Are Principals Good at Identifying Effective Teachers? A Comparison of Teachers’ Principal Ratings and Residual Gain on Standardized Tests

Аннотация

The purpose of this study was to answer the question: Are principals good at identifying effective teachers? Some studies have suggested they are not, but the evidence is not consistent. It is troubling that research results are inconsistent regarding principals' abilities to identify effective teachers. Why is there a disconnect between principals’ evaluations of teachers and student gain scores - the operational definition of effective teachers? One would think principals would be good at identifying effective teachers, given that the expectation for hiring, developing, and evaluating teachers is a major facet of their responsibilities. This inconsistency suggests there could be a methodological issue. In other words, the method used for determining a principal’s ability to identify effective teachers may be leading to these mixed findings. Perhaps the metric commonly used to measure teacher effectiveness is incompatible with identifying effective teachers. Could using a newer type of standardized test as the metric along with a more focused method of data analysis lead to consistent positive correlations between principal ratings and teacher effectiveness?