Your breakthrough approach to top-notch teacher evaluations! This hands-on professional development guide explores the critical ingredients of communication and trust for success in the new age of teacher evaluation systems. Recognized expert Shelly Arneson provides concrete, proactive strategies to help school leaders: Create and sustain a supportive, honest, and collaborative school culture Foster effective communication and build teacher-principal trust Conduct evidence-based observations and evaluations Hold effective follow-up conversations that nurture teacher growth Promote teacher self-assessment and reflection Includes absorbing real world vignettes, reflection questions, and ample modeling examples for quick success. Before heading into an observation or post-observation conference you’ll find quick nuggets of wisdom you can reference again and again. Use this informative guide to transform the teacher evaluation process today! " An absolute essential for any bookshelf of the novice or seasoned administrator. . . . Really hits home on how trust is essential for effective evaluations. . . . The book covers all angles of why trust and evaluations go hand in hand." —Jason Eitner, Superintendent The Lower Alloways Creek School District, Canton Salem, NJ "In order for student growth to make a positive impact you, as the instructional leader, need to make a positive impact with your teachers; this starts with trust and building a better teacher via evaluations. This book will lead you in that direction!" —Elizabeth Alvarez, Principal John C. Dore Elementary School, Chicago, IL

Making Teacher Evaluation Work is a resource for teachers and evaluators to read together, filling a much-needed role by providing valuable information about every step of the evaluation process. Rachael Gabriel and Sarah Woulfin walk you through the entire process from policy to practice, offering context and strategies with the goal of improving the teacher evaluation process for everyone involved and support student literacy learning.

In too many districts, evaluation of teachers ensures competence but does little or nothing to encourage and support expertise. In this thought-provoking and groundbreaking book, Tony Frontier and Paul Mielke address this issue head-on, combining the conceptual and the practical by offering a compelling vision of teacher growth, along with nearly three dozen step-by-step protocols for working with teachers. They present a powerful rationale for reconceptualizing teacher evaluation by creating a balanced system of three equally important components: * Reliable and valid evaluation. * Empowering and focused supervision. * Meaningful and purposeful reflection. Each component is discussed in terms of its purpose, premise, processes, practices, and payoffs. Revealing examples based on the authors’ experiences in classrooms across the country show what evaluation, supervision, and reflection look like when they’re not done well--and what they could look like if done more effectively. Providing insight and inspiration, Making Teachers Better, Not Bitter paves a clear path to better teaching and helps you acknowledge and support the hard work that teachers do every day to make learning come alive for their students.

This is the first book to pull together what we have learned about the impacts and challenges of data-intensive teacher evaluation systemsa defining characteristic of the current education policy landscape. Expert researchers and practitioners speak to what we know (and what remains to be known) about evaluation measures themselves, the implementation of evaluation systems, and the use of evaluation data. The authors argue that rigorous teacher evaluation systems have the potential to promote school improvement but only if the systems are carefully designed and implemented and the data they generate are interpreted and used appropriately. This timely and important volume will be relevant and useful to school and district administrators, policymakers, researchers, and teacher education institutions grappling with issues of teacher accountability and school leadership.

A proven method for working with teachers to design better evaluations There is no magic formula for successfully designing a teacher evaluation system. However there is abundant evidence that suggests involving teachers in the process will reduce the likelihood of opposition, gridlock, and reform failure. Everyone at the Table provides materials to genuinely engage teachers in the evaluation process. The book is a research-based and field-tested practical guide for school leaders. With this resource, educators will have the tools they need to develop meaningful teacher evaluations. Offers a collaborative approach to designing teacher evaluations Includes a companion web-based resource, with video This research-based program outlines a solid plan for improving teacher effectiveness through evaluation reform.

Re-evaluate your perspective on teacher evaluation to truly transform school performance! The tools, strategies, and reflections in this book provide realistic solutions to the problem faced by many schools: meaningless evaluation. A considerable amount of time, energy, and money is spent on the teacher evaluation process, yet the question remains whether it is truly transforming the learning of teachers and, therefore, students. This practical guide shows how evaluation can become the tie that binds all school improvement activities together to: • Bring clarity and purpose to all educators making their roles more effective • Improve teacher practice since they receive better support • Increase student achievement and overall school culture

WHAT IS EFFECTIVE TEACHING? It’s not enough to say “I know it when I see it” – not when we’re expecting so much more from students and teachers than in the past. To help teachers achieve greater success with their students we need new and better ways to identify and develop effective teaching. The Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project represents a groundbreaking effort to find out what works in the classroom. With funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MET project brought together leading academics, education groups, and 3,000 teachers to study teaching and learning from every angle. Its reports on student surveys, observations, and other measures have shaped policy and practice at multiple levels. This book shares the latest lessons from the MET project. With 15 original studies, some of the field’s most preeminent experts tap the MET project’s unprecedented collection of data to offer new insights on evaluation methods and the current state of teaching in our schools. As feedback and evaluation methods evolve rapidly across the country, Designing Teacher Evaluation Systems is a must read and timely resource for those working on this critical task. PRAISE FOR DESIGNING TEACHER EVALUATION SYSTEMS “This book brings together an all-star team to provide true data-driven, policy-relevant guidance for improving teaching and learning. From student achievement to student perceptions, from teacher knowledge to teacher practices, the authors address key issues surrounding the elements of a comprehensive teacher evaluation and improvement system. Highly recommended for anyone seriously interested in reform.” —PETE GOLDSCHMIDT, Assistant Secretary, New Mexico Public Education Department “This book is an invaluable resource for district and state leaders who are looking to develop growth and performance systems that capture the complexity of teaching and provide educators with the feedback needed to develop in their profession.” —TOM BOASBERG, Superintendent, Denver Public Schools “A rare example of practical questions driving top quality research and a must read for anyone interested in improving the quality of teaching.” —ROBERT C. GRANGER, Former President (Ret.), The William T. Grant Foundation “This will be the ‘go to’ source in years to come for those involved in rethinking how teachers will be evaluated and how evaluation can and should be used to increase teacher effectiveness. The superb panel of contributors to this book presents work that is incisive, informative, and accessible, providing a real service to the national efforts around teacher evaluation reform.” —JOHN H. TYLER, Professor of Education, Brown University