Teacher Evaluation Kit

Complete Glossary

Glossary Overview

Ability - the present or potential capacity of a teacher to perform a task or to use skills, including ones that are intellectual and physical. See Aptitude, Performance, Skill, Talent.
Accountability - the responsibility for implementing a process or procedure, for justifying decisions made, and for results or outcomes produced. Teachers are often said to be accountable for their students' learning in the assigned subject area, within the limits of the students' abilities and the time and resources available. See Responsibility.
Accuracy - (1) the degree to which the data and information collected about the performance of a teacher are precise and correct measures of performance and are free from error. (2) one of four areas of standards in The Personnel Evaluation Standards: How To Assess Systems for Evaluating Educators by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. This area has eight sets of standards: Defined Role, Work Environment, Documentation of Procedures, Valid Measurement, Reliable Measurement, Systematic Data Control, Bias Control, Monitoring Evaluation Systems. See Bias, Conflict of Interest, Credible, Error of Measurement, Feasibility, Propriety, Quality Check, Rater Effect, Utility, Verification.
ADA - Americans with Disability Act. See Handicapping Conditions.
Administrative Feasibility (of Teacher Evaluation) - the extent to which appropriate data are readily available or can be obtained, produced, or interpreted with available resources such as staff expertise, time, and equipment. See Feasibility.
Administrative Responsibility (for Teacher Evaluation) - accountability, as stated in the teacher evaluation policy, for the conduct of the evaluation process and for the decisions made based on the evaluation results. See Accountability.
Administrator - the person who is responsible for the management of the organization within which the teacher works, who usually is in charge of the evaluation of teachers, and who is accountable for the quality of teaching and for ensuring that teachers have, to the extent possible, the resources needed to perform their duties and professional responsibilities. See Supervisor.
Adverse Impact - a difference between certain identified groups in the effect of assessment and evaluation results on personnel decisions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) indicator for possible adverse impact is that the selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group is less than 80% of the rate for the group with the highest rate. The pool of candidates in which adverse impact is said to have occurred must include only qualified candidates. See Fairness.
Affective Domain - the range of feelings and emotions including interests, attitudes, motivations, values, and appreciations. See Cognitive Domain, Psychomotor Domain.
Aggregating - The combining of two ro more related scores into one total score.
Alignment - the process of strengthening the linkage between job responsibilities and teacher evaluation systems, or between curriculum/instruction and assessment.
Alternative Assessment - a variety of assessment approaches that do not use multiple-choice or closed-response items, but instead require the teacher or students to generate or produce responses. Examples of alternative assessments are portfolios, interviews, and observations. See Authentic Assessment.
Analysis - the treatment of data and information in order to elicit certain statistical data, assessment results, and evaluative conclusions. See Congruence Analysis, Quality Check, Synthesis.
Analytic Scoring - an approach to scoring or rating that considers various parts or aspects of the attribute or performance being assessed, for use in profiling strengths and weaknesses or in obtaining an overall summary. Scores may be recorded as a check mark for presence or absence of an attribute, marked on a numerical or descriptive rating scale, or put in the form of a brief comment. See Holistic Scoring, Primary Trait Scoring, Scoring, Scoring Rubric.
Anecdotal Record - a short narrative of an event or activity that may be used to support generalizations about the performance of a teacher.
Announced Observation, Visit - an observation or visit that is prearranged with the teacher to be evaluated and for which the teacher can prepare.
Appeal Process - a procedure by which the teacher or another stakeholder can challenge the results of or a decision rendered based upon an evaluation of a teacher. An appeal may lead to a formal hearing. See , Grievance, Hearing, Stakeholders.
Aptitude - the potential for acquiring abilities or developing competencies. See Ability, Capacity, Competency.
Arbitrary - a characteristics of a decision or action that is uninformed or is based upon one person's judgment or discretion. See Capricious.
Artifact - (1) a product developed by the teacher or another individual. Examples include a sample lesson plan based on a designated chapter in a book, or a letter to parents from the teacher regarding a upcoming change in homework policy. (2) an artificial statistical phenomenon or result (e.g., test ceiling and floor, lack of reliability, limited sampling of teaching performance). (3) that which is artificial, contrived, or fictitious.
Assessment - the process of or instrument for measuring, quantifying, and/or describing those aspects of teaching related to the attributes covered by the evaluation. See Evaluation.
Assessment Center - the process of using simulation techniques to measure teaching performance. This term does not refer to a specific location. Depending on the nature of the assessment, it could be implemented at any of several locations. See Simulation.
Assessor - the person who collects data and who measures attributes related to the performance of a teacher. Assessors may be principals, other teachers, students, parents, district staff, or other persons. This term includes, but is not limited to, the interviewer, judge, observer, and scorer. See Evaluator, Interviewer, Judge, Observer, Scorer.
Attribute - a characteristic, capacity, or perceived quality of an individual or of a thing or place such as the work context or the school. For individuals, attributes include, but are not limited to, attitude, ability, behavior, skill, knowledge, or interest. See Construct.
Audience - those individuals who have a potential interest in the results of teacher performance assessment and evaluation and in the quality of teaching. See Stakeholders.
Audit - an independent quality check and verification of the assessment and evaluation of a teacher. See Monitoring, Quality Check, Verification.
Authentic Assessment - an assessment approach that has been designed to provide a realistic task, simulation, or problem related to that attribute or performance being measured. See Alternative Assessment, Portfolio, Simulation.
Bargaining Unit - See Collective Bargaining Unit.
BARS - See Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scale.
Behavior Summary Scale (BSS) - a type of rating assessment in which judgments about teacher performance are related to general or abstract benchmarks representing various levels of performance. See Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scale, Rating, Scale (Rating).
Behavioral Checklist - See Checklist.
Behavioral Observation Scale (BOS) - a type of rating assessment in which judgments about teacher performance are related to a series of statements describing specific examples of observable teacher behaviors. See Observable, Rating, Scale (Rating).
Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) - a type of rating assessment in which judgments about teacher performance are empirically linked to specific examples of incumbent performance at each level of effectiveness on the rating scale. See Behavior Summary Scale, Rating, Scale (Rating)
Behaviors - the actions of the teacher or others, including the students, that are specific and observable.
Benchmark - a referenced behavior for comparing observed performance at a given level. See Holistic Scoring, Scoring Rubric.
Bias - (1) a systematic tendency toward a lack of objectivity, fairness, or impartiality on the part of the assessor or evaluator, often based on personal preferences and inclinations. (2) systematic error in the assessment instrument and procedures, or in the interpretation and evaluation process. See Contamination, Differential Functioning, Error of Measurement, Fairness, Rater Effect.
Bonus Pay - an additional sum given to a teacher for substantive accomplishments (e.g., completing a graduate degree, receiving professional certification, earning an additional credential or license). See Incentive Pay, Longevity Pay, Merit Pay.
BOS - See Behavioral Observation Scale.
BSS - See Behavior Summary Scale.
Capacity - the potential for acquiring skills and competencies through such means as self-study, on-the-job training, mentoring, coaching, and professional development activities. See Competency, Skill.
Capricious - that which is unpredictable, unaccountable, impulsive, or without a supporting rationale, or which is characterized by implied unruly or whimsical behavior. See Arbitrary.
Career Ladder - an incremental scale of professional teaching positions through which a teacher advances, based on evaluations of past performance.
Ceiling - the highest limit of performance that can be assessed or measured by an instrument or process. Individuals who perform near to or above this upper limit are said to have reached the ceiling, and the assessment may not be providing a valid estimate of their performance levels. Such individuals should be given a more difficult assessment of the same attribute if it is necessary to differentiate between higher levels of performance. See Floor, Functional-Level Testing.
Central Tendency Effect - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate teachers toward the mid-point of a scale or to judge the performance as average or neutral when it is actually well above or well below the middle level of the scale. This use of term central tendency is not the same as that use in statistics. See Rater Effect.
Certification - (1) official recognition of advanced status, outstanding performance or a high level of expertise in the profession, usually granted to incumbent teachers who have several years of teaching experience. (2) sometimes certification is used as a synonym for credential or license. See Credentialing, License, NBPTS.
Checklist - an instrument that specifies criteria or indicators of merit on which the assessor or evaluator marks the presence or absence of the attributes or teaching behaviors being assessed.
Client - the agency or individual who commissioned the evaluation and to whom the evaluator has legal responsibility.
Clinical Supervision - a process of collaboration between the teacher and the supervisor or administrator, designed to improve the teacher's performance. This process usually includes pre-observation conference, observation and data collection, data analysis, post-observation conference, and post-observation conference evaluation report.
Coaching - the assistance given to teachers in ways that will improve their job performance, not just for the purpose of doing better on the evaluation, but also for the purpose of improved teaching and increased student learning. Coaching can include reviewing teacher products related to the domains being assessed, tutoring on the attributes being assessed, and offering feedback on the teachers' strengths and weaknesses. Coaching can also refer to teachers coaching students so that the students will perform better on a measure used as an indicator of the teacher's performance. See Mentoring, Peer Review, Test Score Pollution, Training.
Code- a symbol, either numeric or alphabetic, used to represent attributes or words (e.g., G3 = Third Grade, M = Math, TQ = Teacher asks question).
Coding - the process of transforming data, evidence, information, judgments, notes, and responses to numeric and/or alphabetic codes. See Code.
Cognitive Domain - the range of knowledge and knowledge-related skills needed for learners to achieve different types of instructional objectives. These range from perception to knowledge of facts and acquisition of skills to higher-order inference. See Affective Domain, Psychomotor Domain.
Collective Bargaining Agreement - a written document, approved by representatives of administrators, policymakers, and teachers, that addresses concerns such as teacher salaries, benefits, working conditions, evaluations, terminations and dismissals, appeal procedures, fair hearings, teachers' rights, and other aspects of teaching. See Contract, Hearing, Teachers' Rights.
Collective Bargaining Unit - a group that represents the teachers' interests in negotiations with administrators and policymakers. See Teachers 'Rights.
Combined Model - a scoring or evaluation procedure that uses features of both compensatory and conjunctive models. See Compensatory Model, Conjunctive Model.
