<p> The quality of teacher education allows first-year teachers to meet mandates at federal and state levels (Darling-Hammond, 2010a). The teaching profession is complex and requires new and innovative quality preparation programs (Wei, Andree, &amp; Darling-Hammond, 2009). This study involved examination of the perceptions of 17 building principals and 16 first-year teachers to determine the effectiveness of teacher preparation. First-year teachers identified essential elements of teacher preparation and weaknesses of programs. The study addressed building principals&rsquo; perceptions of differences, if any, in the effectiveness of first-year teachers graduating from traditional teacher preparation programs and first-year teachers who choose alternative routes to the profession. Perceptions of first-year teachers and building principals were identified in regard to the skills of first-year teachers in the classroom. Building principal perceptions indicated first-year teachers are prepared as effective classroom teachers in the areas of content knowledge, creating positive environments, classroom management, cooperative learning, cooperative partnership, implementing curriculum, use of technology and communication; understanding student learning, growth, and development; and performing roles, responsibilities, and collegial activities. Identified weakness in the effectiveness of first-year teachers were in the areas of instruction and assessment. Building principals indicated first-year teachers from traditional programs were more effective than those who chose alternative programs. First-year teachers indicated essential elements of teacher preparation programs to be organization, classroom structure, positive reinforcement, classroom management, and implementing a variety of instructional strategies. Areas of weakness identified were time-management, parent teacher conference experiences, preparing the classroom environment, and time for realistic opportunities to experience classroom teaching. First-year teachers perceived their preparation to be more positive than building-principal perceptions in the areas of analyzing instructional goals and differentiated instructional strategies, teaching for critical thinking, effects of instruction on individual/class learning, use of student assessment data to analyze and modify instruction, assessment data to improve learning, and self-assessment. </p>

<p> In order to evaluate the teacher education program for the state of Missouri, the researcher investigated the piloted MoPTA at a private Midwestern university. Through evaluating the piloted MoPTA program, this study aimed to address possible changes needed within the teacher education program itself to better prepare future educators not only for the assessment, but more importantly, the classroom. In order to evaluate the program, the researcher observed scoring sessions for Tasks 1-4 and analyzed feedback from the evaluators of the tasks (university supervisors and faculty) in the fall of 2014 and the spring of 2015. Furthermore, this study examined the scores received from each task during the piloted school year (fall of 2014 and spring of 2015). The researcher analyzed the scores for the following comparisons: Tasks 1-4 (i.e. Task 1 overall scores to Task 2 overall scores); undergraduate students with graduate students&rsquo; scores; inter-rater reliability (comparing the scores of multiple raters for one student); and K-12, elementary, middle, and secondary teacher candidates. By completing quantitative analyses of the comparisons through examining approximately 276 teacher candidates&rsquo; scores, the researcher ascertained: student performance on Tasks 2 and 3 was significantly lower than Task 4; undergraduate students performed lower on Tasks 1 and 3 in comparison to graduate students; inter-rater reliability had a low correlation for Tasks 1, 3, and 4, but Task 2 reported a high correlation; and there were no differences between elementary teacher candidates and secondary/K-12 teacher candidates. Through analysis of qualitative data the researcher ascertained that the university supervisors and faculty found the scoring sessions for MoPTA helpful and that changes to the university&rsquo;s curriculum were necessary to better prepare teacher candidates. The researcher suggests adding more data analysis, critical thinking, and writing courses at the university would better prepare teacher candidates; and ongoing scoring sessions and further professional development regarding changes in MoPTA and inter-rater reliability would benefit teacher candidates and consistency among university supervisors and faculty. </p>

