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This is a resource for supporting Colorado school district employees, administrators, and teachers in developing an understanding of the Rubric for Evaluating Colorado Teachers. As individuals apply the rubric to their own teaching and to that of others, the Resource Guide can be used to support observers and coaches in accurately identifying evidence for the professional practices and for classroom teachers to accurately reflect on their teaching...

As the body of research on the importance of teacher quality grows, increased scrutiny is generally being placed on the educator pipeline and, more specifically, on teacher preparation programs. As a result, there is a push to link in-service teachers to their preparation programs and examine program outcomes that include, but are not limited to, the demographic characteristics of the teaching force produced, where and with which students these teachers...

Senate Bill 10-191 (S.B. 10-191) was passed in 2010 changing the way both principals and teachers are supported and evaluated in Colorado with the ultimate goal of accelerating student learning. To support a fair and consistent educator evaluation system, the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is developing tools to promote common interpretations of teacher quality and help evaluators provide useful and actionable feedback to educators. One tool...

Every Colorado child in every classroom deserves to have excellent teachers and school leaders who are supported in their professional growth. That means educators need clear, frequent feedback about how their teaching and leadership impact student learning. To meet these goals, in 2010 Colorado lawmakers passed Senate Bill 10-191, changing how principals and teachers are supported and evaluated with the goal of ensuring college and career readiness...

The research is clear; teachers are the single most important factor in improving student achievement. If teacher quality is vital to student achievement, then we need to know how teacher quality is distributed in Colorado. The purpose of Shining the Light: The State of Teaching in Colorado is to examine issues of teacher quality in Colorado and provide recommendations for improving the quality of instruction for all students across the state.

In May 2010, the Colorado legislature passed and Gov. Ritter signed SB 191, which establishes new requirements for local personnel evaluation systems. Among other requirements, this law requires that at least 50 percent of teachers' evaluation be determined by the academic growth of their students and at least 50 percent of principals' evaluation be determined by the academic growth of the students in the principal's school.

In an effort to improve the quality of education provided to all students in the state, Colorado has: implemented the Colorado academic standards that represent what students should know and be able to do at each level of their schooling; implemented school and district accountability strategies that are tied to unified improvement planning; and adopted Educator Quality Standards that describe the actions of effective educators in Colorado.

Colorado has created evaluation rubrics for principals, teachers and nine categories of specialized service professionals designed to capture evidence of professional practices relating to effectiveness. The performance management system includes electronic interfaces and data collection tools for the evaluation rubrics, measures of student learning/outcomes, final effectiveness ratings, and reports with useful and actionable feedback for educators....