Teacher Evaluation Policy Research Articles

Sentinels guarding the grail: Value-added measurement and the quest for education reform

Over the past three years, Value-Added Measurement (VAM) has captured the attention of the American public through high-profile media representations of the tool and the controversy that surrounds it. In this paper, we build upon investigations of constructions of VAM in the media and present a discourse analysis of the policymaking process within the meetings of Tennessee’s Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee (TEAC), a 15-member panel appointed by the Tennessee governor to develop a new teacher evaluation policy under Race to the Top. The data included audiorecordings of public meetings from March, 2010 through the end of the committee’s work in April, 2011. As we analyzed the talk of the TEAC, we oriented to the particular version of VAM worked up within these conversations in relation to a descriptive metaphor in which VAM is compared to a “sentinel of trust.” We present examples to illustrate three patterns in the construction of VAM as the sentinel of trust within teacher evaluation: (1) VAM alone defines effectiveness; (2) VAM is the only objective option; and (3) concerns about VAM are minimized. We discuss the implications of this way of thinking and talking about VAM and contrast it with other possibilities, including those constructed by teachers, researchers, and the media.

The Effect of a Primary School Teachers' Trade Union on the Formation and Realisation of Policy in Greece: The Case of Teacher Evaluation Policy

The purpose of this article is to analyse and interpret the effect of the primary school teachers' trade union in Greece insofar as the formation and realisation of education policy is concerned, and, more precisely, insofar as it concerns the issue of teacher evaluation. The research material used comes from the filing and analysis of the contents of the Teachers' Forum, a periodical publication of the trade union, and from a field study on the role of school advisors within the context of teacher evaluation. What emerges as most telling from the findings is the impression that ‘evaluation’ is perceived by the Teachers' Union of Greece as a concept that arouses reactions and resistance in its implementation. Consequently, an interesting line of research enquiry would be how local education administrators and teachers could be encouraged to create a climate of trust and mutual commitment.

Contexts of educational policy change in Botswana and South Africa

This article examines how different histories and contexts of political and educational change in Botswana and South Africa have shaped the more regular classroom practice observed in Botswana. It does this through an interpretive synthesis and comparison of four key moments of educational change in Botswana and South Africa during the twentieth century, followed by an examination of more recent curriculum and assessment, teacher education, supervision, and evaluation policy in each country. The article highlights differences in decolonization processes and similarities in economic conditions and spending on education. It shows that processes of educational change have been and continue to be marked by the respectively different histories of gradual and incremental change on the one hand, and rapid, disruptive change on the other. And while recent curriculum and assessment policies show convergence with one another, this is less the case with teacher policies and processes.

The analysis of influence factors on Teacher Evaluation Policy's propulsive process: centered perspective of Time Lag and Policy Network

The analysis of influence factors on Teacher Evaluation Policy's propulsive process: centered perspective of Time Lag and Policy Network

Teacher development and evaluation: a study of policy and practice in Colorado

This study undertook an investigation of policy and practice related to teacher evaluation and development among Colorado school districts. A conceptual analysis was applied to a sample of teacher evaluation policies and process materials from 30 school districts. The study was based on policy objectives stipulated in state statute and best practice as reported in the literature. Results of the study show little relationship to teacher development and an emphasis in the policies and processes toward summative evaluations. Student outcomes received modest attention while the processes of teacher evaluation seemed de-contextualised to other school district systems.

Teacher–Student Relationship Climate and School Outcomes: Implications for Educational Policy Initiatives

In recent discussions regarding concerns about the academic achievement of US students, educational policy makers have suggested the implementation of certain teacher policies. To address the limited empirical research on the putative educational impact of such policies, this study used multilevel structural equation models to investigate the longitudinal associations between teacher evaluation and reward policies, and student mathematics achievement and dropout with a national sample of students (n = 7,779) attending one of 431 public high schools. The student sample included an equal number of boys and girls averaging 16 years of age, and included a White (53%) majority. This study examined whether associations between teacher policies and student achievement were mediated by the teacher-student relationship climate. Results of this study were threefold. First, teacher evaluation policies that allowed students to evaluate their teachers were associated with more positive student reports of the classroom teaching climate. Second, schools with teacher reward policies that included assigning higher performing teachers with higher performing students had a negative association with student perceptions of the teaching climate. Lastly, schools with better student perceptions of the teaching climate were associated with lower student dropout rates by students' senior year. These findings are discussed in light of their educational policy implications.

