Evaluation of Teaching

This study considered the importance of professionalism in university faculty performance since effective learning has its basis the superior instructional and professional competence of teachers. The purpose of the study was to attempt to suggest a hybrid model of faculty effectiveness evaluation based on the perceptions of higher education students regarding their faculty’s quality of teaching. The research focused on involving higher education students in determining the effectiveness characteristics of their teachers in order to provide a justification for developing effective operational systems for teacher evaluation in Pakistan. The study used a mixed methods research design comprising both quantitative and qualitative methods for the purpose of data collection and analysis.  To address the research problem, the researcher chose to base the theoretical framework for the research on Marsh’s (1982) research and development of the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ)...

This article aimed to identify biases that could affect items that assessed university education by students (SET); the 8 items that assess SET are those who have been used by Laurentian University. The questionnaire was administered to Moroccan university students at the Faculty of Sciences Rabat in 2013. The reliability is checked by calculating Cronbach's alpha. T-tests and ANOVA were used to verify the influence of potential biases. The regression analysis on the average for SET was used to estimate the relative weight of some moderating variables. Results have not revealed the influence of the students or teachers genre. The study showed, however, that certain variables were likely to influence the results of SET.

This paper is the first attempt to perform an analysis of the internal Quality of Teaching Surveys (QTS) used in all Australian Universities by investigating how they compare across Universities. We categorize the questions on each university's QTS into one of 18 types and then define a proximity measure between the surveys. We then use an agglomerative cluster analysis to establish groupings of these institutions on the basis of the similarity of their QTSs as well as groupings of question types by their frequency of use. In addition, we also determine if the form of the survey is related to the responses recorded by the Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ) that is administered to all graduates of Australian Universities. This was done by the use of regression analysis to establish if the form of the questionnaire is related to the overall good teaching scores earned by the universities from the CEQ..

Abstract: The prospect of being observed while teaching can provoke anxiety even in the most experienced instructors; however, many institutions of higher learning annually observe all faculty members on the basis of content and andragogical approach. What value does the ...

peer program is based on documents provided by program administrators and conversations with the TIF director, TIF 3 and 4 program managers, peer evaluators, field specialists, the evaluator of the peer evaluators, and two principals. We summarized this information and shared an initial draft with staff of the Maricopa County Educational Services Agency, who suggested corrections where appropriate.

As we discuss making changes in the student evaluation of college faculty I believe it is important to critically review relevant literature pertaining to this topic. The fact that multiple sources of data are used in the evaluation process is certainly supported by most researchers in this field (see Seldon & Angelo, 1994) and is to be commended. However, the following comments pertain to the instrument used by students to evaluate faculty as this is an important component of the faculty evaluation process. These comments focus on four critical issues: 1) Using data for formative versus summative purposes; 2) Validity of student ratings; 3) Criterion-versus norm-related standards; and 4) Does "one size" fit all. The first issue regards the use of data for formative and/or summative purposes. As reported by Gordon (1998) there is unanimity on the view that teaching is complex and multidimensional. The major issue for evaluation purposes is how to investigate and report on ...

respectively. The evaluation of teaching and learning has become an important activity in tertiary education institutions. Student surveys provide information about student perceptions and judgments of a particular subject. However, as is widely recognised, the appropriate interpretation of this data is problematic. There is a large literature, mainly for the US, on the use and usefulness of student subject evaluations. This literature has highlighted a number of ‘mitigating factors ’ such as subject difficulty, discipline area, etc., that should be taken into account in interpreting the results of these questionnaires. In this paper we examine 8 years of QOT responses from an Economics Department in an Australian University which accounted for more than 79,000 student subject enrolments in 565 subjects. The purpose of this analysis is to establish how the information contained in these data can be used to interpret the responses. In particular, we determine to what extent other fac...