Comments - the information provided by anyone involved in the evaluation process (e.g., teacher being evaluated, observer, interviewer, data collector, judge, analyzer, evaluator) concerning incidents or factors that could affect the quality and accuracy of the assessment data and the judgments and evaluations made (e.g., fire alarm sounded during the pre-conference interview). See Critical Information, Notes.
Comparability - the similarity of phenomena (e.g., attributes, performances, assessments, data sources) being examined. The amount or degree of comparability is often used to determine the appropriateness of using one phenomenon in lieu of another and to help ensure fairness. See Equivalence, Fairness.
Compensatory Model - an evaluation or scoring procedure that permits trade-offs of one attribute against another (i.e., low performance on one attribute can be offset by high performance on another). Most compensatory models have an absolute minimal level of performance for each attribute, below which trade-offs are not permitted. See Combined Model, Conjunctive Model, Disjunctive Model.
Competence (Teacher) - a teacher's repertoire of competencies. See Competency.
Competency (Teaching) - a knowledge, skill, ability, personal quality, experience, or other characteristic that is applicable to the profession of teaching. See Competence.
Component - one of the parts or processes in an evaluation system (e.g., pre-observation conference, group interview, classroom observation, portfolio).
Composite Score - a score that combines two or more scores or results for the same or related attributes. See Weighted Score.
Computerized Assessment - the use of computers to measure performance on some attribute, not necessarily an attribute related to computers and technology.
Concurrent Validity - See Validity.
Conference - a meeting between the teacher and the assessor or evaluator to discuss mutual concerns and to promote the understanding of the assessments being used, the evaluation procedures, the criteria and standards being applied, and how the results will be used. The conference can also be an opportunity to collect teacher responses if the conference includes an interview. See Debriefing Interview, Interview, Responses.
Confidentiality - the protection of data and information from persons other than those authorized to have access. See Consent, Informed Consent, Privacy Rights, Propriety, Reporting.
Configural Scoring Rule - a rule for interpreting a pattern of scores on two or more assessments or parts of one assessment for the same teacher. See Pattern, Synthesis, Weighted Score.
Conflict of Interest - a situation in which the private interests of someone involved in the assessment or evaluation process (e.g., interviewer, rater, scorer, evaluator) have an impact (either positive or negative) on the quality of the evaluation activities, the accuracy of the data, or the results of the evaluation. See Accuracy, Propriety.
Congruence Analysis - the verification of data by using more than one instrument or source of data for assessing performance on the same criterion. See Multiple Measures, Triangulation, Verification.
Conjunctive Model - an evaluation or scoring procedure that requires the teacher to attain a minimal level of performance on all attributes assessed. See Combined Model, Compensatory Model, Disjunctive Model.
Consent - the granting of permission by a teacher, or by the parents of students, concerning the collection, use, retention, or access to assessment data and information. See Confidentiality, Informed Consent, Reporting.
Consequences - any outcomes that occur as a result of implementing an assessment or measurement process. For example, just for the observation by the supervisor, a teacher uses a hands-on activity from the district's curriculum guide because the evaluation criteria encourage hands-on learning activities and require that the teachers implement the district curriculum. See Unintended Consequences, Validity-Consequential Basis of, Validity-Systemic.
Consequential Basis of Validity - See Validity.
Considered Necessary - that which is judged to be required, but may not be sufficient, to obtain an accurate and valid estimate of teaching performance or to make a sound decision about a teacher.
Consistency - (1) implementation of procedures in an identical or near identical manner across individuals or over time. (2) obtaining the same or similar results across multiple administrations or scoring of an assessment. (3) a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate or to interpret different data and information in a similar way. Such a rater tends to assign the same grade or rating to all assessment results and products without regard to their quality or to the scoring rubric. See Inconsistency, Rater Effect, Scoring Rubric.
Construct - an attribute of an individual or a phenomenon that is not directly observable, but which is theoretically based or is inferred from empirical evidence (e.g., a teacher being enthusiastic about the subject area). See Attribute, Operational Definition, Operationalize, Valildity-Construct.
Construct Validity - See Validity.
Contamination - a tendency for the assessor's data, the scorer's ratings and judgments, or the evaluator's conclusions to be influenced or confounded by irrelevant knowledge about the teacher, other personnel, or other factors that have no bearing on the teacher's level of performance. See Bias, Error of Measurement, Rater Effect.
Content Validity - See Validity.
Context (Teaching) - the environment within which the teacher works. This includes, but is not limited to, physical facilities and setting, types of students, school and community characteristics, resource availability (staff, materials, equipment, funding, time), classroom climate, school climate, degree of support provided by others, and demands made on the teacher. See Critical Information, Induction, Learning Environment.
Contextual Variables - See Notes, Variable.
Contract - a binding agreement (written or oral) between two or more parties concerning expectations, responsibilities, and possibly remuneration or award of each party. See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Plan of Assistance.
Contrast Effect - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to compare one teacher to other teachers rather than comparing that teacher's level of performance to the standards. See Rater Effect.
Correlation - the degree of relationship (linear or curvelinear) between two variables, scores, or assessments. Correlations, by themselves, do not imply cause-and-effect linkages between the two variables. See Effective Teaching, Validity Coefficient, Variable.
Corroborating Evidence - the documentation that confirms or strengthens, and that provides support for other documentation on the same attribute, competency, or situation. See Documentation, Evidence, Triangulation.
Cost - the quantity of resources required in order to achieve a desired end. The cost of teacher evaluation involves such factors as time, energy, disruption, foregone opportunities, and stress that are not completely reducible to monetary terms.
CRA - Civil Rights Act of 1964. See Due Process.
CREATE - The federally-funded research and development Center for Research on Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation, located in The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo and directed by Dr. Daniel Stufflebeam. CREATE was established on November 1, 1990, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (USED), Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) through October 31, 1995.
Credentialing - the process of reviewing potential teachers' qualifications and issuing licenses to teach. See Certification, License.
Credible - that which is worthy of confidence and acceptance by others, usually based on the expertise, trustworthiness, and/or reliability of the source of the evidence or judgment. Credible does not necessarily mean accurate or valid. See Accuracy, Expert, Trust, Validity-Face.
Criterion, Criteria - a dimension along which performance (e.g., effective teaching) is rated or judged as successful or meritorious. Each criterion falls within a domain covered by the evaluation system and is defined by elements, indicators, and descriptors (see below for examples). The indicators and descriptors should be stated specifically and in measurable or observable terms. Satisfactory levels of performance on criteria are specified by standards. See Foundation, Standard.
- Example of a Criterion - The teacher can select and create materials that are related to the subject area and are developmentally appropriate for the students.
- Domain - a broad area covered by a teacher evaluation system and for which criteria and standards are specified for assessing performances in that domain.
- Element - a major category of teacher knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and attributes within a domain.
- Indicator - for each element, the types of knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviors, and attributes that are empirically or by definition connected to the criterion.
- Descriptor - for each indicator, a specific example of the performancebeing assessed.
Criterion-Related Validity - See Validity.
Critical Incident - a significant and observable episode or performance (effective or ineffective) in a teacher's career that alters the direction of subsequent teaching behaviors, activities, or events. Such events may include noteworthy accomplishments, substantive improvement, and/or significant failures that are not typical of the teacher's performance, but which should be considered as potential information for the evaluation of that teacher's performance. See Critical Incident Appraisal.
Critical Incident Appraisal - the use of documentation concerning critical incidents when evaluating and making decisions about a teacher's current and potential performance. See Critical Incident, Documentation.
Critical Information - the knowledge about the teacher being evaluated or the assessment instruments, evaluation process, and/or working conditions and teaching context that must be known to avoid incorrect interpretations of results. See Context (Teaching).
Critical Score - See Cutting Score, Passing Score.
Curricular Validity - See Validity.
Curriculum - (1) a comprehensive overview, including activities planned for delivery to the students, the scope of content, the sequence of materials, interpretation and balance of subject matter, and motivational, instructional, and assessment techniques to be used. (2) a set of ordered intended learning outcomes.
Cutting Score - a score that marks the difference between two levels of teaching performance (e.g., good and excellent). When the difference is between minimally acceptable and not acceptable, or pass and not pass, it is referred to as a cut score, critical score, or passing score. See Passing Score.
Dance of the Lemons - the practice of reassigning teachers who are incompetent or who are performing below acceptable levels to other positions in the school or the district. This practice is also called "pass the turkey" or "turkey trot." See Incompetence.
Data - the information and evidence gathered during the assessment process for use in determining the level of teaching performance. See Evidence, Extant Data, Information.
Data Collection Procedures - the steps and sources used to obtain qualitative and quantitative data and information about a teacher's qualifications and performance. See Procedures (Evaluation).
Data Integration - the merging of related data for use in scoring, judging, and evaluating.
Data Sources - the persons, documents, products, activities, events, and records from which the data are obtained.
DBTE - See Duties-Based Teacher Evaluation.
Debriefing Interview - a series of questions asked after an assessment activity to clarify behaviors and activities, to fill in missing information, to encourage a teacher to reflect of his/her performance, and to identify future directions and plans for improving performance. See Conference, Interview.
Decision Rules - the guidelines for determining the level of merit, value, or worth of an aspect of a teacher's performance from available and relevant data and information, or for connecting those performance levels with subsequent actions such as hiring, job assignment, tenure, or licensure.
Defensible - an action, conclusion, or statement that is explainable or justifiable, based on a solid foundation and policy, explicit evaluation procedures, valid assessments, and sound evaluation and decision-making practices.
Definition - the description, explanation, or interpretation of various aspects of the evaluation process (e.g., attribute, domain, standard, instrument, assessor).
Demonstration (Performance) -< a specified assessment task, procedure, or activity that the teacher implements and during which performance of that teacher is observed. See Exhibition.
Descriptor - See Criterion.
Desired Outcomes - the results or products that a training program, process, instructional unit, or learning activity strives to achieve, as defined in measurable terms. See Goal, Objectives.
Developmentally Appropriate - a characteristic of an assessment task that reflects the skills and knowledge which teachers and students, with a given level of training and experience, have had a reasonable chance of acquiring or learning. See Fairness.
