Nontechnical Questions About Teacher Evaluation Systems in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Research Agenda

Abstract

l h e crucial problems to be solved in implementing and operating a successful and effective teacher evaluation system are nontechnical as well as technical. The literature on teacher evaluation does not lack for wisdom and expertise concerning the nature of the evidence required to justify evaluative judgments (Millman, 1981). It is, however, one thing to understand the logic and techniques for collecting data and constructing warranted evaluative arguments, and another to implement and operate a successful and effective system in a real school district populated with real people. The latter task requires, in addition to technical competence, the ability to manage a complex organization, to resolve conflicting interests, and to make and enforce difficult and sometimes painful decisions in a just and humane way. Any decision concerning teacher evaluation needs to be rooted in a clear conception of why teacher evaluation systems exist. Most people would agree that the primary goal of teacher evaluations is to improve the quality of education that children receive. To reach this distant goal, two major, proximate roles of teacher evaluation have been distinguished: the formative role and the summative role. Formative teacher evaluation helps teachers improve their performance by providing data, judgments, and suggestions that have implications for what to teach and how. On the other hand, summative teacher evaluation serves administrative decisionmaking with respect to teacher certification, hiring and firing, promotion and tenure, assignments, and salary. The choice of which role the evaluation system will play is important because the motivation for, and likely acceptability of, the system is a function of its purpose, and because the optimum design features and implementation procedures differ for formative and summative teacher evaluation. Discussed below are questions about the context for teacher evaluation that raise such issues as implementation, acceptance, administrative feasibility, and justice. We believe these questions are particularly important for those seeking to study teacher evaluation systems. 1. What kinds of evaluation practices are consistent with the legal context in which schools operate? The overriding question about legal issues and teacher evaluation is: How best can the legal rights of teachers and the public be assured within an evaluation system that efficiently provides useful and accurate information? First we provide some background and then some specific research questions. Legal concerns are few in formative teacher evaluation because legal rights are not substantially affected by the as-