scholarly journals Does Teacher Evaluation Improve School Performance? Experimental Evidence from Chicago's Excellence in Teaching Project

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 535-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew P. Steinberg ◽  
Lauren Sartain

Chicago Public Schools initiated the Excellence in Teaching Project, a teacher evaluation program designed to increase student learning by improving classroom instruction through structured principal–teacher dialogue. The pilot began in forty-four elementary schools in 2008–09 (cohort 1) and scaled up to include an additional forty-eight elementary schools in 2009–10 (cohort 2). Leveraging the experimental design of the rollout, cohort 1 schools performed better in reading and math than cohort 2 schools at the end of the first year, though the math effects are not statistically significant. We find the initial improvement for cohort 1 schools remains even after cohort 2 schools adopted the program. Moreover, the pilot differentially impacted schools with different characteristics. Higher-achieving and lower-poverty schools were the primary beneficiaries, suggesting the intervention was most successful in more advantaged schools. These findings are relevant for policy makers and school leaders who are implementing evaluation systems that incorporate classroom observations.

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 124-133
Author(s):  
Mustafa Toprak ◽  
Rasim Tosten

This study is an attempt to uncover the factors leading students to study in the majors they dislike. Using a qualitative design, the study aims to explore the forces that cause students to make career choices against their will, and to investigate their future plans during their struggles with their parents and disliked majors. The study was conducted with 13 first-year university students who studied different majors within a school of education. Since the foci of the study were students who disliked their majors and were placed in teaching departments against their will, a purposive sampling technique was used during the selection of participants, and data were analyzed through the content analysis technique. The study revealed that the students had been placed into disliked majors under the simultaneous influence of either one or several forces, such as parental pressure to keep their children geographically close, perceived employment opportunities, life-time job security given to teachers at public schools, fatigue, and failure to get a high scores to be placed in their preferred choice. The study presents suggestions for educational policy-makers by discussing determinants of teaching career choices, by making specific references to parental influences on their children’s decision-making, and by showing that some teacher candidates are placed in teaching majors by making random choices.


Author(s):  
Pauline Stonehouse ◽  
Jared Keengwe

The purpose of this study was, (a) to describe the introduction of MVAL software and Charlotte Danielson Rubrics (CDR) as teacher evaluation tools; (b) to compare the process and outcomes of the new initiative with traditional systems, and (c) to evaluate the software from the perspective of participants in the system. This study highlights the need for public school district to improve the process of teacher evaluation using technlogy evaluation tools such as the mVal software. Addtionally, educational policy makers ought to examine effective standards-based criteria and the impact of technology tools on teacher evaluation and reflective practices.


RSBO ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabete Rabaldo Bottan ◽  
Iara Fiorentin Comunello ◽  
Constanza Marín ◽  
Eduardo Mazzetti Subtil

Introduction and Objective: To evaluate the level of knowledge about oral cancer of students attending public school in one city of Santa Catarina (Brasil). Material and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study, using primary data collection. Students of last year of elementary school and first year of high school, enrolled in public schools in the city of Itajaí (SC), in 2012, were the target population. The non-probability sample was obtained by convenience. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire structured with 13 questions divided into three fields. The level of knowledge was made based on pre-established scores. Results: 1149 instruments were analyzed (80.8% of the target population). The average age of the group was 15.5 years and 54.5% were female. The majority (78%) never had received information about oral cancer. Only 27.9% had cognizance about self-examination of the oral cavity. With regard to knowledge, 87.5% classified as unsatisfactory. For most issues the cognitive field did not identify a significant correlation between knowledge and the variables gender and education. When asked if they would like to participate in educational and preventive activitiesabout oral cancer and other issues related to health, 72.6% expressed interest. Conclusion: The group did not have adequate knowledge on the subject of oral cancer. Facing this reality, and the positive attitude of respondents, the researchers designed and offered an educational program to the research subjects.


2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamel K. Donnor

Background By a 5–4 margin, the U.S. Supreme Court in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 declared that voluntary public school integration programs were unconstitutional. Citing the prospective harm that students and their families might incur from being denied admission to the high school of their choice, the Supreme Court declared that the plaintiffs, Parents Involved in Community Schools (PICS), had a valid claim of injury by asserting a interest in not being forced to compete for seats at certain high schools in a system that uses race as a deciding factor in many of its admissions decisions. Purpose The goal of the article is to discuss how conceptions of harm and fairness as articulated in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 privilege the self-interests of White students and families over the educational needs of students of color. Research Design This article is a document analysis. Conclusions By referencing the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954 (Brown I) to buttress its decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has determined that programmatic efforts to ensure students of color access to quality learning environments are inherently ominous. The dilemma moving forward for policy makers and scholars concerned with the educational advancement of students of color is not to develop new ways to integrate America's public schools or reconcile the gaps in the Supreme Court's logic, but rather to craft programs and policies for students of color around the human development and workforce needs of the global economy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-830
Author(s):  
Adrienne D. Dixson

Background/Context The Supreme Court's June 2007 decision on the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No.1 (PICS) provides an important context for school districts and educational policy makers as they consider the role of race in school assignment. The PICS decision has been described as essentially “undoing” the 1954 Supreme Court decision in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case that ended de jure racial segregation. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Given the rhetoric that education in the United States is the “great equalizer,” this conceptual article considers how the PICS decisions impact notions of educational equity and self-determination for African Americans. Research Design This article provides a conceptual analysis of the PICS decision and educational equity. Conclusions/Recommendations The author recommends that despite the PICS decision, school administrators and policy makers continue to consider how race impacts school assignment to ensure that public schools are democratic institutions that are racially and educationally equitable.


