Frequency of Evaluations : North Carolina
Identifying Effective Teachers Policy
Analysis of North Carolina's policies
Commendably, all teachers in North Carolina must now be evaluated at least annually.
The state recently adopted policy that now requires annual evaluations for all career-status teachers. They must be observed at least three times by the principal, including at least one formal observation, which is defined as at least 45 minutes or an entire class period.
New teachers in North Carolina must also be evaluated once a year. To gather information for this evaluation, the principal must conduct at least three formal observations, and a peer must conduct one formal observation.
A post-observation conference is scheduled after each formal observation to discuss strengths and weaknesses of the teacher's performance.
However, North Carolina does not indicate when these observations should occur.
Recommendations for North Carolina
Ensure that new teachers are observed and receive feedback early in the school year.
It is critical that schools and districts closely monitor the performance of new teachers. North Carolina should ensure that its new teachers get the support they need and that supervisors know early on which new teachers may be struggling or at risk for unacceptable levels of performance.
State response to our analysis
North Carolina was helpful in providing NCTQ with the facts necessary for this analysis.
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North Carolina
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Preparation Programs
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Research rationale
For research emphasizing the importance of evaluation and observations for new teachers in predicting future success and providing support for teachers see, D. Staiger and J. Rockoff, "Searching for Effective Teachers with Imperfect Information." The Journal of Economic Perspectives. (24:3) American Economic Association (2010).