The present American higher education setting includes the use of Student Evaluations of Instruction (SEIs). This practice has a history that spans a number of decades and is now firmly established as part of the American system of higher education. However, there is a continuing dispute over the use of the information gathered from SEIs, the legitimacy of the interpretations of the results, the assumptions behind the use of the instruments, and the assumptions foundational to the instruments themselves. This paper considers each of these topics and methods suggested by scholars to alter or augment SEIs. SEI 3 Table of contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...4 General state of affairs…………………………………………………………………..4 Primary purposes………………………………………………………………………..8 Data gathering arguments for SEIs……………………………………………………..10 Objections to the use of SEIs related to data gathering………………………………...11 Reliability……………………………………………………………………………….13 Validity………………………………………………………………………………….16 Content validity…………………………………………………………………………21 Criterion and construct validity…………………………………………………………22 Criterion and construct validity: Criterion suitability…………………………………...23 Criterion and construct validity: Definition of the construct..…………………………..25 Criterion and construct validity: Irrelevant variance……………………………………30 Criterion and construct validity: Summary……………………………………………...32 Other methods suggested………………………………………………………………..34 References……………………………………………………………………………….42

This research paper examines the multifaceted nature of effective teacher evaluation, drawing on insights from various sources. The paper discusses various evaluation methods, the challenges faced in implementation, and the implications for educational policy and practice. By integrating diverse evaluation strategies and addressing common issues, the paper aims to provide a balanced perspective on enhancing teacher effectiveness through comprehensive evaluation systems by integrating diverse evaluation strategies and addressing common issues.

This research paper examines the multifaceted nature of effective teacher evaluation, drawing on insights from various sources. The paper discusses various evaluation methods, the challenges faced in implementation, and the implications for educational policy and practice. By integrating diverse evaluation strategies and addressing common issues, the paper aims to provide a balanced perspective on enhancing teacher effectiveness through comprehensive evaluation systems by integrating diverse evaluation strategies and addressing common issues.

A model of continuing teacher professional development has been developed in four districts through institutional collaboration between the Indonesia University of Education and West Java Provincial Offi ce of Education since 2010. Best practices of the previous Lesson Study project under support of JICA at a piloting district have been adopted by making enhancements on several activities. Teachers were grouped into 16 to 32 working groups per district, depending on the number of teachers in one district so that members of one working group consists of 30 to 40 teachers per subject (Mathematics, Science, English, or Indonesian) for effective meeting. Teachers-teacher educators meetings were held regularly at schools within a working group. Teachers and teacher educators worked collaboratively to research lessons for promoting active student learning utilizing available local materials based on learning resources. Principals, supervisors, and provincial and district education offi cers have been involved to build ownership of the programs and promote role sharing among concerned institutions for sustainability. Progress of the model development will be reported.

Background Most mathematicians develop their teaching practice through a combination of on the job experience and guidance from colleagues. However this preparation may not be sufficient to equip them to face the many challenges of teaching undergraduate mathematics, such as diverse first-year cohorts, incorporation of new teaching technologies and student disengagement. However due to research priorities and high workloads, most academics do not have the time or capacity to actively seek out information or assistance in developing their approach to teaching (Cretchley, 2009; Probert, 2014). There is an active research community in undergraduate mathematics education who disseminate their research findings and teaching innovations through workshops, conferences, articles and websites. However the impact of these activities can be limited to those already engaged in scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) and may not reach the wider audience of teaching academics. This second gro...

This study examines students' views on a blended learning module developed and offered at the University of Aveiro. The paper presents the module and the strategies, tools, activities and assessment. In order to examine the effectiveness of the module, data were collected from reflections, postings and questionnaires. Findings document students' opinions concerning the module, the activities and their learning. Students valued the module but expressed concerns in using the wiki tool, assessing collaborative work and in engaging in peer assessment activities. The results have practical implications for the design of collaborative activities and innovative assessment in blended learning environments.

The study shows that the web forums improved the level of collaboration between students. All case-groups published on the forum. However, group 2 was responsible for the majority of contributions (46,5%), followed by group 4 (20%), although its participation was more irregular (Graph 3). Finally, it was also clear an evolution on students' final marks and it was registered a significant difference between the marks of students that integrated the case-groups and the ones that did not (Graph 4). Conclusion: The collaborative work in class and, specially, extra-class, mediated by using several resources and technologies, has promoted the students' participation and involvement and their autonomy in constructing knowledge, which fostered motivation and success in the curricular unit. Such results are concordant to the opinion of several authors (Coutinho & Lisboa, 2014; Pombo, Loureiro & Moreira, 2010). This study allows theoretical generalizations in the multimedia field for education about the importance, possibility, efficiency and effectiveness of pedagogical approaches mediated by Web 2.0 tools, with implications in higher education of engineering.

