Evaluating Teachers In the Time of the 'Rona

 From the National Council on Teacher Quality:

While states and school districts are focused on trying to bring students back into the classroom, it's safe to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of our education system, including how to properly evaluate teachers in the classroom—or in a Zoom setting.

As part of NCTQ's ongoing research on COVID-19 related education policies, our latest installment tracks how states will proceed with evaluating teachers for the 2020-2021 school year. This analysis examines topics such as whether summative evaluations will be required, whether states that required objective measures of student growth prior to the pandemic will continue to require them this year, and whether any modifications have been made to the measure of professional practice.

As of mid-October, nearly half of all states have released plans regarding teacher evaluation for the 2020-2021 school year. Although state guidance varies to a certain degree, there are some overall trends worth noting.

See the data and analysis on:

• State guidance for teacher evaluation in SY20-21: Of the 24 states that have released guidance thus far, 21 are still requiring summative evaluations for all teachers.
• Requirements for measures of student growth during the pandemic: Nine states have suspended the use of student growth measures for this school year, while others have modified requirements around what constitutes measures of student growth.
• Examples of how states are addressing teacher observations this year: Several states have announced changes in the number of required observations or even what qualifies as an observation.

Read more here.