As more schools use technology and new staffing models to reach more students with personalized learning and excellent teachers, how will evaluation systems keep up? It’s been a heavy lift for pioneering states and districts—examples here—just to begin measuring the basics in a one-teacher-one-classroom mode. What can schools do to select, develop, and evaluate teachers in new roles—such as those working in elementary specialist teams, blending technology and face-to-face instruction, leading other teachers, or using any of these models while reaching students in remote locations via webcams?

As a start, Public Impact has published the Teacher and Staff Selection, Evaluation, and Development Toolkit, which provides detailed job descriptions and tools for interviewing, selecting, developing, and evaluating staff in these and other new school models. The toolkit helps schools match people to roles in which each person can contribute to excellence and continue developing skills and competencies. The materials are built to dock into existing teacher evaluation systems that include student outcomes and multiple measures.

Public Impact previously published detailed school models that use job redesign and technology to extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students, for more pay, within budget. Most of the models create collaborative teams and enable stronger professional development on the job. In each of these models, teachers have career opportunities dependent upon their excellence, leadership, and student impact. Advancement allows more pay and greater reach. When excellent teachers reach more students, per-pupil funds are freed to cover higher pay and other priorities—in some cases for all teachers, not just the best. Teachers can learn from their outstanding peers. Most important, all students have excellent teachers in charge of their learning. We call this an Opportunity Culture, explained in this infographic.

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