Describes a method to determine whether particular strategies and materials are being used in classrooms as a result of inservice training. (Author/MLF)

Teachers are isolated from their peers by classroom walls and invisible school barriers. Many evaluation systems are outmoded, and few opportunities exist for teachers and principals to stretch their traditional roles. Professional Partnerships, an alternative evaluation process, addresses these common concerns. Teachers establish voluntary…

Teachers and administrators in Middlebury, Connecticut, are developing portfolios that are both powerful professional development tools and substitutes for formal observation and evaluation. An eighth-grade teacher reflects on her four-year learning experience in constructing an "educator's collaborative portfolio." This teacher learned by…

A junior high school principal describes how a small lap-top computer to record teacher and student classroom behavior assists in giving teachers an objective record and analysis. After independently analyzing the transcript, teacher and principal discuss recommendations during a postobservation conference. (CJH)

A group of Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development members was surveyed to determine the relative importance of 17 selected issues relating to supervisory practices. (Author/MLF)

Research findings suggest that methods used to improve teaching are as important as the goals. Solutions sought should be those that professionalize the practice of teaching and make education sufficiently attractive to recruit and retain talented people as teachers. (MLF)

An analysis of more than 200 studies that investigated the effectiveness of various kinds of teacher training methods. (Author/MLF)

Findings from a study of 16 school districts reveal that teachers are less satisfied than administrators with school districts' efforts to improve instruction in the areas of curriculum development, clinical supervision, staff development, and teacher evaluation. (Author/MLF)

By granting teachers greater empowerment and higher compensation in return for closer involvement with students, Rochester City School District is seeking to make public schools successful for all students. (Author/TE)

An upstate New York school district's collaboratively designed teacher-evaluation system reflects years of instructional improvement programs and many rounds of contract negotiations. In other districts, collegial efforts to redesign teacher-evaluation systems signal administrators' changing attitudes. Principals see themselves as mentors,…

To help principals and department heads in their mentoring role, the Singapore Ministry of Education developed a computer system for classroom observation named SOCRATES. The system requires no coding, continuously records entire lessons, compiles data useful for sequential analysis, and allows teachers and principals to identify strengths and…

As a high school principal, the author came to realize that the traditional teacher observation and evaluation model did not help teachers become reflective and improve their practice. Because his own use of brief, frequent principal walk-throughs had given him valuable insights into the need for instructional improvements, he decided to offer…

Discusses five methods of teacher evaluation used by progressive districts: (1) evaluation is linked to research on effective teaching; (2) evaluators receive improved training; (3) administrators are accountable for conducting evaluations; (4) evaluation-identified teacher deficiencies are used to focus staff development; and (5) teachers…

Explains the structure of Tennessee's Career Ladder Program for teachers, with the primary focus on evaluation procedures used at the state level for identifying teachers in the top two to five career levels. Covers evaluation criteria, evaluation data sources, use of peer evaluators, and evaluation processes. (PGD)