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A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform was published
A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform prompted national conversation about teacher evaluation and student performance. The publication made huge claims that American schools were failing against other schools in the world (National Commission, 1983). -
Quality Basic Education Act
The Quality Basic Education Act (QBE) (1985) replaced the Adequate Program for Education in Georgia (1973) (Georgia State University Law Review, 1985; Grant 2003). QBE established minimum teacher salaries, increased funding to high poverty schools, more evenly distributed funds for special education, and testing prior to the admittance to first grade. -
Georgia Section 20-2-210
Georgia Section 20-2-210 has been updated many times. Georgia Section 20-2-210 states that annual teacher evaluations must be reflective on the teacher's impact of student success, observations of teaching practices, professional development and growth, attendance, professionalism, adherence to school and district policies, and communication with stakeholders. Educators receiving an unsatisfactory performance evaluation two times would not be eligible for recertification. -
A+ Education Reform Act
Roy Barnes signed the A+ Education Reform Act in 2000 to replace the Quality Basic Education Act (Grant, 2003). The A + Education Reform Act focused on school accountability more than prior educational policies had. In reference to teacher evaluation, teachers were required to receive a satisfactory rating on evaluation scales to be eligible for re-certification and raises. The A + Education Reform Act also gave criteria for teacher evaluation systems to be designed with. -
Georgia Teacher Evaluation Program
The Georgia Teacher Evaluation Program (GTEP) was an evaluation plan that was implemented with the onset of Georgia Code Section 20-2-210 (Pelham Public Schools, n.d.; RESA Statewide Network, 2003). The GTEP was comprised of the Georgia Teacher Observation Instrument and the Georgia Teacher Duties and Responsibilities Instrument. Three to five observations were mandated each academic year. Teachers who received unsatisfactory ratings on observations were subject to more observations.. -
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2002) provided radical reform for teacher evaluation across the United States. NCLB (2002) mandated strict teacher evaluation criteria, school progress information, known as AYP, and a plethora of different standardized tests for students to take to measure achievement. -
Race to the Top
Race to the Top was implemented by Barak Obama in 2009. Race to the Top provided incentives for schools and teachers to meet high achievement benchmarks to improve overall performance across American schools. Race to the Top was heavily focused on standardized testing and gathering data to support educational decisions. -
Every Student Succeeds Act
The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) replaced NCLB (2002). ESSA (2015) decreased the amount of standardized testing that students were required to take each school year. ESSA (2015) also gave more control back to the local and state governments on how to evaluate teachers. Value-added measures were no longer required to evaluate teacher effectiveness. -
Teacher Keys Effectiveness System
The Teacher Keys Effectiveness System of Georgia (TKES) is composed of three different components to make up an evaluation summative score: TAPS ratings, professional growth goal, and student growth percentiles (Georgia Department of education; 2014; Georgia Department of Education, 2021). The goal of TKES is to improve the quality of instruction and student achievement.