The differential influences of classroom observation feedback sources on teacher practice: A cross-national analysis

• In Event: Where are the Teachers? Teaching and Learning in International Large-Scale Assessments

Abstract

Prior research consistently finds that teachers affect student outcomes; thus, effective professional development systems can play an important role in shaping student learning via improved teacher practices. A potential source of professional growth available to teachers around the world is work-related feedback. The purpose of this study is to identify sources of classroom observation feedback influencing teacher practices so that feedback systems might be designed to better support teacher growth.

Data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), representing approximately 1.75 million teachers from 31 countries/ economies, was used in this analysis. The OECD and Statistics Canada designed TALIS 2013, the largest international survey of teacher opinion to date. A stratified, two-stage probability sampling design was used such that responses represent approximately 433 randomly sampled lower secondary teachers from each nation/ economy. The results are nationally representative of participating countries.

Multiple survey items collected information regarding feedback provided to teachers. For the purposes of this study, feedback sources provided formative, post-classroom observation feedback. Responses to the survey item operationalized as the dependent variable were ordinal, coming from the question, “Concerning the feedback you have received at this school, to what extent has it directly led to a positive change in [your teaching practices]?” An ordinal logit model was preferred, however, the data did not meet the parallel regression assumption. The outcome variable was dichotomized by converting reported levels of “moderate” or “large” positive change into the positive response while “no” or “small” positive changes were coded as the negative response. Given the binary outcome, a logit model was used; moreover, this model can properly account for the survey design using balanced repeated replication weights.

The conceptual framework is based on prior feedback research, similarity-attraction and intergroup conflict theories. These theories and works suggest that feedback sources most similar to the recipient with respect to workplace experiences are more likely to provide feedback that is taken up by the teacher. Common workplace experiences provide the basis for common values among individuals, which are posited to improve communication within these groups. Further, individuals from similar groups are hypothesized to elevate their group’s status when possible; thus, feedback providers similar to teachers may make extra efforts to ensure that feedback provided is accurate, useful, and likely to be incorporated by the recipient.

The fully specified logit model controlled for teacher gender, age, degree, training, contract status, percentages of special needs students taught, the percentage of economically disadvantaged students in the teacher’s school, the degree of teacher input into school wide decision making, and the composition of school management teams; a vector of indicators representing whether certain role groups provided formative feedback to teachers were the key covariates. Potential sources of feedback included someone outside the school, the principal, a member of the school management team, a teacher mentor, or teacher peers who are not members of the school management team.

Descriptive results revealed that teachers in the target population were predicted to receive feedback from members of the school management team more than any other group, while teachers are expected to receive feedback from mentor teachers less than any other group. Marginal effects were estimated from the logit regressions holding all covariates at their means. The probability that a teacher in the target population reported a moderate/ large increase in their practice concerning feedback they received at their school from individuals outside the school, the principal, a member of the school management, or a teacher mentor, were 2.1%, 7.2%, 6.4%, 10.1%, and 2.2%, respectively. While the estimate for teacher mentors is not statistically different from that of principals or members of the school management team, it is statistically different from external individuals and teacher peers. It is also noteworthy that the feedback source with the largest predicted influence is the group least likely to provide feedback to teachers in the target population. Finally, these findings indicate similarity-attraction and intergroup conflict theories are inappropriate frameworks since the group predicted to have the least influence on teacher feedback uptake is the teachers’ peers.

These findings imply that feedback systems around the world could have a larger influence on teacher practice if more mentor teachers provided feedback. Moreover, these conclusions are based on a well-designed, large-scale, cross-national dataset that does not tether generalizability to one, or even a few, nations/ economies. The universality of this study uncovers a relationship with the potential to improve one element of international teacher professional development systems.

Author

• Seth Hunter, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University