Is PAR a Good Investment? Understanding the Costs and Benefits of Teacher Peer Assistance and Review Programs

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 696-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
John P. Papay ◽  
Susan Moore Johnson
Author(s):  
Paul Landsbergis ◽  
Jeanette Zoeckler ◽  
Zerin Kashem ◽  
Bianca Rivera ◽  
Darryl Alexander ◽  
...  

We examine strategies, programs, and policies that educators have developed to reduce work stressors and thus health risks. First, we review twenty-seven empirical studies and review papers on organizational programs and policies in K-12 education published from 1990 to 2015 and find some evidence that mentoring, induction, and Peer Assistance and Review programs can increase support, skill development, decision-making authority, and perhaps job security, for teachers—and thus have the potential to reduce job stressors. Second, we describe efforts to reduce workplace violence in Oregon, especially in special education, including legislation, collective bargaining, research, and public awareness. We conclude that to reduce workplace violence, adequate resources are needed for staffing, training, equipment, injury/assault reporting, and investigation. Third, we discuss collective bargaining initiatives that led to mentoring and Peer Assistance and Review and state legislation on prevention of bullying and harassment of school staff. Finally, we present a research agenda on these issues.


2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Goldstein

This article explores a case of shifting leadership responsibility for teacher evaluation. Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) formally involves teachers in the summative evaluation of other teachers—although the boundaries of the involvement are often vague. Since teacher evaluation has traditionally been the domain of school principals, involving teachers in teacher evaluation raises questions about how those faced with the new role make sense of it and enact it. The article draws on theories of professions, organizations, and institutions to examine the implementation of PAR in one large urban school district. Findings suggest that, despite positive sentiments about the policy across stakeholder groups, those involved wanted principals to remain a central figure in the evaluation of teachers in PAR. Education’s hierarchical norms, the difficulty of conducting evaluations, district leadership, and program ambiguity are identified as challenges to distributing leadership.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 504-536
Author(s):  
Jennifer Goldstein

Districts play a key and relatively unexamined role in distributed leadership research. This article explores how leadership was distributed through a district structure designed to improve the quality of teaching by improving the quality of teacher evaluation. It examines peer assistance and review, a policy designed to address the key problems of traditional teacher evaluation by allowing administrators and teacher leaders to share accountability for evaluation processes and decisions. The article presents data from a peer assistance and review program in one urban district, detailing how the program distributed accountability for teacher quality across the district organization. The article extends previous work on distributed leadership by showing how the design of shared tasks can effectively distribute accountability. The article also extends previous work on distributed leadership by elucidating the democratic effects of that distribution. As such, the article addresses questions of instrumentality (i.e., how can district leaders design and implement a better teacher evaluation system?) and agency (i.e., what are the political implications of distributing formal authority for teacher evaluation out of the hands of administrators and into the hands of teachers?).


1999 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra A. Stroot ◽  
Judith Fowlkes ◽  
Joan Langholz ◽  
Susan Paxton ◽  
Pat Stedman ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Goldstein

This article explores a case of shifting leadership responsibility for teacher evaluation. Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) formally involves teachers in the summative evaluation of other teachers—although the boundaries of the involvement are often vague. Since teacher evaluation has traditionally been the domain of school principals, involving teachers in teacher evaluation raises questions about how those faced with the new role make sense of it and enact it. The article draws on theories of professions, organizations, and institutions to examine the implementation of PAR in one large urban school district. Findings suggest that, despite positive sentiments about the policy across stakeholder groups, those involved wanted principals to remain a central figure in the evaluation of teachers in PAR. Education's hierarchical norms, the difficulty of conducting evaluations, district leadership, and program ambiguity are identified as challenges to distributing leadership.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina G. Gallarza ◽  
Teresa Fayos ◽  
Rosa Currás ◽  
David Servera ◽  
Francisco Arteaga

PurposeSince universities adopted a “Student as Customer” approach, student consumer behavior is a field of study which has become crucial. In the European higher education area, more understanding is needed on International students, and more precisely on Erasmus students. The purpose of this paper is to validate a multidimensional scale to assess Erasmus students’ value expectations (i.e. expected value) on the basis of costs and benefits in their choices as consumers of an academic experience abroad.Design/methodology/approachA survey conducted on a sample of 192 students from 50 universities show the role of functional, social and emotional values along with costs of time and effort in the perceived value of an Erasmus experience.FindingsAfter validating the five scales, the results show that social and emotional are the aspects were students’ expected value dimensions are the highest, as the Erasmus experience is expected to enrich their studies and enable them to boost their self-confidence, while functionally helping them to find a job in the future. Concerning the sacrifices, the Erasmus experience has a high cost with regard to effort, time and energy, but students are willing to go through it: an Erasmus stay is seen as a good investment, whose benefits will be reaped in the long run.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper comes from the scope and the target: a multidimensional trade-off approach to the expected value of the Erasmus experience. Other works have already depicted the educational experience through the value concept, but none, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has measured expected value on the pre-purchase phase for Erasmus students.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document