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A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION (D. Ed) in the Department of History of Education and Comparative Education at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 1997. / This study was designed to investigate different perceptions held by respondents about the quality and impact of evaluation on teachers' work, behaviour and attitude to their work. The second aim was to examine different perceptions of respondents to factors of teacher evaluation that promote positive, meaningful and successful teacher evaluation. Lastly, the study aimed to determine whether personal variables such as gender, race, age, teaching experience and qualification have influence on perceptions of teacher evaluation. These perception are important in designing an evaluation system because they indicate teachers' willingness to participate and be evaluated. The data was gathered by means of a questionnaire from teachers, principals and inspectors of education in KwaZulu-Natal north coast. The researcher divided the sample into three groups, that is, teachers, principals and inspectors of education. The researcher used a cluster or multistage sampling design to select the sample of teachers, principals and inspectors of education. Three questionnaires were administered to the respondents. To achieve the above, the researcher used a causal-comparative research design. The One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Scheffe Test of Multiple Comparison were utilised to determine statistical significant differences among the three groups The major findings of the study are the following: - teachers, principals and inspectors of education differ in their perception of the overall quality of teacher evaluation. - teachers viewed the evaluation process as having a positive impact towards teachers' attitude about their work, behaviour, teaching strategies, and their understanding of teaching and learning, while principals and inspectors of education saw the evaluation process as having little impact. - gender and age have no influence on perceptions of evaluation, while racial group, teaching experience and qualification have a significant influence in the way teachers, principals and inspectors of education perceive teacher evaluation factors. - the respondents not involved in the evaluation process differed significantly in their perception than those involved. However, there were no differences with regard to evaluator perception; information gathered; feedback from evaluation and context of evaluation in relation to the respondents' involvement. The recommendations of this study are: - it is necessary to consider the performance management system in order to achieve maximum results to improve teachers' performance: appropriate selection of teachers for specific tasks, their induction and probation, on the-job-training, supervision and management, performance evaluation, incentives and rewards, and management of under-performance. - that the role of teachers, principals and inspectors of education in the evaluation process needs to be restructured and clarified in such a way that teachers understand the purpose of evaluation and the criteria for evaluation. Teachers' views and concerns should be sought during the development of evaluation instruments. Finally, a training programme for evaluators should be developed so as to equip them with evaluation skills necessary to conduct effective evaluations. The programme has to involve teachers, heads of departments, deputy or vice principals, subject advisors and inspectors of education so that all concerned are aware of what is expected of them. / University of Zululand

To meet the continued demand for educational reform, the state of Florida enacted legislation in 1998 that required school boards to base a portion of the salary for school administrators and instructional personnel on performance. Although ahead of the required statutory timeline, the School District of Lee County implemented a teacher performance pay plan during the 1998–1999 school year as a result of Florida's legislative direction. The problem of this study was to determine the perceptions of Southwest Florida school-based certified staff regarding the implementation of teacher performance pay in a school district where performance pay had been in operation for the five years prior to this study. The population of this study consisted of the certified school-based personnel employed by the School District of Lee County, Florida. A random sample of 1,000 members was selected from the instructional population. Additionally, this study included the entire population of 176 school-based administrators for an overall sample of 1,176 members. Participants were asked to complete the survey instrument, Teacher Performance Pay Attitudinal Survey designed by the researcher. This instrument was developed to fit the unique requirements and specific nature of this study. Although intended to motivate teachers, the teacher performance pay plan examined in this study was perceived by instructional staff and administrators as not motivating. Findings of this study also show that most teachers and other instructional respondents disagree that teacher performance pay provides an incentive to work harder toward improving student achievement. Additionally, a majority of the instructional respondents did not agree that performance pay encouraged them to participate in staff development or motivated them to change their instructional practice. Finally, most respondents, both instructional and administrative, did not agree that the current performance pay system was fair. These findings suggest that the performance pay program of the current study may have fallen short of its intended goal. This study also found many differences in perceptions of teacher performance pay among the demographic variables. These differences were particularly significant in several survey areas to include the respondent's years of experience, union status, and position. Findings in this study suggest that performance plan design should clearly connect the compensation reward to performance so that educators understand the performance level required. The findings of this study also suggest that improving the alignment between the performance pay plan and school goals should be a consideration in any future plan revision.

Teacher assessment is a hot topic in today’s high-stakes, test-driven, accountability-focused educational environment. My recent research addresses how high school art educators, under the umbrella of non-tested subjects and grades, are assessed in their classroom teaching practices in Virginia. Based on my findings, it is clear that while the teachers surveyed do not fear accountability, they are wary of being evaluated by those who lack the content knowledge in the arts, by methods that are subjective, and with criteria that is inflexible. This thesis addresses the need to develop open forums that include the educator’s voice in order to create better teacher assessments that focus on student learning achievement in authentic and holistic ways. By learning about and sharing resources regarding how teachers in non-tested subjects and grades are evaluated suggestions are made to organize resources that may help develop more authentic assessments for art teachers focusing on meaningful student learning and achievement.

