Agreement Between Students' and Principals' Ratings of Teachers' Effectiveness

• In Event: Teacher Effectiveness, Retention, and Coaching

Abstract

This paper addresses agreement between students’ and principals’ ratings of teachers’ effectiveness. Both data sources are widely used, yet little is known about their agreement in authentic teacher evaluation systems. Our study investigates this agreement with 12,410 elementary and secondary teachers. Results suggest minimal to modest agreement between students’ and principals’ perceptions of teachers’ effectiveness. The mean of student survey items and the mean of principal classroom observation ratings correlated r = .11 - .39 on five teaching practices (academic language, critical thinking, motivational strategies, prosocial education, and formative assessment). Results are in accord with one other study that addressed this same issue. Both studies raise concerns about leniency and possible bias in principals’ ratings of classroom observations.

Authors

• Christi Crosby Bergin, University of Missouri

• Chia-Lin Tsai, University of Northern Colorado

• Eli Andrew Jones, University of Missouri - Columbia