State Rules and District Implementations: The Surprising Variability in Teacher Evaluations

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Perceptions and Impacts of Teacher Evaluation

Abstract

This paper examines the within-state variability in teacher evaluations across school districts. Prior work has found significant variation across states in the percentage of teachers evaluated as highly effective or ineffective, and this paper finds that there is significant variation across districts within a state. This suggests that state laws are less important than might otherwise be thought in determining the evaluation of teachers, and that local factors are of primary importance. I explore four frameworks for conceptualizing teacher evaluations, and assess how
these findings fit into each of them.

Author

• William Lief Evison Esbenshade, Stanford University