How California evaluates teachers and principals

How California's local education agencies evaluate teachers and principals, summarizes the results of a statewide survey of teacher and principal evaluation practices across school districts and direct-funded charter schools in California. Key findings include:

* Sixty-one percent of responding local education agencies indicated that their teacher evaluation systems are based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession. * For teacher evaluation, 57 percent of respondents reported using student achievement outcomes or growth data as partial or primary evidence. For principal evaluation, 79 percent reported using these data.

* Eighty-two percent of responding direct-funded charter schools reported using student achievement or growth data as partial or primary evidence for teacher evaluation, compared with 45 percent of districts. For principal evaluation, the figures were 85 percent of charter schools and 76 percent of districts.

* More than two-thirds of local education agencies reported having two or three performance rating levels for their teachers (37 percent had two levels, and 35 percent had three) and principals (40 percent had two levels, and 30 percent had three). Local education agencies with two rating levels reported that 98 percent of teachers and 83 percent of principals were rated in the highest category; agencies with three rating levels reported that 91 percent of teachers and 98 percent of principals were rated in the highest category.