Principals' Attitudes About Their Own Evaluation: Evidence From Tennessee

• In Event: Leading and Learning: Examining Principal Development and Evaluation

Abstract

This study analyzes how principals perceive the process by which they are evaluated. It aims to describe the distribution and dimensions of those attitudes and how individual- and school-level factors, performance scores, frequency of evaluation, and evaluator characteristics are associated with them. Regression analyses of principal survey data from 2015-2017 and statewide administrative data from 2002-2017 identified four main findings. First, female and elementary school principals had significantly more positive attitudes than male and high school principals. Second, of three measures of principal performance, only evaluation score significantly predicted attitudes. Third, the length of relationship between principal and evaluator significantly predicted attitudes. Fourth, the perceived frequency of evaluation had a stronger relationship with attitudes than objective frequency.

Authors

• Jennifer Lauren Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University

• Margaux Cameron, RTI International