Author: Ellen DeeAnn PowellPublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education, Elementary
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the demand for accountability in schools across America has put a spotlight on teacher quality. As part of the focus on school improvement, one area that is sometimes overlooked is teacher evaluation (Varlas, 2009). Within the research, studies can be found that show a relationship between school climate and the effectiveness of teacher evaluation systems (King, 2003: Stronge, 2006; Wilson & Natriello, 1987). It has also been found that effective teacher evaluation can improve school climate (Colby, Bradshaw, & Joyner, 2002). Learning how the overall climate of a school relates to the evaluation process could be beneficial to school administrators and teachers alike. The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary school teachers' perceptions of their school climate and determine if a relationship existed between those perceptions and the perceptions they have of their formative and summative evaluations. This quantitative study was conducted in 35 public elementary schools within a southeast urban area of Houston, Texas. The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire for Elementary Schools (Hoy, Tarter, & Kottkamp, 1991) was administered to the schools' teaching staff to determine teacher perceptions of their school climate. Additionally, the Teacher Evaluation Profile (Stiggins & Duke, 1988) was given to determine the perceptions of teachers related to their most recent evaluation experiences. Data from the 746 participating teachers was analyzed using a Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient and Partial Least Squares (PLS) Modeling to assess the relationship between school climate and the teachers perceptions of evaluation effectiveness. The findings indicated that correlations of scores for the various subtests on the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire Elementary version (OCDQ-RE) with the scores for the various subtests on the Teacher Evaluation Profile (TEP) existed in the direction that supports the stated hypotheses. The six PLS path models defined in this study have practical and/or theoretical significance to predict the relationships between elementary school climate and teacher perceptions regarding evaluation. By understanding the relationship between school climate and teacher evaluation, principals will be better equipped to improve their schools and meet the challenges of NCLB.