Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policy
The data and analysis on this page is from 2019. View and download the most recent policy data and analysis on Linking Evaluation to Professional Growth in Nevada from the State of the States 2022: Teacher and Principal Evaluation Policies report.
Evaluation Feedback: Nevada requires that teachers receive a copy of each evaluation not later than 15 days after the evaluation.
Professional Development: Nevada specifies that professional development activities must be aligned with findings from teacher evaluations.
Improvement Plans: Nevada does not require that teachers with less-than-effective ratings are placed on improvement plans. Nevada only vaguely requires evaluations to include "recommendations for improvements in the performance of the teacher" and "a description of the action that will be taken to assist the teacher in the areas of instructional practice, professional responsibilities and the performance of pupils."
Evaluation Rating Categories: Nevada requires four rating categories: highly effective, effective, developing, and ineffective.
Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance.
Although Nevada requires teachers to receive copies of their evaluations, this only ensures that teachers will receive their ratings, not necessarily feedback on their performance. Nevada should specify that teachers should receive specific feedback on identified strengths and areas that need improvement.
Ensure that teachers receiving less-than-effective ratings are placed on a professional improvement plan.
Nevada should adopt a policy requiring that teachers who receive even one less-than-effective evaluation rating are placed on structured improvement plans. These plans should focus on performance areas that directly connect to student learning and should identify noted deficiencies, define specific action steps necessary to address these deficiencies, and describe how and when progress will be measured.
Nevada noted that evaluators are required to a conference with each teacher before and after each scheduled observation during the school year and expectations of the conferences include feedback and identification of professional learning needs. The state reiterated that it requires evaluators to provide recommendations for improvements in the performance of the teacher, a description of the action that will be taken to assist the teacher in the areas of instructional practice, professional responsibilities and the performance of pupils; and upon the request of a teacher, a reasonable effort must be made to assist the teacher to improve his or her performance based upon the recommendations reported in the evaluation of the teacher.
7D: Linking Evaluation to Professional Growth
Professional development should be connected to needs identified through teacher evaluations. The goal of teacher evaluation systems should be not just to identify highly effective teachers and those who underperform but to help all teachers improve. Even highly effective teachers may have areas where they can continue to grow and develop their knowledge and skills.[1] Rigorous evaluations should provide actionable feedback on teachers' strengths and weaknesses that can form the basis of professional development activities. Too often professional development is random rather than targeted to the identified needs of individual teachers. Failure to make the connection between evaluations and professional development squanders the likelihood that professional development will be meaningful.[2]
Many states are only explicit about tying professional development plans to evaluation results if the evaluation results are bad. Good evaluations with meaningful feedback should be useful to all teachers, and if done right should help design professional development plans for all teachers—not just those who receive poor ratings.[3]
To further increase the utility and validity of evaluation systems, states should require that evaluation instruments differentiate among various levels of teacher performance rather than only giving binary satisfactory/unsatisfactory ratings. Binary rating systems often offer little meaning because virtually all teachers receive satisfactory ratings.[4] More rating categories allow for more nuanced distinctions between levels of teacher performance.