The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy in the School of Education produced the issue brief, titled “University Faculty Perceptions of Teacher Evaluation Law in Indiana,” according to an IU press release.
The authors of the issue brief are CEEP research associates Colleen Chesnut and Molly Stewart, in addition to graduate student Anna Sera, according to the release.
“Although the changes to Indiana’s teacher-evaluation law did not outline any new requirements for education leadership faculty or curricula, these policies certainly impact faculty members’ work of training school leaders,” Chesnut said in the release. “We examine education leadership faculty members’ perspectives on the law to broaden the scope of research on this policy and bring some insight into how programs prepare future principals for the complex task of teacher evaluation.”
Under the revised law, teachers are rated in one of four categories: ineffective, improvement necessary, effective and highly effective, according to the release.
Teachers rated in the two lower categories do not receive raises, while those who are rated in the two lower categories multiple times may be dismissed.
Under the revised law, these evaluations must include both classroom evaluations and “objective measures of student achievement and growth,” including student scores on standardized tests, according to the release.
The issue brief found education faculty say they believe these revisions have increased the rigor and accountability of teacher evaluations, according to the release, which has prompted education faculty to heighten the focus on evaluation theory and practical strategies in their education classes.
Education faculty, however, also say they believe school principals may have trouble implementing these requirements because of a lack of time and a lack of understanding of how to base evaluation decisions on data and figures.
Ashleigh Sherman
