ABSTRACT

Following the recent major school reform of Race to the Top, schools, teachers, and students are increasingly evaluated through high-stakes achievement test scores. In six concise chapters, Teacher and Student Evaluation explores the historical rise and modern landscape of accountability in American education, and the current models of teacher evaluation. The authors provide realistic and useful suggestions for responding to current accountability demands.

The authors explore the methodological concerns and policy implications of using value-added and observational measures to make high-stakes decisions. After reaching the conclusion that these contemporary evaluation practices are flawed, Alyson Lavigne and Thomas Good offer possible solutions that inform current and future teacher evaluation. This book is a valuable resource for students of educational assessment as well as policy makers, administrators, and teachers who are currently building accountability plans. The book is written in an accessible but authoritative fashion that practitioners, policymakers, and scholars will find useful.

chapter |23 pages

Arriving at Accountability

How Did We Come to Be Where We Are?

chapter |18 pages

Reform de Jour

chapter |50 pages

How Teachers Influence Student Learning

Historical and Contemporary Considerations

chapter |26 pages

Evaluation

Activities in Today's Schools

chapter |29 pages

Assessing the Assessments

Promises and Pitfalls of Teacher Evaluation Methods

chapter |34 pages

The Current Mess

Can We Improve Teacher Evaluation?