This study considered the importance of professionalism in university faculty performance since effective learning has its basis the superior instructional and professional competence of teachers. The purpose of the study was to attempt to suggest a hybrid model of faculty effectiveness evaluation based on the perceptions of higher education students regarding their faculty’s quality of teaching. The research focused on involving higher education students in determining the effectiveness characteristics of their teachers in order to provide a justification for developing effective operational systems for teacher evaluation in Pakistan. The study used a mixed methods research design comprising both quantitative and qualitative methods for the purpose of data collection and analysis.  To address the research problem, the researcher chose to base the theoretical framework for the research on Marsh’s (1982) research and development of the Student Evaluation of Educational Quality (SEEQ)...

This study investigates how teacher education students responded to a particular suite of educational products that involved media based educational learning objects, and their attitudes to them in fostering student centred learning in general, and problem based learning in particular, with the ultimate goal of enhancing and improving the quality of teacher training. Two lines of inquiry have been followed throughout the investigation: i. to identify and describe student attitudes to the newly developed video rich PBL courseware for teacher education; and ii. to explore how such educational courseware can be used, enhanced, and presented as examples of learning objects in actual teaching situations. The implications and recommendations arising from the findings obtained in this research project will provide teacher educators with some initial insights when using similar media based products in teacher education.

Given that the modal length of teaching experience has now dropped to one year, 1 finding ways to support the growth and development of new teachers has become of paramount importance. One critical way to provide this support is through effective feedback that improves instruction. In this 90-Day Cycle 2 we investigate the factors and processes that contribute to an effective feedback system, paying particular attention to how the system affects early career teachers and how such systems can coexist with extant and emerging teacher evaluation systems. We identify a set of interconnected drivers at the district, school, and individual levels, and unpack the feedback process into a set of sub-processes that are shaped by individuals, systems, and the larger context in which those systems operate. BACKGROUND AND DESCRIPTION OF WORK Early career teachers make up an increasingly large proportion of the public school teaching force. In 2011-2012, 22 percent of teachers in the US had five or fewer years of experience; nearly 6.9 percent were brand new to the profession, making one year the modal length of experience for our nation's teachers. 3 Often less effective and facing greater challenges than their more experienced counterparts, new teachers tend to leave the profession at high rates. 4 This turnover is costly for schools and districts, which expend considerable resources hiring, training, and supporting new teachers. It is also costly for students, who see a constant churn of adults coming in and out of their schools. Disturbingly, low-income schools and schools with a higher proportion of racial minority students feel these effects most acutely, as less experienced teachers are assigned disproportionally to schools serving these student populations. Because of the high number of new teachers in our schools and the financial and educational costs associated with their turnover, focusing on developing and retaining early-career teachers is a strategy with considerable potential for improving teaching quality, reducing costs, and making the distribution of strong teachers more equitable. Experts on teachers and teaching have identified high quality feedback-feedback that leads to improvements in instruction and student learning-as a crucial lever for driving professional growth and improving the likelihood that new teachers will persist in their careers. In practice, feedback tends to be infrequent, uncoordinated, vague, or not actionable. The lack of professional development for feedback providers (principals, coaches 5 , and peers) too often results in the lack of skills necessary to engage new teachers in trusting, instructive, and productive feedback conversations. Compounding these problems, other organizational and structural issues at the school and district levels can lead to confusion about the purpose of feedback. Teachers may wonder whether feedback is meant to evaluate or improve their performance. When more than one person provides feedback, a lack of coordination among individuals can lead to teachers receiving conflicting messages, or simply more ideas for improvement than they can reasonably accommodate.

Consistent. Results vary little by observer or lesson. • Unbiased. Results don't reflect personal or pedagogical preferences. • Authentic. Expectations are clear and reflect best practice for effective teaching. • Reasonable. Performance standards are challenging but attainable. • Beneficial. Teachers get actionable feedback and support for success.

This document presents an overview of the development and present lines of research in the field of evaluating professors of higher education. It analyses three problems that have had a direct influence on the different perspectives of research in the field: the problem of the technical character in relation to the political connotations of evaluation, the problem of the nature and method of assessment, and the problem of evaluating all aspects of professor activities. The article presents the results of critical review from different perspectives of authors who have contributed to the discussion of this issue in recent decades. Based on this analysis, the paper presents some thoughts on the possibilities and trends that these discussions offer for future research development on the evaluation of teaching in higher education.