The purposes of this study were to identify the procedures and criteria used for conducting teacher performance evaluation in Texas public schools, to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation procedures and instruments reflect the stated evaluation policies of Texas public schools, and to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation instruments used in Texas public schools reflect presage criteria (teacher characteristics) as opposed to process criteria (teacher behavior) as opposed to product criteria (student change or gain) as opposed to general job performance requirements (job expectations). The main findings include the following. (1) Teacher performance evaluation is required in all Texas public school districts and is often performed several times a year by more than one observer. The building principal is the key person involved in this process. (2) Although all school districts stated the supervisory function of the improvement of instruction as the major purpose of their teacher performance evaluation policy, a large number of school districts utilize teacher performance evaluation for the administration functions of serving as a basis for retention or dismissal. (3) If in reality teacher performance evaluation were construed as the improvement of instruction or teaching performance, it should be predictable that process criteria (teacher behavior) would account for the majority of items in the evaluation instruments. However, these items accounted for only about one-fourth of the total number. At the same time, items relating to general job requirements accounted for over 50 percent of the items. This exhibits a maintenance rather than teaching thrust. (4) The data gathered on current teacher performance evaluation instruments appear to be highly pertinent to maintaining the school as an organization and appear to be helpful in making personnel decisions. (5) Teacher performance evaluation instruments in Texas public schools are much more heavily weighted toward assessing teachers in their multiple roles rather than the many aspects of teaching.

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The nature and quality of the built learning environment affect occupants' comfort, wellbeing and performance. Within the broad range of studies of the physical indoor environment reported in the literature, there are several which have focused on the effects of these environmental conditions on the comfort and physical health of students and teachers, while the main consideration in others is the organizational health of the school. The parameters, which are measured often concern the state and condition of the physical environment. Categories of building features, which appear to influence comfort, health and wellbeing, include thermal sensation, acoustics, lighting, air quality, classroom equipment, learning resources and other aspects of the teachers' workspace. Those components of the physical of indoor environment, which are considered to most strongly affect occupants' comfort, wellbeing and performance, are subject to sets of standards. The aim of this study is to elucidate the association between the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of educational buildings and teachers' performance. Following a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of IEQ on teachers' comfort, wellbeing and performance, a case study was conducted in which physical measurements were made of a range of indoor environmental variables in the classrooms of a technical college in Saudi Arabia, during lessons. At the same time, the teachers of those classes were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to investigate the quality of the indoor environment and explore teacher performance. An artificial neural network was then used to create an assessment model in order to test the hypothesis that the quality of the indoor physical environment in educational buildings is related to teacher performance and to predict future data. This research makes both academic and practical contributions to the study of the relationship between IEQ and teachers' performance. The findings of this research will be used as a primary knowledge resource for future researches and to identify initial IEQ parameters and tools for further in-depth studies. In practical terms, it offers standards to help designers to consider the importance of IEQ and its impact on building users.

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration, University of Zululand, 2002. / This research examined the role of performance based teacher appraisal and development in the educator's professional growth and improvement of education. The study made use of questionnaires to establish the perceptions of educators towards performance based teacher appraisal and development. The findings established that post level one educators and school management teams which were sampled have different views and perceptions on performance based teacher appraisal. Most post level one educators perceive the developmental appraisal system (DAS) as evaluative. They believe it exposes their weaknesses and does not lead to their development and promotion. They believe that developmental appraisal does not have a positive impact on their teaching. They also feel that developmental appraisal system (DAS) is not a factor in the improvement of education because it is only targeting them as educators. As yet, they do not see DAS as contributing to their growth. School management teams on the other hand perceive that performance based teacher appraisal plays a vital role in the educator's professional growth, the improvement of education and the development of schools as efficient and effective learning organisations. The school management teams believe that developmental appraisal is desirable if schools are to provide learners with quality education which will ensure that schools achieve excellence. On the basis of views and opinions of respondents, the study concluded that performance based teacher appraisal and development is desirable for education and growth of schools as effective and efficient teaching and learning institutions. However, there is need to assist educators to realise that DAS is important for their growth. More important, the process of the implementation of DAS, it is concluded, needs to promote educator development.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine the separate effects of increased accuracy on multiple-choice/rank-order written tests and coaching on the teaching performance of participants; (b) to compare generalization across tasks produced by the workshop and coaching; and (c) to assess maintenance of teaching performance. Following baseline, two adults received a lecture on discrete trial teaching procedures. A written test measured verbal performance on workshop material periodically throughout this phase. During the next phase, each adult then experienced further training via in-situ coaching. A multiple baseline design across tasks was used during the coaching phase. Results of the workshop training package revealed an inverse relationship between the strongest verbal performance and strongest teaching performance skill areas. In addition, only with the introduction of the in-situ coaching package did teacher performance improve significantly across all behaviors. Child responding remained relatively constant throughout the study, regardless of teacher performance. Some generalization of teacher behavior was observed across tasks, but was extremely variable across both workshop and coaching conditions. After the cessation of coaching, teacher performance remained stable across maintenance phases and at a 6-week follow-up.

Research has shown that teacher workload is intensifying and teachers are increasingly leaving the profession prior to having taught for 35 years. The purpose of this mixed method, sequential, phenomenological study was to determine (a) how workload intensification impacts teacher performance and well-being, (b) whether or not workload intensification was a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early, and (c) a formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being. Apple’s workload intensification thesis was the theoretical framework for this study. Quantitative data obtained via a survey (N=484), together with qualitative data collected via four focus group sessions and individual interviews with 15 teachers who had left the profession early, were utilized to determine if there is a problem with workload intensification in this east coast Canadian province. Quantitative data were analyzed using the chi-square test to determine the relationship between the independent variable (workload intensification) and each of the two dependent variables (performance and well-being). Qualitative data were analyzed to determine emergent themes with respect to workload intensification. Findings from this study indicated that there is a significant relationship between the independent variable and each of the two dependent variables. Qualitative data substantiated the quantitative findings that indicated (a) the presence of a problem with workload intensification and (b) that workload intensification is a primary factor in teachers’ choosing to leave the profession early. Recommendations include having administrators address identified current teacher workload issues. Positive social change may result if administrators utilize the derived formula for maximizing teacher performance and well-being when assigning teaching and nonteaching duties to teachers.