The aim of teaching observations and post observation feedback in higher education is to support teachers to reflect on and improve their teaching. Yet, our understanding of tutors' (observers') and teachers' (observees') capacities for capitalising on these feedback opportunities is limited and there is little empirically derived advice for…

An evaluation system that is designed to support and improve teacher practice--rather than simply to assess and manage teacher performance--would have as its foundation effective and reliable processes to observe classroom practice and give teachers useful feedback. Such an improvement-focused evaluation system should be aligned with and…

Technology is changing the landscape of higher education. As the editors of this special issue have noted, technology has been particularly useful when trying to solve problems. At Texas Christian University (TCU), we employed technology to create a tool that would help standardize the evaluation of teaching while still offering enough flexibility…

School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

Classroom observation is a crucial aspect of any system of teacher evaluation. No matter how skilled a teacher is in other aspects of teaching--such as careful planning, working well with colleagues, and communicating with parents--if classroom practice is deficient, that individual cannot be considered a good teacher. Classroom observations can…

This "Rating a Teacher Observation Tool" identifies five simple questions and provides an easy-to-use scorecard to help policymakers decide whether an observation framework is likely to produce fair and accurate results. The five questions are: (1) Do the criteria and tools cover the classroom performance areas most connected to student outcomes?…

Observation measures of instructional quality tend to fall into two broad categories--those for use across subject areas and those intended for use in specific subject areas. The move toward content-specific measures is a result of research suggesting that effective teaching looks different across subject areas and that both content knowledge and…

Suggests a method of evaluating teachers that includes a daily lesson plan form to be completed by the teachers being evaluated. The form lists the general and specific objectives of the class period, the concepts involved, teaching methods and teaching materials, and the methods for testing the students. (Author/RW)

This paper assesses teacher evaluation policies and practices operant in First Class School Districts in the state of Washington. The data, submitted from mailed questionnaires, deal with a district's assessment policy and specifically include concerns relating to evaluative personnel, procedures, and an evaluative instrument or model.…

This publication consists of (1) the Director's handbook for conducting the simulation of planning the evaluation of educators in a hypothetical Dover City School District setting, (2) role descriptions, (3) description and rules, (4) guidelines for planning, (5) reference materials, and (6) evaluation systems. The goal of this simulation is for…

A supervisory program for teachers at the Riverside School, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is based upon two objectives: (1) to make teachers more aware of their classroom behavior, and (2) to insure students of adequate instruction. The four phases of the program are: (1) a teacher-initiated request for observation; (2) classroom observation by the…

The purpose of the Delaware Performance Appraisal System is to assess instructional performance of teachers so that the quality of instruction can be improved, professional development activities can be prescribed, and a foundation for administrative decisions can be developed. The procedures outlined in this publication are the minimum standards…

Following the acceptance and implementation of the new National Standards for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education prepared this model for evaluating teacher education graduates as an aid to education institutions. The paper briefly reviews research on teachers and evaluation and places the…

School administrators served as subjects to determine the effectiveness of teacher evaluation procedures. Examination of teacher's lesson plan had no effect on teacher assessment. However, prior assessment of lesson plan via an evaluation instrument improved effectiveness of evaluation of teacher's task sequencing skills, subject knowledge, and…

Describes the Staff Performance Improvement and Appraisal Program at Newport-Mesa, California (Author)