<p> Reforms in teacher evaluation are enacted to increase student achievement. Although there is research on teacher evaluation and teacher quality, there is little that addresses effective teaching as conceptualized in Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching, a commonly used evaluation tool. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine which of the 4 domains and 76 elements of Danielson&rsquo;s framework are viewed by award-winning teachers as having the greatest impact on effective teaching and learning. Constructivism formed the theoretical basis for this study. The research questions examined to what extent state and national teachers of the year perceive differences in the importance to effective teaching and learning across each of Danielson&rsquo;s 4 domains and across the elements within those domains. A quantitative single-factor within-subject design was utilized. Framework for Teaching Survey importance ratings obtained from state teachers of the year for the past 6 years (N = 350) were compared using repeated measure one-way analysis of variances). Significant <i>F</i> values were followed by the Fisher Least Significant Difference Test to determine the domains or elements that significantly differ from one another. Significant differences in the importance ratings were obtained across each of the 4 domains. The instruction domain was rated most important followed by classroom environment, planning and preparation, and professional responsibilities. Findings may facilitate positive social change by enabling schools, districts, and states to more accurately evaluate teachers and devote limited professional development resources to domains and elements with the greatest potential for improving teacher quality.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine the reasons high-quality rural veteran educators choose to remain in small, rural district settings and to identify common factors among small rural school districts that have high numbers of highly qualified veteran teachers. The study is relevant to school leaders and school boards within small rural communities seeking to develop policies and encourage strategies to keep high-quality educators from leaving districts. The motivation-hygiene theory of job satisfaction developed by Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman (1993), coupled with Rosenholtz&rsquo;s (1989) 10 essential components for working together were utilized throughout the study to evaluate the motivations of high-quality veteran rural educators. A self-administered survey and telephone interviews were utilized to gather data, which revealed high-quality veteran teachers choose to remain in the small, rural school setting due to intrinsic motivators. It was learned strong support from fellow educators and the community contributed to the desire of rural educators to remain employed within their districts. Data revealed educators were interested in autonomy within the classroom and support from administrators. Research indicated small, rural schools with high numbers of highly qualified veteran teachers have high levels of administrative support. These educators have a sense of belonging within their districts and high levels of job satisfaction. Opportunities for educators to collaborate are readily available and support is given through teacher evaluations. Additionally, these educators feel connections within their school communities, which enable them to better teach the district's students. Lastly, educators voiced school climate played a large role in their decisions to stay in the small, rural setting.</p>

<p> The primary purpose of teacher evaluation is to improve teaching practice, which results in increased student achievement. In practice, however, evaluation systems have been generally used as sorting mechanisms for identifying the lowest performing teachers for selective termination. The school system in this study, like others, aspires to have all of its teachers consistently performing at a highly effective level. The problem of practice faced by the school system is the inability of a large number of teachers rated &ldquo;effective&rdquo; to summarily improve their practice over time and move to the &ldquo;highly effective&rdquo; rating. In essence, how does a teacher evaluation metric maximize the chances that those who remain in the profession become accomplished practitioners? This research triangulates teacher evaluation, self-reflection and their roles in improving teacher quality. The prevailing thought is that teachers who willingly engage in more formalized self-reflection and self-assessment yield higher degrees of teacher effectiveness as measured on a local teacher evaluation. The central focus of this study will investigate tenured teachers&rsquo; perceptions of the effect of their teacher evaluation tool on teacher quality and other factors that contribute to a teacher&rsquo;s improvement of instructional performance over time. The researcher would also like to investigate the extent to which teacher cohorts&mdash;differentiated by demographic data&mdash;engage in formalized practices of self-reflection about their own teaching practice. Lastly, the researcher would like to determine whether or not tenured teachers who are evaluated with the local teacher evaluation tool actually improve their teacher effectiveness over time. </p><p> This study was conducted in a public, K-12 school system with 1420 teachers employed&mdash;39 of which are National Board Certified. This schools system is located in a rural/suburban school system and has utilized its current teacher evaluation system since 2000. </p><p> The findings of this study indicated that the majority of teachers&mdash;disaggregated by demographic teacher cohort&mdash;viewed their local teacher evaluation system somewhere along the continuum of neutral to satisfactory as a tool for building a teacher&rsquo;s effectiveness over time. The overwhelming majority of teachers embraced the post-conference as the most impactful part of the entire evaluation process in building teacher quality; the least impactful was the pre-conference. Additionally, teacher respondents&mdash;agnostic of demographic&mdash;opined that while the local teacher evaluation system was perceived to be a both quality control and a compliance factor for teachers, less than half of all respondents believe that the system, assists teachers <i> formatively</i> as a tool for professional development. Per the respondents, it should be noted that the teacher evaluation system elicited the strongest reactions&mdash;both positive and negative&mdash;in teachers having experienced more than 20 formal observations. The research also conveyed that most teachers reported that there was much more embedded self-reflection in the evaluation system than hypothesized; most prominently, teachers cited that <i>audio-taping, reviewing student performance data, completing a self-reflective checklist, and engaging in unstructured self-reflection</i> were a few of the assorted self-reflective activities were facilitated by the evaluation system. Moreover, the data clearly demonstrated that all teachers engage in high degrees of reflection regardless of demographic cohort and a majority of teachers claim to already know how to &ldquo;self-reflect.&rdquo; In other words, the highest self-reported degree of reflection were those teachers already rated as &ldquo;highly effective&rdquo; in the local evaluation system. A prevalent trend in the data was that degrees of self-reflection matter and build more pronounced levels of teacher effectiveness over time. In essence, the fact that teachers participate in reflection does not seem to impact teacher quality; rather, the degree and amount to which one reflects is actually what matters in building instructional capacity in teachers. Other noticeable trends in the data were as follows: more years of teaching experience was inversely related to the degree to which a teacher self-reflects; over 30% of teachers with more than 20 years of experience reported that they do no self-reflect at all; the non-NBCT teacher cohort out reflects the NBCT cohort; NBCT teachers had the highest average evaluation rating out of every teacher cohort; and, teaching experience seems to mute any lack of reflection in a teacher&rsquo;s evaluation rating; The other noticeable trend was that more formal observations for teachers did not translate into higher evaluation ratings over time. Overall, the two most impactful professional development activities cited by teachers were the following: participation in professional learning communities and peer coaching and mentoring, respectively.</p><p>

