2021 Theses Doctoral

An Examination of Teacher Beliefs about Evaluation Practices and Policies

Zosel-Harper, Therese M.

Despite a growing consensus that teacher quality is central to student learning, teacher evaluation systems have long been focused on compliance, rather than implemented in service of improved instruction and/or accountability for performance. In recent years, in response to a growing sense that evaluation policy failed to meet the needs of teachers or the communities they serve, a variety of stakeholders successfully advocated for dramatic changes to teacher evaluation policies in states and districts across the United States. These reforms largely focused on greater standardization, the use of data to draw conclusions about teacher performance, and increased accountability for student learning.

My study focuses on the beliefs of teachers at the nexus of change to teacher evaluation policy in their districts. Using data from the Measures of Effective Teaching Project and a sample of 696 teachers, this project explores teachers’ beliefs about evaluation and related practices, and examines the relationships between teacher beliefs and measures of teacher quality. Findings suggest that teacher beliefs vary based on teacher-, classroom- and school-level factors. Results about the links between teacher beliefs and measures of teacher quality are inconclusive, though the current analyses do reveal several interesting patterns that are promising for further exploration in future research.