Should The United States Use SBA Scores To Evaluate Teachers?

Background In recent years, teacher evaluation has been at the center of education reform. In an effort to improve student learning, the Department of Education has encouraged states to take a closer look at teacher evaluation as effective teachers have been found to have the greatest impact on student success. Federal policies, like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, linked grant funding to education reform. As a result, states made changes to their teacher evaluation programs to meet the demands of the newly instated policies. Teacher evaluation models were greatly influenced by the MET Project. Based on the Measure of Effective Teaching Project (MET), funded by the Gates foundation, states developed teacher evaluation models that

Connecticut does not mandate standardized assessments be used for this 45%, however, Connecticut suggests that 22.5%, or one SLO, focus on student growth on a standardized measure. The remaining 22.5% can measure student growth using standardized or non-standardized measures (CT SEED, 2014). Having said that, there has also been much debate at the state level regarding the use of SBA scores to evaluate teachers. Finally, in April 2017, Connecticut’s Department of Education came to the conclusion that SBA scores will not be used to evaluate teachers. Since the assessments used to measure teacher effectiveness are not the focus of the plan and Connecticut educators do not have one universal assessment to measure student growth, the SLO process becomes the focus of the 45% for the evaluation model. Connecticut SEED explains the SLO process as follows: SLOs are carefully planned, long-term academic objectives. SLOs should reflect high expectations for learning or improvement and aim for mastery of content or skill development. SLOs are measured by Indicators of Academic Growth and Development (IAGDs) which include specific assessments/measures of progress and targets for student mastery or progress. Research has found that educators who set high-quality SLOs often realize greater improvement in student performance. The SEED model asks teachers to set more

The findings of this case study may encourage other districts to take a closer look at the SLO process in their districts. As stated earlier, many researchers have looked at teacher evaluation, however, when looking specifically at SLOs, research is lacking. This study is being conducted to gather information in this area.

Significance of the Study According to Lacireno-Paquet, Morgan, and Mello (2014), 30 states in the United States have included SLOs as one component of their teacher evaluation system. Teacher evaluation has undergone may changes within the last five years. As educators, it is crucial that we examine this process closely as it impacts teachers and students in more than half of our states. This study will provide insight into the SLO process and if teachers are developing SLOs that are rigorous.

Research Design This research will take the form of a case study, more specifically, a collective case study examining the SLO process in two school districts in the state of Connecticut. Surveys developed mirrored those used in a similar study conducted in Arizona and Utah in 2015 by Makkonen, Tejwani, and Rodriguez. Surveys will be made available to all teachers and administrators in the participating districts electronically using Google