Beginning in 2009, the United States (US) federal government spearheaded a nationwide teacher evaluation reform effort, encouraging states to change their process of evaluating teachers. School principals, the primary evaluators of teacher performance, act as middle leaders in the sense they must attempt to balance messages from federal, state,…

This qualitative study investigates how different types of work experience shape principal sense-making of new teacher evaluation policies and systems. The U.S. state of Michigan is a timely state to study this phenomenon as Michigan has experienced significant changes to its teacher evaluation policy and system, tasking principals with making…