States are in various stages of reforming how they evaluate their educators, all striving for a new system that can assess a range of abilities and practices over long periods of time and capture the full nature of an educator's performance. The strongest systems look at teaching in a more comprehensive way than evaluations have done in the past, taking into account the full range of skills needed to be effective. This toolkit is designed to help States approach communication with educators, an important facet of the development and rollout of these new evaluation systems. Evaluation itself can be stressful, but States that clearly and thoughtfully communicate with their educators about a new system -- what it is, how it works, how it's different from the old system and why the change was necessary -- are more likely to abate criticism, the spread of misinformation and unnecessary concerns. The toolkit will continue to evolve over time as additional components are added, but currently includes the following elements: (1) Getting Started: Basic communication principles to frame your approach and a set of recommended strategies to use in building your plan; (2) Getting the Message Right: Key considerations to weigh when developing messages around educator evaluation; (3) Communications Cheat-Sheet: A one-pager with key points from the first two sections, designed to be used as an easy-reference tool; (4) Communicating about Value-Added Measures: Recommended strategies for communicating about and building support for using weighted measures to assess student progress; (5) Educator Engagement Tool: A resource for States and districts as they engage educators in developing and implementing new evaluation systems and other issues; (6) From Inform to Inspire: A framework to help clarify the purpose of communications efforts; (7) Educator Engagement: What Works? Commentary by Celine Coggins, CEO of Teach Plus, about what her staff have learned through their work with educators nationwide; (8) What Teachers Really Want to Know about Evaluations: A first-person commentary by California educator Marciano Gutierrez about the top questions in the minds of the people most directly impacted by new evaluations; and (9) Additional Resources.