Most evaluations of teacher performance are brief, superficial, pro forma affairs involving a few moments of classroom observation every year or two followed by the completion of required evaluation forms. Not surprisingly, much of what has been written about teacher evaluation over the past decade reflects the dissatisfaction of teachers, the frustration of administrators, and the confusion of all parties as to the proper purposes for and methods of teacher evaluation. In this long-awaited book, Richard J. Stiggins and Daniel L. Duke approach teacher evaluation from a positive perspective. They present the results of three unique studies from over a three-year period, designed to uncover the inherent problems in current evaluation practices and find potential solutions to those problems. Relying on ethnographic case study methodology, Study One focuses on the procedures and concerns in the teacher evaluation systems of four school districts, uncovering barriers to teacher growth. Study Two also relies on case study methodology to highlight the keys to success for a few teachers who experienced significant professional growth as a result of a good-quality evaluation event. Study Three uses an instrument—the Teacher Evaluation Profile—to explore and analyze the evaluation experiences of over 400 teachers. The result is a book that gives a clear insight into the important attributes of positive growth-producing evaluation events. Implications of these studies for future teacher evaluation programs in terms of research, policy, and practice are also included in this valuable resource book. The topic is very timely. The significance if this work is that the effort begins linking staff development participation to teacher evaluation.

Most evaluations of teacher performance are brief, superficial, pro forma affairs involving a few moments of classroom observation every year or two followed by the completion of required evaluation forms. Not surprisingly, much of what has been written about teacher evaluation over the past decade reflects the dissatisfaction of teachers, the frustration of administrators, and the confusion of all parties as to the proper purposes for and methods of teacher evaluation. In this long-awaited book, Richard J. Stiggins and Daniel L. Duke approach teacher evaluation from a positive perspective. They present the results of three unique studies from over a three-year period, designed to uncover the inherent problems in current evaluation practices and find potential solutions to those problems.Relying on ethnographic case study methodology, Study One focuses on the procedures and concerns in the teacher evaluation systems of four school districts, uncovering barriers to teacher growth. Study Two also relies on case study methodology to highlight the keys to success for a few teachers who experienced significant professional growth as a result of a good-quality evaluation event. Study Three uses an instrument—the Teacher Evaluation Profile—to explore and analyze the evaluation experiences of over 400 teachers. The result is a book that gives a clear insight into the important attributes of positive growth-producing evaluation events. Implications of these studies for future teacher evaluation programs in terms of research, policy, and practice are also included in this valuable resource book. The topic is very timely. The significance if this work is that the effort begins linking staff development participation to teacher evaluation.

A Commitment to Teaching: Toward More Efficacious Teacher Preparation introduces the reader to a collection of thoughtful works by authors that represent current research and thinking about teacher self-efficacy and teacher preparation. It is the intent of the book to provide the reader with current and relevant knowledge concerning preparation of committed and efficacious teachers. Teacher self-efficacy, and the presence of teacher efficacy, in teacher preparation and practice, is fundamental to preparing teachers for the public school classroom. As a construct, teacher self-efficacy beliefs are an integral aspect of the teaching process. While many authors refer to teachers’ sense of self-efficacy for teaching, meaning their beliefs about their ability to perform the actions necessary to teach, many others have identified a specific form of self-efficacy pertaining to teaching. These have been called teaching or teacher efficacy. Chapter One opens the book with a focus on the teacher commitment and self-efficacy, providing the reader with an introduction. The authors of Chapters Two-Seven present field-based research that examines the complexities efficacy and commitment in the preparation of teachers. Each chapter offers the reader an examination of teacher self-efficacy and teacher preparation and based on formal research that provides the reader with insight into how the research study was conducted as well as equally important, the findings and conclusions drawn with respect teacher self-efficacy and teacher preparation. Finally, Chapter Nine presents an epilogue that focuses on the for more efficacious teacher preparation.

Now available in paper, this version is the first comprehensive look at the process of selecting, assessing and assisting teachers in nearly a decade. Since the publication of the first Handbook, the profession of teaching has witnessed dramatic change including a greater awareness of teacher accountability, an increase in teacher testing and the development of teaching incentives. At the same time the political, social and organizational factors affecting the performance and evaluation of teachers have been subjects of intensive scrutiny. Reflecting these changes, the new Handbook contains 25 new chapters, and explores current practices, issues and controversies related to the evaluation of teachers at elementary and secondary levels.

A Commitment to Growth: Essays on Education is an edited collection of materials that Geoff Masters has published over the last seven years, including the ground-breaking Australian Education Review 57 Reforming Educational Assessment . It is mostly comprised of shorter pieces such as the influential Five challenges in Australian school education

This book presents some highlights from the deliberations of the 2003 conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT). Part 1 presents the five keynote addresses of the conference, while Parts 2 through 4 present selected papers related to each of three sub-themes: knowledge construction and learning to teach, perspectives on teachers’ personal and professional lives, and teachers’ workplace as context for learning. The chapters in this book provide an array of approaches to understanding the process of teacher learning within the current context of the changing workplace environment. They also provide an important international perspective on the complex issues revolving around the international educational reform movement. Basically, they show how teachers’ workplace (inside and outside schools) are more than ever subject to continuous change and that, subsequently, standards for teaching must be flexible to these changing conditions. This asks for a redefinition of teacher professionalism in which the role of context in teacher learning is emphasized as well as the improvement of the quality of teacher thinking and learning. Related to the ever-changing context of teaching, a dynamic approach to teaching and teacher learning is required, in which identity development is crucial. Researchers have an important role to play in revealing and explaining how teachers can build their professional identity, through self-awareness and reflection, in the ever-changing educational contexts throughout the world.

In the wake of national interest in teacher evaluation, this book examines what we have learned about how and whether teacher evaluation holds teachers accountable and improves their practice. Drawing on literature in psychology, economics, and sociology, this multi-disciplinary and multi-perspectival book explores teacher evaluation’s intended goals of development and accountability, as well as its unintended consequences, especially as they relate to equity. Blending theory from diverse disciplines with decades of research, this book provides new insights into how teacher evaluation has played out in schools across the United States and offers recommendations for research, policy, and practice in the years to come. Insights include how to embed teacher evaluation in a larger culture of continuous learning; rethinking assumptions on accountability and development aims; and highlighting the importance of equity in the design, implementation, and outcomes of teacher evaluation. Every chapter concludes with practical recommendations informed by theory and research to guide policymakers, researchers, and district and school leaders as they seek to understand, design, and implement better teacher evaluation systems.