scholarly journals The Counternarrative of Teacher Evaluation: The Kangaroo Court, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Scarlett Letter

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 147
Author(s):  
Allison Smith

The purpose of this sequential transformative study was to elucidate the negative experiences of teachers with performance evaluations and to juxtapose the intended use of current popular teacher evaluation reform movements to the evident implementation. One may quickly assume that negative experiences with evaluation are a result of unsatisfactory teaching practices. However, this may not accurately explain the negative experiences. This study focused on the negative experience of teacher evaluation to provide a broader understanding of the impact of new evaluation policy reform on student achievement and teacher quality. With a paucity of previous research focused on the negative impacts of teacher evaluation, this study addressed the following questions: (1) How does the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) teacher evaluation process negatively impact teachers? (2) What, if any, parallel traits exist among those teachers who had negative experiences with the PAR evaluation system? and, (3) How does the intended use of the PAR teacher evaluation process compare to the evident use of PAR? Data revealed dissonance among intent and evident use of the evaluation policy. A disproportionate number of African Americans, women over the age of 55, and teachers higher on the pay scale were referred to PAR. Vague policy language was suggested as the impetus for misuse, abuse, and biased implementation at the local level. This study suggests that policymakers and school district officials take heed of multiple perspectives and consider the negative impacts of teacher evaluation reform. Evaluation systems that prioritize teacher learning over accountability are integral to successfully improving student achievement.

2014 ◽  
Vol 905 ◽  
pp. 721-724
Author(s):  
Bo Yang ◽  
Li Na Zhang

In this paper, the Support Vector Machine (SVM) theory is applied to secondary school teachers evaluation systems. And the evaluation attributes of secondary school teachers are set in accordance with certain requirements. Through the use of sample data on the teacher evaluation system for a certain amount of training, we get a trained model, then evaluate and analyze the teachers data to be measured. This approach can make secondary school teachers assessment more accurate and reasonable, greatly reduce the workload of teaching management, and reduce the number of artificially errors in the evaluation process.


2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Robertson-Kraft ◽  
Rosaline S. Zhang

A growing body of research examines the impact of recent teacher evaluation systems; however, we have limited knowledge on how these systems influence teacher retention. This study uses a mixed-methods design to examine teacher retention patterns during the pilot year of an evaluation system in an urban school district in Texas. We used difference-in-differences analysis to examine the impact of the new system on school-level teacher turnover and administered a teacher survey ( N = 1,301) to investigate individual and school-level factors influencing retention. This quantitative analysis was supplemented with interview data from two case study schools. Results suggest that, overall, the new evaluation system did not have a significant effect on teacher retention, but there was significant variation at the individual and school level. This study has important implications for policymakers developing new evaluation systems and researchers interested in evaluating their impact on retention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Timothy G. Ford ◽  
Kim Hewitt

In current teacher evaluation systems, the two main purposes of evaluation—accountability/goal accomplishment (summative) and professional growth/improvement (formative)—are often at odds with one another. However, they are not only compatible, but linking them within a unified teacher evaluation system may, in fact, be desirable. The challenge of the next generation of teacher evaluation systems will be to better integrate these two purposes in policy and practice. In this paper, we integrate the frameworks of Self-determination theory and Stronge’s Improvement-Oriented Model for Performance Evaluation. We use this integrated framework to critically examine teacher evaluation policy in Hawaii and Washington, D.C.—two distinctly different approaches to teacher evaluation—for the purposes of identifying a set of clear recommendations for improving the design and implementation of teacher evaluation policy moving forward.


2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Kraft ◽  
Allison F. Gilmour

Purpose: New teacher evaluation systems have expanded the role of principals as instructional leaders, but little is known about principals’ ability to promote teacher development through the evaluation process. We conducted a case study of principals’ perspectives on evaluation and their experiences implementing observation and feedback cycles to better understand whether principals feel as though they are able to promote teacher development as evaluators. Research Method: We conducted interviews with a stratified random sample of 24 principals in an urban district that recently implemented major reforms to its teacher evaluation system. We analyzed these interviews by drafting thematic summaries, coding interview transcripts, creating data-analytic matrices, and writing analytic memos. Findings: We found that the evaluation reforms provided a common framework and language that helped facilitate principals’ feedback conversations with teachers. However, we also found that tasking principals with primary responsibility for conducting evaluations resulted in a variety of unintended consequences which undercut the quality of evaluation feedback they provided. We analyze five broad solutions to these challenges: strategically targeting evaluations, reducing operational responsibilities, providing principal training, hiring instructional coaches, and developing peer evaluation systems. Implications: The quality of feedback teachers receive through the evaluation process depends critically on the time and training evaluators have to provide individualized and actionable feedback. Districts that task principals with primary responsibility for conducting observation and feedback cycles must attend to the many implementation challenges associated with this approach in order for next-generation evaluation systems to successfully promote teacher development.


Author(s):  
Noelle A Paufler

Since the adoption of teacher evaluation systems that rely, at least in part, on controversial student achievement measures, little research has been conducted that focuses on stakeholders’ perceptions of systems in practice, specifically the perceptions of school principals. This study was conducted in a large urban school district to better understand principals’ perceptions of evaluating teachers based on professional and instructional practices as well as student achievement (i.e., value-added scores). Principals in this study strongly expressed concerns regarding: (a) the negative impact of the teacher evaluation system on district culture and morale; (b) their lack of autonomy in evaluating teachers and making staffing decisions; and (c) their perceived lack of value as professionals in the district. Examining the implications of teacher evaluation systems, per the experiences of principals as practitioners, is increasingly important if state and local policymakers as well as the general public are to better understand the intended and unintended consequences of these systems in practice.


2019 ◽  
Vol IV (II) ◽  
pp. 375-385
Author(s):  
Mariam Hussain ◽  
Afifa Khanam ◽  
Uzma Qureshi

This research discusses the inquiry of measuring teacher effectiveness at private sector schools. Explicitly, it explores how teachers performance evaluation can both reflect as well as predict teachers success, hence the study informs about teachers personnel decisions, their instructional enhancement, and professional development. This includes mentoring, training, and self-guided learning. The current study is premeditated using a mix-method with qual-quan order. It is an exploratory study based on a critical paradigm to evaluate the current IB teacher evaluation process and outputs and develop an indigenous model for corrective measures to improve the existing evaluation system. It explores the objectives, procedures, and consequences of teacher assessment policies and practices. The study has implications, for greater advantage for the quality of collaborative planning and teaching, using a newly developed model in the private sector of Punjab.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebeca Mireles-Rios ◽  
John A. Becchio

The teacher evaluation process provides opportunity for instructional feedback and teacher improvement, but also may influence the beliefs teachers have about the quality of their own work and their confidence levels as a teacher. Self-efficacy plays a vital role in determining teacher effectiveness and the students‘ academic experience, but little is known about the impact the teacher evaluation process has on teacher self-efficacy. Interview data from 28 high school teachers indicated that the pre-observation meeting has potential to significantly benefit teachers. In addition, feedback from administrators that included both strengths and weaknesses during the post-observation phase seemed to have the most influence on teachers’ self-confidence. Implications of this study's findings were provided and may be useful for administrators to conduct teacher evaluations in a manner that serves to enhance teacher self-efficacy.


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