Teacher Evaluation as Cultural Practice: A Framework Equitable and Excellent Teaching

• In Event: Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers for Equity-Oriented Classrooms: How Do We Evaluate Their Effectiveness and Our Own?

Abstract

Purpose
This research project frames teacher evaluation from a critical race theory (CRT) perspective to unveil whiteness as the normative center of frameworks for teaching and propose a culturally responsive alternative, the Framework for Equitable and Excellent Teaching (FEET). The FEET evaluation model measures preservice teacher performances, or skills, based on: four dimensions, 15 competencies, and 60 indicators of equitable and excellent teaching for K-12 learners; rubrics of performance; and a field-based observation protocol.
Theoretical Framework
CRT is a body of scholarship that challenges discourses, ideologies, and structures that reproduce racism and inequity (Solórzano & Yosso, 2002). This article uses CRT to interrogate frameworks for teaching. CRT can be evoked to make the claim that frameworks for teaching promote a masternarrative of objectivity and neutrality that instantiates White supremacy. Critical race scholars take the position that the margins are sites resistance, empowerment, and transformation (Solórzano & Villalpando, 1998, p. 215). Thus it is vital to situate the margins at the center of frameworks for teaching.
Methods
A research team conducted a study of the psychometric properties of the FEET observation instrument to examine its reliability and validity estimation. The participants included eight field supervisors, one Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), and 65 preservice teachers at the Teacher Education Program at the University of X. The researchers secured IRB approval. The research team applied a Many-Faceted Rasch Model (MFRM) to assess the reliability of the FEET observation instrument across multiple facets. The researcher team used FACETS (Version 3.71.2; Linacre, 2015a) software to analyze data in the four-faceted model. The research team also examined the convergent validity of the FEET to test if the concepts developed in the FEET correlate with other instruments designed to measure a theoretically similar construct. The researchers used a preservice teacher self-report of teaching competencies survey known as the Core Competency Survey (CCS; Seidel et al., 2011).

Results
Overall, the facet analysis indicates that the FEET has adequate measurement quality, as evidenced in that the (a) supervisors show adequate use of the FEET evaluation instrument, (b) candidates’ teaching proficiency increased. However, the variability in the severity and leniency of supervisor ratings indicates a need for improved supervisor training. The results of the convergent validity testing indicate that reliabilities between the FEET measure and CCS multi-item subscales were .95 and .96. The subscales show adequate correlation, suggesting evidence for convergent validity between the FEET measure and the CCS. The FEET also holds up to indicators of multicultural validity, defined as “the correctness or authenticity of understandings across multiple, intersecting cultural contexts” (Hopson & Kirkhart, 2012, p. 13).
Scholarly Significance
The FEET is a theoretically, empirically, and psychometrically sound teacher evaluation model that positions the resources and needs of historically marginalized communities at the center of teacher evaluation. The FEET evaluation model has the potential to make a positive impact in the current educational context. It should be tested in diverse contexts such as preservice teacher preparation programs, K-12 classrooms with in-service teachers, and professional learning communities.

Authors

• Maria del Carmen Salazar, University of Denver

• Melissa Peterson Schneider, University of Denver