Everyone knows that when it comes to making a difference in a student's academic and personal outcomes, their teachers play an important role. How a teacher relates to their students and teaches them to succeed both socially and academically contributes to their effectiveness. What does it mean to be an effective teacher? Overall, the emphasis seems to be on the fact that teacher effectiveness is linked to their students' performance based on standardized tests. As teachers, we know that it takes much more to be an effective teacher than teaching our students based on tests. In this article, different definitions of an effective teacher will be discussed as well as how to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Teacher effectiveness: qualities and skills of an effective teacher. Teacher effectiveness can be defined differently depending on how it is perceived. Jupp and Education (2009) define effectiveness as “the practical outcomes of teachers.” The results come in two different forms, quantitative and qualitative. Student results on tests and assessments fall into the quantitative category and teacher observations fall into the qualitative category. In their article, Jupp and Education (2009) are convinced that the effectiveness of teachers cannot be evaluated based on a given moment; instead, student learning should be assessed from the beginning to the end of a school year by examining what students knew before starting and what they know at the end. In Steven Farr's (2010) book, Teacher as Leadership: the Highly Effective Teachers Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap, effective teachers are defined by looking at six characteristics or skills. He believes that highly effective teachers are able to convey...... middle of paper ...... and we discuss and aspire to teacher effectiveness, our students' progress is always where we look first, so it is our responsibility to make sure we offer this chance to everyone. References Farr, S. (2010). The Teacher as Leadership: Teachers' Highly Effective Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap. San Francisco, CA: A Wiley Imprint. Goe, L., Bell, C. and Little O. (2008). Approaches to assessing teacher effectiveness: A synthesis of research. Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. Hinchey, PH and University of Colorado at Boulder, N. (2010). Succeeding in teacher evaluation: What policymakers can learn from research. National Education Policy Center. Taken from EBSCOhost. Jupp, B. and Education, T. (2009). What states can do to improve teacher effectiveness. K-12 Policy. Education Trust. Taken from EBSCOhost.