Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Dr. Bruce Bryant

Abstract

Teacher evaluations have been a facet of the education sector throughout history. Meaningful teacher evaluations entail an accurate assessment of teacher effectiveness. Of late, States have implemented evaluation mandates that called for a more comprehensive teacher evaluation approach when assessing the effectiveness of teachers. In 2011, Arkansas adopted the Teacher Excellence Support System (TESS), which standardized the evaluation system to support licensed and non-licensed educators. Teachers’ perceptions are critical in understanding an evaluation system that assesses for teacher effectiveness.

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of experience and certification on teachers’ perceptions related to the effectiveness of TESS. The related literature recognizes a strong correlation between teacher effectiveness and student achievement. The researcher sought to determine teachers’ perceived beliefs about the new evaluation system compared to the previous system, on the effect of professional development received, and the effectiveness of the new system. The targeted population consisted of 236 licensed teachers from three school districts in Central Arkansas. Data were collected through the use of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education Teacher Survey. Factorial analysis of variance revealed that no evidence was found that years of experience interacting with certification specialty or main effects of experience and certification had an effect on teachers’ perceptions considering the three hypotheses. Based on these findings, recommendations for improved results are discussed, and suggestions are included for future research.

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