A review of the literature reveals that although effective personnel evaluation is critical to the improvement of educational institutions, productive evaluation policies and procedures are rarely used currently. The low quality of many of the procedures now used is a major reason why efforts to base employment and salary decisions on evaluations…

Academic institutions are caught in a position of needing continued commitment to assessment and yet dealing with strong faculty sentiment on the subject. This paper proposes that faculty assessment activity be re-conceptualized according to Ernest Boyer's (1990) "scholarship of teaching"--as a scholarly process whose products make a…

This article presents an innovative system for the evaluation of teaching performance. Assessment forms, developed in a research project, give a 3-dimensional view of a teacher's performance as seen by: (1) the supervisor, (2) the teacher him/herself, and (3) the students of the teacher. A review of the literature which served as background to…

In this paper on the use of teachers as reflective users of peer clinical supervision, a research and literature review relating to the assumptions of clinical supervision, fostering reflective practice through clinical supervision, and the special potential of peer clinical supervision is presented. Then, a personal account of a beginning…

Perhaps the most crucial education question of the late 1980s involves the assessment and evaluation of teaching quality. To help identify quality of teaching issues, this paper poses three questions: (1) Why have teachers found research-based teaching quality indicators so hollow and unacceptable? (2) What role, if any, can the accumulated…

The Student Achievement Outcome goal setting component of the Student Achievement Project (SAP) is described in this paper. It has focused on implementation and documentation procedures that may serve as alternatives to the exclusive use of standardized achievement test scores as indexes of student achievement and indicators of teacher…

Each school district in the state of Florida was required to submit for approval a model for implementing the Beginning Teacher Program mandated by the Florida legislature. The program model required that a support staff, consisting of a peer teacher, building-level administrator, and at least one other professional educator be assigned to assist…

This paper concerns the legal aspects of teacher evaluation and how it remains largely a matter of state control. It discusses federal overlays and state law and then summarizes case law relating to teacher evaluation. The paper concludes that while teacher evaluation is basically a state matter, the overlay of federally protected rights and the…

The speaker accepts the theory that nothing happens for the betterment of education until the superintendent develops an educational climate that is conducive to a healthy learning situation and a positive attitude from the community. A healthy climate is greatly enhanced when the process of personnel evaluation starts with the board and the…

A new teacher appraisal process involving 5 competencies and 163 indicators has been devised by the Provincial Government of Ontario, Canada. Principals are being held responsible for the appraisals, and the competencies and indicators are being imposed on professional practice. This paper suggests that a better approach to professional growth…

It is possible to tie teacher compensation to professional growth, without reference to standardized test scores. Tying pay to students' achievement scores does not account for the different levels of students, and teacher testing does not separate good teachers from bad. In Rutland Northeast, Vermont, each school has its own locally elected…

An approach used to determine some university faculty annual raises is described. Faculty assessment information is obtained by describing the calendar year activities of each faculty member in files dedicated to achievements, information related to instruction, and professional writings. Tabular summaries made from this information are also…

The University of Washington is developing a mandatory teaching portfolio system for its writing program teaching assistants (TAs) to help graduate students in the job market and to create a fairer and more useful way to review teachers while they are working in the writing program. Implementation of the 3-stage program is taking place over 4…

Bias prevention activities undertaken as part of the development process for a major teacher certification testing program in Illinois are described. Because bias concerns were a major issue in planning and implementing the program, three distinct committees were formed to help prevent bias: (1) a bias review committee; (2) a content advisory…

Student performance should be among the criteria used to evaluate teachers. Some advantages to comparing teachers on the basis of their students' learning are that such comparisons can provide (1) benchmarks by which to judge the validity of the criteria and measures of teaching effectiveness, (2) the evidence needed to match certain kinds of…