Indiana’s Teacher Evaluation Legislation: Implications and Challenges for Policy, Higher Education and Professional Development

Abstract

CEEP's policy brief, "Overhauling Indiana Teacher Evaluation Systems: Examining Planning and Implementation Issues of School Districts," examines the implications and challenges for policy, higher education, and professional development with Indiana's new teacher evaluation legislation.

The brief is the second in a two-part series on the new era of teacher evaluation in Indiana. In the first brief, the results of a survey of attitudes and beliefs of school corporation superintendents were discussed; the features of quality evaluation plans were highlighted; and the essential elements of a planning process that ensures equitable, effective, and efficient plans for evaluating educators were introduced.

The objectives of the second brief are 1) to provide information and discussion on the implications of the Indiana legislation on teacher and administrator preparation programs; 2) to provide information and discussion on the implications for educational policy and the procedural challenges that the state, superintendents, and boards should formally address to limit the possibilities for legal challenges and to ensure high-quality plans; and 3) to provide information and discussion on the implications for professional development as it relates to teacher and evaluator training and the use of teacher evaluation data to determine the focus of professional development.