Despite teachers being centrally implicated in teacher evaluation policy reform, we know little about the effects of its policies and procedures on teachers’ work in their school district, and we see limited discussion about the possibility of teachers as policy actors to reflect upon and possibly improve or overcome teacher evaluation. Using data from a teacher inquiry group, informal observations, follow-up interviews, and a document analysis of official documents, the researcher examined the underlying discourses in the official documents of teacher evaluation policy and responses that surfaced when teachers study teacher evaluation policies and practices in their New Jersey school district. The researcher found that federal mandates operated under the premise that improving teacher quality closes the achievement gap, but, in reality, they acted as a punitive measure to target teachers. Additionally, the researcher found the official documents inaccessible to teachers, unresponsive to public comment, and containing standards that are not locally defined. Teachers in the study perceived the enacted teacher evaluation system in this school district to be without much positive impact on professional development. Teachers in the study critiqued the federal teacher evaluation policy mandates for their treatment of teachers and students. They also critiqued the teacher evaluation policies and practices in their school district, recalling episodes of formal observation that inspired negative feelings, administrator bias, and unhelpful feedback. In the end, teachers in the study support each other, remain optimistic and dream up alternatives to make it all work better. This dissertation concludes with implications for teacher advocacy efforts, professional development, and future research.

The National Department of Education of the Republic of South Africa introduced integrated quality management system (IQMS) in order to improve quality of reaming and teaching. This research focused on the effects of performance measurement in IQMS on educators' performance, its contribution to developmental purpose and pay progression and its effects on the improvement of education. Stratified random sampling was used to select a sample from educators and school management team (SMT) from Mafikeng Area Project Office, North West Province. Data were collected by means of questionnaire. The study identified that both educators and SMT members were of the opinion that performance measures used in IQMS positively influenced the performance of educators, it is effective for developmental purpose and pay progression and finally it contributed to the improvement of education in schools. / (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2006

Teacher educators generally agree that prior experiences with teachers and teaching are highly influential to understandings of teaching. Adopting a sociological model inherited by contemporary teacher education, they have frequently found this influence to be a hindrance to teacher learning; years spent observing schoolteachers’ teaching are thought to result in limited, simplistic, and personal views of teaching, views that are highly resistant to change despite teacher educators’ efforts to engage them. Thus, prospective teachers’ views of teaching have been framed as deficits in teacher learning, and, while these deficit views are not universally held among teacher educators, they appear more common than views of prospective teachers’ understandings of teaching as assets in learning to teach. Through this study, I used the framework of conceptions of teaching to investigate the influence of prior experiences with teachers and teaching, and the assets and/or deficits prospective teachers might carry into teacher preparation. Employing a phenomenographic design, including interviews and participant created artifacts, I analyzed the descriptions of teachers and teaching of five high school students who were considering teaching as a career. Drawing on notions of consummatory experience related to learning to teach, I investigated individual descriptions of experiences with teaching––including links between these students’ prior experiences with teaching and teaching they were observing and/or doing––as well as variations of experiences across the cohort of participants. My study revealed complex views of teaching amongst participants, characterized by an array of commitments and uncertainties. For the cohort, teaching was, at its heart, a convergence of various actors and events; approaches, routines, and patterns of teaching; relations; priorities held by teachers and/or students; and/or dependencies brought on by community and/or contextual factors. The study helped to illustrate potentially powerful assets young people may carry to teacher preparation, including their experiences teaching others and an awareness and understanding of their own learning as teachers. This study proposes that teacher educators (re)conceptualize their work, at least in part, as the cultivation of these, and other, assets, and that the influences of prior experiences be examined during transitions between pre-collegiate, teacher preparation, and professional teaching experiences.

