Most institutional practices to evaluate teaching are inadequate, inaccurate, neither improve teaching directly, nor incentivize teaching improvement. This is often because effective teaching is difficult to assess and most tools do not adequately or accurately do so and are often without established standards. Because of this, faculty may be hesitant to change or may not be aware of the need to change their teaching practice or how to effect such change. Here we establish a framework defining effective teaching and develop a tool that considers multiple facets of teaching and will accommodate different approaches, modes, and environments.