This article reports on a study of Illinois school board presidents' perspectives on teacher tenure. It begins with an historical overview of the development of teacher tenure from its roots in the 1880s civil service legislation through the establishment of teacher tenure in the United States to an examination of current teacher tenure laws and…

Teacher leadership plays a significant role in the professional culture of many schools across the country, according to principals who value it. This is the major conclusion from a survey and telephone interviews conducted by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL). While limited in scope, the study confirms the contributions of teacher…

Evaluation of personnel is an essential means of ensuring quality in education. However, evaluations of teachers and administrators have often been divisive and counterproductive. This book is the product of a collaborative effort by 14 professional associations as a guide for assessing or developing systems for evaluating education personnel at…

The report reviews competency tests designed to evaluate inservice and prospective teachers. The most frequently used instrument is the National Teacher Examination (NTE). It is designed to measure academic preparation in four domains: communication skills, general education, professional education, and subject field specialization, and should be…

This paper examines the relationship between age, ability, achievement, and learner preferences, and student evaluations of instructor effectiveness. The sample for this study consisted of 116 students enrolled in two sections of an introductory psychology course at the University of Southern Maine. Five independent variables were examined: age,…

A critical analysis of reports and empirical literature on the quality of candidates in teacher education programs is presented and the results of a nation-wide survey of basic skills competencies required of such candidates are described. While standardized test scores for education majors have been declining, many states in the survey did not…

The Teacher Questioning Measure (TQM) was developed to give the student teaching supervisor an objective means of evaluating the questions asked by the student teachers. This instrument was designed to measure six areas of cognitive skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Questions are measured on a…

This is the second in a series of four reports describing a study of 1,614 junior high school mathematics and English students and 69 of their teachers that was undertaken to discover the effects of different teaching behaviors on cognitive and affective student outcomes. This booklet deals with instruments used to collect data and includes…

Originally designed to provide teachers with feedback and also used as a quantitative tool for specifying teacher behavior consistent with a psychological model of teaching described by Tuckman (1974), the Tuckman Teacher Feedback Form (TTFF) is a 28-item semantic differential which generates four scores in the areas of creativity, dynamism…

Reviews the literature on student evaluation of teacher performance and analyzes 29 sample instruments. Provides a model instrument, the "Student Opinion Survey," constructed from the sample and factorily balanced in seven categories of concern. (PD)

This paper describes a 1998 evaluation conducted by one Texas school district of its K-5 physical education (PE) program. The director of PE developed a plan for gathering information on scheduling; student performance (motor skills, fitness, and social skills); and teachers' use of best instructional practices. Teachers assessed student…

Describes (and presents in an appendix) the Multidimensional Reading Instruction Observation Scale, a formative evaluative instrument to evaluate the quality of reading instruction by recording interactions between student and teacher regarding cognitive processes, affective processes, and management skills from three perspectives: teacher…

Describes the development of an affective measure of student attitudes toward their advisors, called the Descy Attitude toward Advisors scale (DATAs). Content validity is discussed, along with construct validity and alpha reliability data gathered on 120 graduate students in the fields of education and nursing. A copy of DATAs is appended.…

This study determined the criteria used by administrators to assess effective teaching by early childhood public school teachers and explored the relationship between such evaluative criteria and research- and theory-based indicators of developmentally appropriate practices. Instruments used for evaluation were collected from 17 school districts…

A comparison of teacher appraisal systems in Georgia and Texas demonstrates many similarities between the two programs. The Georgia Teacher Evaluation Program identifies effective teaching practices, areas where development can improve instructional effectiveness, and teachers who do not meet minimum standards. The Texas Teacher Appraisal System…