Validité des instruments de décision pour l'évaluation des enseignants?

A review of the literature shows that the use of teacher evaluation in public education is widespread. This seems paradoxical when one considers the amount of criticism levied at them by a various groups. The present study was designed in order to deal with the problems of validity and reliability of teacher evaluation instruments planned for the purpose of teachers' promotion or for awarding merit pay. Based upon a review of the literature and school inspectors' judgements, a teacher evaluation instrument including 25 items has been constructed. The instrument has been tested by five school inspectors and 180 school principals. Following their judgements and the factor analysis run upon the data, a face validity and a content validity of the developed instrument emerged. However, conclusions concerning the reliability of the instrument have to be treated with caution. The use of an instrument of this type is justified only for making preliminary decisions as to the eligibility of teachers for further consideration for promotion or for merit pay. L'analyse de la littérature professionnelle montre l'utilisation croissante dans les établissements publics des instruments d'évaluation des enseignants. Ceci parait paradoxal si l'on tient compte des critiques importantes formulées à leur encontre par des groupes différents. La présente étude traite des problèmes de validitéet de fiabilitédes instruments d'évaluation des enseignants pour les décisions de promotion et de rémunération ''de mérite''. Se fondant sur la littérature professionnelle et sur les appréciations formulées par les inspecteurs scolaires, elle a élaboré un instrument représentatif d'évaluation des enseignants comportant 25 éléments. L'instrument a été testé auprès de 5 inspecteurs et de 180 directeurs d'école. Les résultats révèlent que cet instrument possède une validitéde contenu établie sur la littérature professionnelle, sur l'appréciation des inspecteurs scolaires et sur les résultats d'une analyse de facteurs fondée sur les réponses des directeurs d'école au questionnaire proposé. Toutefois, en ce qui concerne la fiabilité, les conclusions sont plus nuancées. L'utilisation d'instruments de ce type semble uniquement efficace pour la détermination préliminaire de ceux qui au sein des enseignants auraient droit ensuite à un examen plus précis de leurs mérites en vue de promotion ou de rémunérations. El análisis de la literatura profesional evidencia el uso creciente en los establecimientos públicos de instrumentos de evaluación de los profesores. Esto podría parecer paradójico si se tienen en cuenta las críticas importantes formuladas por diferentes grupos. El presente estudio trata de los problemas de validez y de fiabilidad de los instrumentsos de evaluación de los profesores para las decisiones de promoción y de remuneración ''del mérito''. Tomando como base la literatura profesional y las apreciaciones formuladas por los inspectores escolares, se ha elaborado un instrumento representativo de la evaluación de los profesores que comporta 25 elementos. El instrumento se sometióa prueba con 5 inspectores y 180 directores de escuela. Los resultados revelan que este instrumento representativo posee una validez de contenido establecida a partir de la literatura profesional, de la apreciación de los inspectores escolares y de los resultados de un análisis de factores que se fundamenta en las respuestas al cuestionario de directores de escuela. Sin embargo, en lo que se refiere a la fiabilidad de contenido, las conclusiones no son tan definidas. El uso de instrumentos de este tipo parece únicamente eficaz para la determinación preliminar de aquellos profesores que podrian tener derecho en una fase posterior, a pasar un examen más preciso de sus méritos para una promoción o remuneración. Sin embargo, dicho grupo de profesores una vez identificado, el instrumento no parece ser lo suficientemente fiable para la decisión de una promoción y convendría desarrollar enfoques complementarios. Ein Überblick über die Fachliteratur zeigt, dass sich die Verwendung Lehrerbewertungen immer mehr verbreitet, obwohl es paradoxalerweise von verschiedenen Gruppen stark kritisiert wird. Die vorliegende Studie beschäftigt sich mit den Problemen der Gültgkeit und Zuverlässigkeit von den Lehrerbewertungsmitteln, in Bezug auf die Beförderungsentscheidungen und auf die Leistungsentlohnungen. Sie hat, gestützt auf die Fachliteratur und auf die Ansichten der Schulraten, einen Bewertungssystem der Lehrer in 25 Punkten entworfen. Dieses Bewertungssystem wurde von 25 Schulraten und von 180 Schuldirektoren geprüft. Ihre Ansichten, sowie die Faktorenanalyse der Daten, bestätigen die Gültigkeit dieses Instrumentes. Die Benutzung eines Instrumentes dieser Art sollte zu einer ersten Entscheidung führen, dessen Inhalt nur die Berechtigung der Lehrer zur Beförderung, zur Leistungsentlohnung und zur weitere Untersuchung beinflussen sollte.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT IN A LARGE,NATIONALLY REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate developmental gender differences in academic achievement areas, with the primary focus on writing, using the child and adolescent portion (ages 6–21 years) of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement—Second Edition, Brief Form, norming sample (N = 1,574). Path analytic models with gender, parent education, age, age², and gender‐by‐age moderation as predictors of reading, writing, and math were used to test for gender differences and for the influence of development on these differences. A small but consistent advantage was identified for females in reading. No gender differences were detected in math. The most important results of the present study pertain to a gender gap in writing in favor of females that increased as a function of age. Male students are at greater risk for writing failure than are females.     

