Description
TitleFeedback filter
Date Created2014
Other Date2014-10 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (ix, 207 p. : ill.)
DescriptionWith the advent of a time of intense focus on the use of teacher evaluation in the United States as a mechanism for both formative development of teachers and summative actions affecting their careers, schools, districts, and states have rushed to implement new, enhanced systems of teacher observation and evaluation throughout the country. As many of these new programs are in their infancy, little attention has been paid to how the data generated within these new systems are being used, and what factors affect the usability of such data. While the research literature has focused on data use in the form of data driven decision making in other areas of education (see, e.g., Marsh, Pane & Hamilton, 2006) as well as on improving the reliability and validity of teacher evaluation (see, e.g., Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2013), studying how teachers use evaluation data is a relatively unexplored field. Using survey and qualitative focus group data from one state’s teacher evaluation pilot program, this study explores the ways in which teachers participating in a new evaluation system perceive their data use from observations. Additionally, teacher perceptions around how a number of affective factors –such as time, observer capacity, trust, and data quality, among others –play a role in influencing their ability to use data are explored. These questions help to support the conceptual framework and theory of action presented in the study. The study finds that teachers see themselves using data in three main ways: to improve practice, to learn about the system, and non-use of data. Additionally, teachers believed that many system functions, as well as data quality issues, were important factors that facilitated or hindered their ability to use the data delivered to them from their observation sessions. The study concludes by developing several hypothetical relationships between these factors and teacher data use, as well as acknowledging study limitations and avenues for further research.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Timothy L. Nordin
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.