President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan are promoting an
early learning initiative focusing on the agenda of every four year old having equal access
to high-quality early learning environments (Administration for Children and Families,
2013). One way the Federal government is supporting this proposal is through a grant;
Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) (U.S. Department of Education,
2013). As this grant is being implemented throughout the states, policymakers are
pushing for higher teacher accountability through the “workforce” heading of the grant.
One way many states are implementing a plan focusing on the early learning workforce is
through developing a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS). These systems
focus states’ efforts on teacher accountability by depicting certain teacher evaluation
models that are currently being researched and implemented (U.S. Department of
Education, 2013). The three main teacher evaluation models, focused on in this article,
are observation, feedback, and self-assessment. These three models can be implemented
separately or in conjunction with each other, which is also discussed.