Christopher R. Gareis

The Efficacy of Portfolios for Teacher Evaluation and Professional Development: Do They Make a Difference?.

A multiyear study of a small school district introducing the use of portfolios as part of a new evaluation system was conducted to determine the efficacy of portfolios in the evaluation of teacher performance both for accountability and professional development purposes. The portfolio system was found to be particularly useful in documenting teacher performance in the areas of assessment and professionalism—ones not readily observable during classroom visits by administrators. Based on summative evaluation results, the introduction of portfolios assisted administrators in making finer distinctions about the quality of teacher performance. Survey and focus group data indicated that teachers and administrators viewed portfolios as fair and accurate measures of performance but had concerns about their feasibility given the time demands of development. Portfolios were found to clearly support the accountability purposes of teacher evaluation, but further research is needed to delineate the conditions under which portfolios can be used to foster professional development.

Faculty Trust in the Principal: An Essential Ingredient in High-Performing Schools.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among faculty trust in the principal, principal leadership behaviors, school climate, and student achievement. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 64 elementary, middle, and high schools in two school districts formed the basis of the study (n=3,215 teachers), allowing for correlational and regression analyses of the variables. Findings – The authors found that faculty trust in the principal was related to perceptions of both collegial and instructional leadership, as well as to factors of school climate such as teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement. Student achievement was also correlated with trust, principal leadership behaviors, and school climate. The authors found that both of the composite variables, principal behaviors and school climate, made significant independent contributions to explaining variance in student achievement and that together they explained 75 percent of the variance in achievement...