W. DAVID STEVENS is Director for Research Engagement at UChicago CCSR. He received his PhD in sociology from Northwestern University. LAUREN SARTAIN is a research analyst at UChicago CCSR. She has a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and a MPP from the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, where she is currently a doctoral student. ELAINE ALLENSWORTH is the Executive Director of UChicago CCSR. She conducts research on factors affecting school improvement and students' educational attainment, including high school graduation, college readiness,...

Teacher evaluation is a pressing issue for school personnel and district administrators across the country, as an increasing number of states mandate that their districts develop and implement new evaluation systems. In 2010, Illinois enacted the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA), requiring every district in the state to adopt new teacher evaluation systems by 2016-17 that address both teacher performance and student growth. "Designing and Implementing the Next Generation of Teacher Evaluation Systems" examines the experiences of five case study districts in north, central, and...

This report finds that the overwhelming majority of teachers and principals in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) believe the overhaul of the district's teacher evaluation system has promoted teacher growth and instructional improvement; however, teachers also voiced concerns about some elements of the evaluation system, particularly the use of student test scores as a factor in teacher ratings. "Challenges clearly remain for CPS, which must improve communication and training around teacher evaluation and also grapple with teacher's concerns around the fairness of their ratings," said Sue Sporte,...