EVALUATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY DATABASE TOOL:
MATCHING TEACHERS TO THE RIGHT ROLES, STUDENTS, SUBJECTS, AND TEAMS
This is a checklist with guidance for building an accurate, useful database that matches teachers in
schools using Opportunity Culture (or similar models) to the right roles, students, subjects, and teams.
Accurate matching ensures that:
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teachers are evaluated using measures that fit each role;
teachers receive credit for helping the right colleagues and students in each subject;
teacher development can focus on the demands of each teacher’s role and path; and
schools, districts, and states know exactly what percentage of students have excellent teachers
(as defined in each evaluation system) accountable for students in each subject and grade
(“reach”).
This tool can be used by any organization implementing team-based, teacher-led, extended-reach
models such as those in Opportunity Culture schools. It can be used to build or adapt human resource
information systems and student rosters to fit these new school environments that enable teachers to
learn and lead on the job while reaching more students and helping colleagues.
Use this tool with Evaluation, Accountability, and Professional Development in an Opportunity Culture: A
Practical Guide.
Instructions
See the general instructions below and the following pages for the data fields to record accountability
and to calculate “reach” of excellent teaching. Staff responsible for building this database should crossreference this checklist against the current student and teacher rostering system and human resource
information system of the state, district, or school to determine:
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what elements these databases already capture, and which they do not
what missing elements can be added with simple changes (e.g., adding fields)
what elements must be built separately in the short term (e.g., a spreadsheet that calculates
“reach” based on output from the student and teacher rosters)
what elements should be added in later years and what system changes are needed to do so.
Those entering data should:
1. Use each school's Opportunity Culture Staffing Template or Opportunity Culture School Design
Plan (see Phase 4 of the Opportunity Culture Toolkit). These are where most OC schools record
the staffing models they intend to use.
2. Include review at district level to ensure that each school is moving toward or maintaining its
intended staffing plan to reach all students with excellent teachers and teams.
3. Before the beginning of each school year, ensure that each principal and teacher has the chance
to check rosters, teacher roles, and teacher-leader and team relationships for accuracy before
submitting the final student roster to the district and state systems. Include privacy protections
to avoid exposure of evaluation data to those not authorized to view teachers’ individual data.
4. In the last month of each school year, recheck data, and add or delete students and teachers
who have entered or left schools. Note dates of entry or exit in the database.
Districts must share data with states and ensure that state systems accurately reflect the roles, students,
subjects, and teams that are correct for each teacher. Please contact Public Impact for assistance and
advice, if needed, at OCdatabase@publicimpact.com. Visit OpportunityCulture.org for related materials,
new tools, and updated versions of this checklist as they become available.
©2015 Public Impact
To copy or adapt this material,
see OpportunityCulture.org/terms-of-use
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Checklist of Elements to Include in Evaluation and Accountability Database
DATA FIELDS OR ELEMENTS
Teacher:
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Last name,
first name,
middle name,
teacher identification number
NOTES
The database must indicate for each teacher the
students and subjects-per-student for which he or
she is accountable. The ideal database will allow
reports that are teacher-centric, showing which
students/subjects are assigned to each teacher, and
student-centric, showing which teachers are
assigned to each student for each subject.
District and school
The district and school where the teacher is
employed currently
Job Title
Use your district's standard job titles for roles in
Opportunity Culture schools. Include current role
as well as past roles held.
Career Path
Career paths can be organized in multiple ways.
One simple way is to use the following categories:
 Classroom Teacher: Teachers in traditional
classrooms, without extended reach.
 Direct-Reach Teachers: Teachers who reach more
students than typical by using a time swap and
extra paraprofessional support, including:
o Blended-Learning Teachers use extra digital
instruction to reach more students.
o Elementary Specialized Teachers specialize in
a subject or teaching role to reach more
students.
o Expanded-Impact Teachers reach more
students with extra paraprofessional support,
typically teaching in-person but also remotely,
using digital communication tools, when
needed.
