Illinois Administrator\u27s Perception of the Existence and Implementation of School Policies and Practices in Teacher Classroom Supervision in Schools Having Kindergarten to Fifth Grade

Negligence in the school setting is one legal issue that exists and, if case law is any reflection, is a pervasive problem in the educational system. Although negligence affects students, parents, teachers, and staff, the issue has the most impact on administrators\u27 legal responsibility role. Using a quantitative approach, the researcher surveyed Illinois principals working in Illinois public schools in schools having Kindergarten to Fifth grades. This study was designed to examine Illinois administrators\u27 perception of the existence and implementation of school policies and practices with regard to teacher classroom supervision in elementary public schools having Kindergarten through Fifth grade. In addition, this study asked related questions regarding the perception of school administrators about the existence and implementation of policy and practices of teacher classroom supervision: where would a teacher obtain a copy of the school building\u27s policy regarding teacher classroom supervision; what percent of the time do school leader think the policy regarding teacher classroom supervision is successfully being implemented in their building; how often do they review the policy and procedures regarding teacher classroom supervision with their teachers; how often do they walk around their building checking for teacher classroom supervision, and if they do, how often do they do so; how important do they believe the practice of checking for teacher classroom supervision is; do they have an opportunity to obtain information about school law related to negligence relating to teacher classroom supervision; what are the most common sources of information available to them regarding the law of negligence relating to teacher classroom supervision; and, how important do they believe knowledge related to negligence about teacher classroom supervision is. Teacher classroom supervision for this study is defined as the supervision of students. This survey results showed that an overwhelming majority of school administrators are confident that teachers can find the policy and procedure in the Board of Education Policy Manual and/or the Teacher Handbook. The survey also showed less than half of all school administrators obtain information about negligence relating to teacher classroom supervision on an annual basis