Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

4897

Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Leadership and Policy Studies

Concentration

Educational Leadership

Committee Chair

Reginald Leon Green

Committee Member

Charisse Gulosino

Committee Member

Mary Boudreaux

Committee Member

Momodou Keita

Abstract

Despite billions of federal dollars spent and the implementation of various instructional programs, American students lag behind many of their foreign allies academically. Given that teachers are responsible for providing instruction to students, teacher effectiveness has become a major focus of educational reform. Policy makers, school districts, and school leaders seek to identify fundamental components of effective teaching and essential traits of effective teachers. The key to identifying effective teachers is the ability to evaluate them using a valid and reliable instrument that measures the right components. This quantitative study examined if the Teacher Effectiveness Measure (TEM) components (i.e., Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System data, student survey responses, teacher observation scores, and teacher professionalism scores) effectively gauged teacher effectiveness. The extent of the impact was established by analyzing the relationships of these components as compared to student academic growth outcomes. The foundational theory of this research is Hersey-Blanchard's Situational Leadership Theory, which indicates that the situation, environment, and maturity level of followers determine leadership design and no single "best" style of leadership exists. A secondary analysis of existing data was conducted using correlational statistics. Correlational research investigated the strength of the relationship between various variables: 1) teacher observation scores and student academic growth, 2) student perception survey responses and student academic growth, 3) teacher professionalism scores and student academic growth, and 4) teacher observation scores and student perception survey responses. A total of 200 fourth and fifth grade teachers were selected for t he study, and the sample was representative of a school district in the state of Tennessee. The data analysis of this research revealed that components of the Teacher Effectiveness Measure model had a significant influence on effectively gauging teacher effectiveness. Results of the study indicated that significant relationships existed between 1) teacher observation scores and student academic growth, 2) teacher professionalism scores and student academic growth, 3) student perception survey scores and student academic growth, and 4) teacher observation scores and student perception survey responses. In conclusion, it was determined from this study that these measures were internally consistent. The findings of this research have the potential to inform policy makers, school leaders, and classroom teachers' insight regarding teacher evaluation models that offer an accurate and comprehensive picture of teachers' influence on student academic success, professional development needs, and human capital decisions.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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