An examination of teacher evaluation in Iowa

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Date
1992
Authors
Lawler, Daniel
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Jim Sweeney
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Abstract

Teacher evaluation is one of the most challenging tasks facing school administrators today. Effective July 1, 1990, an individual employed as an administrator or supervisor in an Iowa public school, who conducts teacher evaluation, must possess an evaluator approval certificate. This study utilized the Teacher Evaluation Profile (TEP) to examine teachers' perceptions of the quality and impact of teacher evaluation in Iowa. The instrument was modified to allow teachers to reflect on their most recent evaluation and their evaluation three years previous to their most recent evaluation;The data were gathered from 1040 Iowa teachers from 208 randomly selected schools. Five teachers, from each of the 104 elementary schools, 52 middle school/junior high schools and 52 high schools, were randomly selected to participate in the study;Teachers responses on the instrument were used to assess their perceptions of quality and impact of their teacher evaluation experiences. Teachers were also asked to rate the following attributes identified by the TEP as contributing factors to the quality and impact of teacher evaluation; (1) attributes of the teacher (2) attributes of the feedback (3) attributes of the evaluator and (4) attributes of the procedures;Statistical treatment of the data was completed using the the Statistical package SPSSX. Descriptive statistics were computed to study the relative value of the study variables. Frequencies, t-tests, and correlations were used to assess the differences;The analysis revealed that evaluator approval training had significant effects on the overall quality of evaluation. In other words, evaluator training greatly enhanced evaluation planning, lesson observations, and evaluator feedback. There were also significant effects on evaluation attributes, including attributes of the teacher, attributes of the feedback, attributes of the evaluator, and attributes of the procedures. The study, however, revealed no significant effect on the impact of teacher evaluation. Specifically, the training did not significantly alter teaching practices, attitudes about teaching, and understanding about teaching. In addition, nearly sixty percent of the teachers rated teacher evaluation as "moderately good" to "super good". Only six percent of the teachers rated evaluation as "poor" to "super poor".

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Curriculum and Instruction
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Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 1992
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