This paper examined professors' conceptions of effective teaching in the context of a course they were teaching in active learning classrooms and how the conceptions related to the perceived role and use of computers in their teaching. We interviewed 13 professors who were teaching in active learning classrooms in winter 2011 in a large research university in Canada. The interviews captured what professors consider effective teaching, expected learning outcomes for students, instructional strategies and the role participants saw for computers in their teaching. Analysis of interview transcripts using a holistic inductive and constant comparison approach resulted in three conceptions of effective teaching: transmitting knowledge, engaging students, and developing learning independence. Professors' perception about the role and use of computers was found to be in line with their conceptions of effective teaching. Professors whose conception of effective teaching focused on developing learning independence used computers as tools for students' learning; those with a transmitting knowledge conception considered computers as a means of accessing or presenting information. Data collected from students about their use and their professors' use of computers in the course supports this conclusion. Results have implications for design of active learning environments and faculty development initiatives.

This study reconstructed the context, input, process, and product (CIPP) of the Emilian Culture Formation (ECF) course through multiple stakeholders' lenses and inputs. Using random sampling, 59 EAC students representing four Schools and four Strands participated in the open-ended questionnaire to assess their learning experiences and realizations of the course parallel with the experiences of five (5) teacher respondents and the interests and concerns of 10 instructional and institutional leaders (IILs) chosen purposively to find congruity and basis for curriculum revision. As the ECF Course intends to cultivate an evolving Emilian culture consistent among students, this study became basis for further developing the content materials and pedagogical approaches to make them culturally accepted, affirmed and practiced. The teaching-learning experiences and the institutional concerns resonated implications on the formulation of curriculum contents and pedagogical approaches and thus require instructional leadership that shall ensure consistency in the course implementation and evaluation. This cultural endeavor entail a lot of commitment and strategy on the part of teacher-facilitators and instructional leaders to: 1) adopt an institutional definition and indicators that embody the ideals and identity of an Emilian; 2) design, write, and publish student-centered ECF Course Modules articulating the EAC Philosophy, Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Core Values; 3) determine contents standard, desired learning outcomes, and pedagogical approaches that the ECF Course Modules shall constitute; 4) program technological, pedagogical, and contents knowledge (TPACK) training of course facilitators; 5) supervise course implementation; and 6) collaborate various stakeholders.

Evaluation is a systematic planned inquiry undertaken in order to enable decision-makers to make judgments concerning the worth of an educational policy, or project and to achieve certain aims and purposes. Evaluation can be a costly waste of time and effort, but when done efficiently, vigorously and with the intention of improving educational provision, it is likely to be worthwhile, for the new knowledge gained can be fed back into the system to improve what goes on in the name of education. Teaching is an art. When a group evaluates art in a museum, the ratings and criteria can vary widely. The same is true when trying to effectively evaluate a teacher. While some things are quite straight forward and necessary, other intangibles can make a teacher more successful than their peers. Instead of trying to cram square pegged teachers into the round holes of the evaluation format, perhaps it is time to re-invent the evaluation format to include a broader interpretation of what good te...

This article reflects upon the ongoing assessment and evaluation practices under semester system in Tribhuvan University. Much of our assessment activities conflict and contradict with foundational principle of semester system. It was this realization that prompted me to write this article where I have tried to address the following compelling questions: why does the assessment activity produce so little value among the faculty?, what institutional processes inhibit the system function effectively?, how can we get more use of it from our existing mechanism?, and what can be done to improve it and what new assessment practices may we undertake to make our teaching-learning activities more effective? I borrow conceptual framework from the literature of assessment and evaluation and apply them to evaluate the opportunities and challenges of the system. A decade experiences of teaching in Central Department of English have convinced me that bureaucratic baggage of Dean's Office, lack of enough library and technological resources, apathetic working culture of the faculty, lack of training and exposure to the faculty have been major problems in the current assessment system. I insist that faculty empowerment and autonomy to assess and grade their students use of proper Classroom Assessment Tools and formative exam in place of summative are some remedial measure to the existing demerits of assessment and evaluation system. Our evaluation system has to inform and correlate with teaching so that evaluation system promotes quality education and contributes to effective teaching-learning activities.

The attributes of effective teaching in higher education remains controversial and has never been conclusive. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting the students' perceptions of teaching effectiveness, and how the instructor and course attributes can significantly influence teaching effectiveness as measured by students in course evaluation surveys. The study analyzed 3,798 student evaluations of faculty at Jubail University College using factor analysis to find out the factors loading and average extract variance value. The study predicted that there is a significant relationship between the five dimensions of teaching and students' ratings of teaching effectiveness (i.e. instructor's personality, knowledge, teaching ability, marking and grading policy, and course attributes and learning outcomes). The findings support the hypothesis that there is a significant relationship between effective teaching dimensions and students ratings. The study contributes to the body of literature on evaluation of teaching effectiveness in Saudi higher education.

