Performance Feedback From Principal Supervisors: Implementation of a Statewide Principal Evaluation System

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Evidence on the Role of Principals in Policy Implementation

Abstract

Performance feedback is a core component of principal evaluation systems and presents a mechanism for improving principal performance. Yet researchers know little about the feedback process, and the degree of supervisor discretion inherent in large-scale evaluation systems merits a closer look at implementation. Using state-wide administrative data from Tennessee, we examine the nature of performance feedback that principals receive from their supervisors in the context of a formal statewide administrator evaluation system. We find considerable variation in how supervisors provide feedback. Specifically, we find that not all supervisors choose the lowest indicator for feedback, and many supervisors tend to choose from a relatively small set of indicators as feedback to principals when there are multiple indicators with the lowest score.

Authors

• Karin Gegenheimer, Gwinnett County Public Schools

• Ellen B. Goldring, Vanderbilt University