The influence of school leadership on teachers’ perception of teacher evaluation policy

The understanding of teachers’ perception of new educational policy is crucial since this perception shapes the policy’s implementation. However, quantitative research in this area is scarce. This article draws on empirical data to investigate whether the school leader might influence his teachers’ perception of the new teacher evaluation policy. The conceptualisation of teachers’ perception consists of three policy characteristics: practicality, need and clarifying function. Our results indicate that school leadership influences teachers’ policy perception. More specifically, the structure a school leader provides in a school and the amount of trust teachers have in the school leader have a significant impact on teachers’ perception of the practicality of the new teacher evaluation policy.

Teachers' perception of the new teacher evaluation policy: A validity study of the Policy Characteristics Scale

Teachers' perception of the educational policy is vital to understand the success or failure of the policy's implementation. In this article, we describe the development and use of the Policy Characteristics Scale to measure teachers' perception of a new teacher evaluation policy. An exploratory factor analysis ( n = 347) and a confirmative factor analysis ( n = 263) revealed a three-factor structure of teachers' perception of the new educational policy: policy's practicality, need, and clarifying function. Our research results indicated that teachers confirm the policy's need. They perceive the reform as clear but they have questions about the policy's implementation. Implications for policy makers and school leaders are discussed.

The Leadership of Teaching and Learning: Implications for Teacher Evaluation

This article reports on a series of empirical studies that investigated the extent to which teacher evaluation policies and procedures promote teachers' inquiry into the relationship between their teaching and their students' learning. Four possible explanations for the weak focus on student learning in teacher evaluation are discussed. They relate to the alignment between school evaluation practice and a national policy which gives minimal emphasis to student outcomes, to the lack of an inquiry stance, to the compliance-driven approach taken to teacher evaluation, and to the overemphasis on norms of professional collegiality. We argue for an alternative approach to teacher evaluation that promotes teachers' capacity to inquire into and strengthen the relationship between their teaching and their students' learning in order to achieve the key purpose of evaluation—to improve teaching and learning.

Evaluation in the Wild: A Distributed Cognition Perspective on Teacher Assessment

Purpose: The authors adapted distributed cognition theory to provide a detailed account of how schoolleaders use knowledge of the new programs, existing initiatives, andschool contexts to guide policy implementation. Research Design: The study used distributed cognition theory to show how policy implementation studies provide an occasion to understand the influence of context on practice. The article focuses on a case study of (a) a suburban district design of a teacher evaluation policy and (b) a principal’s effort to use the evaluation program with the teachers in her middleschool.The authors adaptedthe distributedcognitiontheory to provide ananalytic framework to better address the issues of school leadership. Findings: The authors found that the design of the policy required teacher evaluators to address the tensions between summative and formative evaluation implicit in the program design. In this case, the principal relied heavily on her discretion to determine which features of the teacher evaluationpolicywouldbe emphasizedwith different teachers. The case also providedinsightinto how the principalreconciledthe demandsof evaluation with ongoing instructional and personnel demands. Conclusions: The distributed cognition framework provided a valuable tool for organizing close studies of the cognitive and contextual dimensions of leadership practice and can provide valuable information about how policies can be designed and used to shape real changes in everyday practice.

A study of teacher's consideration concerning teacher evaluation policy : Comparative study of elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools

A study of teacher's consideration concerning teacher evaluation policy : Comparative study of elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools

Local District Implementation of State Mandated Teacher Evaluation Policies and Procedures: The North Carolina Case.

Although the state’s voice in the evaluation of North Carolina’s teachers has been strong during recent years, inconsistent levels of resources and support have led to mixed results within and across districts. There have also been mixed messages regarding state support for locally developed alternative teacher evaluation systems. When the Excellent Schools Act of 1997 called for sweeping changes in the evaluation of teachers, it appeared to confer preferred status upon the NC Teacher Performance Appraisal System (TPAS) as a valid teacher evaluation instrument and to require locally developed alternatives to be at least as valid as the NC TPAS. A study of teacher evaluation practice in 27 North Carolina school districts 14 years after the initial implementation of the NC TPAS revealed more inconsistencies in teacher evaluation practice and somewhat lower support for the NC TPAS among teachers and administrators than desirable. The results illustrated that local implementation of state mandates is a complex and political process.