Mexico introduced in 2013 a historic reform amending the entry, performance assessment, promotion, incentive programs, and retention of teachers, with the aim of advancing teachers’ careers and eliminating discretional practices by the teachers union. This study analyzed Mexico’s teacher selection process following this reform and focused on the state of Puebla. It offers evidence on whether standards-based teacher evaluations, specifically the written teacher entry examinations, were a valid method for selecting competent teachers. The core component was a predictive validity study of the teacher selection method, assessing whether the teacher entry examination results predicted teacher performance evaluation results after 2 years. This was supplemented with semistructured interviews of 31 teachers and analysis of administrative documents, contextualizing the quantitative findings and offering evidence on the content of the teacher entry examination. From the current perspective on validity, this study provides evidence on the relationship between the teacher entry examination scores and external measures collected at a later point in teachers’ careers, used as criterion validity for interpretation of the soundness of the teacher entry examination. The evidence showed that the entry examination was able to predict teacher performance, with correlation coefficients ranging from .23 to .28 between the subject-matter test and the global performance evaluation score (the other two tests were not correlated or inadequately correlated). However, this finding must be explained carefully, since the convergent evidence between the subject-matter test and the exam instrument of evaluation are possibly due to the similarity in content and method of the two measures. In this regard, the lesson plan instrument offered better evidence of an adequate correlation (.22 to .29) with the teacher entry examination (the portfolio instrument of evaluation showed no significant correlation). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions showed that the teacher entry examination was one of the factors that best explained the variability in the global performance evaluation score, with 1% increase associated with a 3.8% increase in the global performance evaluation score (equivalent to 30 points). Grades were also found to be an explanatory factor, but half the size of the teacher entry examination effect. Previous teaching experience in public schools was associated with a negative effect of the same size as the entry examination effect, as well as staying in the same school during the first two years with an increase of 27 points. An adverse socioeconomic context was not necessarily unfavorable, as shown by the positive effect of the marginalization index on the performance evaluation, but teaching in lowly dense communities it was, with -42 to -92 points less. Finally, an innovative strategy estimated the teacher selection error rates, using as validity criteria success and failure measures of predicted teacher performance. The error and severe error rates may not be exact, but the best prediction models showed an underselection error rate of 7% for the global performance evaluation score, 8% for the lesson plan score, and 14% for the portfolio score, reflecting the probability of leaving out of the teaching career promising teachers. They also showed that the overselection error rate was 12% for the global performance evaluation score, 13% for the lesson plan score, and 14% for the portfolio score, describing the probability of selecting underperforming teachers, which was the worst of outcomes. In light of this evidence, the sample studied shows that results in Mexico’s teacher entry examination were associated with the subsequent performance evaluation. However, conceptually, a test can hardly predict teaching quality, since a test captures individuals’ knowledge, while teaching quality is a much richer concept, approximated by the concept of effective teaching and teacher effectiveness, and including observable and unobservable characteristics, and contributions to education outcomes other than learning outcomes. This means that the performance evaluation in Mexico was not necessarily a measure of effective teaching nor of effective teachers, but showed teachers’ pedagogical and subject-matter knowledge, abilities to build a lesson plan, and skills to assess and select student work from different achievement levels. The most obvious information missing was teachers’ practices, as captured through classroom observations. Despite the difficulty of a test to measure teaching quality, and the difficulties in implementing a nation-wide education reform, the study conducted produced rigorous, scientific, and objective evidence that demonstrates that Mexico’s teacher entry examination is a robust method to select teachers, providing useful information on teacher performance when making a hiring decision. The most important implication is that it may guarantee the selection of quality teachers, if some corrections are made, in order to avoid selecting underperforming teachers and leaving promising candidates out of the teaching career.

