Legal aspects of teacher evaluation

A direct and visible result of the public's concern for the quality of education has been state legislated mandates for teacher evaluation. This research is a descriptive and historical study of this teacher performance evaluation movement. The study was not designed to advocate or denounce the movement but instead to provide school administrators with appropriate information regarding the educational and legal aspects of teacher evaluation in order that they can make better judgments in regard to teacher employment decisions and practices. Questions are set forth in the introductory chapter of this study to guide the research. Data and information to respond to these questions were obtained from a review of the state statutes calling for evaluation of every teacher in a district and an analysis of the court cases which have involved teacher evaluation issues. With the legislated mandates for evaluation, many legal issues become involved in the teacher evaluation process