An Organizational Analysis of Multiple Perspectives of Effective Teaching: Implications for Teacher Evaluation.

This study explores conceptions of effective teaching held across various roles within the school organization and discusses the implications of these for teacher-evaluation policy. Using concepts from the organizational theory literature to guide the investigation--technology; and task conceptions--a qualitative design was used to generate and analyze study data. The roles examined include that of teacher, principal, and board member. Data suggest that the constellation of descriptors across these roles varies in terms of complexity and focus. Since the presence of these competing conceptions creates the potential for organizational conflict, it is argued that the successful evaluation system will not only be characterized by that which is technically feasible, but that which is politically viable.

Living the tension: a case study of teacher stories of teacher evaluation

This article is one of eight case studies prepared for Alberta Education (the provincial Department of Education) specifically the Teacher Evaluation Policy Impact Project, on the subject of teacher evaluation. A suburban, Protestant education district of thirteen schools participated in this study. A five‐member research team of university faculty and graduate students collaborated on the case study. Four of them have re‐presented the findings in this journal article. The educational background and teaching experiences of the teacher participants were rich and diverse. They brought an understanding of teacher evaluation from their personal experiences with evaluation in provinces and territories throughout Canada across their career spans. The district's teacher evaluation policy required that school administrators complete evaluations of teachers every three years, although there were different requirements for teachers who transferred into the district, teachers who transferred within the district and ...

Technical expertise and teacher growth: results of a teacher evaluation policy impact study

Analysis of the findings from this provincial study point to the difficulties raised by the use of double objectives ‐‐ inspection of teaching and improvement of student learning ‐‐ in teacher evaluation policies. The policy assumes that one is directly connected to the other and that the conditions under which one is conducted are also conducive to the realization of the second objective. In practice, these proved to be horns of a dilemma. We have to respect the lived experiences of teachers and administrators about teacher evaluation and we have to find a way to be accountable to the public Practices which help resolve this dilemma are identified as those most likely to emphasise student success and to reaffirm the importance of professional growth for all educators.

Reforming teacher evaluation policy: A qualitative study of the principal's role

Reforming teacher evaluation policy: A qualitative study of the principal's role

Official Policy and Truncated Practice: a need to reconceptualise the evaluation of teachers

Abstract In recent years Ministries of Education in Canada have developed provincially mandated teacher evaluation policies to ensure the provision of effective classroom instruction to students and the professional growth and development of teachers through the assessment of their performance in the classroom and the quality of their teaching practice. Based on an in‐depth study of teacher evaluation practices in a school jurisdiction in the province of Alberta, the researcher concludes that the policy falls short in meeting these intended objectives for essentially three reasons: (1) teacher evaluation is an externally imposed bureaucratic mandate rather than a requirement that emerges from the professional culture of the school that requires an ongoing review of practice by administrators and teachers; (2) the teacher evaluation process is conducted as a distinct and separate process by school administrators, with little connection to other school and district policies or professional development activ...