Diagnosis - the process of determining a teacher's strengths and weaknesses, based on the results of the assessments use in the evaluation. Diagnosis is an essential preliminary to preparing a professional development plan for a teacher or a plan of assistance in cases where remediation is needed. See Plan of Assistance, Remediation.
Differential Functioning - a characteristic of an assessment approach, task, instrument, or evaluation system that yields higher results for one group than another group, even though both groups have the same level of ability or competence on that aspect of teaching. See Bias.
Differential Prediction - the extent to which a measure estimates future performance on the same attribute differently for two or more groups of teachers who vary on relevant characteristics (e.g., years of teaching experience, special training completed).
Discrepancy - the difference in results between two or more raters or scorers on the same assessment, or between two or more evaluators concerning the same teacher. See Reliability.
Disjunctive Model - an evaluation or scoring procedure that requires the teacher to achieve a minimal level of performance on only one of the attributes assessed. See Compensatory Model, Conjunctive Model.
Dismissal - the involuntary termination of employment which should be based upon a teacher's level of performance, school staffing needs, or reductions and layoffs. See Forced Resignation, Hearing, Incompetence, Reduction in Force, Tenure.
Documentation - the collection or compilation of all tangible materials, records, and forms used in the assessment of a teacher and the evaluation of teaching performance. See Record (noun).
Documenting - the process of recording and providing tangible evidence and information about the performance of a teacher.
Domain - See Criterion.
DOTT - Duties of the Teacher. (Scriven, 1993). Kalamazoo, MI. Center for Research on Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation, The Evaluation Center, Western Michigan University.
Drift - See Rater Drift.
Due Process - a teacher's right to fair and impartial treatment as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, by various laws (e.g., Civil Rights Act of 1964), and by related procedural requirements. See Appeal Process, Dismissal, Hearing, Tenure.
Duties-Based Teacher Evaluation (DBTE) - a teacher evaluation approach that is based on what a teacher is legally and professionally required to do as a teacher. Duties and professional responsibilities are specified, to a limited degree, in state laws and regulations, school district policies, job descriptions, and the normal expectations and demands for a given teaching context. See Teacher Norms.
Duty - that which a teacher is legally required and morally obligated to do (or not do) as part of his/her job. See Duties-Based Evaluation, Responsibility.
EEOC - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. See Adverse Impact.
Effective Teaching - those teaching practices that lead to desirable results such as student learning as measured by standardized tests. Often such practices are identified based on correlational research, referred to a process-product research, that does not indicate a cause-and-effect link between certain teaching practices and student learning. See Correlation, Teacher Effectiveness.
Effectiveness - an attribute of those schools, teachers, programs, and approaches that meet their stakeholders' needs. See Efficiency, Stakeholders.
Efficiency - an attribute of those schools, teachers, programs, and approaches that balance effectiveness against considerations of costs (i.e., are effective with a minimum use of resources). See Effectiveness.
Element - See Criterion.
Environment - See Context (Teaching), Learning Environment.
Equitable - that which is fair, impartial, and just, and which provides equal opportunity for all. See Fairness.
Equity - a quality or state that is fair, impartial, and just. See Equitable, Fairness.
Equivalence - the comparability of two or more parallel measures that have been designed to assess the same aspect of teaching and to yield similar evaluation results regardless of the measure used or the scoring/rating procedure applied (e.g., two different social studies textbook chapters to be analyzed as part of a semi-structured interview; two essay questions on teaching the same content area in math, but to different types of student groups). See Comparability.
Error - the extent to which a score, assessment, or calculation is incorrect or inaccurate. See Accuracy, Error of Measurement.
Error of Measurement - the difference between a teacher's obtained score and his/her true score on an assessment that is due to factors beyond the control of that teacher, including lack of reliability in the assessment instrument or process, variability of settings of the assessment, limited sampling of teacher performance, bias of the assessor, rater effects, and interactions among such factors. See Assessor, Bias, Contamination, Obtained Score, Rater Effect, Reliability, Sampling of Performance, True Score.
Estimate - an approximation of a true score, parameter, or value. A rating of a teacher's portfolio is an estimate of the quality of that portfolio and, indirectly, the performance of that teacher. Because no instrument or statistical procedure can provide an exact (or true) score or value, essentially all data are estimates. The smaller the error of measurement, the more precise the estimate of the true score or value. See Error of Measurement, Measure (verb), Obtained Score, Score, True Score.
Ethical - performing the evaluation or behaving in accordance with a moral code of conduct that addresses such issues as the well-being of the teacher and his/her students, the good of the school and its community, and the innate rights of individuals.
Evaluand - that which is being evaluated (e.g., program, personnel, product, policy, proposal, procedure). See Evaluator, Evaluee.
Evaluation - the systematic process of determining the merit, value, and worth of someone (the evaluee, such as a teacher, student, or employee) or something (the evaluand, such as a product, program, policy, procedure, or process). See Assessment, Teacher Evaluation.
Evaluation Stages - the major steps in the teacher evaluation process (e.g., orientation meeting; distribution of copies of job descriptions, evaluation procedures, and timelines; scheduling of the first conference and the first formal observation).
Evaluation System - See Teacher Evaluation System.
Evaluator - a person who assembles data and information collected about a teacher, analyzes them, makes judgments as to whether that teacher's performance level meets the pre-specified standards, prepares a summary report, writes recommendations, and may provide feedback to the teacher, directly or through another person. In general, one evaluator determines the overall merit, value, and/or worth of the evaluee. See Assessor, Evaluand, Evaluee.
Evaluee, Evaluatee - the person whose qualifications and performance are being evaluated. See Evaluand, Evaluator.
Evidence - the documentation and verbal statements by credible witnesses (e.g., students, peers, principal) concerning the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors of a teacher. Evidence is used both to generate and to justify judgments about a teacher's performance for purposes of evaluation. See Corroborating Evidence, Credible, Data, Inference, Validity - Evidential Basis of.
Excellence - a quality or state of high or superior performance, or of having virtues and values surpassing most others.
Exemplary Teacher - a teacher whose level on some aspect of performance is regarded as deserving of imitation and modeling. See Modeling.
Exhibition - an inclusive demonstration of skills or competencies. The performance is judged against standards of excellence known to teachers ahead of time. Typically, these are live performances, often interdisciplinary, and may require individual creativity as well as a display of developed skills. Exhibitions can include individual or group/collaborative projects produced over an extended period of time. See Demonstration (Performance), Group/Collaborative Product.
Expectation - the anticipated performance of a teacher. The performance of a teacher can be affected by the expectations that the assessor or evaluator has for the teacher being evaluated. If the evaluator has high expectations for the teacher being assessed, there is an increased likelihood of the teacher performing at a higher level than he/she might otherwise; holding low expectations for a teacher can reduce performance levels. Sometimes the opposite impact can occur. Too high expectations can undermine a teacher's confidence, while too low expectations can impel the teacher to strive for greater performance. The same applies with regard to teachers' expectations of students.
Experience - that which is acquired through exposure to or participation in an activity or process. See On-the-Job Training, Track Record.
Expert - one who has demonstrated a high level of proficiency in a knowledge area or skill. See Credible, Proficiency.
Extant Data - existing data, information, and observations that have been collected or that are available for use in the assessment and evaluation processes. See Data.
Face Validity - See Validity.
Fairness - impartiality. Fairness refers to such aspects of the assessment program and evaluation system as equal opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills to be assessed, use of developmentally appropriate assessments, sound procedures, appropriate use of evaluation results, and reasonable demands on the teachers being evaluated in terms of such factors as time, costs, and personal resources required. See Adverse Impact, Bias, Comparability, Developmentally Appropriate, Equitable, Equity.
Feasibility - (1) the likelihood or extent to which appropriate data and information are readily available or can be obtained, produced, or interpreted with available resources such as staff, expertise, time, and equipment. (2) one of four areas of standards in The Personnel Evaluation Standards: How To Assess Systems for Evaluating Educators by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. This area has three sets of standards: Practical Procedures, Political Viability, Fiscal Viability. See Accuracy, Administrative Feasibility, Propriety, Utility.
Feedback - the information and recommendations provided to a teacher about his/her performance based on the results of that teacher's evaluation and designed to help the teacher improve his/her performance and make decisions concerning professional development and improvement. See Reporting.
First-Impression Effect - a rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to base judgments and evaluations on early opinions rather than on a complete picture and tends to distort subsequent information to fit the initial opinion. See Halo Effect, Rater Effect.
Floor - the lowest limit of performance that can be assessed or measured by an instrument or process. Individuals who perform near to or below this lower limit are said to have reached the floor, and the assessment may not be providing a valid estimate of their performance levels. Such individuals should be given a less difficult assessment of the same attribute if it is necessary to differentiate between lower levels of performance. See Ceiling, Functional-Level Testing.
Forced-Choice Response - a format for a test, assessment, rating, or survey item where the respondent is given a limited number of options from which to select an answer. In cases where there is a correct or best answer, the other options are referred to as distractors. Examples of forced-choice items are multiple-choice questions, true/false items, checklists , and a five-point rating scale. See Open-Ended Response.
Forced Resignation - a termination of employment in which the teacher leaves against his/her will, but which is recorded as voluntary (e.g., early retirement instead of layoff). See Dismissal, Reduction in Force, Tenure.
Formal - the conducting of an assessment or evaluation activity in accordance with a prescribed plan, structure, or advance notice. See Informal.
Format - the structure of assessment instruments, evaluation forms, and materials. Format includes shape, size, mode of delivery (e.g., paper versus computer, in-person versus telephone, audio tape versus video tape), and general design or layout of the materials and equipment.
Formative Teacher Evaluation - an evaluation conducted primarily for the purpose of improving the teacher through identifying that teacher's strengths and weaknesses. Formative evaluation is usually done by a supervisor or another teacher rather than an administrator and is typically part of professional development. See Professional Development, Summative Teacher Evaluation.
