In this review, I examined the last two decades of research on data use in education to outline the ways in which principals used data to inform their own leadership practices. I found three themes: first, student achievement data were the most widespread form of data that principals used; second, principals' work has been reshaped by teacher…

Since US state policy makers reformed their teacher evaluation systems in the mid-2010s, the scholarly literature has paid little attention to the classroom-level measures of student learning growth that many states repurposed as teacher performance measures. This study addresses the gap by documenting teachers' and principals' experiences with…

Nationally, teachers have experienced major changes in how their performance is evaluated. Teacher satisfaction with the evaluation system likely influences whether they will use the evaluation data to make instructional improvements, yet we know little about teachers' perceptions of their evaluations. Using survey data from Chicago Public…

Contemporary teacher evaluation policies are built upon multiple-measure systems including, primarily, teacher-level value-added and observational estimates. However, researchers have not yet investigated how using these indicators to evaluate teachers might distort validity, especially when one indicator seemingly trumps, or is trusted over the…

This article shares the findings of a qualitative case study examining the experiences of teacher leaders as they engaged as teacher evaluators alongside school principals. Data collection included observations and interviews with four teacher leaders and three school principals to answer these research questions: (1) What TDEM structures have…

Researchers have just scratched the surface in terms of the applicability of social cognitive theory to the work of the school principal specifically in an era of high stakes accountability mandates. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand school principals' self-efficacy regarding their leadership capabilities as they are…

Based extensive fieldwork and interviews, this study explains teacher evaluation policy enactment as shaped by three conditions: (1) a principal's backgrounds, role perceptions, knowledge of instruction, and interactions with teachers; (2) teachers' perspectives; and (3) environmental demands. Notably, principals may lack the backgrounds,…

This study investigated principals' perceptions of Illinois teacher evaluation reforms, applying education policy implementation theory and micropolitics of personnel evaluation as conceptual frameworks. Interviews were conducted with 20 Illinois public school principals. Findings revealed micropolitics influenced the development and…

In 2009, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) incentivised states to create more rigorous teacher evaluation systems that better differentiated teacher performance as well as provided more information on what makes a high-quality teacher. One result of these revised teacher evaluation systems was principals, in most cases the primary…

This study explores the perceptions of elementary school principals on the Compass teacher evaluation system in a Southern Louisiana school district in the United States. There were seven themes that emerged from the qualitative data analysis: compliance, subjectivity, accountability, expectation, confinement, inconsistency, and helpfulness. Data…

Teacher evaluations are conducted to inform employment decisions and teacher professional development with the ultimate goal to create beneficial student learning environments. The effectiveness and feasibility of teacher evaluations, particularly in high-stakes contexts (hiring, firing, promotion, Pay-for-Performance schemes), crucially depends…

In a time when public schools continue to be scrutinized, school leadership never mattered more in order to exercise school reform. This qualitative study examined how five principals working in an urban school district perceived their evaluation and how it contributed to their practice. I applied a descriptive case study approach. Evaluations can…

In many countries, teacher evaluation has been viewed as a policy lever to improve the quality of teaching and student achievement. Recent research suggests that teacher evaluation can also be implemented as a mechanism for professional growth with careful consideration of the organizational context. However, few studies have examined the way in…

School principals play a critical role in evaluating teachers and providing feedback, but high-stakes evaluation policies at the local and state levels can create ethical dilemmas for principals. In this case, an underresourced rural school principal has to report a certain number of "ineffective" teachers to meet a requirement from the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how school leaders use high-stakes teacher evaluation to improve and, if necessary, remove low-performing teachers in their schools. It explores how cognitive, relational and organizational factors play a role in shaping the way school leaders implement teacher evaluation.…