This paper examines a core leadership strategy for transforming learning and teaching in distance education through flexible and blended learning. It focuses on a project centred on distributive leadership that involves collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an organisation. Distributive leadership was a core principle in facilitating the transformation of learning and teaching through a Teaching Fellowship Scheme that empowered leaders across a regional distance education university. In parallel, a design-based research project analysed the perceptions of the Teaching Fellows in relation to blended learning, time/space, peer learning, innovation and equity issues in relation to distance education.

This is the story of top-down, middle-out, and bottom-up change to promote learning and teaching at a regional university in Australia. The case study documents a whole-of-university change process designed to get the context right to enhance university learning and teaching. It describes the baseline for action, the planning processes, and implementation strategies that adapted a project management approach. The chapter explores contestable issues associated with centralised university change processes versus devolved, faculty initiatives, and it shows how these might be combined. It also outlines the guiding principles of the change process, which was informed by a concern to develop coherent student learning journeys, cross-institutional planning, and a community development approach to engage the hearts and minds of staff. It also featured a systems approach designed to make it difficult for staff to get things wrong.

Becoming a competent Montessori Elementary guide is a complex process, so we are developing the Montessori Coaching Tool Elementary (MCT-EL) rubric to describe teaching-practice expectations for self-reflection and formative feedback during the critical early period in a teacher's development. The purpose of this article is to share results from a small-scale, online survey collecting both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the rubric from experienced Montessori Elementary teacher educators. The rubric's content was based on Maria Montessori's writings and welldocumented Montessori practices, which we translated to specific teacher behaviors and developmental progressions. We wanted to gauge the MCT-EL rubric's usefulness and appropriateness from the perspective of experts who have significant depth of experience mentoring new teachers. The rubric was not developed to be used for performance evaluation, promotion, or retention but rather for early-career Montessori teachers' self-reflection. It provides a framework for coaching conversations between the early-career Montessori teacher and a Montessori mentor. Results from the study identified overall support for use of the MCT-EL rubric with developing teachers, along with specific recommendations for revisions, additions, and deletions. Using a thorough review of the data, we developed a refined MCT-EL rubric, which is provided in Appendix B and is available for use by interested practitioners in the field.

Becoming a competent Montessori Elementary guide is a complex process, so we are developing the Montessori Coaching Tool Elementary (MCT-EL) rubric to describe teaching-practice expectations for self-reflection and formative feedback during the critical early period in a teacher’s development. The purpose of this article is to share results from a small-scale, online survey collecting both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the rubric from experienced Montessori Elementary teacher educators. The rubric’s content was based on Maria Montessori’s writings and welldocumented Montessori practices, which we translated to specific teacher behaviors and developmental progressions. We wanted to gauge the MCT-EL rubric’s usefulness and appropriateness from the perspective of experts who have significant depth of experience mentoring new teachers. The rubric was not developed to be used for performance evaluation, promotion, or retention but rather for early-career Montessori teachers’ s...

The utility of students' evaluations to observe the quality of teaching has demonstrated to be a practical and vital element of the quality management process in higher education institutions (HEIs). Since students are the most affected by teaching, their perception and satisfaction are essential in enhancing the quality of lectures delivered by the teaching faculty. The practice of evaluating lecturing skills of faculty through student feedback is one among the crucial means in the internal quality assurance processes at HEIs. Several factors are influencing the outcome of student evaluations of teaching, and various studies from different perspectives have addressed it. However, to date, no reviews have the findings critically appraised to bring out a list of common factors influencing students evaluating teaching effectiveness (SETE). This study critically evaluated the literature and identified three critical factors, i.e., instructor-centered, studentcentered, and course-centered difficulties, that influence students though assessing teaching effectiveness. Through this study, the authors also highlighted the utility of student evaluations to monitor the teaching quality and limitations on using it. The authors concluded that although SETE has several benefits to enhance the quality of higher education, however, it should be used appropriately to overcome the possible barriers, as highlighted in this study.