Foundation - the rationale for the attributes and domains covered by the teacher evaluation. Foundations can include teacher duties and professional responsibilities, research on teaching, governmental policies, professional expertise, and theories of teaching and learning. Through descriptive or prescriptive analysis, foundations become the basis upon which the domains to be covered by the evaluation are determined and the elements, indicators, and descriptors are identified. This approach will help ensure that the criteria reflect the school's and district's missions and policies. See Criterion, Model.
Frequency of Evaluation - how often an evaluation is conducted (e.g., every year for a tenured teacher, three times a year for a non-tenured teacher). See Schedule, Timeline.
Functional-Level Testing - the administration of an instrument or assessment process whose difficulty level is appropriate for the individuals being tested, but not necessarily for the age or grade level or group membership of that individual. Functional-level testing refers to the individual being tested, not to the group for whom the assessment was designed nor the group to which the individual belongs. See Ceiling, Floor.
Generalizability - the appropriateness of using results from one context or purpose in another context or for another purpose. See Context (Teaching), Situational Specificity, Transferability, Transportability, Validity, Validity Generalization Study.
Goal - a statement of intent or an end that a person or a group strives to attain. A goal tends to be more general than an objective. See Desired Outcomes, Instructional Goal, Objectives, Performance Goal.
Grievance - a claim by a teacher who has been evaluated that the results misrepresent the teacher's level of performance. A grievance may lead to the filing of an appeal and possibly to a formal hearing. See Appeal Process, Hearing.
Group/Collaborative Product - the outcome or result of two or more teachers working together to complete an assessment task for use in evaluation (e.g., a team of teachers preparing a joint review of prospective field trips). See Exhibition.
Halo Effect - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to base overall judgments or evaluations on selected pieces of information rather than on all available relevant information. See First-Impression Effect, Rater Effect.
Handicapping Condition - a disability (auditory, visual, other physical, emotional, learning) that affects a teacher's or student's performance on an assessment if the assessment is administered under standard conditions. Adjustments made for such disabilities include use of an amanuensis, computerized testing, large-print materials, and extended time limits.
Hearing - an opportunity for a teacher facing dismissal to appeal the decision by presenting arguments, proofs, evidence, and testimony by others. The process includes several steps such as discovery, direct examination, cross and re-direct examinations, closing arguments, deliberation, and the issuance of a written ruling. See Appeal Process, Collective Bargaining Agreement, Dismissal, Due Process, Grievance.
High Inference - the types of judgments, decisions, and conclusions that are based on complex inductive reasoning and that require a high degree of subjectivity on the part of the individual (e.g., since the classroom noise level is excessive, students are off task). See Inference, Low Inference, Subjective.
High-Stakes Testing - an assessment to which important consequences, such as licensure or hiring, are attached to the results. See Test Score Pollution.
Holistic Scoring - the assignment of a single score that reflects an overall impression of performance on a measure. Scores are defined by prescribed descriptors of levels of performance, or scoring rubrics. See Analytic Scoring, Benchmark, Primary Trait Scoring, Scoring, Scoring Rubric.
Incentive Pay - the allocation of special payments or salary increments to a teacher who does different types of work or assumes additional responsibilities (e.g., coaching an athletic team, being a mentor teacher, teaching a particularly challenging group of students or a difficult course). See Bonus Pay, Longevity Pay, Merit Pay.
Incompetence - the intentional or unintentional failure to perform the duties and professional responsibilities of the teaching job in a minimally acceptable manner as specified by the employing district. Incompetence usually results in remediation, reassignment, or dismissal. See Dance of the Lemons, Dismissal, Remediation.
Inconsistency - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate or to interpret similar data and information in different ways. See Consistency, Rater Effect.
Indicator - See Criterion.
Induction - an initial period of exposure to a school or work setting during which the teacher learns local policies and practices and the norms of teaching in that setting. See Context (Teaching), Teacher Norms.
Inference - a logical conclusion or judgment that is explicitly supported by data, evidence, and information gathered as part of the teacher evaluation process. See Data, Evidence, High Inference, Information, Low Inference.
Informal - the conducting of an assessment or evaluation activity without a prescribed plan or structure, or with little or no advance notice. See Formal.
Information - the knowledge about the attributes and performance of a teacher, based on assessments, documentation, and data sources used in the assessment and evaluation processes. See Data, Evidence, Inference.
Informed Consent - the agreement between concerned parties about the data-gathering process and/or the disclosure, reporting, and/or use of data, information, and/or results from a teacher's assessment and evaluation. See Confidentiality, Consent, Reporting.
Input Variables - the activities, materials, and teacher behaviors designed to improve student learning and behavior. Examples include lesson plans, teacher knowledge of the topic being taught, preparation of equipment, and teacher awareness of student misconceptions. See Outcome Variables, Process Variable, Variable.
Instruction - the systematic provision of information, opportunities, and resources to promote the development of a repertoire of knowledge and skills. See Training
Instructional Goal - a statement of what students are expected to learn in a given lesson, unit, course, program, or across educational and training programs. See Goal, Objectives, Performance Goal.
Instrument - a device used to collect data, information, and evidence. These devices can include tests, questionnaires, application forms, interview schedules, checklists, rating scales, and observation records. See Measure(noun), Test (noun).
Interdisciplinary - the covering of knowledge and skills from several academic subject areas and/or domains.
Intern - a new teacher who receives support from a mentor teacher as part of a professional development process. See Mentor Teacher.
Interview - a series of orally-delivered questions designed to elicit responses concerning attitudes, information, interests, knowledge, and opinions. Interviews may be conducted in person or by telephone, and with one teacher or a group of teachers. The three major types of interviews are: (1) structured, where all questions to be asked by the interviewer are specified in advance; (2) semi-structured, where the interviewer can asked other questions and prompts in addition to the specified questions; and (3) unstructured, where the interviewer has a list of topics, but no or few specified questions. See Conference, Debriefing Interview, Prompt, Responses.
Interviewer - the assessor who conducts the interview, either in a face-to-face setting or by telephone, and makes a record of the responses.
Investigation - a systematic examination, observation, or inquiry. Investigations can be: (1) a type of assessment task or activity; or (2) a process conducted during or after the administration of an assessment as part of a quality check (e.g., examining a teacher's portfolio that has been assigned discrepant ratings by two raters, comparing the observation summary record with the notes collected by the observer).
Irregularity (Procedural) - a variation form established rules, standards, principles, or procedures in a manner that can lead to unjustifiable actions or indefensible decisions. See Procedures, Standardized Conditions.
Job Analysis - a technique for studying a teaching job in terms of the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed to perform the job in a minimally acceptable manner as well as the functions and tasks that are performed as part of the job. This process may involve observation of teachers while they are doing their jobs as well as interviews with these teachers, and possibly their supervisors, and review of such documents as job descriptions, school procedures, and teacher products.
Job Assignment - the designated position of a teacher, including the grade levels and the students to be taught, the curricular areas to be covered, the work location, the duration of employment, and non-instructional responsibilities.
Job Description - a summary of the qualifications, duties, responsibilities, physical and mental demands, and working conditions associated with a specific job.
Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation - a group of professionals that developed 21 standards in the areas of accuracy, feasibility, propriety, and utility for use in assessing personnel evaluation systems (listed in the References ). See Accuracy, Feasibility, Propriety, Utility.
Journal - a daily or weekly record of events which teachers may be asked to keep as part of their teaching, self-assessment activities, training, and/or professional development. See Log (Teacher).
Judge - the person who makes judgments for use in evaluating the teacher. See Assessor, Evaluator, Judgment.
Judgment - an appraisal, decision, or opinion about the performance level of a teacher with respect to the knowledge, skill, ability, behavior, or attribute being assessed.
Knowledge - the sum of the information and experience the teacher has acquired or learned and is able to recall or use. See Competency, Prerequisite Knowledge.
KSAs - an abbreviation for knowledge, skills, and abilities. See Job Analysis.
Learning Environment - the setting in which student instruction occurs. See Context (Teaching).
Learning Outcomes - the products of instruction or exposure to new knowledge or skills. Examples include the mastery of a new skill or successful completion of a training program.
Legally Defensible - an action, conclusion, or statement that can be upheld under current legislation, governmental mandates, and court decisions. See Defensible.
Leniency - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate a teacher too high or to judge the performance level as better than it actually is. See Rater Effect, Stringency.
Lesson - the content that is to be taught or the activity that is to be done during a specific period of instructional time. See Instruction.
License - the approval by a governmental agency, usually at the state level, for an individual to be a teacher in the designated state, grade levels, subject areas, and specialties. Licensure indicates that the candidate has met a minimum level of requirements, designed to ensure the protection of student, public health, safety, and welfare interests. See Certification, Credentialing.
Log (Teacher) - a journal or diary, maintained by the teacher, supervisor, assessor, or administrator, that includes such topics as decisions, plans, activities, results, changes, and reflections. The log can serve as a source of information for self-assessment or an evaluation or can be included as part of a portfolio. See Journal, Portfolio, Reflection.
Longevity Pay - the salary increases that are based solely on accrued time of service. See Bonus Pay, Incentive Pay, Merit Pay.
Low Inference - the types of assessment tasks, judgments, decisions, and conclusions that require a low degree of subjectivity on the part of the judge or evaluator (e.g., teacher emphasizes recall questions, based on a count of the types of questions asked of students during a classroom observation and the questions on the teacher's unit test). See High Inference, Inference, Objective.
MBO (Management by Objectives)-Based Evaluation - a teacher evaluation approach based on a set of pre-specified objectives prepared for or in collaboration with the teacher. See Foundation.
Master Teacher - a teacher who has been identified as exhibiting superior performance and expertise.
Mastery Testing - an assessment process designed to determine whether a teacher or student has acquired a predetermined level of content knowledge or skills.
Measure (noun) - an instrument or device that provides data on the quantity or quality of that aspect of teaching performance being evaluated. See Instrument.
Measure (verb) - to classify or estimate, in relation to a scale, rubric, or standard, the degree of quality or quantity of that aspect of teaching being evaluated. See Estimate, Scoring Rubric, Standard.