D.Ed. / This study originated from a need for an improved understanding of the legal academic as teacher. It is an ethnographic exploration of the culture of the legal academic as teacher. To this end, the aim was to create an image of the very essence of how legal academics create and live their lives as teachers. In exploring the culture of the legal academic as teacher, I drew on various theoretical concepts in literature. The four primary concepts framing this study theoretically are culture, identity, the teacher and the law domain. I conducted studies of three law teachers at a South African university through observation during class visitation, discussion about teaching in interview sessions and review of teaching related documents. In analysing the data a thematic pattern, constituting the findings emerged. From three categories namely students, self and discipline, and sub-categories, themes emerged. Based on the category of student with sub-category of care and support of students, the theme of supportive relationship with students emerged; the focus being on participants as law teachers’ attitudes and behaviour in as far as relationships with students are concerned. From the category of the self and sub-categories of seeking feedback and recognition, dedication and enjoyment materialised the theme of participants’ primary identity as teacher. From the category of discipline and the sub-categories of being a subject specialist, what participants teach and how they teach as well as the “universal” language of law the theme of social identity as teacher and the law teacher as subject specialist emerged. In line with the ethnographic design type of the study findings were organised according to two topics harmonious to cultural ethnographic writing namely the topic of social organisation of culture and the topic of ideational organisation of culture. Since the topic, social organisation of culture is concerned with social behaviour and the way that individuals organise themselves into interacting social systems, participants’ interaction with students and the way they mediate a sense of self within the social systems within which they function relates to the topic of social organisation. Findings suggest that participants share dimensions of their teaching role with academics in general and even teachers in general. These common dimensions mainly relate to the way that participants experience the self as teacher and the supportive relationships they forge with their students. One could therefore argue that features related to the sense of selfhood and relationship with students form part of a culture of academics at a macro level. Notwithstanding, both these components are integral to the teaching identities of the legal academics that participated in this study. From the perspective of participants’ sense of self, their identities as teachers have at its core a sense of choice. Not only do participants choose to be law teachers but also they demonstrate passion, take pride in teaching and constantly measure their success in order to ensure they live up to their own and their students’ expectations. In contrast to their individual selves, touched on above where identity is driven by self-interest in their relationship with students, participants were found to be sensitive and caring in their dealings with students.

M.Ed. / The purpose of this research was to investigate the challenges facing the Development Support Grouping (DSG) in the implementation of the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). Based on this, the researcher sought to present guidelines to improve the process of educator evaluation. The Integrated Quality Management System is a national policy aimed at increasing productivity among educators. IQMS comprises three programmes namely: Development Appraisal (DA), Performance Measurement (PM) and Whole school Evaluation (WSE). The three programmes ought to complement each other and run concurrently. The role of the Development Support Groups (DSG) is of cardinal importance in the implementation of IQMS. Because of the tremendous challenges inherent in IQMS and the fact that the DSG are responsible for baseline and summative evaluation, it is necessary to ascertain the challenges that the DSG are likely to encounter whilst exercising their roles and responsibilities during the implementation of IQMS. The research concentrated on schools in the Vryheid District of KwaZulu- Natal. The quantitative research methodology was employed to elicit the perception of educators with regard to the implementation of IQMS in schools as well as the challenges facing the DSGS. The findings of the research were clustered according to the four sections of the questionnaire. Some of these findings were: • A large majority of educators in Vryheid District seem not to understand the purpose of IQMS. • A higher percentage of respondents do not believe that the training they receive had prepared them for implementing IQMS. • Most respondents do not strongly agree that WSE evaluates the effectiveness of school in terms of national goals. • A smaller percentage of respondents agreed that WSE provides feedback as a means of achieving continuous improvement. • Most educators believe that lesson observation is necessary for educator development. • The contribution of the DSG towards educator development is of a limited extent. • Educators do not have sufficient time to serve on DSG.

Despite a growing consensus that teacher quality is central to student learning, teacher evaluation systems have long been focused on compliance, rather than implemented in service of improved instruction and/or accountability for performance. In recent years, in response to a growing sense that evaluation policy failed to meet the needs of teachers or the communities they serve, a variety of stakeholders successfully advocated for dramatic changes to teacher evaluation policies in states and districts across the United States. These reforms largely focused on greater standardization, the use of data to draw conclusions about teacher performance, and increased accountability for student learning. My study focuses on the beliefs of teachers at the nexus of change to teacher evaluation policy in their districts. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project and a sample of 696 teachers, this project explores teachers’ beliefs about evaluation and related practices, and examines the relationships between teacher beliefs and measures of teacher quality. Findings suggest that teacher beliefs vary based on teacher-, classroom- and school-level factors. Results about the links between teacher beliefs and measures of teacher quality are inconclusive, though the current analyses do reveal several interesting patterns that are promising for further exploration in future research.

