The right trajectory: State teachers of the year compare former and new state assessments. National Network of State Teachers of the Year.

http://www.nnstoy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Right-Trajectory-FINAL.pdf

In this paper, we designed a study to let state teachers of the year review current (Common-Core) and previous state tests and give us feedback on which ones they preferred. There were panels from states using both PARCC and Smarter Balanced, and participants from states using neither test.

Ohio RESA Tier II Professional Teaching Licensure Assessment

Ohio RESA Tier II Professional Teaching Licensure Assessment. Subcontractor to Teachscape. (June 2013-present; see http://www.ohioresa.com/ ). Primary responsibilities include support of instrument design; software specification and testing; scoring design and supervision; technical quality design, data collection, and report review

What It Looks Like: Master Coding videos for Observer Training and Assessment

Link: http://www.metproject.org/downloads/MET_Master_Coding_Brief.pdf
MET Project–Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
September 2013

Describes how to recruit, train, and organize a group of master coders to align video of classroom instruction with the components of an observation rubric to support observer training and assessment.

Designing Teacher Evaluation Systems: New Guidance from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project

Link: http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118834356.html )
Eds: Thomas Kane, Kerri Kerr, Robert Pianta, July 2014, Jossey-Bass

Chapter 16: Optimizing Resources to Maximize Student Gains
Catherine A. McClellan, John R. Donoghue, and Robert Pianta

In this study, data were simulated to investigate the effects on student learning of two interventions: professional development (PD) and student-teacher assignment. The assumptions made as the basis of the simulation, and the research from which they were drawn, are described in detail. The professional development intervention was structured based on a fixed budget, so that the number of teachers receiving the PD was limited by the cost of the PD and the financial resources available. Teachers with the greatest need, as indicated by the smallest academic gains in their classes, were chosen for the PD intervention when costs limited the number of teachers to whom it could be offered. The assignment intervention was designed using either random assignment or the best alignment of students and teacher on content knowledge, on instructional and learning styles, or both. Results for all conditions are measured as the percentage of possible instructional units delivered; the number of students with no academic gain; the number of students with the maximum possible academic gain; and the number of students who complete the course with full knowledge of the course contents. With two exceptions, all conditions produced similar results. The best results were observed when students and teachers were matched on content knowledge or on instructional and learning styles.

Chapter 13: Scoring Design Decisions: Reliability and the Length and Focus of Classroom Observations
Jilliam N. Joe, Catherine A. McClellan, and Steven L. Holtzman

The field knows very little about the empirical and cognitive tradeoffs between “short” and “full” observations, or between observation instruments that require observers to attend to all observable teaching traits versus protocols that require them to attend to a few complementary traits at a time. This chapter presents two studies that address these issues; specifically, scoring design decisions associated with observation length and observation instrument structure.

Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation, and Development

Link: http://www.tnconsortium.org/data/files/gallery/ContentGallery/Evaluation_of_TEAM_Rubric_Report.pdf

Complete evaluation of Tennessee’s TEAM teacher evaluation rubric.

Master Coding Boot Camp

Link: http://evidencepro.org/
September 2012

Some video clips of me facilitating and participants discussing the experience from the AFT/RIFT/NYSUT master coding boot camp. The teams were amazing, I learned so much from them, and it was so much fun!

NEA Foundation online course: Teacher Evaluation

Link: http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/courses/
July 2013

The NEA Foundation online courses will build and strengthen the capacity of district and union leaders by providing tools that promote labor–management collaboration as a tool for systems change. The free courses are developed by content experts in the field and utilize a rich selection of resources and activities. In Course 9, Teacher Evaluation, participants will learn to critically evaluate prospective teacher evaluation models and develop an implementation plan and procedure for a new or revised teacher evaluation system in one’s district

Teacher Evaluator Training and Certification

Link: http://www.teachscape.com/resources/teacher-effectiveness-research/2012/02/teacher-evaluator-training-and-certification.html
Teachscape Practitioner’s Series
March 2012
Authors: Catherine McClellan, Mark Atkinson, Charlotte Danielson

This paper examines the issues around training evaluators to complete observations of complex classroom sessions, as well as evaluating observation skills for certification.

Constructed-Response Scoring: Doing It Right

Link: http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RD_Connections13.pdf
ETS
February 2010

A short, non-technical paper on constructed-response scoring. The risks and value of such items on assessments are discussed, as well as ways to assure high quality and comparable data.

SSATB Think Tank on the Future of Assessment

Link: http://www.admission.org/who-we-are/thinktank/think-tank-special-report-2013/index.aspx
June 2013

Recognizing that the independent school admission industry’s nomenclature now includes such words as “grit,” “perseverance,” and “self-efficacy,” SSATB convened a Think Tank on the Future of Assessment to study and review the emerging science of non-cognitive character assessment and to consider the many forces (demographic, financial, technical) which are changing our work in 2013 and beyond. SSATB’s Think Tank developed this report to introduce those chiefly responsible for enrollment management success in independent schools to innovate ideas – both in theory and selection practices.