Using Teacher Evaluation Data to Inform Professional Development in the Intensive Partnership Sites. Working Paper WR-1033-BMGF

This report describes the implementation of professional development (PD) reforms and efforts to use teacher effectiveness (TE) data to inform PD through the third year of the initiative for all seven sites: Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), Shelby County Schools (SCS, formerly Memphis City Schools), Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS), and the four charter management organizations that operate under the umbrella of The College Ready Promise (TCRP). These charter management organizations include Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, Aspire Public Schools, Green Dot Public Schools, and Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC). This report briefly describes the approach each site is taking to link TE data to PD opportunities and compare the main features of those efforts across sites. It also documents the responses of teachers to the PD opportunities provided as of spring 2013. The report presents interim evidence regarding one of the key tenets of the IP reform--the idea that evidence regarding teachers' performance using multiple data sources can be used to create professional development opportunities tailored to meet teachers' individual needs. The report addresses two broad research questions: (1) What programs and practices have IP sites adopted to offer PD that is customized to teachers' needs, and how do key features of these efforts differ across the sites? (2) What opinions have teachers (and, to a lesser extent, school leaders) expressed about the evaluation and PD practices their sites have adopted?