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Boyd ◽  
Hamilton Lankford ◽  
Susanna Loeb ◽  
James Wyckoff

School districts are confronting difficult choices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Today, the financial imbalance in many school districts is so large that there may be few alternatives to teacher layoffs. In nearly all school districts, layoffs are currently determined by some version of teacher seniority. Yet, alternative approaches to personnel reductions may substantially reduce the harm to students from staff reductions relative to layoffs based on seniority. As a result, many school district leaders and other policy makers are raising important questions about whether~other criteria, such as measures of teacher effectiveness, should inform layoffs. This policy brief, a quick look at some aspects of the debate, illustrates the differences in New York City public schools that would result if layoffs were determined by seniority in comparison to a measure of teacher effectiveness.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-421
Author(s):  
Sharoni D. Little ◽  
La Verne A. Tolbert

In Christian, private, and public schools, Black boys are forced to endure educational environments that promulgate the stereotype of their supposed intellectual inadequacy and “troublesome” behavior. Deficit-based narratives, fueled by historical racist and sexist stereotypes, contend that Black boys are deviant, disengaged, disruptive, undisciplined, unintelligent, problematic, confrontational, threatening, and difficult to teach – all in a place that should be safe and affirming – schools. In this article, we examine how racial and gender stereotypes reify the educational plight of Black boys, and negatively influence key educational foci, including teacher expectations, pedagogy, curricula, institutional climate/culture, student assessment, and disciplinary matters.


Author(s):  
Mary Rangel

Na perspectiva da Psicologia Social (no enfoque, moscoviciano, da representação), foram investigados conceitos e imagens do cotidiano popidar na cidade do Rio de Janeiro, conforme se apresentam em cartilhas adotadas em escolas públicas. Procurou-se, então, notar a possível influência da literatura citico-social da alfabetização (acentuada desde o final dos anos 70) que, entre outras questões, discute a dissociação entre conhecimento (escolar) e realidade, enfatizando o princípio de aprendizagens significativas e contextualizadas. Nas análises, confrontaram-se as representações com "indicadores sociais" do cotidiano, levantados em estudos sociológicos. Os resultados demonstraram a predominância de conceitos e imagens de situações que, não só se distanciam, como invertem as que se apresentam nos "indicadores ". Desse modo, permanece a constatação de que o mundo das crianças não encontra significado no mundo das cartilhas. Abstract In the perspective of Social Psychology (in the Moscovite focal point of the representation), concepts and images of the popular quotidian in Rio de Janeiro city have been investigated, as they present themselves in the spelling books adopted in public schools. One endeavoured, then, to note the possible influence of the critical-social literature of the first year of schooling (accentuated since the end of the 70s), which, among other matters, discusses the dissociation between knowledge (scholar) and reality, enphasizing the principle of significative and contextualized apprendticeships. In the analysis, the representations confront themselves with "social indicators" of the quotidian, raised up in sociologie studies. The results demonstrated the predominance of concepts and images of situations which not only keep away from, as well as invert the ones which present themselves in the "indicators ". Thus, endures the evidence that the world of the children does not find significance in the world of the spelling books. Résumé Sous la perspective de la Psychologie Sociale, d 'après Moscovici (1978), ont été analises concepts et images du quotidien populaire dans la ville de Rio de Janeiro, selon ils se présentent dans les abécédaires adoptés dans les écoles publiques. Nous avons cherché, alors, observer la possible influence de la littérature critique-sociale (accentuée dès le final des années 70) sur l'alphabétisation. Cette littérature, parmi d 'autres questions, discute la dissociation entre savoir (scolaire) et réalité, en emphatisant le principe des apprentissages significatifs et contextualisés. Dans les analyses se confrontent les représentations avec les "indicateurs " sociaux du quotidien, relevés dans les études sociologiques. Les résultats ont démontré la prédominance des concepts et des images de situations que, non seulement s'éloignent comme inversent celles qui se présentent dans les "indicateurs". Ainsi, il nous reste la constatation que le monde des enfants ne recontre pas de signification dans le motide des abécédaires. Resumen En la perspectiva de la Psicoligia Social (en el enfoque moscoviciano de la representación), se investigaron conceptos y imágenes de lo cotidiano popular en la ciudad de Rio de Janeiro, según se presentan en cartillas adoptadas en escuelas públicas. Se procuró observar la posible influencia de la literatura crítico-social de la alfabetización, incrementada desde finales de los años setenta, que, entre otros temas, discute la disociación entre conocimiento (escolar) y realidad, enfatizando el principio de aprendizajes significativos y contextuados. En los análisis se confrontali las representaciones con "indicadores sociales" de lo cotidiano, obtenidos en estudios sociológicos. Los resultados han demostrado la predominancia de conceptos e imágenes de situaciones que no sólo se alejan, sino que invierten las presentadas en los "indicadores ". De esta manera, permanece la constatación de que el mundo de los niños no encuentra sifnificado en el mundo de las cartillas.


Author(s):  
Leah McCoy

This ethnography explores teachers’ perspectives of the cultural issues affecting academic performance in twelve public high schools in rural Mississippi and Louisiana. Fr om a thematic analysis of the tape-recorded interviews of forty-one mathematics teachers, five categories emerged, each comprising a qualitative aspect of teaching high school in an economically depressed area of the deep South: society, race, students, families, and schools. Each of these categories is discussed and explicated using exemplars from the interviews to show how each category emerged from the data. In addition, the relationships among these categories, which form a destructive cycle of poverty, low expectations, poor academic achievement, and inadequate opportunity, are discussed. Implications of this research for teachers and policy makers are explored.


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