Principals\u27 Perceptions of Teacher Ineffectiveness in Elementary Classrooms and How They Relate to Specific Content Areas

The current dissertation was effected to contribute to the existing literature on teacher evaluation. More specifically, the study utilized principals\u27 perceptions to identify what principals, who often evaluate teachers, believe are the most frequent causes of teacher ineffectiveness. For this dissertation, the researcher extended a study by Torff and Sessions (2005). In that study, the authors measured principals\u27 perceptions of the causes of teacher ineffectiveness within high school classrooms. This study extended Torff and Sessions\u27 (2005) research by including elementary school principal perceptions, investigating whether differences exist in elementary school principals\u27 perceptions when asked to rate teacher ineffectiveness across specific academic content areas. Utilizing an ordinal probit model the researcher determined that the only variable that significantly predicted principal perception was Dimension (rating criterion). In addition, the results revealed that, when the researcher controlled for principals\u27 propensity to use the scale in different ways, Implementation Lesson Plans and Writing Lesson Plans were the most frequently rated causes of teacher ineffectiveness across all Domains