Sounding Board
#WhatMatters to You?

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton Robert Slavin’s recent blog article “A Powerful Hunger for Evidence-Proven Technology” examines the impacts, or lack thereof, of increased technology in education. In this piece, he contemplates whether or not technology in the classroom has lived up to its expectation. Originally, the idea behind the use of computer-assisted learning was that these […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton Our previous blog posts (The Importance of the Parent/Teacher Relationship & Parent and Teacher Relationships: How Communication is Key) focus on why parental involvement matters in schools and how parents and teachers can establish trusting relationships. These are both important to a student’s ultimate success in school. Family engagement can increase […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton   We have discussed the many merits of engaging parents in schools in previous blog posts. Schools can include parents in a variety of ways, and parent involvement often leads to positive student outcomes. However, parent involvement is multifaceted, and engaging parents in schools is often easier than engaging parents with […]

By Grace Shelton @Grace C Shelton Parent/Teacher Relationships Previously, we have looked into how parent involvement in schools can improve student outcomes. We now aim to look more specifically at how parent and teacher relationships can further those positive impacts. Aside from parents and caregivers, teachers are perhaps the most significant adult in a child’s […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton Student perception surveys (SPSs) can be used in evaluations of instructors. They are important for a variety of reasons, all of which have been outlined in our latest series on survey usage in state evaluation systems. Students know their teachers best and spend the most amount of time observing them. Research […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton In conjunction with the release of the MET study 3 years ago, multiple states began investing in research on using student surveys in order to evaluate teachers. In Ohio, the American Institute for Research (AIR) conducted a study on student surveys. More specifically, AIR examined the costs and benefits of survey […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton In continuing our deep dive into the use of surveys in statewide evaluations, we further examined NCTQ’s database in order to determine whether or not states with successful principal effectiveness ratings utilize surveys and educator feedback when evaluating administrators. When doing this, we found that NCTQ not only awards points to […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton State Spotlight: Iowa and the Use of Student Surveys in Teacher Professional Practice Evaluations Recently, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) released its annual State of the States report for the year 2019. In this report, state teacher and principal policies were evaluated and compared to one another in order […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton Currently, 31 states use surveys in evaluations of teachers and principals. Previous research has shown that student, teacher, parent, and community feedback yields gains both in and out of the classroom. Teachers wanting to improve need to listen to their students, and principals should actively seek out staff feedback if they […]

By Grace Shelton @GraceCShelton   The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently released the first report in a series of three on tracking states’ teacher policies. This particular report focused on evaluation policies for teachers and principals. This report is particularly important in that it places all 50 states and the District of Columbia […]