Lessons from the Field: The Role of Student Surveys in Teacher Evaluation and Development

There is a growing belief that students can provide valuable feedback on a teacher's performance in the classroom. Student perception surveys are increasingly seen as a low-cost and reliable tool for gathering data and feedback on the quality of teaching in individual classrooms. However, incorporating student surveys into formal, high-stakes teacher evaluation and development systems has its challenges. This paper highlights the experience of states, districts, charter management organizations, and teacher preparation programs that are "early adopters" of student perception surveys. Through their research, the authors find that while there is great interest and potential to use student surveys to collect information on and improve teacher practices, few examples exist of field surveys being used successfully to benefit teacher and student experiences. The paper also includes endnotes.