Performance Appraisals, Constituent Feedback, and Long Term Effects

Résumé du livre

The impact of emerging reforms to k-12 teacher evaluation systems nationwide is inseparably linked to the ways in which these systems define and measure teacher quality. Systems that are intended to encourage valuable professional development or to weed out less effective staff must first accurately identify the contributions that "good" teachers make to student and school success. In this dissertation, I examine multiple aspects of teacher quality that have received relatively little attention to-date, but that are potentially vital to the work of teaching. In particular, I consider teachers' contributions according to the perspectives of school administrators and according to feedback from students' parents. I also examine teachers' long term effects on students' underlying academic ability, distinct from "value added" measures of their instructional impact on short term tested content. Collectively, this research informs the ongoing work of educators and policymakers who are seeking to better define, and ultimately to transform, the professional role of k-12 teachers.