Peer review of teachers is controversial for several reasons. Some say peer reviewers encroach on the rightful domain of the principal as instructional leader. Others argue that, because peer evaluators are fellow teachers, they may be biased or unwilling to make hard decisions. Many teachers find the prospect of peer evaluation unsettling because…

Like high-stakes student assessment, high-stakes teacher evaluation threatens to be an occasional event that is disconnected from day-to-day teaching and learning, producing results that do not help teachers improve their performance and placing teachers in a passive role as recipients of external judgment. For several years, the authors have…

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…

According to Sergiovanni and Starratt (2007), the evaluation process plays a powerful role in developing and nurturing a teacher's instructional capacity, which, in turn, contributes to students' academic successes. School districts in South Carolina utilize the Assisting, Developing and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT) system. A component…

Focuses upon general improvement of classroom instruction, advocating a more personal and analytical supervisory approach. Advocates a change from the present supervisory practices of fear and distrust, in which power stifles creativity and innovative thought, to that of consultation and collaboration based on social management principles of…

Suggestions for conducting post-observation conferences are provided, indicating that supervisors should minimize threats and be sensitive to teachers' professional pride, attitudes, and feelings. Suggestions related to four parts of the conference process--planning, coaching and counseling, goal identification, and closure--are identified. (JN)

Teacher supervision is suffering from a legacy of being affiliated with an outmoded integration of science and technology. Dialectical supervision, which emphasizes empowering teachers with ways of knowing that involve continually confronting themselves and searching for more responsive and less dominant educative practices, is proposed as an…

The literature presents a variety of approaches for a principal to take when evaluating how well teachers are passing on to students the learning constructs indicated in the program via the teaching process. Chester McNerney suggests evaluation of teacher knowledge, personal attributes, and social skills and interactions. J. Minor Gwynn advises…

The Teacher Questioning Measure (TQM) was developed to give the student teaching supervisor an objective means of evaluating the questions asked by the student teachers. This instrument was designed to measure six areas of cognitive skills: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Questions are measured on a…

Three kinds of techniques are used by student teacher supervisors in physical education: (1) eyeballing; (2) anecdotal recording; and (3) rating scales. "Eyeballing" is simply the oral transmission to the student teacher of the supervisor's perceptions. Anecdotal recording is a method in which the supervisor writes down his impressions.…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were significant differences in the mean attitudinal scores of 285 teachers who met proficiency or did not meet proficiency as they entered their postevaluative conference with principals. Proficiency was assessed by principals completing classroom visitations utilizing the Mississippi…

Reports the findings of a study that assessed teachers' perceptions of (1) how and when they were supervised or evaluated, (2) what effect teacher unions had on these processes, (3) how they learned how well they were doing in the classroom, and (4) what direct or indirect effects supervision or evaluation had on their teaching activities. (HOD)

This handbook advocates a new approach to teacher evaluation as a cooperative effort undertaken by a group of professionals. Part 1 describes the need for changed teacher evaluation, and part 2 outlines ways to use multiple data sources, including student and parent reports, peer review of materials, student achievement results, teacher tests,…

This article examines the conflict over the definition of clinical supervision from the neo-traditional and neo-progressive perspectives. It shows how this conflict affects teachers' assessment and assistance, and suggests possible areas of compromise and future directions the conflict may take. (TE)