A rationale and series of steps are provided for use by local school districts in Iowa in developing a teacher evaluation program. The four basic questions to be asked by teacher evaluation program planners are: (1) What shall be our criteria of desired teacher performance? (2) How high shall our standards be? (3) How do we want to measure and report the attainment of our criteria and standards? and (4) How shall we help teachers improve after the initial evaluation? Practical answers including a 3U item list of research based teacher performance criteria are provided by a team of Iowa State University professors. Methodological recommendations include: (1) a three year developmental cycle, (2) careful attention to bargaining law, and (3) deliberately seeking the cooperation and understanding of teachers. (Author/STS)