Measurement-Based Evaluation - a teacher evaluation approach that is based on the use of methods which are not dependent on the expertise of the evaluator. See Evaluator, Foundation.
Mentor Teacher - an experienced, often specially trained, teacher who works with new teachers, interns, or regular teachers in a professional improvement program. Mentors serve as resources, coaches, advisors, and confidants to other teachers and may be involved in formative evaluation activities as well as in the development and implementation of the plan of assistance. See Coaching, Intern, Master Teacher, Mentoring, Modeling, Plan of Assistance.
Mentoring - the provision of support by experienced teachers to promote the development of new or less experienced teachers. See Coaching, Mentor Teacher.
Merit - the overall professional competence of a teacher. Merit can include such factors as breadth and depth of knowledge of a subject area, specialized training completed, ability to work with different types of students, and fluency in a second language. See Competence, Competency, Meritorious Performance, Talent, Value, Worth.
Merit Pay - the salary increments allocated to a teacher based on some form of evaluation that demonstrates the teacher's superior level of performance. See Bonus Pay, Incentive Pay, Longevity Pay, Meritorious Performance.
Meritorious Performance - a level of performance that well exceeds the standard for minimally acceptable and that may be worthy of professional recognition, career ladder advancement, reward, or merit pay. See Merit Pay, Minimally Acceptable.
Meta-Evaluation -
Method of Assessment - the techniques or instruments used to measure teacher attributes and behaviors. Examples include rating scales, observation checklists, structured interviews, and portfolios.
Method of Data Collection - the specific means used to document teacher performance. Essentially, this includes the data forms and procedures necessary to define the specifics of the teacher evaluation model or system. The five methods detailed in this kit are test scores, observation, reflection, ratings, and portfolios. See Observation, Portfolio, Rating, Reflection, Scale (Rating), Score, Test(noun).
Method of Evaluation - the approach used to conduct the evaluation (e.g., the use of formal classroom observations followed by an interview with the supervisor and an oral examination by a team of peers).
Minimally Acceptable - a performance level that meets the minimum standards, as defined by its criteria. Any lower level of performance is not acceptable in terms of the purpose of the evaluation. See Competency, Standard.
Minimally Competent - See Competence, Minimally Acceptable.
Model - an example of a coherent method, approach, procedure, or strategy of teaching or of teacher evaluation, as defined by its key or unique assumptions, propositions, attributes, supportive theory, research, practical precedent, or foundation, and which implicitly defines accomplished or good teaching. See Criterion, Foundation.
Modeling - the use exemplary teachers and mentors to demonstrate practices of good teaching to other teachers for the purpose of improvement or of repertoire expansion. See Exemplary Teacher, Mentor Teacher, Self-Assessment.
Monitoring - the checking on a process or a person to verify that progress is being made, required activities are occurring, assessment and evaluation procedures are being implemented, suggested teaching practices are being tried, prior information is still applicable, earlier decisions can still be justified, and/or standards are being met. See Audit.
Multiple Measures - the array of different types of evidence that are collected or assessment instruments that are used to better assess a teacher's knowledge, skills, and performance. Together, multiple measures of the same attribute provide a more comprehensive, reliable, and valid measure of that attribute than any one measure alone. See Congruence Analysis, Triangulation.
NBPTS - National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
NCTM - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Notes - the descriptive information about the context within which the teacher is being evaluated and/or about the process itself. For an observation, this might include the number and types of students present, a list of materials being used in the lesson, a description of the classroom arrangement, and information on events that occur during the observation. See Comments, Scripting.
Objective (adjective) - a characteristic of an assessment, observation, or conclusion that minimizes the impact of bias and subjectivity, and that yields results which can be empirically verified. See Low Inference, Replicable, Subjective.
Objectives - the pre-specified intended outcomes of a program, process, or policy. In the case of education, these are usually in the form of learning and behavioral objectives for students. Professional development objectives may also be part of the teacher evaluation process. Objectives tend to be more specific than goals. See Desired Outcomes, Goal.
Observable - that which can be seen and documented by another person. For example, the tone of the teacher's voice can be observed and recorded, but the thinking of the teacher that determined the tone of voice cannot be observed.
Observation - one of several methods used to collect data about a teacher's performance. It may also cover student behavior, the teaching context, and the learning environment. Observing should include the recording of evidence and notes while watching the teacher. Observations typically occur in the teacher's own classroom, but they may also occur in other settings (e.g., playground, staff meeting, parent-teacher conference) or may be based on audio tapes or videotapes. See Announced Observation/Visit, Behaviors, Context (Teaching), Learning Environment, Observer, Performance (Teacher).
Observer - the person who collects evidence and notes about what he/she is observing, either in a classroom or another setting. The observer is an assessor, but may or may not be an evaluator. See Assessor, Evaluator, Observation.
Obtained Score - the actual results for a teacher or student on an assessment. Because of error of measurement and other factors, the obtained score may not be the same as that teacher's or student's true score. See Error of Measurement, Estimate, Score, True Score.
OERI - Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the United States Department of Education (USED).
On-the-Job Training - the structured provision of training in skills and knowledge through actual work experience rather than indirect methods such as workshops, conferences, or simulations. See Experience, Mentoring, Training.
Open-Ended Response - a format of a test, assessment, or survey item that calls for the answer to be supplied by the respondent rather than selecting from a list of options. Examples include essay questions, short-answer questions, drawings, and fill-in-the-blank items. See Forced-Choice Response.
Operational Definition - a very precise statement about how observed behaviors or events will be interpreted as representing a designated construct. See Construct, Operationalize.
Operationalize - the defining of a psychological or physical attribute by the way it is measured. For example, teacher expectation may be operationalized by the number of higher-order versus lower-order questions the teacher asks of individual students. See Attribute, Construct, Operational Definition.
Orientation - the acquainting of some or all stakeholders with the teacher assessment and evaluation policies, procedures, and processes in order to promote understanding and to improve the quality of the assessment and evaluation. See Stakeholders.
Outcome Variables - the results or products of teaching. Examples include student mastery of skills, completion of courses, teacher-developed instructional materials, student projects, and student performance on standardized tests. See Input Variables, Student Learning Outcomes, Process Variable, Variable.
Passing Score - a score or level of performance that represents the difference between those teachers whose level of performance is minimally acceptable and those whose performance is not acceptable. Teachers below the "passing score" (also called cut score or critical score) may be given a plan of assistance, mentoring, a job reassignment, or even be dismissed from teaching, depending on the level of performance and the merit and worth of that teacher. See Cutting Score, Dismissal, Merit, Plan of Assistance, Worth.
Pattern - a series of similar behaviors or common attributes over a period of time or across different settings or contexts.
Pedagogy - the art and science of teaching. Some pedagogical skills apply across teaching situations whereas others apply only to specific subject areas (pedagogical content knowledge).
Peer Review - the evaluation of a teacher by other teachers, usually done to provide feedback to the evaluee for purposes of professional development and improvement, or to provide subject-matter and context-related expertise not possessed by others involved in the evaluation process. See Coaching, Mentoring.
Percentile Rank - a number indicating an individual's performance level or score in relation to its standing in the distribution of scores of a representative group of individuals. A percentile rank of 95 means that the individual did as well as or better than 95% or the group upon whom the percentile ranks are based. Percentile ranks cannot be arithmetically manipulated due to their varying interval nature.
Performance (Teacher) - that which a teacher does on the job. Performance depends upon the teacher's competence, abilities, and talents as well as upon the context within which the teacher works. See Ability, Competence, Context (Teaching).
Performance Appraisal - the systematic process of determining the merit, value, and worth of a teacher's current performance and estimating his/her potential level of performance with further development. See Merit, Performance Assessment, Performance Evaluation, Value, Worth.
Performance Assessment - (1) the process of measuring or describing performance attributes of the teacher being evaluated. (2) a measurement approach in which the teacher displays behaviors or prepares products that are judged by an assessor according to pre-specified standards or scoring rubrics. See Assessor, Attribute, Merit, Performance (Teacher), Performance Appraisal, Performance Evaluation, Scoring Rubric, Standard, Value, Worth.
Performance Evaluation - the process of determining the merit, value, and worth, based on assessment results, of some performance attribute(s) of the teacher being evaluated. See Attribute, Merit, Performance Appraisal, Performance Assessment, Teacher Evaluation, Value, Worth.
Performance Goal - a specific statement of what is to be accomplished by the teacher (e.g., growth in knowledge, development of a skill, changes in practice), how the goal will be met (e.g., activities, resources), when the goal will be met, and how achievement of the goal can be assessed or determined. See Goal, Instructional Goal, Objectives.
Performance Indicator - See Criterion.
Performance Review - See Performance Appraisal.
Performance Standard - See Standard.
Permanent Teacher - a teacher who has a permanent contract with the employing school district or educational agency. See Tenure, Tenured Teacher.
Personnel Evaluation - the systematic determination of the merit, value, and worth of the job-related performance of an employee. See Merit, Value, Worth.
Pilot Testing - a preliminary try-out of a new or revised assessment or process. Pilot testing considers such areas as comprehensiveness and clarity of directions, format of assessment materials, adequacy of resources or equipment to be used for the assessment, quality of assessor/evaluator training programs, and timing of assessment tasks.
Plan of Assistance - a strategy for professional development and growth designed to address a teacher's deficiencies in meeting designated performance standards, based on the results of an evaluation. The plan of assistance should indicate goals and objectives for improvement, an action plan for improvement, what staff and resources are available, the timeline for development activities, benchmarks for ensuring that professional growth is occurring, and measures for verifying achievement of the goals and objectives. See Contract, Diagnosis, Performance Goal, Professional Development, Remediation.
Policy (Teacher Evaluation) - a set of mandates, rules, and guidelines issued by a governmental or administrative agency regarding the purpose of teacher evaluation and the manner in which it should be conducted. See Practice (Evaluation), Procedures (Evaluation).
Portfolio - a purposeful collection of documents concerning a teacher's performance (e.g., testimonials, student learning outcome reports, samples of students' work) and of products produced by the teacher (e.g., a lesson plan, a critique of a textbook chapter, a videotape of a lesson, a teacher-made unit test). The types of documents to be included may be specified, or the teacher may be free to choose what types of documents to include.