A Proposal for Evaluation in the Teaching Profession

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Proposal for Evaluation in the Teaching ProfessionLinda Darling-HammondLinda Darling-Hammond Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Elementary School Journal Volume 86, Number 4Mar., 1986Special Issue: Policy Initiatives for Developing a Teaching Profession Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/461466 Views: 24Total views on this site Citations: 30Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1986 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Luis A. Rodriguez, Karin Gegenheimer, Matthew G. Springer An Examination of Tenure and Teacher Perceptions of Evaluation: Evidence from Tennessee, Journal of Education Human Resources 74 (Mar 2022).https://doi.org/10.3138/jehr-2021-0050John L. Lane Teacher Evaluation Policy Enactment: Understanding the Relationship among Principal Characteristics, Teacher Perspectives, and Institutional Environments, Leadership and Policy in Schools 38 (Oct 2021): 1–18.https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2021.1983846Craig De Voto, Michael K. Thomas Cultural sensemaking and the implementation of edTPA technological tools: lessons for the field, Educational Technology Research and Development 68, no.55 (Jan 2020): 2729–2751.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09732-wJelena Davidović-Rakić, Senka Kostić Attitudes of university lecturers towards students' evaluation of the teaching process, Зборник радова Филозофског факултета у Приштини 49, no.22 (Jan 2019): 189–204.https://doi.org/10.5937/ZRFFP49-21290Gary Ritter, Julie Trivitt, Leesa Foreman, Corey DeAngelis, George Denny PROTOCOL: Merit Pay Programs for Improving Teacher Retention, Teacher Satisfaction, and Student Achievement in Primary and Secondary Education: A Systematic Review, Campbell Systematic Reviews 12, no.11 (Feb 2016): 1–37.https://doi.org/10.1002/CL2.166Maria Kaparou, Tony Bush Instructional leadership in centralised systems: evidence from Greek high-performing secondary schools, School Leadership & Management 35, no.33 (Jun 2015): 321–345.https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2015.1041489Judith Haymore Sandholtz, Lauren M. Shea Predicting Performance, Journal of Teacher Education 63, no.11 (Jan 2012): 39–50.https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487111421175J. Patrick Meyer, Anne H. Cash, Andrew Mashburn Occasions and the Reliability of Classroom Observations: Alternative Conceptualizations and Methods of Analysis, Educational Assessment 16, no.44 (Dec 2011): 227–243.https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2011.638884Monday T. Joshua, Akon M. Joshua, Bassey A. Bassey, Idorenyin M. Akubuiro Attitude of Nigerian secondary school teachers to peer evaluation of teachers, Teacher Development 10, no.33 (Nov 2006): 331–341.https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530600922161Bruce Torff, David N. Sessions Principals' Perceptions of the Causes of Teacher Ineffectiveness., Journal of Educational Psychology 97, no.44 (Jan 2005): 530–537.https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.97.4.530Arnetha F. Ball Chapter 3: Three Decades of Research on Classroom Life: Illuminating the Classroom Communicative Lives of America’s At-Risk Students, Review of Research in Education 26, no.11 (Jun 2016): 71–111.https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X026001071Arnetha F Ball Preparing teachers for diversity: lessons learned from the US and South Africa, Teaching and Teacher Education 16, no.44 (May 2000): 491–509.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00007-XRod Chadbourne, Lawrence Ingv Arson Self-managing schools and professional community: The professional recognition program in Victoria’s schools of the future, The Australian Educational Researcher 25, no.22 (Aug 1998): 61–93.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03219673Lawrence Ingvarson Teaching Standards: Foundations for Professional Development Reform, (Jan 1998): 1006–1031.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4944-0_48Allan Walker, Kenneth Stott Making Induction a Coherent Developmental Process: Insights from England, Hong Kong and Singapore, Asia Pacific Journal of Education 18, no.22 (Aug 2006): 52–63.https://doi.org/10.1080/0218879980180206Lawrence Ingvarson, John Loughran Loose connections: The context of science teachers' work, Research in Science Education 27, no.11 (Mar 1997): 1–24.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02463029Ladd Smith, Bill Shreeve Reshaping Teacher Evaluation: Promoting Teacher Involvement to Effective Evaluation, Early Child Development and Care 132, no.11 (Jan 1997): 115–121.https://doi.org/10.1080/030044397013201010Eric A. 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Teachers' Reported Practices of Parent Involvement: Problems and Possibilities

added by over 1,000 teachers to a survey of teachers' practices. Results of the survey of 3,700 teachers in about 600 schools in Maryland are described in Becker and Epstein (in this issue). The teachers' comments reflect the variation in years of experience and in the number and types of contacts individual teachers have had with parents. Each theme can be viewed from two perspectives-there are potential advantages, but there are also potential problems, with any parent-involvement technique. Teachers' comments reveal their contrasting opinions on the benefits expected from parent assistance at home and on the organizational structures used to conduct parent-involvement activities. Some teachers are very positive about parent involvement; others have been discouraged by their attempts to communicate and work with parents.

Administrative Leadership, Change, and Training Programs for Administrators

Leadership focusing on change and development in organizations is rare. Transforming leadership, which develops shared goals and values, and transactional leadership, which seeks compromise and consensus, are both necessary for organizational change. A case study of a long-term attempt to introduce change in a school district, related to teacher evaluation policies and procedures, illustrates that even relatively careful long-range planning of a change, and considerable concern for transactional leadership, can be only modestly successful in practice, for a variety of situational reasons. This conception of leadership, and the case study, support some assertions regarding training programs. These typically fail to address themselves to transforming leadership, and particularly the ethical and value elements which are its most important feature.