Recent efforts to help teachers improve have centered on teacher evaluation. This qualitative dissertation explored how eight teachers from one middle school described and understood improving their practice Additionally, this study used purposeful developmental sampling to explore how, if at all, participants’ way of knowing (meaning their internal cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal capacities), as assessed by an expert developmental psychologist who employed the Subject-Object Interview (a reliable developmental assessment tool), might help with understanding how they teachers themselves describe and make sense of improving their practice. The participant’s way of knowing influenced their conceptions of improvement, as well as the supports and challenges they encountered. This study has implications for teachers themselves, as well as school districts and district leaders, as they work to improve teacher practice. This study is unique in that it focuses on the experiences and understandings of teachers, all of whom work within one middle school, as they strive to improve their practice. The research was set in a district with a unique teacher evaluation system through which teachers participate in setting evaluation goals and evaluations were not at all tied to standardized test scores. I recruited an expert developmental psychologist to conduct Subject-Object Interviews in order to develop a purposeful sample of eight participants with a developmental range from socializing to self-authoring way of knowing. Eight Subject-Object interviews and 24 in-depth, qualitative interviews (approximately 36 hours, transcribed verbatim) were the primary data source. Data analysis involved several iterative steps, including writing analytic notes and memos; reviewing, coding, categorizing data to identify key themes within and across cases; and crafting narrative summaries. For each of the connected dimensions of understanding improvement conceiving, recognizing, and supporting improvement participants’ way of knowing was intimately tied to how they described how they improved their practice. The key difference between the dominant socializing knowers and the dominant self-authoring knowers emerged that the socializing knowers were subject to external authorities and factors, while the dominant self-authoring knowers relied on their internal values and judgment. In describing their understanding of what it meant to improve, all of the participants described how they sought to improve their practice by deepening their PCK and improving rapport with students (8 of 8), with the dominant socializing knowers relying on external authorities and providing their descriptions from within their own experiences. The dominant self-authoring knowers had strong internal systems from which they evaluated external information to evaluate its relevance to their improvement. Participants also discussed their uncertainty recognizing improvement (8 of 8). For the fully socializing knowers, they were uncertain about their own improvement because of changeable external forces. Those participants who were dominant socializing knowers with full capacity for self-authoring ways of knowing, they expressed uncertainty in themselves, so the source was internal. The dominant self-authoring knowers had their own theories of the inherent uncertainties of measuring improving their practice, yet also described ways that they could gauge improvement. Almost all participants named both observing others (7 of 8) and time to meet with colleagues (7 of 8) as practices that supported improvement. The dominant socializing knowers valued time to observe others and to meet with colleagues as opportunities to take in ideas from external sources to help them improve their practice. In contrast, the dominant self-authoring knowers appreciated time to meet with and to observe colleagues so that they could problem-solve, evaluate ideas, and build community. In sharing their understanding of district initiatives and teacher evaluation plan, how participants described supports and obstacles for their improvement were qualitatively different based on their way of knowing. Some participants described district initiatives as helpful (3 of 8) for their improvement, but that all participants (8 of 8) said that the high volume and short life span of the initiatives created obstacles to their improvement. For the dominant socializing knowers, they described feeling judged and that they had to “keep up” with new initiatives. The dominant self-authoring knowers discussed initiatives as distractions from their self-determined improvement path. Importantly, the dominant socializing knowers in leadership roles expressed increased anxiety in having to represent new initiatives to colleagues. All participants (8 of 8) identified features of the teacher evaluation plan that were helpful for their improvement. For the dominant socializing knowers, they valued the external authority of guiding documents, whereas the dominant self-authoring knowers valued the time to discuss and evaluate their work with their evaluator. Most participants (7 of 8) also described ways in which the teacher evaluation plan created obstacles in their efforts to improve. For the dominant socializing knowers, they were concerned about feeling inadequate in their improvement, while most of the dominant self-authoring knowers expressed that the evaluation plan took away time and focus from how they thought they could best improve their practice. According to my research, teachers benefit from time to meet with and to observe their colleagues as well as transparency as to how to reconcile past and present initiatives. Additionally, to support teachers who are dominantly socializing in their way of knowing, my research shows that they profit from clearly delineated written guidance and affirmative discussion with evaluators.

