Measuring Effectiveness: What Will It Take?

Federal policy now focuses on teacher "effectiveness" rather than teacher "quality" as its central policy concern. Rather than measuring inputs, the new focus looks to measure the outcomes of a teacher's work—that is, the extent to which the educator has met crucial student needs, such as improved student achievement. 

In "Measuring Effectiveness: What Will It Take?," Circe Stumbo and Peter McWalters note that as states take a more active role in teacher evaluation, they face seven major challenges, including

• overcoming the limits of what student assessment data can say about teacher performance;
• connecting test scores to teachers who teach untested subjects;
• ensuring evaluator quality; and
• promoting team-based, as opposed to individual, accountability.

Stumbo and McWalters "raise these challenges not to sound an alarm, but to suggest an agenda for cooperative research, design, development, and assessment of state policy and local practices."

Is your school addressing these challenges?