<p> As the method, instrument, and reliability of teacher and principal evaluations has come under extreme scrutiny since the Education Reform Act of 2010, school systems across the nation have examined and refined the evaluation process for teachers and principals. Studies have shown the integration of peer evaluation as a model of teacher evaluations can have a positive impact on the teachers and their performance that participate in peer evaluation as well as the potential for an increase in the academic achievement of students. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers&rsquo; overall perceptions of peer evaluation and of how the use of peer evaluation could improve their teaching practice. The goals of this study were to determine the level of sharing of instructional practices among their peers currently, and whether or not they perceived an increase in the amount of time spent sharing of best practices would occur as a result of incorporating peer evaluation into the current model of a formative evaluation. Further, teachers were asked to identify potential benefits as well as any potential challenges they see as a result of implementing peer evaluations. This study used an online survey to gather data from participants. </p><p> This study was conducted in a suburban school district in Maryland. A total of 34 teachers participated in the survey questionnaire. One elementary, one middle, and one high school were selected to participate in the survey. Data were collected through an online survey conducted in September 2017. </p><p> This study provides some evidence that teachers do welcome the possible integration of peer evaluation and perceive that peer evaluation may result in an increase in the amount of time spent sharing instructional strategies among other teachers. The findings also reported potential benefits such as increased sharing of best practices of instructional strategies, more timely and relevant feedback, and reduced feelings of isolation could potentially occur as a result of incorporating peer evaluation in the current model of formative evaluations. This study further identified potential challenges such as lack of time to complete peer evaluations, personal bias, and a perceived feeling of needing to add yet another task to the busy professional day of a teacher.</p><p>

<p>Reading is essential for personal growth and social and economic success. Smith (2002) proposed that reading was the most important subject in American early schools, and explained that reading continues to be the most significant subject in schools throughout the United States. Educators need to consider ways to strengthen our educational system beginning with teacher preparation. Researchers have outlined the close interconnectivity between teacher preparation and reading preparation; however, relatively few researchers have asked questions about the involvement of reading preparation courses, reading-related demographics, and past reading experiences in relation to reading habits and knowledge, specifically of children?s literature. This quantitative study analyzed 12 specific demographic and reading-related variables in the prediction of preservice teachers? knowledge and current reading habits of children?s literature in a teacher preparation program at a public, four-year, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in South Texas. The correlational study employed bivariate and multivariate analyses on data collected from 168 undergraduate students enrolled in at least one reading course during the fall 2014 semester. Results of correlational analysis indicated that there were statistically significant associations for current reading habits of children?s literature on the basis of READ 3310?Principles and Practices of Early Reading Instruction, READ 3320?Principles and Practices of Reading Instruction, and READ 4380?Children?s and Adolescents? Literature, and daily contact with children outside of school. There were statistically significant associations for knowledge of children?s literature based on READ 3320, READ 4380, and past reading experiences. Results of the regression analysis indicated daily contact with children outside of school, READ 4380, READ 3310, and READ 3320 were significantly correlated with current reading habits. READ 4380, READ 3320, and past reading experiences were the variables used in the prediction of knowledge of children?s literature. The results of the study have implications for teacher preparation programs, literacy scholars, in-service educators, preservice educators, and parents. Some recommendations for future research include: complete a comparison study with in-service teachers, replicate the study to include a larger number of participants, update the Children?s Literature Title Recognition Test to reflect in-class and out of class fiction and non-fiction titles, and add a qualitative aspect.