RESEARCH/EVALUATION WORK PLAN FOR A TEACHER AND PRINCIPAL EVALUATION PROJECT
The Pennsylvania Department of Education in
partnership with the Team Pennsylvania Foundation will conduct a pilot project to begin the
creation of a statewide model evaluation system for teachers and principals that will include data
on student growth as a significant factor. This project is the first stage of development in a
system that will expand statewide with the expected funding of the Departments Race to the Top
proposal. Specifically, this one-year project will focus on:
1. Building a state-level Stakeholder Steering Committee that will immediately work on
the most challenging aspect of building this system identifying and agreeing on the
measures of student growth and other standards to be used in a teacher and principal
evaluation system.
2. Buying the technical capacity to:
a. analyze the student and school data that already exists;
b. review best practices from across the nation to determine valid options for the
use of student growth measures to be considered by the Stakeholder Steering
Committee; and
c. identify best practices in overall teacher and principal evaluation as possible
frameworks for Pennsylvanias system.
3. Developing and implementing:
a. evaluation tools and protocols to effectively measure teacher and principal
effectiveness; and
b. developing and implementing training modules in the use of these tools and
protocols with at least five pilot school districts and charter schools.
4. Documenting the process, progress, and lessons learned from this project to inform the
next stage of development.
