“We Also Can’t Evaluate What We Don’t Know”: Cultural Competence in Assessment and Evaluation for Teacher Quality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: How Teachers Teach in Response to Top-Down Mandates and Policies in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the theoretical foundation, reliability, and validity of instruments used to assess cultural competence in teaching as well as the knowledge and preparation required to develop and/or facilitate culturally competent evaluations of teaching. In this study we use critical theory and the American Evaluation Association’s Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation (American Evaluation Association, 2011) to examine nine evaluation tools and guideline documents that purport to evaluate the cultural competence of institutions and individuals. Drawing from the findings, we suggest recommendations for what baseline knowledge for assessing cultural competence in teaching might include, and implications for the further development and use of such instruments.

Authors

• Gail M. Perry-Ryder, Montclair State University

• Douglas B. Larkin, Montclair State University