The purpose of the study was to investigate secondary choral music educators' and administrators' perceptions of the use of the Mississippi Professional Growth System (PGS) as an applicable tool for evaluating secondary choral music educators. While there is limited research regarding the evaluation of choral music educators, this study aimed to…

The purpose of this professional practice dissertation (PPD) is to examine and provide Fluvanna County Public Schools practical and real-world solutions with regards to continuous improvement within its performance evaluation platform. This process was examined and analyzed through a qualitative action research approach and design and presents a…

Special education in the public-school setting is designed to support students with disabilities by providing them specially designed instruction to meet their unique needs. This cannot be achieved without special education teachers who undergo specialized training to enable students with a disability to reach their maximum potential. Special…

Teacher quality is a perennially fertile field for education reformers. Among teacher quality policies, two of the more highly touted and widely adopted are state-mandated systems of teacher evaluation and formalized models of teacher collaborative teams, often known generally as professional learning communities (PLCs). Indeed, despite a…

In recent years, multiple-measures teaching evaluation systems have become widespread in states and school districts around the United States. Using administrative data from Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) and the National Student Clearinghouse, we examine the relationship between exposure to different ratings of teaching effectiveness in high…

We build on research connecting teaching assignments to teacher effectiveness by examining the characteristics of secondary grades mathematics teachers with more course preparations--both the unique number of courses taught and courses never taught before--and by assessing whether additional course preparations predict teacher value-added.…

A core motivation for the widespread teacher evaluation reforms of the past decade was the belief that these new systems would promote teacher development through high-quality feedback. We examine this theory by studying teachers' perceptions of evaluation feedback in Boston Public Schools and evaluating the district's efforts to improve feedback…

Recent research has demonstrated that elementary school leaders, under pressure to meet benchmarks set by state and federal governments, have begun "staffing to the test," moving to tested grades and subjects teachers whose previous students made substantive learning gains. This is particularly true in lower-performing schools or schools…

Purpose: This study focused on the impact of principals' leadership content knowledge, evaluation practices and teachers' professional learning activities on classroom instruction. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 425 teachers who worked in 46 elementary and lower secondary public schools within two provinces in Turkey.…

Study after study has found that new teachers tend to be less effective than educators with more experience. But despite having more junior staff, charter networks (referred to as CMOs) often outperform their district peers. So what's their secret? To find out, this study explores how teacher effectiveness varies and evolves across traditional and…

This study examined a state-wide, policy-directed teacher evaluation model implemented across public schools and educator preparation programs. Such models are grounded in a theory of action that situates teacher learning within social relationships, yet does not account for the complexity of systems. Results challenge policy's implicit theory…

This article describes an educational design research program situated within a professional development school that led to the development of the Cultural Proficiency Continuum Q-Sort (CPCQ). The CPCQ is a tool that enables teacher educators to systematically examine preservice teachers' cultural competence concerning students who are…

Both experience and studies suggest that teachers in rural Pakistan either show reduced interest towards Professional Development (PD) or if they avail limited PD opportunities, they hardly bring any significant changes in their instructional practices. One of the assumptions in this regard, although not proved empirically, is that the system…

Although most students with disabilities (SWDs) receive instruction from general education teachers, little empirical work has investigated whether these students have suitable access to high-quality teachers. We explore the differences in teacher quality experienced by SWDs and students without disabilities (non-SWDs) in the Los Angeles Unified…

An important challenge in evaluating the quality of teaching is to arrive at valid distinctions between teachers, particularly in the middle of the performance distribution. This study addressed this issue for the Chilean national teacher evaluation system. Mathematics teachers (N = 51) from the 2 middle adjacent performance categories, and their…