Practice (Evaluation) - the manner in which evaluations are actually conducted, whether or not the practice is in accordance with the policy and/or follows the procedures. See Policy (Teacher Evaluation), Procedures (Evaluation).
Predictive Validity - See Validity.
Preponderance - the emphasis or weight given to the data and information on an attribute of a teacher, based on such considerations as the quantity and frequency of occurrence of a behavior, the importance of the attribute to the job of teaching, and the potential impact of a behavior or characteristic on students. See Attribute, Evidence, Weighted Score.
Prerequisite Knowledge - the prior knowledge that is necessary in order to learn how to solve problems or to acquire new knowledge and skills. See Knowledge.
Primary Standards - those standards that apply to the evaluation process and assessment methods rather than to the teachers being evaluated or to their performance levels, and which should be met or addressed before the assessments are administered and the evaluation process is implemented. See Secondary Standards, Standard, Standards (Legal), Standards (Professional), Standards (Technical).
Primary Trait Scoring - the assignment of scores to one or more designated attributes of each task or performance measure. See Analytic Scoring, Holistic Scoring, Scoring Rubric.
Priority Goal - (1) among the most important aims that a teacher or evaluator is trying to accomplish. (2) an important aim or purpose of instruction. See Goal.
Privacy Rights - a teacher's privilege to have his or her performance on an assessment or evaluation results to be confidential and not disclosed to unauthorized parties without thre permission of the teahcer. See Confidentiality.
Probationary Teacher - a non-tenured teacher who is usually a relatively inexperienced teacher (three years or less of teaching experience). See Tenure, Tenured Teacher.
Procedures (Evaluation) - the directions for implementing all aspects of the evaluation process in accordance with the rules and guidelines given in a district's policy. Procedures specify how the evaluation is to be conducted, designated timelines, persons responsible, forms to be used, documentation to be provided, the analysis plan, and the steps to be followed. See Data Collection Procedures, Irregularity, Policy (Teacher Evaluation), Practice (Evaluation), Timeline.
Process-Product Research - See Effective Teaching.
Process Variable - the manner in which teaching is conducted. Process variables include instructional strategies, sequencing of curricular content and skills, behavior management techniques, assessment and monitoring practices, and the use of materials and equipment. See Input Variable, Output Variable, Variable.
Productivity (Teacher) - the accomplishment of the primary functions of teaching, including the promotion of increased student learning and of improved student behavior within the teaching context.
Professional Development - a process designed to improve specific professional competencies or the overall competence of a teacher. See Competence, Competency, Formative Teacher Evaluation, Plan of Assistance, Remediation, Teacher Improvement.
Professionalism (Teacher) - a reform movement to promote teaching as a profession with its own knowledge base, licensure structure, standards for practice, and professional functions.
Proficiency - sufficient expertise in a knowledge area or adequate mastery of a skill with regard to a standard. See Expert, Talent.
Profile - a representation of a teacher's performance on a number of attributes, measures, or dimensions that use the same scale.
Project - a form of complex performance assessment involving several types of activities and products for completion. Most projects involve planning and usually end with a report (oral or written) or product. Examples are reviewing several CD-ROMs and writing a report recommending which ones the school should purchase with its limited funds, or designing and conducting an action research study.
Prompt - a verbal statement or question that provides a cue, reminder, or inspiration, or that motivates the teacher being assessed into action. Examples include a request from the principal for comments on the quality of a proposed textbook, or questions during a semi-structured interview.
Propriety - (1) the quality of being conducted in a proper, legal, and ethical manner with due regard to the welfare of all involved in and affected by the results of the evaluation. (2) one of four areas of standards in The Personnel Evaluation Standards: How To Assess Systems for Evaluating Educators by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. This area has five sets of standards: Service Orientation, Formal Evaluation Guidelines, Conflict of Interest, Access to Personnel Evaluation Reports, Interactions with Evaluatees. See Accuracy, Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest, Feasibility, Utility.
Protocol - (1) the rules and formalities that guide the administration and scoring of an assessment and the implementation of an evaluation. (2) a record or document of evidence and information relating to an assessment or evaluation. See Scoring Rubric.
Psychomotor Domain - the range of locomotor behaviors needed to explore the environment and perform tasks as well as the sensory-motor activities that are essential to learning and communication. See Affective Domain, Cognitive Domain.
Purpose - the primary reason or intended use that provides direction for the design, interpretation, and use of an assessment and evaluation system.
Qualitative Information - the facts and evidence that describe a teacher's performance and that typically are recorded in written, audio, or visual form. See Quantitative Information.
Quality Check - the process of verifying both the accuracy of specific data and information, and the appropriateness of the techniques used to collect, score, or rate, and to analyze the data and information (e.g., trained observer used, proper timing given for a performance task, right scoring key used for a test, correct formula used to weight various scores). See Accuracy, Audit, Verification.
Quantitative Information - the facts and evidence that describe a teacher's performance and that typically are recorded in numeric, statistical, or graphic form, or can be meaningfully represented by numbers. See Qualitative Information.
Questionnaire - an instrument consisting of a series of queries and statements that is used to collect data and information from a teacher concerning such factors as educational background, goals and objectives, instructional plans, teaching context, attitudes and opinions, and professional activities, and from others (e.g., students, parents) concerning the teacher's performance.
Ranking - the process of ordering or arraying from highest. A teacher's level of performance is compared to other teachers rather than being judged independently of how others perform, as it the case with ratings. See Rating.
Rate - to assign judgments or estimations to the magnitude of degree of some aspect of teaching behavior or performance. See Rating.
Rater Drift - the tendency for assessors and evaluators to unintentionally redefine criteria and standards over time or across a series of ratings. See Consistency, Rater Effect.
Rater Effect - the tendency of an assessor or an evaluator to rate a teacher's performance at a level that does not accurately or consistently reflect the performance level of that teacher. There are several types of rater effect, all of which are possible sources of systematic error of measurement. See Assessor, Bias, Central Tendency Effect, Consistency, Contamination, Contrast Effect, Error of Measurement, Evaluator, First-Impression Effect, Halo Effect, Inconsistency, Leniency, Reliability, Similar-to-Me Effect, Stringency.
Rating - a systematic estimation of the magnitude or degree of some attribute of teaching, using a numerical or descriptive continuum. See Rate, Scale (Rating).
Raw Score - a score obtained from a test, assessment, observation, or survey that has not been converted to another type of score such as a standard score, percentile rate, ranking, or grade. By itself, a raw score provides little useful information about an individuals' performance. Examples of raw scores include a count of the number of correct answers on a vocabulary text, a tabulation of the occurence of a certain type of event during an observation, or an initial rating on a protfolio document. See Percentile Rank, Ranking, Standard Score.
RBTE - See Research-Based Teacher Evaluation.
Recommendations - a set of suggestions derived from the teacher evaluation results. For formative teacher evaluation, they may include a list of professional development activities and a plan of assistance. For summative teacher evaluation, they may consist of personnel actions such as tenure, dismissal/termination, reassignment/transfer, contract renewal, or promotion.
Record (noun) - the written or taped data, evidence, judgments, notes, recommendations, and other statements for use in the teacher evaluation process. See Documentation.
Record (verb) - to register and store data and other information. See Record(noun).
Reduction in Force (RIF) - layoffs of teachers necessitated by reductions in budgets or decreases in student enrollment. RIF decisions are typically based on teacher seniority rather than level of performance and staffing needs. See Dismissal, Forced Resignation.
Reflection - the process by which a teacher reviews his/her past performance as a means of improving future performance. See Log (Teacher), Self-Assessment.
Relevance (Domain) - the extent to which the domains and indicators covered by a teacher evaluation system apply to a teacher's professional functions in terms of both importance and frequency.
Reliability - the degree to which an assessment or instrument consistently measures an attribute. See Error of Measurement.
There are several types of reliabilities, for example:
1. Intra-Rater - the degree to which the measure yields consistent results over different administrations with the same teacher performing at the same level by the same assessor;
2. Inter-Rater - the degree to which the measure yields similar results for the same teacher at the same time with more than one assessor;
3. Internal Consistency - the degree to which individual observations or items consistently measure the same attribute; and
4. Test-Retest - the degree to which the measure produces consistent results over several administrations assessing the same attribute of a teacher.
Remediation - those techniques or strategies designed to improve a teacher's performance in general deficiencies or specific areas of weakness. See Clinical Supervision, Coaching, Diagnosis, Feedback, Formative Teacher Evaluation, Incompetence, Modeling, Plan of Assistance, Professional Development, Reflection, Self-Assessment, Teacher Improvement.
Replicable - an attribute of an assessment, observation system, or evaluation indicating that the process used to obtain the data and evidence is explicit and can be repeated. See Objective, Subjective.
Reporting - the process of communicating results and recommendations to the designated individuals or groups. When reporting to the teacher, this would be considered part of feedback. See Confidentiality, Consent, Feedback, Informed Consent, Recommendations.
Reporting Scheme (Complex) - a record of evidence describing a teacher's performance that provides detailed information about the performance and the context. See Reporting Scheme (Reductive).
Reporting Scheme (Reductive) - a record of evidence describing a teacher's performance that simplifies the data collection through classifying, coding, or analyzing them. See Reporting Scheme (Complex).
Research-Based Teacher Evaluation (RBTE) - a teacher evaluation approach that is based on "empirically-validated" criteria or indicators of competence derived from research studies of effective teaching practices. See Effective Teaching, Foundation.
Responses - the answers to test, interview, or questionnaire items.
Responsibility - that which a person is expected and obligated to do and for which he/she is accountable. See Duty.
Results - the consequences and outcomes of a process or an assessment. They may be tangible such as products or scores, or intangible such as new understandings or changes in behavior.
Review - to examine again or to look at thoroughly in order to assign a grade, make a judgment, come to a conclusion, or evaluate.
Reward - that which is given to recognize deserving performance or service. See Bonus Pay, Incentive Pay, Merit Pay, Sanction.
RIF - See Reduction in Force.
Rubric - See Scoring Rubric.
