Thesis advisor: Henry I. Braun / With teachers being largely held accountable for student learning outcomes, it is of critical importance to identify effective and ineffective teachers through the development and implementation of a successful teacher evaluation system. Addressing the call to explore indicators of teacher effectiveness and enhance the traditional methods and practices of teacher evaluation, this study extends current efforts investigating different approaches to measuring teacher effectiveness through exploration of the relationship between two indicators of teacher effectiveness: the value-added estimates based on student test performance and growth, and the quality of student learning objectives (SLO) developed by teachers. It uses data from a large school district in North Carolina, comprising student achievement outcomes in mathematics and reading across five grades and three years. Different hierarchical linear models are employed to obtain teachers' VAM estimates with regression adjustments for prior years of achievement, student background characteristics, and teacher level covariate adjusted for each set of models. Weighted Least Squares (WLS) analysis, logistic regression, and point-biserial analysis are used to examine the variations in the relationships among teachers' VAM estimates, SLO quality and SLO attainment status across years and grades. The HLM results revealed fluctuations in teachers' VAM rankings obtained at different stages of the model sequence that caused the correlations with SLO quality to vary as well. The WLS results indicated that the correlations between VAM and SLO quality also varied across years and grades. Further data analysis revealed generally weak associations between SLO quality and attainment status, as well as those between teachers' VAM estimates and whether their SLOs were achieved. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

Teacher evaluation is changing in the United States, primarily due to federal policies requiring that measures of student growth be embedded within teacher evaluation systems. Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) emerged as one way to measure teacher effectiveness. SLOs are teacher-developed goals for student achievement that reflect student learning and growth over a specified time period. Each state or district utilizing SLOs in teacher evaluation implements SLOs in a different way, and the details of SLO implementation affect the extent to which teaching is improved. This grounded theory research study investigated the influence of SLOs on teachers and teaching. The researcher interviewed 20 teachers from six regions of the United States. This research identified three dimensions of SLO implementation that influence SLOs' effect: School Leadership, School Climate and Teacher Agency. These dimensions are explored in this research, resulting in recommendations that would serve to enhance the benefits of SLOs on teachers and teaching. Additionally, future research suggestions are noted to add to the growing body of research on SLOs.

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