Performance Appraisals for Special Education Teachers: Examining the Need for Separation and Alignment

This study explored the current practices used to evaluate special education teachers in the Midwest in order to examine the need for separation and alignment as it relates to performance appraisals. There is limited research available regarding special education teacher evaluation. The research that has been accomplished shows that the roles and responsibilities between special education and general education teachers are different and therefore there exists a need to have different evaluation criteria. In order to accomplish the exploration of the current practices used to evaluate special education teachers, the researcher examined the current evaluation process, evaluation tools, and job descriptions used for the positions of special education teachers and general education teachers in the Midwest. The themes from the job descriptions of the general education and special education teachers were examined to explore the current expectations that are communicated based on the job title for general education and special education teachers. The current tools used to evaluate special education teachers were examined to describe the measured behaviors. The alignment between the job descriptions and the evaluation tools were described to determine the alignment that currently exist between the expectations and the evaluation criteria. The findings indicate that typically the same job description, evaluation tool, and evaluation process is used for both special education and general education teachers although the day to day responsibilities differ