Smart Spending for Better Teacher Evaluation Systems

June 15, 2011

This fall, the nine states that finished as runners up in last year’s Race to the Top competition will be eligible to compete for a combined $200 million to help implement the innovative education reforms they developed for the first round of grants, including teacher evaluations.

Many of the states eligible to apply in Round 3 of Race to the Top already have clear roadmaps toward better teacher evaluations. But as states across the country have already learned, implementation is what determines whether a new evaluation system lives up to its potential. Race to the Top funds could provide them with the resources to implement new systems well—but only if they allocate the money toward the right priorities.

So how can states maximize the impact of their potential Race to the Top dollars? In Smart Spending for Better Teacher Evaluations, we outline the investments that we believe states should make in order to implement a new teacher evaluation system successfully. These investments fall into five major categories:

 Tools and Systems to guide and support the evaluation process.
 Training for evaluations and key school district staff.
 Communications to key audiences, especially teachers and school leaders.
 Monitoring to ensure consistent implementation across schools and districts.
 Sustainability of the new system over time, fiscally and substantively.

Based on the best practices of states and districts nationwide, this guide may serve as a useful resource not only for Race to the Top-eligible states, but any states or districts in the early stages of reforming teacher evaluations.

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