Sampling of Performance - the selection of an array of teaching performances and settings to be evaluated so that they are wide enough in range and large enough in numbers both to: (1) cover the scope of the performances addressed by the evaluation system in terms of representativeness and comprehensiveness, and (2) permit valid inferences about performances to be made. See Error of Measurement.
Sanction - that which is given to encourage improvement in less than satisfactory performance or service, or as a penalty for poor performance. See Reward.
Scale (Rating) - a series of numerical or descriptive ratings on a continuum used to assess or judge specific levels of performance. See Behaviorally-Anchored Rating Scale, Rating.
Schedule - the designated dates and times for various activities related to the evaluation (e.g., when the classroom will be observed, when the portfolio is to be submitted, when the teacher will be interviewed). The schedule, which is part of the procedures, should also indicate the location of such activities and the people who will be involved. See Frequency of Evaluation, Timeline.
Scope of Content - the extent of coverage, by an instrument or process, of all knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors to be measured, in terms of both breadth and depth of coverage.
Score (noun) - the number of points earned on a measure or the degree of success on an assessment of teacher attributes or performance. Scores are usually expressed in numerical terms, but sometimes in descriptive terms or graphically. See Estimate, Obtained Score.
Scorer - an assessor who summarizes the results of an assessment for use by an evaluator or decision maker. See Assessor, Evaluator, Scoring.
Scoring - the process of determining the value of a performance on an indicator or criterion. See Analytic Scoring, Holistic Scoring, Primary Trait Scoring, Score, Scorer.
Scoring Dimension - an attribute or facet of behavior or performance in a domain. Dimensions are usually determined through logical or statistical analysis, and sometimes are reported as part scores. See Criterion-Domain.
Scoring Rubric - a set of rules, guidelines, or benchmarks at different levels of performance, or prescribed descriptors for use in quantifying measures of teacher attributes and performance. See Analytic Scoring, Holistic Scoring, Primary Trait Scoring, Protocol.
Scripting - the writing of evidence and notes throughout an assessment activity (e.g., interview, classroom observation) about what is happening. Scripting does not include making judgments or interpreting the evidence and notes. Scripting may be continuous throughout the activity or intermittent at pre-specified time intervals (e.g., 3 minutes on, 2 minutes off). See Evidence, Notes.
Secondary Standards - those standards that apply to the evaluation process and assessment methods rather than to the teachers being evaluated or to their performance levels, and for which it is desirable, but not crucial or important, that they be met or addressed before the assessments are administered and the evaluation process is implemented. See Primary Standards, Standards (Legal), Standards (Professional), Standards (Technical).
Self-Assessment - the process of judging one's own teaching performance for the purpose of self-improvement. A teacher may use such techniques as self-viewing on a videotape, observing and modeling exemplary teachers, filling out self-rating forms, completing open-ended self-reports, keeping a log, compiling a portfolio, or using self-study handbooks and materials. See Reflection, Self-Evaluation, Self-Study Materials.
Self-Evaluation - the process of reviewing one's own behavior and student learning outcomes for the purpose of monitoring and changing one's own teaching performance. See Reflection, Self-Assessment, Student Learning Outcomes.
Self-Report Measures - those instruments in which teachers record their own recollections of events, feelings, judgments, and attitudes. See Self-Evaluation.
Self-Study Materials - the programs designed for use by a teacher in assessing his/her own teaching behaviors. See Self-Assessment.
Sensitivity - the awareness and understanding of other people's feelings, attitudes, social and cultural backgrounds, ethnic traditions and customs, languages, interests, rights, and needs.
Setting - the temporal and physical environment of an event or activity. See Context (Teaching), Learning Environment.
Similar-to-Me Effect - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator judges more favorably those people seen as similar to himself/herself. See Rater Effect.
Simulation - an imitation of a typical job task or situation to assess how well a teacher might implement such a task or perform in an actual situation (e.g., asking a science teacher to prepare slides for biology, having a music teacher listen to a tape and show how he/she would conduct that piece of music using the musical score in front of him/her, asking a fourth-grade teacher to develop and present a learning activity on interpreting map symbols). See Assessment Center, Surrogate Task, Task, Work Simulation.
Situational Specificity - the extent to which it is appropriate to use an assessment conducted in one setting or context for other settings or contexts. See Context (Teaching), Generalizability, Transportability, Validity.
Skill - the ability to use knowledge in a practical manner. See Ability, Capacity, Competency, Knowledge, Talent.
Specifications (Assessment) - a delineation of the major attributes of an assessment to be developed, including breadth and depth of content to be covered, level of difficulty, format of the assessment materials, supplies and equipment needed, level of complexity, administrative process (e.g., individual or group, location, timing), scoring procedures, and numbers and types of items and tasks.
Spontaneous Performance Assessment - a measure based on observing, without prompting or preannouncing, what a teacher does during non-assessment activities (e.g., the principal oversees one teacher helping another teacher prepare a plan for working with a difficult student).
Stakeholders - those individuals who have a substantial interest in teacher evaluation and in the quality of teaching. These include not only the teacher and the principal, but also other teachers, school and district staff, students, parents, school board members, future employers, taxpayers, and community members. See Audience.
Standard - the level of performance on the criterion being assessed that is considered satisfactory in terms of the purpose of the evaluation. There are three major categories of standards, related to various purposes. (1) Developmental standards specify improvement levels to be attained and may be used for professional development and self-assessment. (2) Minimum standards designate the level below which performance is not acceptable and are used for such purposes as licensure and job assignments. (3) Desired performance standards reflect what is regarded as accomplished or effective teaching and typically are used for such purposes as promotions, awards, and certification. See Criterion.
Standard Score - an indicator of the relative standing of a score within a normal distribution of scores, defined by its mean and standard deviation. By transforming raw scores to standard scores, the user can interpret intervals between any two score points in relation to a reference population. Z scores are a commonly used standard score transformation, providing a normal distribution with a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. A teacher evaluation system may use several different tests or assessmnets. If it is important to compare a teacher's performance on the different assessments, then the scores from each test or assessment need to be standardized. Given that each of the assessments may have a different number of items or rating scale points and each may have been administered to different groups of teachers, standardizing the scores within each distribution becomes a necessity for purposes of comparing a teahcer's performance on the different assessments. By transforming the raw scores for each assessment into standard scores, it becomes possible to determine a teacher's relative strengths and weaknesses within the groups of teachers upon which the scores were standardized. See Raw Score.
Standard Setting - the determination of the teaching performance level considered acceptable in terms of the purpose of the evaluation. Standards are usually determined using empirical or judgmental techniques, or a combination of these. See Standard.
Standardization - the use of consistent procedures for administering, scoring, reviewing, interpreting, and reporting the results of the teacher evaluation.
Standardized Conditions - the administration of an assessment process or instrument to all teachers in the identical manner (e.g., same instructions and timing, comparable settings, use of trained assessors and evaluators). See Irregularity.
Standards (Legal) - those guidelines and requirements related to an assessment and evaluation that are specified in the law, governmental policies and regulations, school district policies, and court decisions. See Primary Standards, Secondary Standards.
Standards (Professional) - those guidelines related to an assessment and evaluation that are specified by the individuals and associations in the career area affected, directly or indirectly, by the assessment. See Primary Standards, Secondary Standards.
Standards (Technical) - those guidelines related to an assessment and evaluation that are specified by psychometricians, statisticians, test publishers, and specialists in the domain covered by the assessment. See Primary Standards, Secondary Standards.
Stringency - a type of rater effect in which an assessor or an evaluator tends to rate a teacher too low or to judge the performance level as poorer than it actually is. Sometimes stringency is referred to as "negative leniency." See Leniency, Rater Effect.
Structured Performance Assessment - a measure based on the administration of an assessment instrument or task at a specified time and in a designated manner.
Student Learning Outcomes - the measures of student achievement of knowledge and skills and other educational outcomes such as improved student attitudes and behaviors that should have been taught to them by the teacher being evaluated. This term covers acquisition, retention, application, transfer, and adaptability of knowledge and skills. See Outcome Variables, Teacher-Outcomes Evaluation.
Style-Based Evaluation - a teacher evaluation approach that uses criteria which specify in what way or how teachers are to perform their job (e.g., announced objectives at the start of each lesson, use of cooperative learning techniques) rather than what teachers are responsible for doing. See Duty, Foundation, Responsibility.
Subjective (adjective) - a characteristic of an assessment, observation, or conclusion that yields results which cannot be empirically verified by another person. See High Inference, Judgment, Objective, Replicable, Verification.
Summary - a concise report encompassing the major results of an assessment or an evaluation of a teacher's performance.
Summative Teacher Evaluation - an evaluation conducted primarily for the purpose of making personnel decisions about the teacher (e.g., merit pay, reassignment, promotion, dismissal, tenure). Summative evaluation usually is done by an administrator rather than a supervisor or another teacher. See Formative Teacher Evaluation.
Supervisor - the person responsible for overseeing the work of a teacher and for ensuring that the teacher performs his/her duties and professional responsibilities. See Administrator.
Surrogate Task - a substitute or replacement for an actual activity or task, but one that is very similar to the actual task and that uses the same types of skills, behaviors, materials, and equipment. An example is asking a candidate for a teaching position to present a lesson to a group of ten students. See Simulation, Task, Work Sample, Work Simulation.
Synthesis - the process of combining data and information from multiple sources, or of ratings and judgments on separate scoring dimensions in order to arrive at a conclusion or result. See Analysis, Configural Scoring Rule, Review, Scoring Dimension, Weighted Score.
Systemic Validity - See Validity.
Talent - an unusually high level of proficiency in performing a task or using a skill. Talent can be in the affective, cognitive, and psychomotor domains. See Ability, Affective Domain, Cognitive Domain, Merit, Proficiency, Psychomotor Domain, Skill.
Task - an assessment activity or assignment to be completed by the teacher being evaluated. See Simulation, Surrogate Task, Work Sample, Work Simulation.
Teachable - the practicality or feasibility of providing instruction on a topic, knowledge area, or skill in terms of the readiness of the learners, the expertise of the teachers, and the availability of resources (e.g., equipment, time).
