As states and districts began overhauling their teacher evaluation models several years ago in response to federal policies, they grappled with critical questions about how best to assess teacher performance.

To help states as they were laying the groundwork for these new teacher evaluation systems, REL West at WestEd conducted a series of studies examining various teacher performance measures.

Now that many of these systems are up and running and schools have begun collecting multiple types of teacher performance data, the overriding question has become: What exactly should administrators do with all these data? Accordingly, REL West’s recent work has moved toward a more explicit focus on the practical uses of teacher evaluation data at the district and school-site levels.

Read the R&D Alert article to learn about REL West’s research findings on teacher evaluation measures, and about its recent work helping administrators learn to use teacher effectiveness data in meaningful ways.