Juxtaposing Teacher Evaluation Policies and Performance Standards With Teachers' Own Views of Good Practice

• In Event: 63.055 - Diverse Approaches to Teacher Evaluation: Policy, Implementation, and Impacts

Abstract

During the 2010 Race to the Top (RttT) grant competition, the U.S. Department of Education encouraged states to link teacher performance ratings to evidence of student achievement and hold teachers accountable for meeting performance standards. As a result, winning RttT states like North Carolina implemented more rigorous teacher evaluation policies that emphasize documenting proof of instructional effectiveness. Although prior research has focused on the efficacy of particular evaluation mechanisms, there is less information about how evaluation impacts teachers on the ground level. This study asked, “How, and to what extent, does teacher evaluation policy influence teachers’ conceptions of good practice and professional identity development?” In doing so, it compared teacher performance standards within evaluation policies to teachers’ own pedagogical objectives.

Author

• Laura Gutmann, Stanford University