A strong focus has been placed on accountability for the educational process and the achievement of all students. This has put tremendous pressure on teachers, as well as school administrators, superintendents, and school board members, to seek innovative ways to increase student achievement and to ensure that effective teachers are in all classrooms, so emphasis is on developing effective evaluation systems. Given the development and implementation of the Mississippi Teacher Evaluation System (MTES) in 2010, there is a need to discover the perspectives of the teachers who are evaluated within this process. The success of an evaluation process will only be successful if teachers use it to enhance their professional growth and effectiveness in the classroom. In order to gain an understanding of the perceptions of Mississippi teachers in Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) schools and their insight into the MTES, this study focused on three research questions: (1) how do Mississippi teachers perceive the usefulness of the MTES, (2) how do Mississippi teachers perceive that the MTES develops their effective teaching practices, and (3) how do Mississippi teachers perceive that the MTES supports teachers’ professional growth? A qualitative approach provided descriptive, narrative, and percentage responses to the research questions of this multiple-case study. Results showed that the majority of the TIF teachers who participated in this study perceived that the MTES to have some degree of usefulness, especially when implemented consistently across the campus. Teachers who did not experience the entire evaluation process and feedback conferences were frustrated and irritated by the process. Overall, teachers did experience an improvement in their instructional practices because of their participation in the MTES, and most perceived that the MTES supported their professional growth because of targeted professional development and the development of professional-growth goals. With timely feedback and evaluator support, teachers are enriching their teaching practices which enhance student engagement, but they are concerned that the instrument is not being implemented consistently in all schools. There is a lack of confidence in navigating the observation rubric and implementing the process with consistency.

Teacher absenteeism is a problem that needs a solution. It is imperative that teachers come to work each day to prepare their students for academic achievement. If teachers are chronically absent from work, the students’ academic achievement suffers. There needs to be a way to minimize teacher absences. School districts must track data that shows teacher absences in order to get a clear picture of when and where the absences are the greatest problem. A review of the literature identified several studies conducted over the years that document the effects of teacher absenteeism. With this in mind, it is recommended that incentives be put in place to reduce the absences of the teachers. I furthered the research to include data from a school district by researching teacher perceptions of the use of teacher attendance incentives in the school district. The purpose of this study was to determine which schools within the school district have Incentive programs in place to motivate teachers to come to work. Existing attendance data was obtained to analyze the attendance of the teachers at each building. The teachers were then surveyed to identify the incentives that are in place at each building and the teachers’ perceptions of those incentives. The surveys conducted also assisted in determining if the attendance incentives that are used as motivation are effective to motivate teachers to attend work. The results of the teachers’ perceptions of the incentive program at each school will be compared with the teacher attendance data to determine which teacher attendance incentives are effective in motivating teachers to attend work as scheduled. The incentives that are the most effective will be shared with each principal in the district to utilize in maintaining better teacher attendance throughout the school district.

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This study focused on the recruitment phase of teacher socialization, particularly the perspectives high school students, who wish to become physical education teachers, have on the teacher role. The participants were 10 high school students interested in becoming physical education teachers. They were white and attended rural or urban high schools. Four interviews were used to collect the participants' perspectives on physical education teaching: two semi-structured, open-ended interviews, a role play and a series of vignettes. The interview data were presented in three categories: biographical information, career choices and perspectives on teaching. The opportunity to work with young people and to continue their involvement in sports were two primary factors attracting the participants to careers in physical education teaching and athletic coaching. Overall, the participants preferred coaching after-school sports to teaching physical education because they believed coaching received more positive recognition and provided more opportunities to remain in competitive sports. The participant group held three primary assumptions about physical education. First, they believed that physical education accommodates athletics. Second, they assumed that the goal of physical education was to have fun. Third, the participant group believed that everyone can perform sport skills successfully with little or no instruction. Several key points from the data emerged. First, the participants regarded physical education teaching as a career contingency for coaching. Second, they viewed compulsory physical education as problematic. Third, the participants believed in a custodial approach to class management. Four, they described a multi-activity model to curriculum which would only require a limited degree of lesson planning. Finally, they regarded student learning as student participation and would reward active student participation with high grades. These perspectives on teaching support the argument that prospective teachers enter teacher training with detailed ideas about the teacher role. The information gleaned from the recruitment phase of teacher socialization must be used to inform the content of teacher preparation programs and guide the research on the teacher role.

In Massachusetts, as well as in other states, a mentoring model called the clinical site, has recently emerged. A clinical site is a public school which serves as a laboratory for student teachers. It has a corps of experienced teachers trained to serve as mentors to the student teachers, and usually includes a pre-practicum component for a local teacher training program. Proponents of clinical sites assume that there are significant professional benefits for the mentors and the school itself, as well as for the student teachers. However, it is unclear exactly what those benefits are and to what degree there is agreement among the various proponents of the clinical site concept as to the nature of those benefits. This study was designed to closely examine the expectations of the participants involved in the developmental phase of a University of Massachusetts clinical site at Greenfield High School, Greenfield Massachusetts. Interns, mentors, school administrators, and university faculty were interviewed about their expectations of the clinical site project. All participants expressed expectations consistent with the assumptions which are driving the current move to reform schools by making them centers for the study of teaching and learning. Like many teachers in the United States, the Greenfield High School teachers feel professionally isolated, and see the clinical site as a possible antidote to that isolation. They also expect the clinical site to provide teachers with opportunities to play new professional roles in the education of novice teachers. Administrators anticipate that newly energized teachers will create a ripple effect felt by everyone in the school district, including themselves. Many of the reasons why interns chose to do their student teaching at a clinical site are based on their expectation that the clinical site would mitigate against their anxieties about student teaching in general and the isolation of a remote placement in particular. Interns foresaw an experience at the clinical site which would allow them to interact with a number of professionals who were ready to help them. Beyond their primary expectation of providing their students with a more cohesive student teaching experience, university staff look to the clinical site for their own professional stimulation, and as a source of new knowledge and research. Although the expectations expressed by the participants do not conflict with one another, the economic and political climate in Massachusetts will make it difficult for the program to meet all of them, especially those which create new (not additional) roles for teachers and professors.