This blog post was written by Barbara McKenna, former Director of Public Outreach, REL West.

Every year, thousands of teachers across the country are evaluated on how well they’re doing in the classroom. But the usefulness of these evaluations, which were often no more than a perfunctory checklist, has been widely called into question.

Beginning in 2009, in response to changes in state and federal policy, nearly two thirds of states began developing more sophisticated systems of teacher evaluation using multiple measures. So, what do these systems look like and how can they work?

Drawing from recent and forthcoming research, a Regional Educational Laboratory (REL West) at WestEd team led by researcher Reino Makkonen has developed a three-and-a-half-minute whiteboard animation to give a user-friendly overview of effective teacher evaluation systems. The video, “Making Meaningful Use of Teacher Effectiveness Data,” shares the research as a story told through the experiences of a fictional teacher, Bianca, and her fictional principal, Venus.

The story describes what we’ve learned from research and practice — that with a much richer body of information to draw from, school and district leaders can create systems that don’t just give a one-dimensional snapshot of teacher performance, but foster continuous feedback and growth.

In these systems, principals assume the role of instructional leader and teachers develop as professionals on track to continuously gain expertise, improve instruction and, most importantly, support high-quality student learning.

Take a few minutes to watch “Making Meaningful Use of Teacher Effectiveness Data” and let us know what you think!

This video was produced through the Educator Effectiveness Alliance.