A STUDY OF SELECTED EFFECTS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CONNECTICUT\u27S TEACHER EVALUATION LAW

The major purpose of the study was to determine selected effects of the implementation of Connecticut\u27s Teacher Evaluation Law upon principals and teachers in Connecticut elementary schools and upon state legislators\u27, Board of Education members\u27, and daily newspaper editors\u27 beliefs concerning education. The theoretical rationale for the study and for the development of Guidelines to implement the law was based upon models of evaluation which are essentially based upon the writing of performance objectives by the evaluatee in conjunction with the evaluator. Within the framework of the models, evaluation occurs based upon pre-determined criteria. Fifty-six principals, 116 teachers, 66 Board of Education members, 7 editors, and 11 legislators were selected using stratified random sampling procedures to serve as subjects in the study. Eighty-nine percent of the principals and teachers and 77% of the Board of Education members, legislators, and editors selected as subjects participated in the study. Data for the study were collected by the Teacher Evaluation Inventory, a questionnaire devised by the researcher for use in the study. The following were the major findings of the study: (1) Connecticut elementary teachers and principals had positive attitudes concerning the process of teacher evaluation followed in Connecticut public elementary schools. (2) Connecticut elementary principals had a positive attitude toward student achievement and teacher evaluation. Connecticut elementary teachers and Connecticut Board of Education members, state legislators, and daily newspaper editors held a negative attitude toward teacher evaluation and student achievement. (3) Connecticut elementary teachers and principals had positive mean scores concerning the presence of specific teaching processes. They believed that teachers were taking a personal interest in the progress of their pupils and accommodating for individual differences. (4) No significant relationships were found among Connecticut elementary teachers\u27 attitudes and principals\u27 attitudes toward the evaluation process and the variables of length of experience in education or age. (5) A significant, positive relationship was found among the supervisory relationship of the principals as perceived by teachers and the teacher\u27s attitude toward their support of the evaluation program