Teachers--Rating of

The developmental research schools, or laboratory schools, of the state of Florida became single-school public school districts in 1991. This allowed the four Florida laboratory schools to receive full-time equivalency funding from the state, but also required the schools to have state-mandated programs in place. Laboratory school teachers have varying roles that include teacher, researcher, writer, and presenter. These roles have caused discussion about appropriate performance appraisal methods for laboratory school teachers. In Florida, public school districts must have a human resources and management development plan that addresses evaluation and supervision of teaching personnel. With the passage of the Florida Clinical Education requirements for teachers who supervise developing teachers, it became necessary for the developmental research schools to demonstrate a commitment to an established system of measuring teacher growth. Teacher involvement is an integral part of building a sound supervision and evaluation system, so this study looked at the attitudes of the laboratory school teachers toward administrative practices in supervision and evaluation. The sample included one hundred fourteen instructors from the four Florida developmental research schools. The teachers taught grades kindergarten through eight. Seventy-six percent of those in the sample had advanced degrees, and seventy-five percent had over five years of teaching experience. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the teachers. The survey included questions on individual teacher demographics as well as assessment of the teachers' attitudes and perceptions of formal and informal evaluation practices. Descriptive statistics and t-tests results compared the average perception of formal evaluation as an accurate measure of teaching effectiveness for the different teacher groupings. Results indicated that eight of the nine null hypotheses were rejected. Null hypothesis 3, predicting no difference in teachers' perceptions of formal evaluation as an accurate indicator of teaching effectiveness between teachers who had developed a personal professional development plan and teachers who had not, was not rejected. Being able to create individual professional development plans increased teacher confidence and enthusiasm. Teachers viewed self-evaluation forms such as portfolios and checklists as accurate means of assessing teacher effectiveness. Recommendations for further study include: enlarging the sample size to include laboratory school teachers in other states and countries, adding non-laboratory school teachers to the study; and encouraging teachers to become involved trying to include alternative assessment methods such as portfolios and professional development plans as part of the district teacher supervision and evaluation plan.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the
consistency of judgments by untrained, but knowledgeable,
observers in assessing teacher behaviors which assist
students in developing a positive self-concept as measured
by an original observational instrument . The study attempted
to answer the question: Can untrained observers agree
whether or not teacher behaviors which assist students in
developing a positive self-concept have been demonstrated? Five teacher educators and eighty graduate students in
their classes in the College of Education, Florida Atlantic
University, participated in the study. Of the eighty
graduate students, fifty-two were classroom teachers, seven
Here administrators, two were teacher supervisors, four were
teacher educators, five were full -time graduate students
with previous teaching experience, and ten were in other
occupations but had previous teaching experience. Eight of the classroom teachers were also department chairpersons.
The participants observed and assessed three different
videotaped lessons taught by three different teachers. Of
the sample, seventy-three observers were present for Tape I,
and seventy-eight observers were present for Tapes II and
III. No special training in the use of the instrument was
given. The observation instrument used in the study consisted
of thirty specific behaviors and a comment section. Observers checked whether each behavior was observed or not
observed during each lesson and some made comments in
addition.Observer responses on the comment section of the
instrument were inconsistent. The comment section elicited
free association responses, and high observer consistency
was not expected. If the instrument was used in the actual
practice of competency assessment, the comment section could be beneficial in that the observed teacher could
receive commendations, clarifications, or suggestions
for improvement.

The purpose of the study was to develop and apply an instrumented
procedure for deciding the relative importance of a tentative set of
professional competencies proposed for middle school teachers of English,
using the judgmental ratings by individuals in the general school community
as the decision-making base. The results of this rating procedure
were intended to demonstrate one way in which the broader educational
community could be involved in expressing choices and in setting priorities
for programs of competency-based teacher education. A selected group of 50 senior high school students, 50 teachers of middle school English, 50 educational leaders, and 50 patrons of middle
schools in the south central administrative area of the Broward County,
Florida, public school system were asked to rate a set of 12 general competencies
and 60 subcompetencies according to their perceived importance
for training and/or certificating teachers of English who work with middle
school pupils of ages 10 through 14. The subjects used a forced-choice
rank order rating system that resulted in a rank value for each of the
general competencies and subcompetencies in the study. Strategies, administrative
steps, and public relations materials for reaching each of the
targeted groups were incorporated in the details of the procedure. The procedure developed by the study proved feasible and useful for determining the relative order of importance assigned to the proposed
teacher competencies for middle school English by the vested
interest groups who served as raters. Applications of the procedure
are recommended for use by collaborative bodies which seek systematic
ways to broaden the base of public involvement in decision-making for
teacher education.
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