From Tinkering to Going “Rogue”: How Principals Use Agency When Enacting New Teacher Evaluation Systems

Item

Title

From Tinkering to Going “Rogue”: How Principals Use Agency When Enacting New Teacher Evaluation Systems

Abstract/Description

Despite major changes to teacher evaluation since 2009, scant research examines how principals enact these policies. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 44 principals in 13 Connecticut districts, we use structure-agency theory to characterize how principals improvised when implementing the state evaluation model. We find that principals’ use of discretion varied across the system’s components, took different forms, and appeared aimed at varied outcomes. Particular forms of discretion supported the system’s goals, while others likely undermined them. Principals tended to use their discretion to further the system’s development aims as opposed to its accountability goals. Our findings have implications for the enactment of teacher evaluation policy, the roles of district administrators, and principals’ work as instructional leaders in an accountability context.

Author/creator

Donaldson, Morgaen L.

Woulfin, Sarah L.

Date

2018

In publication

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Volume

40

Issue

4

Pages

531-556

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Empirical

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0162-3737

DOI

10.3102/0162373718784205

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Citation

Donaldson, M. L., & Woulfin, S. (2018). From Tinkering to Going “Rogue”: How Principals Use Agency When Enacting New Teacher Evaluation Systems. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(4), 531–556. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373718784205

Cited in

The Institution of Schooling

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 4 Citations

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