In her 27 years as an administrator in Merrimack, New Hampshire, Marge Chiafery can legitimately claim to have seen the best of times and the worst. The high moments were the earlier years when Merrimack's job-sharing initiative, teacher evaluation system and middle school project promoting parent-child communication were emulated statewide. The…

Principals need to get away from traditional beliefs that equate math success solely with rote knowledge of math facts and the ability to calculate. Today, math instruction also is being directed to student understanding of essential concepts. Principals must learn what to look for when they visit math classrooms to make sure it is being taught…

While traditional ways of supervising and evaluating teachers focus on their inputs--their lesson plans and instruction--what really matters most are the outputs: how students perform. So here is a book that helps school leaders transform their supervisory systems into performance-based models that connects to student achievement and teacher…

Secondary school administrators considering the termination of an employee prior to the expiration of contract are offered several suggestions. These are: have a good evaluation system in place; follow all phases of the evaluation system; document all conferences, observations, and other encounters; alert the superintendent early in the process;…

Teacher effectiveness research and its use in classroom observation have progressed substantially since the seventies; findings are now experimentally significant, cover a broad subject range, and can be generalized beyond low economic status groups and elementary school students. New teacher evaluation criteria and observation techniques have…

Discusses how issues involved in establishing the type of master teacher evaluation system called for in Tennessee's Comprehensive Education Reform Act apply to reading specialists: arbitrary selection of measures and criteria for assessing teacher effectiveness; utilization of alternative approaches including self-, student, and observer…

A forthcoming Association for Curriculum Development Task Force on Merit Pay and Career Ladders report contends that all teachers can be paid decent salaries and that any implemented plan must have the support and involvement of those to be affected, must ensure due process, and must develop trust in the evaluators. (DCS)

To help schools and districts in their efforts to create more productive and effective learning environments, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) researchers developed the School Practices Survey, a tool districts and schools can use to assess teachers, administrators, and others in the school community regarding their…

Offers 11 concrete approaches to improve the quality of substitute teacher programs and provides sample evaluation forms. (MLF)

This document explains the teacher evaluation process used by the New Britain (Connecticut) School District. The major parts of the evaluation cycle--self-evaluation, goals and objectives, and job description evaluation--are described. Other sections address ways in which to resolve conflicts and problems and procedures for continuing employment.…

Recounts an elementary school principal's interviews with 487 graduating sixth graders regarding their single, most vivid school experience and the qualities characterizing their best teacher and their favorite teacher (names not identified). The survey disclosed eight professional teaching qualities of "best" teachers (listed in inset). (MLH)

Presents effective methods of conducting and documenting teacher interviews. Provides an outline for developing interview skills and documenting the selection process. (MD)

A recent Supreme Court decision on a First Amendment case involving a teacher in Texas illustrates how teachers' and other public employees' rights to freedom of speech face serious erosion. The problem is deciding whether grievances fall into the protected area of "public concern" or the unprotected area of a "purely private…

Presents a proposal for effective teacher supervision and evaluation that puts the responsibility for supervision on someone close to the teachers, while the responsibility for evaluation remains the principal's. Includes diagrams outlining supervision and evaluation procedures. (MD)

Discusses five ways in which school administrators can improve teacher evaluation practices: clarify the purpose of the evaluation; select substantive evaluation criteria that are related to learning outcomes; establish clear and reasonable standards; gather evaluation data from various sources; and prepare evaluation reports geared toward teacher…