Cover image for Teacher and student evaluation : moving beyond the failure of school reform
Title:
Teacher and student evaluation : moving beyond the failure of school reform
Personal Author:
Publication Information:
New York : Routledge, 2014
Physical Description:
x, 204 pages ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780415810524

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30000010343030 LB2838 L38 2014 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

Following the recent major school reform of Race to the Top, schools, teachers, and students are increasingly evaluated through high-stakes achievement test scores. In six concise chapters, Teacher and Student Evaluation explores the historical rise and modern landscape of accountability in American education, and the current models of teacher evaluation. The authors provide realistic and useful suggestions for responding to current accountability demands.

The authors explore the methodological concerns and policy implications of using value-added and observational measures to make high-stakes decisions. After reaching the conclusion that these contemporary evaluation practices are flawed, Alyson Lavigne and Thomas Good offer possible solutions that inform current and future teacher evaluation. This book is a valuable resource for students of educational assessment as well as policy makers, administrators, and teachers who are currently building accountability plans. The book is written in an accessible but authoritative fashion that practitioners, policymakers, and scholars will find useful.


Author Notes

Alyson Leah Lavigne is Assistant Professor of Curriculum Studies at Roosevelt University, US.

Thomas L. Good is Professor and Head of Educational Psychology at the University of Arizona, US.


Reviews 1

Choice Review

Establishing better systems for evaluating teachers is a key feature of many models of school reform. Lavigne (Roosevelt Univ.) and Good (Univ. of Arizona) explore how many new ways of conducting teacher evaluations spring from the school reform movement and posit that many of these systems will be the true legacy of reform efforts. Before examining the dispositions and characteristics of a proficient teacher, the book reviews the historical basis of today's evaluation systems, the ways that evaluation is conducted today, and trends in the field. The book is organized into six chapters that cover the historical demands for accountability, the current school reform climate, teacher influence on student learning, contemporary evaluation activities, assessment of existing evaluation systems, and predictions about the future of the field. Special consideration is given to how different states have taken different paths in response to the latest calls for increased assessment of teacher performance from the Department of Education, with a cogent understanding of the many demands placed upon state departments of education. This balanced approach to the subject serves as an excellent resource for the novice and the expert. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. S. T. Schroth Knox College