Principal and peer evaluation of teachers for professional development

Conclusion The St. Peter's College application of the Shinkfield model has proved itself to be a most attractive, successful approach for the evaluation of teachers. Provided that the teacher is being evaluated only with the expectation of positive outcomes in mind, improvement as a professional practitioner of teaching most likely will occur.The approach also has shown that the teacher-appraisal function can be a facilitating and enhancing process, characterized by openness of approach, mutual respect between teacher and principal and heightened awareness of the importance to teaching of mastery of particular skills and competencies. Any successful climate of process such as the one described here must strengthen the school itself and, more particularly, student learning.A South Australian with extensive experience in educational evaluation, Anthony Shinkfield is a member of CREATE's National Advisory Panel.     

Fisher's "Scale-Book": An Early Attempt at Educational Measurement

The authors report on the discovery of a 19th century document that illustrates an early example of educational measurement. The text, copied from the original in the British Museum, is presented in its entirety in the article.     

Evolution of Graduate Education in Electrical Engineering in Metropolitan Areas

The evolution of graduate education in electrical engineering began in the early 1890' s and progressed at a rapid pace in the 1920' s, particularly in metropolitan areas conscious of community needs. In these areas, evening programs held the spotlight because of the ever-demanding need to provide graduate engineers with advanced knowledge. Such cooperation between community interests and colleges has resulted in a wide variety of patterns of part-time study on campus and, more recently, off campus. The later development is viewed with criticism in several educational circles although off-campus programs are filling tremendous requirements arising from industrial concentrations not within easy reach of a university or college. The evolution seems to indicate that off campus programs are not a passing fancy and that such requirements are very likely to be best satisfied in the long run by the establishment of graduate centers with a faculty in residence. As an example, the Polytechnic Graduate Center on Long Island is described. (The Center, actually located in Farmingdale, N. Y., began its operation on September 25, 1961, with a graduate student body of nearly 700 in day and evening programs involving advanced courses in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electrophysics, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, and Industrial Management. Close to 150 part-time day students are attending on a released-time basis, in addition to 45 full-time students in residence.)