This study explored the relationships among the components of the Arizona Department of Education's new teacher evaluation model, with a particular focus on the extent to which ratings from the state model's teacher observation instrument differentiated higher and lower performance. The study used teacher-level evaluation data collected by the Arizona Department of Education from five participating pilot LEAs during the 2012/13 school year. The study relied primarily on descriptive statistics calculated from the results of the different component metrics piloted in these LEAs, as well as analysis of the correlations among these components. Results indicated that teachers' observation item scores tended to concentrate at the Proficient level (the second-highest score on a four-point scale: Unsatisfactory, Basic, Proficient, and Distinguished), with this level accounting for 62 percent of all observational item scores. In addition, while the strength of the correlation between results from observations and the state's student academic progress metric was generally low, the correlation varied significantly between high- and low-performing teachers, as well as between certain teacher subgroups. The following are appended: (1) Arizona Teacher Evaluation Model; (2) Pilot Local Education Agency Information; (3) Study Methods; (4) Detailed Arizona Teacher Evaluation Model Pilot Results; 2012/13; and (5) Detecting nonlinear Relationships between Observation Item Scores and Student Academic Progress Metrics.
