Frequency of Evaluations : North Carolina

Identifying Effective Teachers Policy

Goal

The state should require annual evaluations of all teachers.

Nearly meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Frequency of Evaluations : North Carolina results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/NC-Frequency-of-Evaluations--8

Analysis of North Carolina's policies

Commendably, all teachers in North Carolina must now be evaluated at least annually.

The state recently adopted policy that now requires annual evaluations for all career-status teachers. They must be observed at least three times by the principal, including at least one formal observation, which is defined as at least 45 minutes or an entire class period. 

New teachers in North Carolina must also be evaluated once a year. To gather information for this evaluation, the principal must conduct at least three formal observations, and a peer must conduct one formal observation. 

A post-observation conference is scheduled after each formal observation to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the teacher's performance. 

However, North Carolina does not indicate when these observations should occur.

Citation

Recommendations for North Carolina

Ensure that new teachers are observed and receive feedback early in the school year.
It is critical that schools and districts closely monitor the performance of new teachers. North Carolina should ensure that its new teachers get the support they need and that supervisors know early on which new teachers may be struggling or at risk for unacceptable levels of performance.

State response to our analysis

North Carolina was helpful in providing NCTQ with the facts necessary for this analysis.

Research rationale

For the frequency of evaluations in government and private industry, see survey results from Hudson Employment Index's report: "Pay and Performance in America: 2005 Compensation and Benefits Report" Hudson Highlands Group (2005).

For research emphasizing the importance of evaluation and observations for new teachers in predicting future success and providing support for teachers see, D. Staiger and J. Rockoff, "Searching for Effective Teachers with Imperfect Information." The Journal of Economic Perspectives. (24:3) American Economic Association (2010).