Question Asking in the Science Classroom: Teacher Attitudes and Practices

Despite the wide agreement among educators that classroom learning and teaching processes can gain much from student and teacher questions, their potential is not fully utilized. Adopting the view that reporting both teachers’ (of varying age groups) views and actual classroom practices is necessary for obtaining a more complete view of the phenomena at hand, the present study closely examines both cognitive and affective domains of: (a) teachers’ views (via interviews) concerning: (1) importance and roles of teacher and student questions, (2) teacher responses, and (3) planning and teacher training; and (b) teachers’ actual practices (via classroom observations) concerning: (1) number and (2) level of teacher and student questions, as well as (3) teachers’ responses to questions. The data were collected from 3 elementary, 3 middle, and 3 high school science teachers and their respective classroom students. The findings lay out a wide view of classroom questioning and teachers’ responses, and relate what actually occurs in classes to teachers’ stated views. Some of the study’s main conclusions are that a gap exists between how science researchers and teachers view the role of teacher questions: the former highlight the cognitive domain, while the latter emphasize the affective domain.     

Evaluating a Contextual-Based Course on Data Analysis for the Physics Laboratory

The interpretation of data and construction and understanding of graphs are central practices in science; therefore, an important skill needed in the undergraduate physics laboratory is the ability to analyze data obtained from experiments. Often students are not able to reach logical deductions based on data, acquired from the experiments that they conducted, because they lack appropriate analysis skills. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short teaching unit developed for this purpose, among undergraduate students. Learning in context approach was implemented in building the unit. Also, both procedural and conceptual knowledge were given emphasis. The “data analysis” questionnaire was used to compare the results between the experimental group and control group. The findings indicate that students who participated in the teaching unit arrived at significantly better results in the data analysis questionnaire as compared to students in the control group. This study may contribute to those who wish to design a contextual-based learning environment for physics laboratory data analysis.     

Inquiry-Events as a Tool for Changing Science Teaching Efficacy Belief of Kindergarten and Elementary School Teachers

Researchers agree that science education should begin at childhood, due to its contribution to later cognitive skill development. However, in most cases only a small portion of kindergarten and elementary school activities is related to science. Given the tremendous impact teachers have on children and on the success or failure of their curriculum, teachers' efficacy belief toward science teaching (TEBTST) should be of significant concern. It is suggested herein that in order to improve TEBTST, the science curriculum should be developed not only from the perspective of the child's needs, but will explicitly consider the teachers' needs as well. Such an approach is described in this study, and is labeled as the Inquiry Events (IE) teaching method. This method involves relating to an open-ended problem situated in real life, that encourages investigation of a variety of issues—ethical, economic, scientific, etc.—which both kindergarten and elementary school teachers are accustomed to considering. The method encourages teachers to relate to these daily situations by introducing scientific questions, which they would ordinarily ignore or omit. Using the STEBI (Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument) questionnaire before and after a 4-day workshop introducing the IE method, it was found that IE improved TEBTST and increased their confidence in teaching science.