In response to accountability pressures over the past several years, a body of research attempting to identify characteristics of effective schools has developed. Efforts to improve school climate or evaluate teachers solely according to "effective school" characteristics may be misguided. One problem is that school effectiveness may be…

Suggests useful implications for supervisors offered by motivational theories, including the importance of serving as a source of reinforcement for teachers and the necessity of helping the teacher make appropriate instructional choices and gather evidence on the effectiveness of those choices. (Author/JM)

A study of 48 secondary school mathematics teachers and 4 different treatments of supervision indicate that teachers tended to carry out more suggestions when they saw the suggestions modeled (demonstrated) by their supervisors. (23 references) (MLF)

This leaflet contains guidelines for local teacher associations and negotiating teams in developing teacher-board agreements on evaluation procedures and career development programs for professional staffs in New Jersey public school districts. Included are discussion of the reasons for evaluation and the basic principles behind it, a list of what…

This article seeks to understand the ways in which feedback was communicated in post-observation conferences in teaching practice supervision within the learning-oriented field experience assessment (LOFEA) framework. 32 post-observation conferences between 21 pairs of supervisors and participants of in-service teacher education programmes, and…

The paper describes the Behaviorally Anchored Supervision System (BASS), an approach to supervision in special education based on the definition of effective instruction developed by the Council for Exceptional Children in 1986. A comprehensive model for excellence in special education is based upon the following four elements: values,…

This paper identifies the factors that can make a building principal an effective instructional leader, as seen from the superintendent's perspective. According to the author, the effective instructional leader helps those in the educational community define instructional goals and objectives, works to develop effectiveness in teaching, builds a…

The purpose of this study was to assess current supervisory practice and assess the impact of certain factors on supervision: declining enrollments, declining budgets, collective bargaining, management efficiency studies, principals' inability to commit time to supervision, and decentralization. Data were gathered from 16 districts (urban,…

This study ascertained the relationship between rankings of 47 supervising classroom teachers and their attitudes toward education. Independent rankings of supervisory effectiveness were obtained from 47 classroom teachers, 91 student teachers, and 12 university personnel. Each classroom teacher completed two standardized attitude toward education…

Schon's conception of reflection is conceptualized in a context relative to other work on reflection. Three perspectives are used to conceptualize reflection as instrumentally mediating action, as deliberating among competing views of teaching, and as reconstructing experiences. (SI)

Teacher evaluation is problematic because it combines two conflicting tasks: improving instruction and judging performance. A Boston elementary principal gradually devised an informal supervision/evaluation system involving brief, random, and frequent classroom visits followed by praise, affirmation, suggestions, and constructive criticism. Even…

The induction period is a very important time in the career of a teacher and has a long-term influence on the teacher's professional development, efficacy, job satisfaction and the length of his/her career. One of the key roles in this period is played by the trainee's mentor. This paper presents the results of the extensive project…

The decisions evaluators make regarding how to work with teachers through the annual evaluation process can have a positive impact on teacher growth and student learning. In this article, the author examines the quality of feedback and how administrators use and provide this feedback to teachers through the evaluation process. What constitutes…

Discusses three problems in the usual approach to teacher evaluation--the failure to illuminate the differences in evaluation practices at different educational levels, the limited usefulness of the typical evaluation form, and the propensity to view supervision and evaluation as one process. Suggestions for improvement are offered. (WD)