Instructional Improvement & Data Systems Publications:

• Request for Proposals Evaluation Guide [PDF, 1.56MB]

  This publication offers SEAs and LEAs steps for evaluating a Request for Proposal (RFP) that allows input from a wide range of participants and specific subject matter experts, permits flexibility and weighted scoring in appropriate areas and provides an objective and defensible process for determining the vendor finalist.

Teacher & Leader Effectiveness/Standards & Assessments Publications:

• State Perspectives on Emerging Practices for Effective Communication with Educators around Evaluation [PDF, 1.5MB]

  This brief explores emerging practices for improving communication between teachers and State education agencies on teacher evaluation systems.

• The View from the States: A Brief on Non-Tested Grades and Subjects [PDF, 1.14MB]

  This brief profiles how three Race to the Top grantees—Delaware, North Carolina and Tennessee—developed growth measures for teachers of non-tested grades and subjects.

• College- and Career-Readiness: Aligning Standards and Educator Effectiveness Policies [PDF, 957KB]

  This publication highlights a series of video clips in which participants in a recent Reform Support Network convening of the Teacher and Leader Effectiveness/Standards and Assessment Community of Practice reflect on the work of translating college- and career-ready standards from policy adoption by States to reality in the classroom.

• Engaging Educators: A Reform Support Network Guide for States and Districts Toward a New Grammar and Framework for Educator Engagement [PDF, 480KB]

  This publication highlights a series of video clips featuring an overview and discussion of the Engaging Educators guide among State and local educational agency leaders from Race to the Top grantee States.

• Superintendents Speak: Local Perspectives on the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model's First Year [PDF, 901KB]

  This publication highlights a series of video clips in which LEA level officials from Tennessee to provide their local perspective and views from the ground on the Tennessee Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM), a comprehensive new teacher evaluation system based on multiple measures of teacher performance.

• Baltimore's Career Pathways Initiative for Teachers [PDF, 828KB]

  This publication describes Baltimore's Model Pathway, the process for becoming a Model Teacher, and lessons the LEA learned from working with teachers and the Baltimore Teacher's Union to negotiate their new differentiated career pathways and compensation.

• Multiple Measures in Sync: Ensuring Timely Access to Indicators of Teacher Effectiveness [PDF, 775KB]

  This publication explores several State and LEA policies designed to synchronize different data sources to support a well-informed teacher evaluation process.

• Measuring Student Growth for Teachers in Non-Tested Grades and Subjects [PDF, 1.17MB]

  This publication describes the options that State education agencies and/or local educational agencies have when taking into account student growth in non-tested grades and subjects as part of their teacher and principal evaluation systems.

• State Rules for Linking Student and Teacher Data for Purpose of Teacher Evaluation [PDF, 987KB]

  This brief provides a snapshot of the rules for including student achievement data in evaluations of teacher performance in selected Race to the Top grantee States.

• Evaluations of Teacher Effectiveness: State Requirements for Classroom Observations [PDF, 1MB]

  This brief provides a snapshot of the rules governing classroom observations used in teacher evaluations in selected Race to the Top grantee States.

• State Development and Use of Video Libraries to Improve Teacher Effectiveness [PDF, 1.2MB]

  This brief summarizes research about the specifications for video libraries in the Requests for Proposals developed by four States: Delaware, Illinois, New York and Rhode Island.

• Targeting Growth: Using Student Learning Objectives as a Measure of Educator Effectiveness [PDF, 1.1MB]

  This brief describes the key elements and challenges of SLOs, providing examples of SLOs and links to additional resources.

• Transition to TEAM: First-Year Reflections on Implementing a New Teacher Evaluation System in Tennessee [PDF, 1.3MB]

  This paper describes Tennessee's transition to the Teacher Educator Acceleration Model (TEAM) and illustrates implementation challenges and lessons learned.

• Engaging Educators: A Reform Support Network Guide for States and Districts [PDF, 2.5MB]

  This guide proposes a framework for engaging teachers in evaluation reforms and proposes new roles that State and local education agencies (SEAs and LEAs) and State and local union affiliates can play to support their engagement.

