States and districts across the nation are creating new systems to evaluate teachers — through classroom observations, by the amount their students learn, or by some combination of these and other measures.

Teachers’ evaluations have high stakes. A poor evaluation can lead to a frozen salary, mandatory remediation, or dismissal, while an exceptional evaluation may be rewarded with a salary increase and tenure. Therefore it is critical to examine the quality of the measures used to evaluate teachers.

This REL West study examines the validity of ratings from a classroom observation instrument in a teacher evaluation system.

Visit the Examining the Validity of Ratings from a Classroom Observation Instrument for Use in a District’s Teacher Evaluation System resource page to read key findings and download a copy of the report.