Congruence of elementary school teachers\u27 and principals\u27 perceptions of the goals, method and process of teacher evaluation in a large urban school system

The effectiveness of teacher evaluation is enhanced when teachers and principals view evaluation in a similar manner. The current process of teacher evaluation, in the selected large urban school district, has been designed to provide a uniform, sequential means of assessing teacher performance. Stages, time lines and evaluation forms have been standardized and distributed. Although the instruments of evaluation have been developed and are utilized system-wide, there appears to be much diversity in the manner in which evaluation is perceived by both principals and teachers. The purpose of this study is to examine the various aspects of teacher evaluation, in this district, from the perspective of both elementary school teachers and principals. The method of accessing this information occurred as a result of collecting and compiling data from survey instruments that were constructed for data collection. The instruments were designed to measure both principals\u27 and teachers\u27 perception relative to six identified areas of teacher evaluation, using a Lickert scale. Specific items for the survey were delineated as a result of reviewing the literature on teacher evaluation, examining the existing measurement instruments utilized by the school system and field testing the items. The two surveys (Teachers\u27 Perceptions of Teacher Evaluation and Principals\u27 Perceptions of Teacher Evaluation) were distributed to a representative sample of elementary teachers and principals within the chosen district. This would include approximately 10 principals and 70 teacher participants. It is expected that there will be a significant difference between teachers\u27 and principals\u27 perceptions of the various aspects of teacher evaluation. It is also expected that areas of non-congruence will be identified in order to provide data that could be utilized in developing staff development programs to address these areas