Educator Development

Ensuring that teachers and leaders get the support they need to grow in the profession and meet challenging goals for students.

Effective classroom instruction is widely recognized as the fundamental contributor to student learning. State and local education agencies in the West seek to support a “career continuum,” from entering the teaching profession to taking on leadership responsibilities. They also recognize a pipeline problem: the need to bring more people into preparation programs, prepare them well, retain them in their early teaching years, and support their long-term growth. Administrator leadership and development are also critical. Education stakeholders throughout the region recognize school leaders as pivotal to creating and sustaining a supportive environment, and new leadership development programs are underway. REL West is working to assist with these efforts.

Resources

Educator Development (15)

Report: A descriptive study of the pilot implementation of Student Learning Objectives in Arizona and Utah
This study examines the extent to which Student Learning Objectives can differentiate teacher performance and align with other teacher evaluation indicators.
Video: A New Role Emerges for Principal Supervisors: Evidence from Six Districts
This video shares excerpts from Dr. Ellen Goldring's presentation during a regional convening of state education agency leaders. The presentation introduces viewers to lessons learned from ongoing research under the Principal Supervisor Initiative, a multi-year project engaging six urban school districts.
Report: Analysis of the stability of teacher-level growth scores from the student growth percentile model
Read about how well a popular measure of teacher effectiveness holds up under scrutiny.
Report: Examining the validity of ratings from a classroom observation instrument for use in a district's teacher evaluation system
This validity study examines a classroom observation instrument, based on the Danielson Framework, in one Nevada district's teacher evaluation system.
Presentation Materials: Improvement on the Front Lines: Using Learning Huddles to Shift Instruction: Presentation at the 2019 Carnegie Summit on Improvement in Education
These presentation slides were developed for a session at the 2019 Carnegie Summit on Improvement in Education focused on PLCs designed to shift practice and improve literacy outcomes for K–6 students.
Presentation Materials: Leveraging Learning Huddles to Improve Instruction: Poster at the 2018 Carnegie Summit on Improvement in Education
This conference poster was created for the 2018 Carnegie Improvement Summit and describes the literacy improvement work at two elementary schools in Washoe County School District.
Logic Model/Infographic: Making meaningful use of teacher effectiveness data
This infographic provides an overview of the benefits and challenges of different measurement tools and can be used as a framework for local decisionmaking.
Report: Projecting California teacher retirements over the next decade
From this study report and two-page fact sheet, learn about how projected teacher retirements over the next decade mean very different teacher staffing realities across California.
Research Digest: Research Digest: Making meaningful use of teacher effectiveness data
This issue of a thematic newsletter provides a roundup of REL West studies and describes workshops on how districts can use teacher effectiveness data.
Video: Resource Collection: Building educators' understanding of early mathematics to promote students' later mathematics success
Check out this resource collection drawn from in-person and web-based events designed for educators that share strategies for teaching math to young children.
Video: Scaffolding Structures to Support Academic Conversations for English Learners
View this 17-minute video that uses a classroom example to explore procedures and routines for interaction as well as scaffolding supports to promote rich classroom conversations for English learners and diverse populations.
Video: Supporting Principals Using Teacher Effectiveness Data
This video-based workshop from REL West and the Center for Great Teachers and Leaders builds the capacity of district and school leaders to better understand, analyze, and apply teacher effectiveness data to make strategic decisions regarding teacher assignment, leadership, and professional development, and also helps facilitate local planning around the use of these data.
Literature Review: Understanding how teachers use student assessment data
This literature review identifies survey instruments that can be used to gather information about teachers' use of data.
Infographic: Using Inquiry Cycles in PLCs to Improve Instruction
An introduction to building inquiry cycles into professional learning communities in order to maximize teacher collaboration time and instructional practice.
Video: Video: Making Meaningful Use of Teacher Effectiveness Data
This three-and-a-half-minute animation offers insights drawn from a range of recent research.

Arizona's Multiple-Measure Teacher Evaluation Systems (3)

Report: How are teacher evaluation data used in five Arizona districts?
This study describes how five Arizona school districts are using teacher evaluation data to inform workforce decisions.
Report: Principal and teacher perceptions of implementation of multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems in Arizona
This study describes how multiple-measure teacher evaluations were put into practice in a set of 10 volunteering local education agencies in Arizona.
Report: Properties of the multiple measures in Arizona’s teacher evaluation model
This study explores the relationships among the components of the Arizona Department of Education's teacher evaluation model, with a particular focus on the extent to which ratings from the state model’s teacher observation instrument differentiate higher and lower performance.

Events

April 24, 2019 – April 25, 2019

State Supports for Instructional Leadership
This video summarizes how principals influence student achievement; it was derived from an April 2019 presentation by Dr. Elaine Allensworth from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.
April 16, 2018 – April 17, 2018

School Leader Supports: What Do We Know? Where Are We Going Next?
A two-day regional convening of state education agency teams to examine current evidence-based approaches to leadership support, as well as lessons learned from past efforts, to help inform the design and development of effective state initiatives going forward.
November 16, 2016

Supporting Long Term English Learner Students in Mastering Academic English: A Framework for Success
Two experts in the field of English learner education shared promising strategies and practices to support long-term English learner students–and others–in English writing and academic literacy.
November 1, 2016

Teaching Mathematics Through Student Worked Examples
In this webinar video and materials, learn about research-based strategies for algebra instruction that include the use of correct and incorrect examples of student work.

Blogs

August 1, 2019

Expanding Evidence-Based Supports for School Leaders in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah