Conceptions of Teacher Effectiveness and Its Implications for Educational Policy and Practice in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 245-274
Author(s):  
James H. Stronge ◽  
Xianxuan Xu ◽  
Leslie W. Grant ◽  
Yanping Mo ◽  
Ke Huang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Professional Organization ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems

This chapter provides an overview of the educational system from the founding of the country to today. Like Australia and Canada, the governmental structure involves the national government with smaller units in the form of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This structure means variation of educational systems across governmental units. The authors provide an overview of the influence of conceptions of teaching effectiveness including the development of professional organization standards, passing of national legislation aimed at defining teacher effectiveness in terms of student outcomes, and standards-based teacher evaluation systems. Unique features of the United States perspective include a focus on differentiation to include getting to know the needs of individual students and meeting those individual needs. The authors describe the cultural basis for these unique features.

Student Voice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ron Astor ◽  
Rami Benbenishty
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Student Perception ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Teacher ◽  
Achievement Gains ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
New Teacher Evaluation

Even those who agree with the idea of creating a monitoring system might still need to be convinced that what students have to say should be considered valuable input in the effort to improve schools, whether it pertains to raising academic performance or to safety, security, and behavior. Some argue that students are so disinterested in surveys that they answer randomly or give the first answer that comes to mind. Others are concerned that students respond deliberately in ways intended to harm staff members they do not like. Still others are not sure that students really understand the true meaning of the questions and, therefore, that their answers are not usable. Students, however, are often the best sources of providing detailed information on what is happening in schools and may even provide realistic suggestions on how adults can intervene. Looking at the ways students’ perceptions are already being used in schools can help policymakers and educators see how they can be part of improving school climate. This issue, for example, has been debated in recent years as some states and school districts have moved to include students’ opinions on their experiences in the classroom as one component of new teacher evaluation systems. For example, the Tripod survey,1 developed by Harvard University’s Ron Ferguson, asks students how much they agree with statements such as “My teacher explains diffcult things clearly” and “Our class stays busy and doesn’t waste time.” The Tripod was used as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching project and is being used in districts across the United States, in Canada, and in China. In a 2013 report, Hanover Research reviewed the literature on using student perception surveys in teacher evaluation and professional development: “Given the consistent findings of the research reviewed for this report, it is reasonable to conclude that student perception surveys can provide accurate measures of teacher effectiveness,” they write. “When the proper instrument, or survey, is utilized, student feedback can be more accurate than alternative, more widely- used instruments at predicting achievement gains.

Teacher Evaluation

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Cara Faith Bernard ◽  
Joseph Michael Abramo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
State Education ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Laws And Policies

This chapter provides a background on laws and policies related to teacher evaluation in the United States. This background might help music teachers navigate teacher evaluation systems and avoid misunderstanding evaluators’ motivations and pressures. First, the chapter provides a brief history of federal and state education law and education policy. This history is presented as a series of four phases, each aimed to standardize public education. These phases move from evaluating standards through student performance and standardized tests to teacher performance and quality through instructional practice. Second, there is an investigation of how history and policy have led to tensions, disagreements, and contradictions within teacher evaluation processes and policies. Finally, the chapter describes how these tensions have resulted in the common characteristics of teacher evaluation systems found throughout the country. By understanding this background and history, music teachers may begin to actively and constructively participate in teacher evaluation.

Evaluating the Systems: Teachers’ Perspectives on Teacher Evaluation

1990 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penelope L. Peterson ◽  
Michelle A. Comeaux
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Teacher Assessment ◽  
Performance Measurement System ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Alternative System ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teachers Perspectives

High school teachers (N = 48) in four schools in two districts in Florida and Wisconsin analyzed two behavioral teacher evaluation systems used in Florida (Florida Performance Measurement System [FPMS] and Teacher Assessment and Development System [TADS]), a Self-Evaluation Checklist, and an Alternative System designed to assess teachers’ reflection on practice. Overall, teachers rated the Alternative System most highly because they thought the system would facilitate professional growth by encouraging teachers to reflect on their teaching. However, Wisconsin teachers rated this system more highly than did Florida teachers, who rated TADS more favorably. Teachers’ ratings of TADS were significantly related to their agreement with a teaching effectiveness perspective, and Florida and Wisconsin teachers differed in their agreement with this perspective. Comparisons of teachers’ judgments who had actually used particular systems with those who had not showed the importance of considering the context as well as the content of evaluation systems.

scholarly journals Better integrating summative and formative goals in the design of next generation teacher evaluation systems

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Timothy G. Ford ◽  
Kim Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Professional Growth ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Evaluation Policy ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Policy ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems

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.

Music Teacher Evaluation and Student Growth in Music

2019 ◽  
pp. 850-869
Author(s):  
Dru Davison ◽  
Ryan Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Student Growth ◽  
Growth Data ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Multiple Measures ◽  
Achievement Data ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Student Growth Data

This chapter provides an in-depth analysis of the development and implementation of an alternative student growth measures system specifically designed by arts educators to provide teachers with a fair, flexible, and rigorous method of demonstrating teacher effectiveness as part of a multiple measures teacher evaluation system. We also present a brief overview of the Race to the Top legislation as well as the No Child Left Behind waivers in the United States as they relate to the increased attention to the use of student growth and achievement data in teacher evaluation systems. An overview of the multiple-measures evaluation systems with particular attention to the use of student growth data portion of the multiple measures is also included. The initial guidance from the US Department of Education regarding various approaches of incorporating student growth data in teacher evaluation systems is discussed. Implications for music education are also presented.

Revisiting The Widget Effect: Teacher Evaluation Reforms and the Distribution of Teacher Effectiveness

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 234-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Kraft ◽  
Allison F. Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
New Teacher ◽  
Public School Districts ◽  
Performance Ratings ◽  
Urban District ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Original Survey

In 2009, the New Teacher Project’s The Widget Effect documented the failure of U.S. public school districts to recognize and act on differences in teacher effectiveness. We revisit these findings by compiling teacher performance ratings across 24 states that adopted major reforms to their teacher evaluation systems. In the vast majority of these states, the percentage of teachers rated unsatisfactory remains less than 1%. However, the full distributions of ratings vary widely across states, with 0.7% to 28.7% rated below proficient and 6% to 62% rated above proficient. We present original survey data from an urban district illustrating that evaluators perceive more than 3 times as many teachers in their schools to be below proficient than they rate as such. Interviews with principals reveal several potential explanations for these patterns.

Policies That Define Instruction: A Systematic Review of States’ and Districts’ Recommendations for Evaluating Special Educators

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (9) ◽  
pp. 645-655
Author(s):  
Allison F. Gilmour ◽  
Nathan D. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
Effective Instruction ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems

Educational policies addressing instruction may fail to acknowledge that effective instruction is not the same for all learners. We reviewed teacher evaluation systems across all states and the 25 largest districts to determine how states and districts approach the evaluation of special education teachers, a policy aimed at improving teaching effectiveness. We found that most states and districts did not provide guidance to schools for adapting evaluation systems for these teachers. Some states provided guidance on technical aspects of special education teacher evaluation, such as incorporating student achievement into special education teachers’ scores. Districts were more likely to focus on instructional considerations. We discuss the implications of these findings for policies that aim to promote the use of effective instructional practices.

The Consistency of Composite Ratings of Teacher Effectiveness: Evidence From New Mexico

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 2116-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sy Doan ◽  
Jonathan D. Schweig ◽  
Kata Mihaly
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Teacher Effectiveness ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Composite Rating ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Measures Of Performance ◽  
Original Rating

Contemporary teacher evaluation systems use multiple measures of performance to construct ratings of teacher quality. While the properties of constituent measures have been studied, little is known about whether composite ratings themselves are sufficiently reliable to support high-stakes decision making. We address this gap by estimating the consistency of composite ratings of teacher quality from New Mexico’s teacher evaluation system from 2015 to 2016. We estimate that roughly 40% of teachers would receive a different composite rating if reevaluated in the same year; 97% of teachers would receive ratings within ±1 level of their original rating. We discuss mechanisms by which policymakers can improve rating consistency, and the implications of those changes to other properties of teacher evaluation systems.

scholarly journals Excavating theory in teacher evaluation: Implementing evaluation frameworks as Wengerian boundary objects

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 57
Author(s):  
Kelley M. King ◽  
Noelle A. Paufler
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Teacher Evaluation ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Social Learning Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Teacher Evaluation Systems ◽  
Support Teacher

The purpose of this paper is to begin to excavate the unstated theoretical underpinnings of teacher evaluation systems as they exist in policy and practice and to explicitly consider how these evaluation systems might intersect theoretically with social learning theory. Research suggests that organizational leaders believe growth-based evaluation practices have yet-untapped potential to support teacher learning within teacher communities. However, models of teacher evaluation, as defined in federal and state policy and developed and implemented in practice, rarely make explicit the theoretical and conceptual frameworks upon which they are based. Further, evaluation models do not explicitly intersect with the conceptual frameworks for such learning, e.g., communities of practice (CoPs) and social learning theory. Rather, the role of teacher evaluation in social learning within and across educational organizations remains under-theorized. We argue for research examining potential connections in theory and practice between two existing conceptual frameworks: 1) social learning theory and 2) teacher evaluation systems (understood as policy, models, and practices).

State, Society, and the Elementary School in Imperial Germany

1989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Lamberti
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
School System ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
German State ◽  
Imperial Germany

The much admired school system of 19th-century Germany served as a model for the educational systems of many other countries, including Britain and the United States. In this illuminating study of German primary schools, Lamberti examines an educational tradition that was the object of wide emulation, but which was often misinterpreted by its admirers. Lamberti also explores the political significance of German educational policies in the Kulturkampf, in the suppression of Polish nationalism in the eastern provinces, and more generally in the struggle between the competing strands of liberalism and authoritarianism in the German state.

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