While countries differ in their approach to and context of teacher evaluation, many have one thing in common--they hope it serves its formative and summative purposes. In this article, the author asks policymakers, educators and researchers to reconsider how these dual purposes are accomplished. Current approaches and research both in and outside…

The paper examines the process of establishing a teacher evaluation system in Chile and its acceptance by teachers over time. The conceptual base upon which the system was established is described. Evidence is also examined from a variety of data sources and research related to the evaluation system as well as teachers' use of its results. This…

In the current study differences between primary school teachers classified as high-performing in their implementation of cooperative learning (CL) in their classrooms and teachers who were less successful in implementing cooperative learning were investigated. The levels of implementation of cooperative learning differed significantly between…

The alignment of professional development and teacher evaluation has been a growing concern in teacher professional development practices. The issue of how teacher evaluation can help authentic professional development is important in that teachers only learn what is real, useful and valuable to them. Based on our reflections on current…

This study examines teaching evaluation based on student feedback which is intended to contribute to teachers' professional development. Although studies have highlighted that teaching evaluation is a potential source of professional development and that follow-up sessions are crucial to this benefit, little attention has been paid to the…

This special issue is a timely initiative in developing more knowledge and deeper understanding of assessment of, as, and for teaching. The alert reader might have noticed that the title of this author's contribution is not "Formative Assessment of Teachers", but "Formative Assessment of Teacher Learning". In her opinion…

Since the turn of the century, teacher evaluation has been introduced around the world with the intent to improve teaching. However, in the literature on teacher evaluation, often findings reveal critical accounts about the effectiveness of feedback in teacher evaluation for teacher and school improvement. This article presents a qualitative study…

Teachers' innovative behaviour influences not only their teaching practices and professional habits, but also has an impact on students' creation of novel and original ideas. In spite of the increasing demand for innovative behaviour, and also relatively high academic achievements of Estonian students in international comparison, teachers in…

This article focuses on the impact of a specific formative assessment procedure, negotiated assessment, on teacher professional learning. Negotiations between the assessor and the teacher as assessee seem to be especially promising for this teacher learning. However, there is no empirical evidence yet that has confirmed this. We explored teachers'…

This study makes a contribution to the development of empirically based, domain-specific teaching standards that are acknowledged by the professional community of teachers and which, therefore, have a good chance of being successfully implemented and used for professional development purposes. It was prompted by the resistance on the part of many…

This case study looked at how an assessment strategy designed for an online learning environment can support teachers' professional development. More specifically, we intended to evaluate how a particular online assessment design can help the participating in-service teachers to recognize the added value of formative assessment, and promote their…