In the past two years, as concerns over teacher quality have swelled, teacher evaluation has emerged as a crucial tool for principals and other administrators to improve instructor performance. More states are seeking federal waivers to the stringent benchmarks of No Child Left Behind; others are vying for Race to the Top funds. Both require states to submit reform plans that promise a substantial revamping of how they evaluate teachers. As teacher observations take center stage, gaining attention from lawmakers and provoking union-district disputes, principals are looking at an expanded--and hugely time-consuming--set of responsibilities: They must make decisions about rubrics. They must re-learn ways to assess performance. They must work with other evaluators on norming scores. And they must conduct longer, more frequent, and more thoughtful classroom visits. The desired result of this attention is more useful feedback, honesty in grading, and true consequences.