Revealing the Detrimental Impacts of Teacher Evaluation Reform Upon Teachers' Lives and Classroom Climate

• In Event: 66.058 - Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: 66.058-14 - Lives of Teachers: The Challenges of Teachers Who Leave and Those That Stay

Abstract

The purpose of this sequential transformative study was to elucidate the negative experiences of teachers with performance evaluations. Five data sources were analyzed: PAR policy, a teacher survey, district PAR data, individual interviews, and one group interview. Five teachers, bound by one school district, participated in the interviews. Data revealed dissonance among intent and evident use of the evaluation policy. A disproportionate number of African Americans, women over the age of 55, and teachers higher on the pay scale were referred to PAR. Additionally, data indicated that through the PAR evaluation system, teachers experienced negative health impacts such as, high levels of stress, depression, weight gain, despondence, insomnia, and hostility toward family.

Authors

• Allison Smith, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Alexandru Spatariu, Houston Baptist University