary Affordability/Access, School Choice, Workforce Development, Early Learning (P-3), and Reading and Literacy....

Teacher Evaluator Training: Ensuring Quality Classroom Observers PDF - This paper addresses the subject of ensuring quality classroom evaluations of teachers through the use of trained observers. Specifically, the paper provides examples of local and state approaches to training the individuals responsible for observing and evaluating teachers. (Chris Leahy, ECS, March 2012)...

Teacher Tenure or Continuing Contract Laws PDF - More state legislatures are beginning to embed teacher performance evaluation in decisions to grant tenure or to explicitly state the terms of contracts. And an increasing number of states are distinguishing between renewal at the end of a teacher’s contract and dismissal during the term of a contract. This document updates ECS’ 50-state look at teacher tenure and continuing contract laws....

Teacher Evaluation: New Approaches for a New Decade PDF - Whether spurred by the hope of Race to the Top funds or the research showing that students in ineffective teachers’ classrooms do not make the academic gains of children taught by more effective educators, a number of states have enacted legislation in the last year to amend teacher evaluation policies. This ECS policy brief provides highlights of these new provisions....

The State of Teacher Evaluation Reform State Education Agency Capacity and the Implementation of New Teacher-Evaluation Systems - This paper offers an assessment of how early adopter states’ departments of education have undertaken the preparation and implementation of new evaluation systems. It also identifies challenges and lessons that can be used to guide future reform efforts in this area. This assessment of the activities of state departments of education is based on comparative case studies of six states: Colorado, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Tennessee. (Center for American Progress, November 2012)...

State of the States 2012: Teacher Effectiveness Policies - This brief is an update to the 2011 State Teacher Policy Yearbook that chronicled a sea change in policy across the United States regarding how teacher performance is evaluated—in particular which documented a marked increase in the number of states focusing on teacher effectiveness in the classroom and factoring student achievement into teacher evaluations. (NCTQ, October 2012)...

Overhauling Indiana Teacher Evaluation Systems: Examining Planning and Implementation Issues of School Districts - The 2011 Indiana General Assembly passed a bill that significantly changed the way Indiana teachers will be evaluated and compensated. This brief is the first of a two-part series exploring how that legislation is being implemented across Indiana school districts. It includes the results of a survey of superintendents. It also presents the features of quality evaluation plans and introduces essential elements of a planning process that ensures equitable, effective, and efficient plans for evaluating educators. (CEEP, Summer 2012)...

Teacher Evaluation in Tennessee: A Report on Year 1 Implementation - This report presents feedback from educators and stakeholders given to the TN Department of Education on the state's new teacher evaluation system, rolled out in the 2011-2012 school year. Responses are mixed and will be used by the department for continuous improvement. (Tennessee Department of Education, July 2012)...

Connecticut Guidelines for Educator Evaluation - The following educator evaluator guidelines provide direction to Connecticut school districts as they develop and adopt new systems of educator evaluation and support. These guidelines aim to ensure that districts have common and high expectations that educators are evaluated in a fair and consistent manner, and that employment decisions are based on fair, valid, reliable and useful indicators of a educator’s work. (Connecticut State Department of Education, June 2012)...

Focus on Teacher Reform Legislation in SREB States: Evaluation Policies - Of the 11 states and the District of Columbia that have won Race to the Top (RTTT) funding six are SREB states. Some SREB states modified their evaluation systems prior to RTTT and other SREB states restructured their systems with federal funding assistance. In total, in 2010 and 2011, legislatures in seven SREB states approved changes to their teacher evaluation systems. This reform looks at the changes. (Asenith Dixon, SREB, July 2011)...

State Council for Educator Effectiveness--Report and Recommendations - This report highlights the issues that the Council considers most critical in developing and launching a new performance evaluation system for educators in Colorado. (Colorado Department of Education, April 2011)...

2010 State Teacher Policy Yearbook: Blueprint for Change - As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized Blueprint for Change. Key policy areas such as teacher preparation, evaluation, tenure, dismissal and alternative certification are included in the blueprint. A reader has the option of selecting a state and downloading the individualized report and viewing the overall results for the nation. (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2010)...

The Final Stretch: An Analysis of the Race to the Top Round 2 Finalists - The National Council on Teacher Quality reviewed only the Great Teachers and Leaders section of each Race to the Top Round 2 finalist application. The authors offer their take on which states they think are a "go" (green light); in which instances they think the U.S. Department of Education should proceed with caution (yellow light); and in which cases the Department ought to put the brakes (red light) on a state proposal. (National Council on Teacher Quality, August 2010)...

2009 State Teacher Policy Yearbook - The National Council on Teacher Quality's third annual review of state laws, rules and regulations is a comprehensive analysis of the full range of each state's teacher policies, measured against a realistic blueprint for reform. The online Yearbook provides a road map to the Race to the Top, addressing key policy areas such as teacher preparation, evaluation, alternative certification and compensation. After viewing the findings, it is clear that states have a great deal of work to do in order to ensure that every child has an effective teacher. The Yearbook has been customized so that each state has its own report, with its own analyses and data. Users can download any of our 51 state reports.(National Council on Teacher Quality, 2009)...