http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1006507666

Assessing Teacher Quality: Understanding Teacher Effects on Instructionand Achievement

Recent educational reforms have promoted accountability systems which attempt to identify "teacher effects" on student outcomes and hold teachers accountable for producing learning gains. But in the complex world of classrooms, it may be difficult to attribute "success" or "failure" to teachers. In this timely collection, leading education scholars challenge market-based models of school improvement and argue that merely holding teachers accountable for scores on end-of-the-year exams will not lead to educational improvement. The authors show why, in addition to test performance, a close examination of instructional processes and school context are needed in order to truly understand teacher effects and improve learning in the nation's classrooms. Book features include: (1) a conceptual framework, grounded in studies of real schools and teaching, for an alternative vision of educational reform; (2) An interdisciplinary perspective with interpretive chapters covering the most important research dealing with teacher effects on learning and achievement; and (3) a balanced assessment of the promises and pitfalls of teacher accountability. Included in this book are: (1) Understanding Teacher Effects: Market Versus Process Models of Educational Improvement (Sean Kelly); (2) Teacher Effects: Past, Present, and Future (Spyros Konstantopoulos); (3) Measuring Teaching Quality Using Student Achievement Tests: Lessons from Educators' Responses to No Child Left Behind (Laura S. Hamilton); (4) Beyond High-Stakes Tests: Teacher Effects on Other Educational Outcomes (Jennifer L. Jennings and Sean P. Corcoran); (5) Power, Accountability, and the Teacher Quality Problem (Richard M. Ingersoll); (6) In Search of Equity: Teacher Tracking in Math (Colette Cann); (7) Teacher Education and Accountability: Adapting to Prospective Work Environments in Public Schools (Judson G. Everitt); (8) The Role of Mentors and Colleagues in Beginning Teachers' Language Arts Instruction (Peter Youngs, Kenneth A. Frank, and Ben Pogodzinski); (9) Teachers' Social Capital and the Implementation of Schoolwide Reforms (William R. Penuel, Kenneth A. Frank, Min Sun, and Chong Min Kim): and (10) Improving Teacher Quality: Incentives Are Not Enough (Adam Gamoran). An index is included.

Open All Close All