The problem of this study was an investigation of teacher and administrator perceptions of teacher evaluation and the relationship of those perceptions to teacher evaluation policies and practices in public high schools in the State of Texas.

Investigating the impact of schools and teachers on student achievement has become an international trend, and Educational Effectiveness Research (EER) has generally found these effects to be modest in size. The field has undergone significant methodological advances and developed new methods for estimating educational effects, favouring the study of students' growth trajectories using a multilevel longitudinal approach. This method is able to demonstrate more sizeable school and teacher effects. However, most educational longitudinal research comes from post-industrialised countries. Thus, it is still unclear whether the claims produced by this body of knowledge are pertinent to emerging economies. The present study investigates educational effects of both schools and teachers on primary students' achievement trajectories in Chile: a context of particular interest, given its socially stratified and segregated schooling system and its unregulated and diverse teacher labour force. Several properties of school and teacher effects, such as magnitude, consistency, predictors, cumulativeness and differential effects across student groups within schools are investigated using a series of multilevel growth models. By means of linking several sources of secondary data, of which some have not been used for research purposes before, rich longitudinal data on student achievement in language (Spanish) and mathematics were obtained. The resulting sample features an accelerated longitudinal design comprising of participants in 4 overlapping cohorts, together spanning Grades 3 to 8 (N = 19,704 students, and 851 language and 812 mathematics teachers, in 156 schools) and incorporates a wide range of schools, teachers and students. The quality of the data allows for the modelling of school and teacher effects on student achievement growth over time, which represents a clear improvement when compared to previous measures of educational effectiveness developed in the Chilean and Latin-American context, which cover two time points at most. Furthermore, the study is the first in the region that annually matches students with their teachers, and models the relationships between students and their successive classroom settings. This study's main findings on student achievement trajectories indicate non-linear upward growth on student achievement for both language and mathematics in primary school. In addition, individual students differ substantially in both their achievement status and their rate of development over time. In language, a gender gap favouring girls that remains stable across primary school was found. In mathematics, in turn, the gender gap reverses in favour of boys and increases from 3rd to 8th grade. An achievement gap between high- and low-socioeconomic status (SES) students is also present from 3rd grade, and remains fairly constant over the course of the primary school years. School effects on students' growth trajectories were found to be sizeable (in fact, larger than those found in previous studies using similar model specifications and outcomes in the other national contexts) and moderately consistent across the two subjects. Evidence of compositional effects was found, as school achievement mean predicted achievement status on both subjects. Also, in language, the school's SES composition was found to have effects on achievement outcomes over and above the individual student's SES, supporting the double jeopardy hypothesis. The results also show that school sector (i.e., public vs. private school) differences on student achievement are largely due to differences in student intake and not to differences in school effectiveness. In both subjects, schools were found to be differentially effective across students from different socioeconomic status. In language, schools also showed differential effects associated with student gender. In addition, it was found that teacher effects in the primary school level are large, exceeding school effects, and not highly consistent across subjects. Finally, the contribution of teachers to student achievement growth was found to accumulate over time. The findings from this study add to the evidence that longitudinal studies examining student growth are more likely to demonstrate educational effects of larger magnitude than studies using covariate-adjustment and gain scores models over just two time points. This confirms that both school and teacher effects are important in shaping achievement growth. The findings also demonstrate that school and teacher contributions have stronger effects on student achievement growth than on achievement status. This study addresses three important gaps in the literature. Firstly, it explores educational effects in the context of an emerging economy, using appropriate EER models in terms of measures and specifications. Secondly, it contributes further evidence on the properties of school and teacher effects on student achievement growth. Thirdly, it advances the field methodologically by demonstrating the combined use of accelerated longitudinal designs, growth curve approaches, and cross-classified and multiple membership models.