Recently, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a list of recommendations for states and local education agencies to use as a guide for designing and reforming teacher support and evaluation systems. The recently passed ESSA removes the federal waiver requirement for teacher evaluations, but most states have remained committed. And CCSSO’s guiding principles offer a solid foundation on which state and local authorities can refine their evaluation structures and teacher support systems to ensure a “productive balance” between support and accountability.
CCSSO worked alongside teachers, principals, state chiefs, expert researchers, and partner organizations to develop three key principles. The first highlights the importance of integrating teacher support and evaluation into more comprehensive efforts to develop teaching practice and improve student learning. This includes regularly communicating the purpose of evaluation and support systems; building systems that are based on clearly articulated standards for effective practice; connecting evaluation and support to talent management and using results to inform decisions related to career advancement, leadership opportunities, and tenure; aligning teacher support and evaluation to student standards, curricula, and assessment; and clarifying the roles and responsibilities of states, districts, and schools. States play the largest role in making the system work because, according to CCSSO, they are responsible for establishing underlying standards, vetting tools and resources to support local implementation, and collecting and analyzing meaningful data.
The second principle emphasizes the need for continuous improvement of teaching practice—not just integrating support initially, but doing so on a regular, consistent basis. To ensure continuous improvement, CCSSO recommends that teachers consistently receive frequent, action-oriented feedback directly connected to professional learning resources, as well as the chance to demonstrate growth over time based on feedback. States and districts can aid growth by creating structures for teachers to work in collaborative teams with peers and leaders—and by reallocating time and staff to create more effective professional development. Support should be differentiated and tailored based on what individual teachers need in order to best serve their students. School leaders must also be given the chance to build their skills through training and resources, with the end goal being constructive feedback to teachers.
The third and final principle is to ensure that the system is fair, credible, and transparent. To accomplish this, educators must be involved in the development and continuous improvement of the system. CCSSO advises that systems utilize multiple high-quality and reliable measures, including evidence of student learning and observation of teaching practice. These measures, however, must be balanced with professional judgment when assigning teachers summative ratings. States must also regularly examine data quality, system design, implementation, and other types of information—such as attendance, graduation rates, and disciplinary data—to ensure that results correlate with other important outcomes.
Overall, this is a solid list of recommendations for making teacher evaluation and support systems meaningful for all stakeholders. States looking to revise their evaluation policies would be wise to pay attention.
SOURCE: “Principles for Teacher Support and Evaluation Systems,” Council of Chief State School Officers (March 2016).
