A new report from Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation find that principal evaluations are a “very accurate measure of of teacher performance”. Fourteen percent believe that standardized testing gives a “very accurate measure of teacher performance.” But 55 percent say that a measure of student growth over a course of an academic year is the best indicator.
Ninety-seven percent say that supportive leadership is “absolutely essential’ or somewhat important in teacher retention.”
My latest book, currently being edited, is about the teacher “dropout” problem. More teachers leave the field of education (46% over five years) than students dropout in four years (33 percent). The reality is that we do not have a teacher shortage but rather a retention problem. My greatest concern is that few policy makers are looking at that problem.