Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Commendably, as of the 2012-2013 school year, all teachers in Indiana will be evaluated annually.
Further, new teachers in Indiana must be formally evaluated before December 31. If requested by the teacher, an additional evaluation may be scheduled on or before March 1 of the following year.
Base evaluations on multiple observations.
To guarantee that annual evaluations are based on an adequate collection of information, Indiana should require multiple observations for all teachers, even those who have nonprobationary status. Although Indiana is commended for ensuring that new teachers are observed and receive feedback early in the school year, it may not be feasible to issue multiple formal evaluation ratings in a single year, especially as evaluation instruments become more data driven. Applicable student data will likely not be available to support multiple ratings.
Indiana recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.