Run NEE or your own approved instrument, districtwide
Missouri NEE evaluations are one part of EX in Education, the educator experience platform. Run NEE alongside walkthroughs, coaching, goals, PD, and retention, so every educator moves from hired to thriving.
In short: Missouri provides a model educator evaluation system built on the nine Missouri Teacher Standards and their 36 quality indicators (per 5 CSR 20-400.375), but each district adopts its own compliant plan. Many districts use the Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE), a University of Missouri system of short, frequent observations scored on a developmental 0-to-7 scale, emphasizing growth along a continuum rather than a single end-of-year label.
Reviewed for 2026-27 state requirements. Configure EX to your district's local process, or start from a ready-made observation form.
Under section 168.128, RSMo, every district's board of education must maintain a comprehensive, performance-based evaluation for each teacher it employs. The rule that implements it, 5 CSR 20-400.375, requires those evaluations to be "ongoing and of sufficient specificity and frequency to provide for demonstrated standards of competency and academic ability."
That rule sets out seven essential principles. An evaluation process should use research-based performance targets aligned to the state model standards; articulate indicators across differentiated levels; align to the probationary period in state law; use student growth as a significant contributing factor drawn from a wide variety of measures; assess performance regularly with timely feedback from multiple sources; ensure evaluators are highly trained and objective so ratings are fair, accurate and reliable; and guide district decisions on status, recognition, development and intervention.
The part districts miss: 5 CSR 20-400.375(2) says districts not electing to adopt the state model shall align their local evaluation process to these same principles and shall submit their process to the department for review and approval. Choosing NEE, or any other instrument, does not remove the obligation. It changes what you have to be able to show.
That is the practical case for a system of record. Whichever instrument a Missouri district runs, it has to evidence regular observation, timely feedback from multiple sources, trained evaluators, and student growth from more than one measure, across every teacher and every year.
DESE's 2025 Growth Guide sets out nine standards and 36 quality indicators. Score every observation against them, then let the evidence connect to coaching, PD, and goals in EX in Education.
The teacher understands the central concepts, structures, and tools of inquiry of the discipline(s) and creates learning experiences that make these aspects accessible and meaningful for all students.
The teacher understands how students learn, develop and differ in their approaches to learning. The teacher provides learning opportunities that are adapted to diverse learners and support intellectual, social, and personal development.
The teacher recognizes the importance of long-range planning and curriculum development. The teacher develops, implements, and evaluates curriculum based upon student, district, and state standards.
The teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies and resources to encourage students' critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.
The teacher uses an understanding of individual/group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages active engagement, positive social interaction, and self-motivation.
The teacher models effective verbal, nonverbal, and media communication techniques with students, colleagues, and families to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and supportive interaction.
The teacher understands and uses formative and summative assessment strategies to assess the learner's progress and uses assessment data to monitor and modify instruction. Six quality indicators, the joint-largest standard alongside Standard 2.
The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually assesses the effects of choices and actions on others. The teacher actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally and utilizes the assessment and professional growth to generate more learning for students.
The teacher has effective working relationships with students, parents, school colleagues, and community members. This is the standard most often left out of a shortened rubric, and the one a district is most likely to be asked about.
Each of these maps to something 5 CSR 20-400.375 requires a district to be able to show
NEE's own model is short, frequent classroom observations rather than one annual event. Short observations only help if they accumulate somewhere, so every one lands on the teacher's record and builds the pattern across a year.
The rule asks for feedback from multiple sources and student growth from a wide variety of measures. Observations, staff and student survey results, growth plans and artifacts sit against the same educator rather than in four systems.
Bring the instrument your district already had approved. Configure it against all nine standards and 36 quality indicators so nothing quietly drops off, and Professionalism and Professional Collaboration are still scored.
Principle (F) asks that evaluators are highly trained and objective. Evaluator PD is tracked in the same platform as the evaluations they conduct, so the training record and the ratings are not separate arguments.
Principle (C) ties evaluation to the probationary period in state law and to the accurate accumulation of performance data. Years accumulate against the educator rather than resetting each September.
A rating that ends in a file changes nothing. An indicator scored low can open a coaching cycle, a goal, or PD, so the next observation is measuring against something that actually happened.
See how EX in Education runs Missouri evaluations against all nine Teacher Standards, then connects evaluations to coaching, PD, goals, and retention across every school.
Tracking license renewal too? Missouri professional development and renewal requirements.
Bring the instrument your district already had approved under 5 CSR 20-400.375 and we will configure it. Connected to coaching, PD, and goals.
Evaluations are one part of EX in Education, connecting to coaching, goals, PD, and retention. Every educator, from hired to thriving.
Missouri provides a model educator evaluation system built on the Missouri Teacher Standards, but each district adopts its own compliant evaluation plan. Many districts use the Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE). The emphasis is on growth along a developmental continuum rather than a single end-of-year label.
There are nine Missouri Teacher Standards, with 36 quality indicators across them. They cover content knowledge, student learning and development, curriculum implementation, critical thinking, a positive classroom environment, effective communication, student assessment and data, professionalism, and professional collaboration.
Indicators are scored on a developmental scale from 0 to 7 that describes a continuum of practice, so a teacher's growth is visible from one cycle to the next. In systems like NEE, observations are typically short, unannounced visits of about 8 to 15 minutes with focused feedback.
NEE, the Network for Educator Effectiveness, is a University of Missouri-based system that combines classroom observation with multiple measures of effectiveness in a secure online portal. It is one widely used way Missouri districts implement the state's teacher standards.
Part of EX in Education
Missouri NEE evaluations are one part of how districts support educators. In EX in Education, they connect to the bigger picture: walkthroughs, coaching, evaluations, goals, PD, recognition, surveys, and retention. Bring your own process, or start from a template, then run it across every school so every educator moves from hired to thriving.
EX in Education includes its own observation forms you can use as-is or customize to match your district's process. No proprietary rubric required.
A printable, framework-neutral observation form you can use on your next visit: evidence areas, a four-level scale, and space for commendations and next steps. Use it alongside your state's model.