The contradiction in instructional supervisors' roles between helping and rating teachers raises questions about the nature of supervisory authority. Three novels--Golding's "Lord of the Flies," Huxley's "Brave New World," and Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"--illustrate the general problem of combining…

The purpose of this paper is to show why teacher professionalism dictates a new posture on supervision, to suggest criteria for selecting models of supervision, and to urge further research on one model of supervision that appears promising for preservice and inservice teaching. Teachers have long struggled to be recognized as professional and to…

Evaluation procedures should focus on improving instruction, should be realistic and practical, and should enhance the supervisor-teacher relationship. (Author)

Describes a program in the Vallejo City Unified School District (California) in which the principal, using classroom observation and teacher conferences, assumes the role of teacher of the staff. (Author/JM)

An exploration process through which supervisors can encourage teachers to make their own teaching decisions includes teaching teachers how to observe classroom interaction, code and analyze interaction, interpret classroom behavior patterns, and make informed instructional decisions based on the analysis and interpretation. Bringing teachers…

Very few people would disagree that the work of the principal is multifaceted, hectic, and fraught with uncertainties, and given the ongoing press for accountability, the very work of the principal as instructional leader is shifting to ensure "results." There are myriad day-to-day activities that take principals away from the important work of…

In most schools, teacher evaluation and supervision are seldom mutually exclusive. This paper synthesizes research findings and capitalizes on experience concerning these sensitive processes. After discussing three basic purposes for supervision-evaluation (staff development, school improvement, and personnel decisions), the paper carefully…

The research on supervision and school effectiveness suggests that principals acting as supervisors of instruction make a difference in teacher performance and pupil learning. This study investigated whether effective clinical supervision requires supervisors who practice certain strategies and procedures as they dialogue with supervisees, or…

The literature on instructional supervision pervasively argues that its manifest purpose is to improve instruction. However, the literature is seriously deficient in proposing any well-articulated theory of supervision, and, consequently, both the conceptual and operational bases for executing supervision's function are in dispute. Hence the…

Discusses the following five methods, used by principals, to cope with teachers' educational mistakes: (1) deployment of other teachers as observers; (2) detente--using other teachers to help the troubled teacher; (3) determination that there is cause for dismissal; (4) evaluating and documenting the teachers as unsatisfactory; and (5) formal…

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)

The teacher needs to recognize the supervisor as a helping individual, just as the supervisor must recognize that the teacher is a leader and organizer who conveys a spirit of confidence and competence when working with students. A non-evaluative approach can assist the supervisor in building an openness conductive to a truly helping relationship.…

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)

The premise of this article is that the positive influence colleagues may have on one another in the area of instructional supervision is often overlooked. (RC)

This paper considers the kinds of interventions that elementary school principals make for the purpose of improving practice in their schools. Findings are derived from the Principal-Teacher Interaction Study being conducted at the University of Texas at Austin, which has categorized interventions hierarchically at the following levels: policy,…