An ASCD Study Guide for Linking Teacher Evaluation and Student Learning

You might use this guide as you read each chapter and begin to reflect on the information. You might also want to use the questions to stimulate conversations with colleagues in a study group format. Whether you use it alone or with colleagues, the questions should be seen as a starting point. The research and recommendations will surely stimulate many additional issues and questions unique to your own schools and districts.

Prior to Reading

1. What do you believe are the most important factors affecting student learning?
2. Who do you consider the master (i.e., outstanding) teachers in your building? What personal and professional characteristics do they possess that make them master teachers?
3. Do you believe students can “catch up” the next school year after having been in a poor performing and ineffective teacher's classroom?
4. Does the presence of good practice during a formal observation equate to student learning? Why?
5. How should teachers be held responsible for student learning?
6. How is information collected on teacher performance in your school?

Chapter 1. The Power of an Effective Teacher and Why We Should Assess It

1. Compare your description of master teachers or others that you know with the characteristics of an “effective” teacher presented in this chapter. How are they similar and different?
2. Should we conduct teacher evaluations on a regular basis? Why? What value do you see in teacher evaluation?
3. Does your school use formative or summative teacher evaluations, or a mixture of both? How successful are the evaluations in supporting effective teaching?
4. How can you use student data to monitor success and ensure accountability for the identified goals of your school?
5. How can your school build on the No Child Left Behind Act's definition of a “highly qualified teacher” to find and support effective teachers?
6. Do you agree with the authors' contention that an explicit connection be made between teacher assessment and student achievement? Why?

Chapter 2. How Can We Assess Teacher Quality?

1. In your professional opinion, do you think student achievement data reflects teacher effectiveness? If measures of student progress were used in teacher evaluation, why would it be advisable to use student achievement data as only one of multiple measures of teacher effectiveness?
2. Current public policy suggests that teachers should be held accountable for student learning outcomes. Taking into account the authors' research findings, what are some ways you can measure these outcomes?
3. Drawing on information presented in this chapter and your professional experiences as an educator, what are the potential benefits and liabilities to using the following types of student assessments?
   • Standardized tests
   • Informal classroom assessments
   • Performance assessments

Chapter 3. Assessing Teacher Quality with Student Work: The Oregon Teacher Work Sample Methodology

1. In what ways does a teacher's work sample differ from a typical teacher portfolio? What advantages do you see to the use of a work sample over a traditional portfolio? What disadvantages do you see?
2. The TWSM system fosters both formative and summative teacher reflection and self-evaluation. Drawing upon your experiences as an educator, why do you think reflection and self-evaluation are important elements in the evaluation of teachers?
3. Are there ways in which you could use Index of Pupil Growth (IPG) scores to monitor student learning and inform instruction in your classroom or school?
4. With a colleague, discuss how the work sample process facilitates alignment between the goals of teaching and the practice of teaching.
5. Reflect on your school's current evaluation system and consider how you could incorporate components of the TWSM system into it. What would change? What might remain the same?

Chapter 4. Assessing Teacher Quality in a Standards-Based Environment: The Thompson, Colorado, School District

1. What are the purposes of the annual summative evaluation conference? Is this similar to what you have experienced?
2. Are there ways in which you could use the gain score approach?
3. How do you identify appropriate “data-driven” instructional procedures?
4. With a colleague, discuss how your school's current evaluation system can be modified to include a standards-based component. Which standardized or informal student performance assessments might you use?

Chapter 5. Assessing Teacher Quality Through Goal-Setting: The Alexandria, Virginia, School District

1. The Alexandria City School District believes academic goal setting should be a collaborative endeavor. Why do you think collaboration in evaluation is important for the teacher and the evaluator?
2. What purposes do SMART annual goals serve? What information should you include within each goal? Work with a colleague to formulate a SMART goal.
3. When selecting student measures of learning, what factors should you take into consideration?
4. How could this evaluation model provide teachers in your building with opportunities to reflect on their instructional practice and their students' learning?
5. What are the benefits of encouraging teachers to organize and display their students' academic progress?

Chapter 6. Assessing Teacher Quality Based on Student Gains: Value-Added Assessment System in Tennessee

1. Do you agree with the TVAAS research findings, which suggest that the teacher is the primary predictor of academic growth for students?
2. What are the benefits and drawbacks to the TVAAS approach of analyzing student learning based on gains in achievement scores rather than fixed standards? How might this value-added analysis be useful to you as a teacher? As an evaluator?
3. What are the benefits of linking a teacher's professional development plan with the TVAAS teacher report and the school's improvement plan? What are the liabilities?
4. TVAAS information is used as one data source for the formulation of each teacher's professional growth plan. Does this approach make sense? Are there ways in which this approach could be used in your school?

Chapter 7. Final Thoughts on Assessing Teacher Quality: Guidelines for Policy and Practice

1. How could the use of student assessment measures inform and enhance the quality of education and services within your educational setting?
2. Do you agree with the practices recommended by the authors to reduce possible bias and increase the fairness of using student assessment data in teacher performance evaluations? Would these practices address your reservations about the use of student assessment data?
3. Each of the featured evaluation models encourages teacher reflection on both the act of teaching and the results of teaching. Which model or combination of models would best meet the needs of your educational setting?
   • Oregon Teacher Work Sample Methodology
   • Thompson, Colorado, Standards-based Assessment System
   • Alexandria, Virginia, Goal-Setting System
   • Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System

Linking Teacher Evaluation and Student Learning was written by Pamela D. Tucker and James H. Stronge. This 175-page, 7″ × 9″ book (Stock #104136; ISBN 1-4166-0032-9) is available from ASCD for $20.95 (ASCD member) or $26.95 (nonmember). Copyright 2005 by ASCD. To order a copy, call ASCD at 1-800-933-2723 (in Virginia 1-703-578-9600) and press 2 for the Service Center. Or buy the book from ASCD's Online Store.