ABSTRACT
Recognizing that, of all school factors, teachers contribute the most to student achievement, U.S. education policy in the past decade has focused on improving teacher quality (Goldhaber, this volume). Policymakers have seized on teacher evaluation as a primary lever for achieving this goal. Since 2008, economic and political factors have converged to elevate teacher evaluation on the federal, state, and local education agendas (Donaldson & Papay, 2014; McGuinn, 2012). Th rough Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind waiver requirements, the federal government has pushed states to reform their teacher evaluation systems. Between 2009 and 2012, the majority of states and Washington, DC, responded by passing new legislation to develop new statewide evaluation systems or specify requirements for districts to follow in evaluation reform (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2013). Th is chapter presents what is known about current teacher evaluation initiatives.