Internationalisation of higher education embodies a pedagogy that is expected to have grounding in scholarship, in both domestic and overseas environments. The pedagogy has to incorporate a scholarship that includes knowledge about teaching and learning underpinned by the subject discipline and interdisciplinary awareness and relevance to the subject of study. Definitions of scholarship vary and there is limited consensus among and within disciplines. In respect to institutional policy, variation also occurs between scholarship and research, such that there is conflict between the higher education pillars of "best practice in teaching and learning" and "research". Individual positions adopted by academics within disciplines and across institutions affect how scholarship is viewed and practised. Shulman (2004) maintained that "teaching and consequent student learning are both worthy of scholarly inquiry and absolutely necessary if teachers are to fulfil their professional responsibility to their students" (p. 1). Student perspectives on scholarship in higher education have yet to attract research attention. This study attempted to redress this imbalance and to identify student understandings of this key pedagogical principle as defined by transnational pedagogy taskforce at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). The scholarship principle was defined as respecting diverse learning and teaching styles and upholding excellence and integrity of scholarship across disciplines. In comparison, definitions of scholarship in the international higher education sector are more expansive and incorporate networking and mentoring as paramount to its understanding.

Recent changes in public funding for university teaching in Australia indicate a shift from encouraging innovation to rewarding performance. These changes also require a focus on the student learning experience seen holistically-at the levels of whole-of-degree, campus and institution. This invites a more systematic approach to the improvement of pedagogical practice. This paper reports an attempt to explore the literature on the scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT) in order to inform such an approach. Our experience is that there is very little relevant literature. We call for an expansion of the SoLT to assist universities to respond to these new challenges.

Internationalisation of higher education embodies a pedagogy that is expected to have grounding in scholarship, in both domestic and overseas environments. The pedagogy has to incorporate a scholarship that includes knowledge about teaching and learning underpinned by the subject discipline and interdisciplinary awareness and relevance to the subject of study. Definitions of scholarship vary and there is limited consensus among and within disciplines. In respect to institutional policy, variation also occurs between scholarship and research, such that there is conflict between the higher education pillars of "best practice in teaching and learning" and "research". Individual positions adopted by academics within disciplines and across institutions affect how scholarship is viewed and practised. Shulman (2004) maintained that "teaching and consequent student learning are both worthy of scholarly inquiry and absolutely necessary if teachers are to fulfil their professional responsibility to their students" (p. 1). Student perspectives on scholarship in higher education have yet to attract research attention. This study attempted to redress this imbalance and to identify student understandings of this key pedagogical principle as defined by transnational pedagogy taskforce at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). The scholarship principle was defined as respecting diverse learning and teaching styles and upholding excellence and integrity of scholarship across disciplines. In comparison, definitions of scholarship in the international higher education sector are more expansive and incorporate networking and mentoring as paramount to its understanding.

Whole-school reform models frequently include instructional coaching, yet instructional coaches typically spend relatively little time working with teachers on instruction. Using survey and interview data from district leaders, school administrators, and instructional coaches in one urban school district, this mixed-methods analysis asks how district- and school-level policies and expectations were related to coaches’ time use. Coaches accountable to district leaders spent more time working with teachers on instruction than their school-hired counterparts, who devoted more time to administrative and teaching duties. However, all coaches had limited opportunities to work with teachers in ongoing ways. Also, as district accountability systems became more robust, all coaches engaged in more administrative work. Implications for school and district policy are discussed.

This guide provides a three-step process and sample tools for state departments of education to monitor district implementation of state-or district-developed educator evaluation systems. Districts can also use the tools to self-monitor implementation and guide further development of their systems. For each step of the process, the guide provides sample tools developed by Regional Educational Laboratory Central and the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The steps guide states in collecting and analyzing policy and practice data on educator evaluation systems and in examining adherence to guidelines for quality educator evaluation systems. Why this guide? Most states are implementing new educator evaluation systems as part of their flexibility requests under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. While some waiver states (10) require all districts to use a single, statewide educator evaluation system, most waiver states (36) leave some discretion to the school districts to design their own systems (Center on Great Teachers & Leaders, 2013). Principle 3 of the flexibility request requires states to ensure that local education agencies implement teacher and principal evaluation systems (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). The monitoring required is intended to go beyond asking districts to confirm compliance with state guidelines. Instead, it is designed to focus on understanding how districts are implementing the systems so that states can provide support as needed (Pennington, 2014). States are developing a wide range of methods to monitor district educator evaluation systems, including creating new departments within state departments of education, encouraging peer review of teacher