Reinventing teacher evaluation : a study of the impact on beginning teachers

A qualitative study was undertaken to examine the perceptions of beginning teachers who were evaluated through an innovative teacher evaluation process. The evaluation was the Collaborative Assessment Procedure (CAP) implemented in a large midwestern urban school district. Beginning teachers were assigned a teacher consultant who observed the teacher and shared the observations in conferences. The research attempted to determine if a link existed between the new teacher performance evaluation process and the beginning teachers' sense of efficacy with respect to students and other teachers. Twenty-one teachers who had participated in this process were interviewed. Thirteen experienced affirmation in the process and thought that the CAP process nurtured their professional development. Other participants experienced the CAP process as surveillance, and were much less positive about its effects. Twenty of these teachers were convinced that they could affect the lives of their students significantly. Fifteen spoke of a strong link between their CAP experiences and their growing sense of personal efficacy. Two gave CAP only slight credit for their increaccd sense of efficacy, and only one did not report an enhanced sense of efficacy at the end of the CAP year. The process was acknowledged to recognize the varying levels of professional development of these beginning teachers. While the construct of teachers' sense of efficacy remains difficult to assess, the CAP approach appears to enhance it for beginning teachers. (Contains 14 references.) (SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY s3L,Lekci kkenel.ess-ey TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Reinventing Teacher Evaluation: A Study of the Impact on Beginning Teachers Problem U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL I L RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. The importance of evaluating competence in any profession is undisputed. Yet, until recently, decades of poor teacher evaluation practice went virtually unchallenged. Although many reform proposals assume that teacher evaluation practices can fairly and consistently differentiate among teachers, Wise and Darling-Hammond's (1985) extensive study indicated that neither assumption is necessarily valid. As a result of the widespread dissatisfaction with existing teacher appraisal processes, new evaluation approaches are being developed in tandem with other school improvements efforts. Because evaluation systems are embedded in the school bureaucracy, significant organizational change relative to the format and structure of teacher evaluation is needed. With the call for school reform, the purposes of teacher evaluation are changing, along with resultant changes in the processes of evaluation. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of beginning teachers who were evaluated through an innovative teacher evaluation process. The innovative teacher performance evaluation examined in this study was the Collaborative Assessment Procedure (CAP)* implemented in the Jones City Schools, a large midwestern urban school district. Beginning teachers (first year teachers and those newly hired by the district are technically called interns) were assigned a teacher consultant who spent numerous hours in direct classroom observations and conferences with the beginning teacher throughout their initial year in the Jones City Schools. The frequency and duration of these classroom *The school district, its teacher evaluation program, and all participants are pseudonyms. 1 2 BEST COPY AVAI ,. 3 . E 2 observations varied depending on the CAP consultant's caseload and how the CAP consultant perceived the needs of the beginning teacher. Most beginning teachers were observed 15-20 times over the course of the academic year. Each observation included suggestions to the beginning teacher documented through the consultant's written notes. Additionally, the consultant prepared a minimum of one interim report and a culminating final report on the performance of the beginning teacher. This "reinvented" beginning teacher performance evaluation process attempted to integrate evaluation procedures with on-going professional staff development through concurrent graduate classes developed specifically for those involved in the CAP process. This research attempted to determine if a link existed between the new teacher performance evaluation process and the beginning teachers' sense of efficacy with respect to students and other teachers. The following research questions began the process of framing this study a study of beginning teachers' perceptions of their performance evaluations amidst complex sociocultural contexts: 1. What were the evaluation experiences of beginning teachers in this midwestern urban school district? 2. During the CAP experience, what immediate impact did the evaluation process have on their professional lives as perceived by these teachers? 3. After the CAP experience, what residual impact did the evaluation process have on their professional lives as perceived by these teachers? 4. What evidence, if any, exists that the innovative teacher performance evaluation process (CAP) has assisted teachers in developing a sense of efficacy with respect to students and other teachers?