Ontario's curriculum development centralization is examined in respect to (1) definition and implementation, (2) narrowed curricular possibilities, (3) constraining aspects of standardized evaluation, and (4) narrowed teacher professionalism. (MB)

As part of Alberta's Educational Quality Indicators initiative, Spirit River School Division used staff, parent, and student input to develop indicators of effective teaching: 26 teacher behaviors related to planning and preparation, communication skills, teacher-student relationship, and instructional strategies. The indicators provided a basis…

Portfolio construction is a complex social practice with intentions, rules, and standards. This definition is not typically found in teacher education literature and has implications for evaluating students' portfolios. The paper examines teacher education students' recollections of creating portfolios in one Canadian program and argues that…

The present study examines and provides a description of the teachers' (N = 382) preferred models of supervision from seven of Canada's large urban centres: Evaluation by school supervisors, school council members, school principals, peers, students, teachers' self-evaluation or no evaluation at all. The results show that teachers from the seven…

The emphasis in this manual is on effective teaching, how to recognize it, and how to coach the teacher in the implementation of effective teaching skills. A major focus is on continous professional development for teachers; suggestions and procedures for this development are presented. The learning kit is comprised of five chapters, all of which…

In order to determine current practices and policies concerning the formal evaluation of certified teaching personnel in Alberta, this survey was conducted by means of a questionnaire (appended) sent to all school districts in the province. The findings were then compared to those of a similar survey conducted in 1977. The comparison revealed that…

Summarizes trends in competency testing for teachers in the United States. Points out the strong public support for this testing and the problems with predicting teaching success from test results. Concludes that teacher competency testing in Canada, currently less prevalent than in the United States, will increase dramatically. (JHZ)

The establishment of a Canadian national assessment center with the authority to develop, administer, and evaluate French second language teachers' competencies, and to issue a national certification over and above the provincial certification is proposed. It is argued that French second language teacher certification is now a national issue and…

Several student and course characteristics were examined in relation to student ratings of instruction. Students at a major Canadian university completed the Universal Student Ratings of Instruction instrument at the end of every course over a three-year period, providing 371,131 student ratings. Analyses of between-group differences indicate that…

A brief description is given of an ongoing comprehensive model of program evaluation that has as its major goal the improvement of teacher education. The creation of the Committee for Evaluating Teacher Education Programs (CETEP) was the result of a collaboration among three Canadian universities that developed a conceptual framework for…

Contends that evaluating teaching is just as important as evaluating students. Argues that most teacher evaluation does not examine what students actually learn from the teacher. Recommends the use of written entry performance tests and subsequent written tests to evaluate teaching effectiveness. (CFR)

This paper begins with summaries of research on individual characteristics of effective administrators and on the effectiveness of administrator evaluation. The paper then presents materials, forms, and questionnaires used in the Calgary (Alberta) public schools administrative evaluation process. The evaluation process includes a personal…

This study was undertaken to examine the status of computer-based instruction in Vancouver secondary schools which is categorized as computer-science courses or traditional courses which use the computer merely as a problem-solving and learning aid. Then schools participated in an examination of the computer-science courses. This aspect of the…

This study analyzed the implementation of a teacher performance appraisal process that encourages self-directed learning (SDL), highlighting the extent to which teacher efficacy (TE) influenced the its success. The study also examined whether lack of readiness for SDL was an implementation obstacle. Finally, it noted other barriers and obstacles…

The Fort McMurray Catholic School District (Alberta) developed a teacher evaluation model based on constructive staff feedback and teacher support. The model includes mentor teachers, peer coaching for teachers and administrators, and ongoing staff development. Plans for research to assess the model's effects on student achievement are discussed.…