Coming to a school near you: a tool to keep closer tabs on teachers and principals.

The California State Board of Education took the first step Tuesday toward a process that will make it easier to include teacher and principal evaluations in the School Accountability Report Card, a one-page summary of school accomplishments published every year for each school.

According to the new rules, scheduled to receive a final vote Jan. 10, schools and districts will include in the report card which systems they are using to evaluate teachers and principals and how the results are used in decisions such as training, compensation, promotion, retention and removal.

Schools will have to report whether the systems to evaluate teachers and principals include student achievement or student growth.

The move follows legislation approved in January designed to accommodate federal funding requirements. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, states receiving stabilization money had to provide