Danielson Without the Headache: How Evidence-First™ Simplifies Teacher Evaluation

Across the country, many school districts rely on Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT), 2nd ed. (2007), as the backbone of their teacher evaluations. It’s a trusted structure for defining great teaching, but ask any school leader and you’ll hear the same complaint: actually using it takes too much time and opens the door to inconsistent results.

In Danielson Domain 3: Instruction (Component 3b), evaluators are asked to determine if a teacher “uses questioning and discussion techniques effectively.” It’s a strong principle, but in practice, it often forces evaluators to make subjective calls. One administrator may see a teacher asking recall questions and mark it “effective,” while another expects students to generate their own questions and assigns a lower score. Teachers are left confused about expectations, and evaluators lose hours writing narrative justifications to explain their ratings.

With Evidence-First™ scoring, the ambiguity disappears. Instead of broad phrases, evaluators use concrete evidence markers directly tied to the teacher evaluation framework. For example, when scoring a part of Component 3b: Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques, they simply choose the highest marker observed:

• (1) Questions are used but are rhetorical.

  
  

• (2) Questions are at the Remembering/Understanding levels of Bloom’s (e.g., Who did…? When was…?).

  
  

• (3) Questions are at the Applying/Analyzing levels of Bloom’s (e.g., What if…? What do you mean by…?).

  
  

• (4) Questions are at the Evaluating/Creating levels of Bloom’s (e.g., What are the pros and cons of…? What is missing from…? Explain your thinking about…).

Instead of debating what “effective” questioning looks like, evaluators can point directly to the evidence. Teachers see exactly why they received a particular score, and evaluators can defend their ratings with observable data.

The result? Evaluations that are trustworthy, time-efficient, and growth-focused. Teachers gain confidence knowing the process is fair. Administrators save time by scoring evidence instead of writing lengthy rationales. And districts gain consistency across classrooms, ensuring their version of the Danielson Framework works as it was meant to: as a framework for professional learning, not a paperwork burden.

Evidence-First turns Danielson into what it was always meant to be: a tool for professional learning and lasting teacher success, with a process that’s simple and straightforward to use.