(c) 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Accountability and Teacher Evaluation Chapter 14

(c) 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

Accountability and Teacher Evaluation

Chapter 14


Accountability

NASPE documents inform parents and the public what competencies to expect of high school graduates– Some of these documents are now available online

Physical educators are responsible for poor image due to inadequate lesson preparation, poor personal appearance, failure to attend faculty and professional meetings, and inability to articulate objectives to public and students


No Child Left Behind

A federal mandate that attempts to ensure that all students have an opportunity to learn

Teachers must be certified to teach in the subject area for which they are teaching

Most states have not included physical education in their tests for student competency


Accountability includes:

Teachers and administrators for student learning

Parents and taxpayers for providing resources needed for adequate learning

Students for behavior


Accountability requires that:

Students understand the worth of physical education

Teachers improve their effectiveness Public must be convinced of the worth of

programs in order to support them– Physical education programs can be expensive because

of the facilities and equipment required to implement them

Evaluation can document the worth of a program


Surgeon General’s Report (1996)

Notes the benefit of staying active for a lifetime– This must include children as well as adults– Schools are the one place that we can reach

most children

Considers obesity to becoming an epidemic – Identifies lack of physical activity as a primary

cause of obesity


Teacher Evaluation

Teachers must:– state performance objectives

– assess student achievement of objectives

– utilize strategies to help students achieve objectives

– evaluate and eliminate weaknesses in own teaching and programs

Administrators must evaluate and help improve effectiveness


Teacher evaluation enables teachers to retain effective teaching behaviors and eliminate ineffective ones.


Teacher Evaluation Steps

Determine what to evaluate Choose or construct specific evaluation

techniques Use the appropriate techniques to record

information Evaluate or interpret data Make changes and reevaluate


Techniques

Student achievement or improvement Informal analysis Systematic observation


Student achievement or improvement If students are learning and have positive feelings

toward activity, then the teacher is effective, no mater how unorthodox the instruction appears to be

Common evaluation techniques include knowledge, skill and affective measurements

Another method--record student performance each day and compare to objectives for day


Evaluating teachers on student performance Major limitation is difficulty of accurately

evaluating student performance Students may learn because of or in spite of

a teacher When students learn, it is difficult to prove

which teaching behaviors caused the improvement


Self-evaluation

Checklist directs observer to specific parts of lesson

Rating scales are helpful for self-evaluation and goal-setting

Student attitudes can be sampled with Likert scales


Systematic Observation

Avoids subjectivity of informal analysis Primary purpose is to collect objective data

that accurately describe events occurring in the classroom

Hundreds of systems have been created Limited to a description of what the teacher

and students do, does not indicate quality of performance


Systematic Observation

Usually accompanies other techniques Types of systematic observation include:

– duration recording – interval recording – Group time sampling – event recording


Duration Recording

Is used to determine time spent on teacher functions

Stopwatch is used to record amount of time spent in each category

Variation - to record the amount of time spent in actual practice by and individual

Can be done for several brief periods during lesson


Interval Recording

The observation session is divided into a number of equal intervals and a specific behavior is observed and recorded at the conclusion of each interval

ALT-PE when coded without a computer is an example of an interval recording system


Group time sampling

Interval recording applied to a group Involves counting students engaged in a

particular behavior at the conclusion of each specified time interval

Planned Activity Check (Placheck)– Scan the class at pre-determined intervals for

specific behavior(s)


Event Recording

Tallying the frequency with which a given behavior occurs during a specified time period

Used to collect meaningful data on a variety of teacher or student behaviors

Can be converted into rate per minute Can be done for a certain part of the lesson

– E.g., when the teacher is doing demonstrations

Can be done for the entire class period


Examples of event recording

Types of questions– Academic, unrelated, etc.

Use of student names Types of feedback statements

– Positive, corrective, specific, general, etc.

Use of filler words– Like, okay, all right, etc.


Creating a Personalized Descriptive System Often evaluation instruments are not

appropriate for specific situation. Those familiar with situation create or adapt

an appropriate evaluation tool Should incorporate a single behavior focus,

a definition of categories, and observation and coding system, and reliability


Academic Learning Time in Physical Education (ALT-PE) Uses interval recording Six categories

– Activity– Knowledge– Management– Transition– Wait– Off task


Computers and hand held PDAs

Can automate the observation process Can show data immediately after an

observation without having to perform calculations by hand

Can chart behaviors and show improvement over several lessons


Step 3 - Use the Appropriate Techniques to Record Information Best evaluation technique is one that

provides precise feedback related to the specific teaching goal

Formulate plan to utilize effective techniques for objectives of lesson


Step 4 - Evaluate or Interpret Data Major purpose of evaluation is to determine

how close actual teaching behavior matches intended behavior

Evaluating teacher effectiveness is complex Instrumentation may not be sensitive to

differences in way individual skills are handled by individual teachers


Step 5 - Make Changes and Reevaluate Incorporate one or two selected changes

into the teaching repertoire Teach the same or a similar lesson,

concentrating on the intended changes, and reevaluate the lesson to determine whether or not the changes produced the desired results


Challenge to Teachers

Evaluation: – can help realize how much has been achieved– should be an on-going process– makes students accountable– makes teachers responsible for student

achievement


Accountability is vital to the credibility and effectiveness of the physical education profession.


Accountability and Teacher Evaluation

Chapter 14

Documents

(c) 2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved. Accountability and Teacher Evaluation Chapter 14