 Leadership: Teachers who lead teaching teams
and who may later lead one or more schools
(Multi-Classroom Leaders or Multi-School
Leaders).
Team Leader
©2015 Public Impact
Team leader (typically called “multi-classroom
leader” in an Opportunity Culture) who is jointly
accountable for other teacher's students, if any.
Indicate percent accountability of the team leader
To copy or adapt this material,
see OpportunityCulture.org/terms-of-use
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DATA FIELDS OR ELEMENTS
NOTES
for each grade, subject, and student. Do not split
accountability into percentages less than 100%.
Allow 100% for multiple people. This prevents
diluting leader responsibility for students of team
members compared to students taught directly by a
leader.
Team Members
Teaching team members for whose students a
multi-classroom leader or team-teaching partner
(peer) is jointly accountable, if any. Indicate
percent accountability of each team member (and
team leader) for each grade, subject, and student.
Ideal systems do not split accountability into
percentages less than 100%, but instead allow
100% for multiple people.
Students for whom teacher is accountable:
The database must indicate for each student the
teacher(s) accountable for each subject. The ideal
database will allow reports that are teacher-centric,
showing which students/subjects are assigned to
each teacher, and student-centric, showing which
teachers are assigned to each student for each
subject.
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last name,
first name,
middle name,
student identification number
Subjects for which teacher is accountable for each
student; % accountability
Subjects and courses for which each teacher is
accountable for each student. The database must
indicate what percentage accountability each
teacher has when accountability is shared for a
student in a subject or course.
Overall effectiveness level:
For example: Excellent, Effective, or Ineffective.
The ideal system will include a single top level that
the individual’s overall effectiveness level in the
comprises the highest-performing 25%–30% of
district or state evaluation system. The system must
teachers. In some states and districts, combining
include the most recent and historic levels, and the
the two top categories may be necessary to
job or role for which each rating was given. Many
encompass 25%–30% of teachers. In that case,
career path designs will allow some natural
teachers in either of the top two levels could be
variation in ratings over time, while also identifying
designated as "Excellent" in addition to the more
teachers with more consistent records of teaching
specific rating used by the state or district. An
excellence.
Excellent level comprising this larger portion of
teachers can be used for determining eligibility for
many advanced roles. Which teachers are eligible
for which roles based on what ratings and levels of
consistency is a subject of career path design; the
©2015 Public Impact
To copy or adapt this material,
see OpportunityCulture.org/terms-of-use
3
DATA FIELDS OR ELEMENTS
NOTES
database should reflect the design decisions of the
state and/or district.
Teacher evaluation ratings on sub-components.
Example fields from standard Opportunity Culture
evaluations:
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Job responsibilities—categories
Competency ratings—per competency
Outcome measures—per measure
Other measures, if any—per measure
Reach:
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Student load
District or state average load
Reach magnitude
Other
©2015 Public Impact
Use the district’s or state’s actual rating categories.
The database should include individuals’ actual
recent and historic evaluation ratings. The best
databases will also identify target ratings for each
career path and level and show how each person
compares against the targets for his or her current
and past roles. This part of the database must have
privacy protections limiting who can view. It cannot
be distributed as part of student rosters, for
example.
Indicate each teacher's total student load (the total
number of students taught in each subject), the
district average load, and the "reach magnitude."
Reach magnitude is a decimal—load divided by
district average. For example: If load is 16
compared to district average of 20, then reach
magnitude is .8; if load is 28 students, reach
magnitude is 1.4; if load is 40, reach is 2.0. Include
students of teachers led by multi-classroom leaders
in the reach of team leaders if they are formally
accountable for student outcomes of team
members. Use the Annual Staffing Update Tool to
record and determine the extent to which each
school is reaching students with excellent teachers;
or calculate the percentage of students in each
school who have an excellent teacher of record
(formally accountable for student outcomes, as
direct teacher or team leader).
Include one or more fields for notes about
exceptions, data deficiencies, and the dates of
entry of other fields.
To copy or adapt this material,
see OpportunityCulture.org/terms-of-use
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