Implementation of a new teacher evaluation program : principal and teacher perceptions

Abstract

This study examined the implementation of the Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) teacher evaluation system within two Missouri schools, one comprehensive high school of 1,000 students and another with 350. Framed by theories of sense-making and policy implementation, the study asked: How is the NEE teacher evaluation system being implemented within two different-sized school districts? While most studies of teacher evaluation programs solely use questionnaires, this study collected the following: 64 surveys from teachers and school leaders, 16 observations of teacher evaluations, and 22 interviews of the teachers and leaders involved in those evaluations. Findings suggest that each school's context shaped how teacher evaluation was implemented. While the larger school operated from a structural framework, the smaller school operated from a human resource framework. These frameworks affected how the evaluation was implemented. When the observations occurred, the length of the observation, and how the teachers received the results of their evaluation were experienced differently between the two differently-sized school districts operating from different frameworks. The study also found that most teachers and administrators in this study believed evaluators' observations should (1) last longer than 10 minutes; (2) be completed by experienced evaluators, and (3) allow stakeholders to choose the evaluation indicators. Lengthened observations would allow administrators more time to see the indicators, the transitional points in the lesson, where the lesson came from and is going, and how students apply the activity. Teachers wanted experienced evaluators who could give recommendations specific to their classroom on how to improve as teachers. The stakeholders wanted input on the indicators used and also wanted those indicators to be building specific. The findings presented in this paper give educators a voice in educational research and will assist in the improvement of teacher evaluation. Listening to the voices of administrators and teachers at the local level will not only help foster a better teacher evaluation system, but also in the end produce a better educational system for students.