Teachers want to succeed, but they typically lack the conditions for success. Teachers generally work in isolation. They're on their own to adjust practice to better serve students. What guidance they get often is plagued by vague teaching standards, overly numerous and often trivial learning objectives, and testing systems that measure only some…

For many teachers, the classroom observation has been the only opportunity to receive direct feedback from another school professional. As such, it is an indispensable part of every teacher evaluation system. Yet it also requires a major time commitment from teachers, principals, and peer observers. To justify the investment of time and resources,…

States and districts have launched unprecedented efforts in recent years to build new feedback and evaluation systems that support teacher growth and development. These systems depend on trustworthy information about teaching effectiveness--information that recognizes the complexity of teaching and is trusted by both teachers and administrators.…

To develop, reward, and retain great teachers, school systems first must know how to identify them. The authors designed the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to test replicable methods for identifying effective teachers. In past reports, the authors described three approaches to measuring different aspects of teaching: student surveys,…

Research has long been clear that teachers matter more to student learning than any other in-school factor. Improving the quality of teaching is critical to student success. Yet only recently have many states and districts begun to take seriously the importance of evaluating teacher performance and providing teachers with the feedback they need to…

Research has long been clear that teachers matter more to student learning than any other in-school factor. Improving the quality of teaching is critical to student success. Yet only recently have many states and districts begun to take seriously the importance of evaluating teacher performance and providing teachers with the feedback they need to…

This document is part of a series of guides designed to help school district leaders address one of the toughest challenges in American education: dropout rates of 30 percent nationwide, 50 percent in many big cities, and 60 percent or more in the lowest-performing schools. This second guide in the series offers a detailed examination of the six…

This document is part of a series of guides designed to help school district leaders address one of the toughest challenges in American education: dropout rates of 30 percent nationwide, 50 percent in many big cities, and 60 percent or more in the lowest-performing schools. It includes tools for data analysts to drill down into the data and use…

This paper serves as a supplement to the "This School Works for Me: Creating Choices to Boost Achievement. A Guide for Data Analysts" report. This paper contains the following sections: (1) Initial Steps; (2) Developing Baseline District Facts; (3) Identifying Effective Options; (4) Identifying Effective Options: Preventative; and (5) Identifying…

This document is the first in a series of guides designed to help school district leaders address one of the toughest challenges in American education: dropout rates of 30 percent nationwide, 50 percent in many big cities, and 60 percent or more in the lowest-performing schools. It describes in abbreviated form how district leaders and…

In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to test new approaches to measuring effective teaching. The goal of the MET project is to improve the quality of information about teaching effectiveness available to education professionals within states and districts--information that will…

In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to develop and test multiple measures of teacher effectiveness. The goal of the MET project is to improve the quality of information about teaching effectiveness available to education professionals within states and districts--information…

In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to test new approaches to recognizing effective teaching. The project's goal is to help build fair and reliable systems for teacher observation and feedback to help teachers improve and administrators make better personnel decisions. With…