Empirical Education Develops Web-Based Tool to Improve Teacher Evaluation
For school districts looking for ways to improve teacher observation methods, Empirical Education has begun development of a web-delivered tool that will provide a convenient way to validate their observational protocols and rubrics against measures of the teacher’s contribution to student academic growth.
Empirical Education is charged with developing a “validation engine” as part of the Measures of Teacher Effectiveness (MET) project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As described on the project’s website, the tool will allow users to “view classroom observation videos, rate those videos and then receive a report that evaluates the predictive validity and rater consistency for the protocol.” The MET project has collected thousands of hours of video of classrooms as well as records of the characteristics and academic performance associated with the students in the class.
By watching and coding videos of a range of teachers, users will be able to verify whether or not their current teacher rating systems are identifying teaching behavior associated with higher achievement. The tool will allow users to review their own rating systems against a variety of MET project measures, and will give real-time feedback through an automated report generator.
Development of the validation engine builds on two years of MET Project research, which included data from six school districts across the country and over 3,000 teachers. Researchers will now use the data to identify leading indicators of teacher practice on student achievement. The engine is expected to undergo beta testing over the next few months, beginning with the National Math and Science Initiative.
Announcement of the new tool comes as interest in alternative ways to measure the effectiveness of teachers is becoming a major issue in education and as federal, state and local officials and teacher organizations look for researched-based ways to identify effective teachers and improve student outcomes.
“At a time when schools are experiencing budget cuts, it is vital that school districts have ready access to research tools, so that they can make the most informed decisions,” says Denis Newman, President of Empirical Education. The validation engine will be part of a suite of web-based technology tools developed by the company, including [MeasureResults, an online tool that allows districts to evaluate the effectiveness of the products and programs they use.