Use of teacher evaluation for improving instruction
Creators: name: Mathews, Christian
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2017

description: In the state of New Jersey and nationally, teacher evaluation is a current focus of education reform efforts (Hallinger et al., 2014; Schulman, 2014). A well-executed teacher evaluation system produces data regarding educator effectiveness. It is the intention of the 2012 AchieveNJ teacher evaluation reform law that teacher evaluation data be used to make human capital management decisions, including those associated with the instructional improvement of teachers (NJ DOE, 2014). These teacher evaluation systems (TES) are intended to increase student achievement by improving the quality of teacher practice (Schulman, 2014). Although this fact is established in the literature, it is seen that educators report individual, small group, and school-level instructional improvement programs that are disconnected from their practice and TES data usage (Danielson, 2011; Garret et. al, 2001; Hallinger et. al., 2014; Schulman, 2014; Wilson &amp; Berne, 1999).   Using a mixed methods design this investigation seeks to examine how teacher evaluation data in a school reform grant (School System Improvement Project (SSIP); PIs Reddy, Kettler &amp; Kurz) funded by the US Department of Education -  Teacher Incentive Fund Program awarded to Rutgers University) is utilized for instructional improvement. School partners in the project include 14 high needs charter schools across the state of New Jersey. The sample included 155 teacher survey respondents, 16 semi-structured teacher interviews, and 11 semi-structured administrator interviews. The Rutgers School Systems Improvement Project (SSIP) is a focused on enhancing Human Capital Management Systems and Teacher Evaluation Systems to improve principal and teacher effectiveness to maximize student growth and achievement.   There were two aims of this mixed methods study. The first aim was to examine school administrators’ use (nonuse) of teacher evaluation data to inform instructional improvement in educators. The second aim of the study was to examine teachers’ experiences with school administrators’ use of teacher evaluation data to support instructional improvement. These aims were addressed via qualitative semi-structured interviews of school administrators, semi-structured focus group interviews of teachers, and quantitative analysis of survey data exploring teacher attitudes, beliefs, and experiences regarding teacher evaluation..  In addressing the aims of the study, four assertions emerged as supported by both the qualitative and quantitative data results:  • Administrators and teachers report data is used to inform collaborative and specific feedback most frequently.  • Teachers and administrators report TES data is most used individual instructional improvement, specifically informing Professional Development Plans and future development goals.  • Teachers and administrators report Teacher Evaluation Systems data is sometimes used to inform group and whole school level improvement, but barriers interfere with its use.  • The barriers of time, knowledge, and training of both administrators and teachers are interfering with data use for instructional improvement.  The results of this investigation inform the Rutgers School Systems Improvement Project in current and future support of partner schools in the implementation of teacher evaluation and instructional improvement programs. Recommendations to address these assertions within the problem of practice include improving administrator training, improving administrator onboarding programs, enhanced support surrounding data based decision making, and future study to confirm findings and establish clear generalizability to the broader field.