Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #5 of 9): Teachers’ Perceptions of Observations and Student Growth
Recall that the peer-reviewed journal Educational Researcher (ER) – recently published a “Special Issue” including nine articles examining value-added measures (VAMs). I have reviewed the next of nine articles (#5 of 9) here, titled “Teacher Perspectives on Evaluation Reform: Chicago’s REACH [Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago Students] Students.” This one is authored by Jennie Jiang, Susan Sporte, and Stuart Luppescu, all of whom are associated with The University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research, and all of whom conducted survey- and interview-based research on teachers’ perceptions of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) teacher evaluation system, twice since it was implemented in 2012–2013. They did this across CPS’s almost 600 schools and its more than 12,000 teachers, with high-stakes being recently attached to teacher evaluations (e.g., professional development plans, remediation, tenure attainment, teacher dismissal/contract non-renewal; p. 108).
Directly related to the Review of Article #4 prior (i.e., #4 of 9 on observational systems’ potentials here), these researchers found that Chicago teachers are, in general, positive about the evaluation system, primarily given the system’s observational component (i.e., the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching, used twice per year for tenured teachers and that counts for 75% of teachers’ evaluation scores), and not given the inclusion of student growth in this evaluation system (that counts for the other 25%). Although researchers also found that overall satisfaction levels with the REACH system at large is declining at a statistically significant rate over time, as teachers get to know the system, perhaps, better.
This system, like the strong majority of others across the nation, is based on only these Special Issue of “Educational Researcher” (Paper #5 of 9): Teachers’ Perceptions of Observations and Student Growth | VAMboozled!:
