The importance of teacher effectiveness is well supported by studies that document variation in teachers' abilities to contribute to student achievement gains. All else being equal, students taught by some teachers experience greater achievement gains than do students taught by other teachers. In response to initiatives to increase educator…

Researchers, educators, and policymakers are focusing more on student engagement as the key to addressing low achievement, student boredom and alienation, and high dropout rates (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris 2004). As schools and districts seek to increase engagement, it is important for them to understand how it has been defined and to assess…

The purposes of this study were, first, to gather descriptive information regarding the measurement and evaluation skills actually utilized by junior high school teachers and, second, to identify differences among elementary, junior, and senior high school teachers. A questionnaire of 41 statements assessed on a five-point scale the usefulness to…