Professional Development: Indiana

Analysis of Indiana's policies

Indiana requires that a copy of the teacher's evaluation be given to the teacher within seven days of the completed evaluation. The state also specifies that professional development activities for teachers with "ineffective" or "improvement necessary" evaluation ratings must be aligned with findings from teacher evaluations.

Citation

IC 20-28-11.5 (Sec. 6) SB 1

Recommendations for Indiana

Require that evaluation systems provide teachers with feedback about their performance.
Although Indiana requires teachers to receive copies of their evaluations, this only ensures that teachers will receive their ratings, not necessarily feedback on their performance. Indiana should specify that teachers should receive specific feedback on identified strengths and areas that need improvement.  

Ensure that professional development is aligned with findings from teachers' evaluations.
While Indiana has taken steps to ensure that teachers with unsatisfactory evaluations receive coordinated professional development based on these findings, the state should strengthen this policy by requiring that all teachers receive professional development that is aligned with their evaluation results.

State response to our analysis

Indiana recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state noted that the Department of Education plans to add this to regulations currently going through the promulgation process.