School Turnaround Publications:

• Race to the Top Highlights, Third-Party Providers and School Turnaround
  [PDF, 870KB]

  This publication describes the varying approaches that some Race to the Top States have taken to engage outside experts and providers of specialized services to bring additional capacity and assist with implementing school turnaround models. It also provides examples of safeguards that States are using to maximize the number of available providers while ensuring that they are supplying high-quality services.

• Highlights of State Approaches to School Turnaround Governance
  [PDF, 983KB]

  The brief describes multiple States' implementation of school turnaround strategies that have been expedited by the unique opportunity provided by the School Improvement Grant (SIG) and Race to the Top programs.

• Delaware's Partnership Zone, School Turnaround Governance Highlights [PDF, 778KB]

  This brief describes Delaware's Partnership Zone (PZ) and the process for implementation. The document provides planning tools and other resources.

• Turning Around the Lowest-Achieving Schools, Highlights of State Support Systems for School Turnaround [PDF, 831KB]

  This paper provides a snapshot of the work of the 12 Race to the Top grantees (Phases 1 and 2) within state support systems. The highlights were specifically selected to draw out topics and examples that may be of use to others interested in learning from early implementation efforts.

• Massachusetts' Essential Conditions for School Effectiveness [PDF, 930KB]

  This brief discusses the Massachusetts' Essential Conditions for School Effectiveness. The conditions articulate the key elements of school governance, curriculum, instruction, finance, training and student services.

• Turnaround Leadership, How to Identify Successful School Leaders
  [PDF, 889KB]

  This document assists States in identifying successful school leaders, providing a list of key actions, a check list for Competencies for Turnaround Success, and links to practical resources.

• The Principal Pipeline, Highlights of Efforts to Develop Effective Leaders for Turnaround Schools [PDF, 668KB]

  The goal of this document is to provide a snapshot of some of the publicly available resources describing efforts across Race to the Top States to ensure that turnaround schools have effective leaders.

SEA Capacity Building Publications

• Performance Management Description [PDF, 420KB]

  This "Performance Management: Description and Key Elements" document provides a general framework for State education agencies, local educational agencies and partners in the Reform Support Network (RSN) to understand and plan for the important work of performance management.

• EdStat in Rhode Island: A Case Study of Race to the Top Performance Management [PDF, 1.6MB]

  This publication highlights Rhode Island's EdStat, a system of performance management that has enabled the Rhode Island Department of Education to monitor the progress of its participating LEAs and its own offices on Race to the Top implementation and outcomes.

• Collaborative Learning for Outcomes: Connecting LEAs with the Rhode Island Department of Education [PDF, 1.26MB]

  This publication highlights Rhode Island's Collaborative Learning for Outcomes (CLO), a new progress monitoring process that leads to two-way communication between the State and its 50 participating and two involved local educational agencies.

Stakeholder Communications and Engagement Publications:

• Measurable Success, Growing Adoption, Vast Potential Social Media Use Among State and Local Education Agencies
  [PDF, 1.39MB]

  This report presents data collected through a questionnaire of State education agencies and local educational agencies on the growing use of social media to reach key stakeholder groups and engage with primary audiences.

• From "Inform" to "Inspire": A Framework for Communications and Engagement
  [PDF, 486KB]

  This publication describes a framework for thinking about and implementing a comprehensive communications and engagement strategy to support successful implementation of State education reform. The framework encourages States to prioritize audiences, create clear and compelling messages using a variety of tactics, work in coalitions and with partners to expand reach, build staff capacity to do this work, measure effectiveness of strategies, and use data to make any necessary adjustments.

• Building Enduring Race to the Top Education Reforms: Using Social Media to Engage With and Communicate to Key Stakeholders
  [PDF, 1.2MB]

  This guide describes emerging social media practices among State education agencies and other governmental organizations and suggests key steps and considerations for those interested in using social media to advance education reform.