In this article, co-written by a teacher and a professor, the authors examine possible explanations for why Adam (first author), a New York City public school special educator, failed the edTPA, a teacher performance assessment required by all candidates for state certification. Adam completed a yearlong teaching residency where he was the special…

Serbia's education system performs well compared to other countries in the Western Balkans. There have been improvements in access to education and Serbia has undertaken major institutional reforms in recent years, such as the introduction of achievement standards at the end of compulsory education, teacher standards and a school evaluation…

This article presents the architecture and evaluation of a novel environment for programming education. The design of this programming environment, and the way it is used in class, is based on the findings of constructivist and cognitivist learning paradigms. The environment is evaluated based on qualitative student and teacher evaluations and…

This paper is a sequel to an earlier one that examines "the efficacy of two innovative peer-assessment templates ("PET" and "PACT") introduced to enable students provide evidence of their fairness in evaluating peer contributions to group project work" (Onyia, O. P. and Allen, S., 2012). In the present paper, three…

This article explores a fundamental indicator missing from current assessments of preservice teacher effectiveness, namely the importance of competencies central to professionalism and to impact on student learning. Drawing from her classroom experiences and relevant research, the author makes the case that evaluation of English teacher…

The purpose of this study was to understand how contributors to national media, education publications, and arts education publications interpret aspects of teacher evaluation enacted in response to Race to the Top. Using Stone's (1989) policy framework, researchers coded articles for intended and inadvertent causes. Analysis indicated that…

To date, most of the public narrative and pushback on new teacher evaluation systems has centered around their use for high-stakes personnel decisions such as pay, promotion, and dismissal, but these systems were always intended to promote and support improvements for all teachers--not just the superstars or laggards. Why is teacher development…

Recent studies on value added research indicates that, by using data from student perceptions, classroom observations, and test score growth, one can obtain credible evidence of the relative effectiveness of a set of teachers who teach similar children under similar conditions. Recent careful research on school effects indicates that committed…

The current chapter focuses on philosophical and scientific developments in the assessment of teacher knowledge. The goal is to provide an overview of major developments in the assessment of teacher knowledge and to illustrate those developments with representative and significant efforts. The authors made evaluative judgments of importance based…

This commentary was written in response to the Rink (2013), McKenzie and Lounsbery (2013), and Ward (2013) articles published earlier on teacher effectiveness in physical education (PE). The historical analyses of teacher effectiveness research in PE (TER-PE) presented in those 3 articles are briefly described, particularly as they represent a…

Regular quality physical education (PE) contributes to the harmonized biopsychosocial development of a young person--to relaxation, neutralization of negative effects of sedentary hours, and other unhealthy habits/behaviors. The evaluation approach to PE effectiveness provides important information to PE teachers and also to students. However,…

This report describes an analysis by the Tennessee Department of Education's Office of Research and Policy that proposes a second quantitative metric for assessing the practicality and usefulness of the ratings that teacher evaluators are giving to the teachers they observe by looking at the range of ratings given. The idea of the…

The Race to the Top program, initiated in 2009 by U.S. president Barack Obama, has resulted in new laws governing teacher evaluation, retention, and compensation. In many states, teachers' contributions to students' academic growth will account for up to 50 percent of their evaluations and serve as a basis for decisions regarding retention and…

Using five AERA presidential addresses over the past half century as landmarks, this essay traces the evolution of research on teaching and teacher education as well as some critical impacts the research has had on policy and practice related to teacher education and teacher evaluation in the United States. The discussion shows how these addresses…

Data from student ratings of instruction (SRI) are used ubiquitously as a key element in providing instructors with valuable feedback and evaluators with critical student input. Nonetheless, calls for the elimination of SRI continue to appear in academic journals and higher education periodicals. This paper brings to bear the huge body of research…