Teacher Effectiveness - the attribute of a teacher who has the capability or potential of having a positive impact on student learning, behavior, and attitudes. See Effective Teaching.
Teacher Evaluation - the systematic appraisal of a teacher's performance and/or qualifications in relation to the teacher's defined professional role and responsibities as well as to the school's and district's missions. See Assessment, Evaluation, Performance Evaluation. See Assessment, Evaluation, Performance Evaluation.
Teacher Evaluation System - a complete approach to the evaluation of teachers including its purpose, the rules and regulations that apply, the target group to be evaluated, the domains to be covered, the procedures and methods to be employed, the instruments to be used, the persons to be involved, and the types of reports and feedback to be provided.
Teacher Improvement - the accomplishment of goals and objectives for professional development, growth in knowledge, acquisition of skills, and changes in practices. See Plan of Assistance, Professional Development, Remediation.
Teacher Norms - the expectations of teacher behavior in a given context or setting that are usually learned during student teaching or in the first year of teaching in a new school. See Induction.
Teacher-Outcomes Evaluation - an approach to evaluating teachers that is based on student performance, usually standardized achievement test results. See Student Learning Outcomes.
Teachers' Rights - the privileges of teachers guaranteed by law and under their collective bargaining agreement. They include the rights to form and organize a teachers' association, to select their representatives, and to bargain collectively. See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Collective Bargaining Unit.
Temporary Teacher - a teacher who is filling a position for a specified period of time, whether to fill a vacancy on a short-term basis (one year or less) or for an experimental teaching position with a designated ending date.
Tenure - an employment status conferred upon a teacher by state law or institutional regulation after successful completion of a probationary period. Tenure provides substantial, but not complete, protection against arbitrary or capricious dismissal and termination, and entitles the teacher to due process procedures and other protections that may not be available to the non-tenured teacher. See Dismissal, Due Process, Permanent Teacher, Probationary Teacher, Tenured Teacher.
Tenured Teacher - a teacher who has completed a probationary period (usually two to five years) and is now considered a permanent employee of the school district with all applicable benefits and rights as specified in state law, district policy, and the collective bargaining agreement. See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Permanent Teacher, Probationary Teacher, Tenure.
Termination - See Dismissal
Test (noun) - an assessment instrument consisting of a sample of items or tasks from a particular domain and that can provide an estimate of performance in that domain. See Instrument, Measure (noun), Sampling of Performance.
Test (verb) - to administer an instrument or implement an assessment process. See Assessment, Instrument, Measure (verb) .
Test Score Pollution - an inflation of test scores that is the results of practices, usually associated with high-stakes testing, which are designed to increase test scores or performance ratings without improvement of actual performance on the attributes being assessed. See Coaching, High-Stakes Testing.
Theory-Based Evaluation - a teacher evaluation approach that is based on certain theories of teaching or of learning. See Foundation.
Timeline - a calendar or list of dates showing the evaluation stages and activities, and indicating the dates by which they should be implemented and be completed. See Frequency of Evaluation.
Timeliness - coming at an opportune time, or providing information at a point when it can readily inform the teacher evaluation process.
Track Record - a summary of past events and accomplishments related to a teacher's performance (e.g., education and training completed, conferences attended, awards received by the teacher and/or students). See Experience.
Training - the provision of instruction and planned activities to facilitate the learning of specific knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, and behaviors. See Coaching, Instruction, Mentoring, On-the-Job Training.
Transferability - (1) the degree to which the knowledge and skills demonstrated in solving an assessment task can be used in solving other work-related tasks and real-world activities. (2) one of several characteristics used to evaluate assessments. See Generalizability.
Transportability - the appropriateness of extending the use of a policy, instrument, assessment procedure, or evaluation system across different teachers, student groups, subject areas, instructional approaches, learning activities, school settings, states, etc. See Generalizability, Situational Specificity, Validity Generalization Study.
Triangulation - the attempt to obtain more valid results by using multiple sources of data about one aspect of performance, multiple methods of collecting data, and/or multiple interpretations of the same data. See Congruence Analysis, Corroborating Evidence, Multiple Measures, Validity, Verification.
True Score - a hypothetical score that represents an assessment result which is entirely free of error. Sometimes true score is thought of as the average score of an infinite series of assessments with the same or exactly equivalent instruments, but with no practice effect or change in the person being assessed across the series of assessments. See Error of Measurement, Estimate, Obtained Score.
Trust - a common understanding of the purpose and potential of teacher evaluation, and a cooperative spirit between the teacher and the evaluator for maximizing the benefits of doing the evaluation. Trust is related to such factors as confidentiality of communication, careful consideration of the accuracy of evidence from such sources as hearsay or complaints, honesty, openness, sharing, and sincerity on the part of both the teacher and the evaluator. See Credible.
Unintended Consequences - any unplanned or unanticipated outcomes that occur as a result of implementing an assessment or evaluation. For example, the use of student test scores as part of the teacher evaluation data results in test score pollution practices and more use of teaching-to-the-test activities accompanied by less reliance on the district curriculum guide for planning instructional activities and lessons. See Consequences, Validity-Consequential Basis of.
USED - United States Department of Education, part of the executive branch of the United States Government.
Utility (of Teacher Evaluation System) - (1) the practical value of a teacher evaluation system with respect to such factors as time requirements, logistics, resources needed, costs and benefits, and district and state policies, as well as the technical concerns of validity and reliability. (2) one of four areas of standards in The Personnel Evaluation Standards: How To Assess Systems for Evaluating Educators by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. This area has five sets of standards: Constructive Orientation, Defined Uses, Evaluator Credibility, Functional Reporting, Follow-up and Impact. See Accuracy, Administrative Feasibility, Feasibility, Propriety.
Validation - the process of determining the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of a measure, an instrument, or an assessment process, and of the inferences made from the results of it. See Validity, Validity Coefficient.
Validity - the extent to which the test scores or responses measure the attribute(s) that they were designed to measure. Several types of validity are described below. See Generalizability, Validation, Validity Coefficient.
- Concurrent - the relationship of one measure to another simultaneous measure or variable assessing the same or a related attribute.
- Consequential Basis of Validity - the assemblage of information on the theoretical and value implications of the way that the results of testing are used, and the appraisal of both the potential and actual social consequences of the testing, including side effects.
- Construct - the degree of fit of a measure and its interpretation with its underlying explanatory concepts, theoretical rationales, or foundations.
- Content - (1) the appropriateness of the domain definition and the sampling of content. (2) the extent of congruence between the scope of a content area that an instrument or process claims to cover and what it actually does cover. Both definitions are aspects of construct validity.
- Criterion-Related - the correlation or extent of agreement of the test score from an assessment with one or more external variables that measure the attribute being assessed.
- Curricular - the extent to which the items on the assessment or test measure the content of a local curriculum, or the extent of agreement between the test coverage (topics, breadth and depth, skills, cognitive complexity) and the goals and objectives of the curriculum.
- Evidential Basis of Validity - the assemblage of information about the construct validity of the test scores and measurements, as well as the relevance of the measurement to its applied purpose and its utility in an applied setting. Construct validity, in this case, includes information collected from content and criterion-related validation procedures.
- Face - the perceived extent of acceptability or legitimacy of an instrument or process to teachers, administrators, policymakers, students, parents, the general public, and other stakeholders concerned with teacher evaluation and the quality of teaching.
- Instructional - the degree to which the items on a test measure: (a) what is actually being taught, and (b) what the individuals being assessed have had an opportunity to learn.
- Predictive - the relationship of a measure to performance in a future context such as a new work setting or to the results obtained on a future measure assessing a similar or a different (but presumably related) attribute.
- Systemic - the negative and positive consequences of testing that should be monitored in order to evaluate the long-range value of the test.
Validity Coefficient - a measure of the degree of validity, usually expressed as the correlation between the measure in question and another measure or a variable. See Correlation, Validation, Validity.
Validity Generalization Study - an investigation of the degree of generalizability or of transportability of a policy, instrument, process, procedure, or evaluation system. See Generalizability, Transportability.
Value - an estimation or a measure of the merit and/or worth of a teacher in terms of the intrinsic qualities of the individual teacher (merit) and of the teacher's potential benefit to the school and its students (worth). See Merit, Worth.
Value-Added - the change in an attribute or product that can be linked to an intervention. Examples are the change in student test scores before and after completion of a course or the change in the effectiveness of a teacher's classroom management skills as a result of participation in a workshop series on these skills.
Variable - a behavior, characteristic, or event that can change in value from one context to another or over time, or from one individual or group to another (e.g., gender, fluency in a second language, course units completed, test scores, years of teaching experience). See Input Variables, Outcome Variables, Process Variable.
Verification - the process of checking the accuracy of data and information about the teacher's experience, training, performance, and other attributes. See Accuracy, Audit, Congruence Analysis, Quality Check, Triangulation.
Weighted Score - a score adjusted by such factors as the importance of the attribute assessed to teaching performance, or the reliability and validity of the assessment from which the score was derived, or a combination of such factors. See Composite Score, Configural Scoring Rule, Preponderance, Synthesis.
Wisdom of Practice - that which a teacher learns about teaching through direct experience and/or shared, detailed descriptions of teaching (e.g., case studies).
Work Sample - an assessment method that uses actual and typical on-the-job activities or tasks (e.g., asking a teacher to write a report to parents on a student's progress during the past semester). See Surrogate Task, Task, Work Simulation.
Work Simulation - a surrogate or imitation of a work sample task (e.g., asking a teacher to list what features he/she would look for when grading student book reports and to provide the scoring rubric). See Simulation, Task.
Worth - the system-related or extrinsic value of a teacher to the school and its students. For example, being able to speak Spanish could be of high worth in a school that does not have enough Spanish-speaking teachers, whereas being able to coach basketball may be of low worth to the school if there are already several teachers who can coach basketball. Knowing Spanish and being able to coach basketball still reflect teacher merit and have value, and may or may not have worth at another school or at another time in the same school. See Merit, Value.

Glossary References

Agencies and Associations with resources related to teacher evaluation.

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