Ashley Mitchel and I have a new paper out today looking at the trajectory of teacher quality policy into the last decade, and then what’s happened over the last decade (pdf). In particular we look at the progress of the last few years and some course corrections and additions we see as necessary. Punchline on the issue du jour: We think today’s teacher evaluations are an important step in the right direction but a long way from the kind of professional evaluations a genuine teaching profession needs.  We also suggest a great deal more targeted professional development, improvements to preparation (and oldie but goodie!), and that reformers get serious about politics if they hope to change a politically governed system. The paper also takes a look at the evaluation status quo in different communities.

Paper here (pdf).  A companion Newshound stack looking at the issue is here.