Teacher Evaluation and Novice Teachers' Instructional Quality: How Evaluation Pressures Are Associated With Classroom Instruction

• In Event: Preservice Courses, Student Teaching Experiences, and Beginning Teacher Outcomes

Abstract

Objective. Over the past few decades, researchers and policy makers have promoted the potential of teacher evaluation to support teacher development and encourage changes to teacher instructional practice (Donaldson & Papay, 2014; Steinberg & Sartain, 2015). This paper explores associations between first-year teachers’ (FYTs) reported teacher evaluation pressures and their instructional practices as measured by the Protocol for Language Arts Teaching Observations (PLATO) classroom observation instrument (Grossman, Loeb, Cohen, & Wyckoff, 2013).
Perspective. This paper considers how teacher evaluation pressures may be related to a teacher’s instructional practices. Teacher evaluation systems can be used for two main purposes: (a) for rewarding and sanctioning teachers based on their measured performance and (b) to support teacher development through detailed and actionable feedback in conjunction with aligned support (Donaldson & Papay, 2014). The theory of action is that changes to teacher instructional practice will occur through an iterative process of observation, measurement, and conferencing (Steinberg & Sartain, 2015). Results from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) supported this theory of action and showed that teachers appreciate feedback from their school leaders and are likely to concentrate on priorities for instructional improvement highlighted in their evaluations (Looney, 2011). Additionally, Taylor and Tyler (2012) found that in Cincinnati’s teacher evaluation system where mid-career teachers were only evaluated once every five years, teachers were more productive in promoting student math achievement during their evaluation year. Collectively, these studies demonstrate the potential of teacher evaluation to influence instructional practices.
Data Sources and Methods. As a part of a larger study, from 2016-2017 to 2018-2019, 80 first-year teachers (FYT) from five universities participated in classroom observations of their mathematics and/or English language arts (ELA) instruction during their first two years of teaching. These observations were each scored according to the PLATO observation protocol to measure the quality of instruction in mathematics and ELA. Additionally, FYTs completed a survey in the spring in which they reported the pressures regarding their instructional practices they felt during teacher evaluation and the extent to which they altered their instructional practice in response to these pressures.
I used multiple regression to examine associations between FYTs’ perceived instructional pressures during teacher evaluation and their instructional quality in the four PLATO domains: instructional strategies, disciplinary demand, representations of content, and classroom environment.
Results. Findings indicate associations between the teacher evaluation pressures that FYTs feel and the quality of their instruction in mathematics and ELA. Specifically, I find significant associations between teacher evaluation pressures regarding the use of innovative teaching practices and higher PLATO instructional scores in both ELA and mathematics.
Scholarly Significance. While recent research has highlighted the potential of teacher evaluation systems and principal feedback to influence classroom instruction (Looney, 2011; Taylor & Tyler, 2012), this study examines ways in which FYTs simply perceive specific instructional pressures from teacher evaluation may be associated with their ambitious instruction. Additionally, this study offers an analysis of how teacher evaluation pressures may have different associations with instruction across content areas.

Author

• Kim Evert, Middle Tennessee State University