Date of Award

6-1-2013

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education/Leadership in Urban Schools

First Advisor

Joseph Check

Second Advisor

Wenfan Yan

Third Advisor

John Leonard

Abstract

Although there is wide consensus that teacher evaluation processes should be used to identify and measure effective teaching, this has always been an elusive goal. How teachers perceive the evaluative process is a crucial determiner of how the results of the evaluations are utilized. In 2010, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education established a task force to study and make recommendations for changes in the statewide teacher evaluation standards. Recommendations included state-wide standards and performance indicators, specific categories of evidence, use of state-wide performance ratings, five step evaluation cycles, and use of improvement plans.

A search of relevant databases revealed no empirical study pertinent to teacher understanding of the standards-based evaluation process in an urban district in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. The present sequential mixed methods research methodology involving a two-phase research design was focused on the relationship between teacher job satisfaction and the teacher evaluation process, based on self-reporting survey of teachers in a Massachusetts urban public school district that currently uses standards-based evaluation. The extent to which job satisfaction affects understanding of the evaluation process was studied as well as the establishing the extent to which understanding of the evaluation process, workplace conditions, teacher autonomy, efficacy, administrative support and finally, student behaviors affects teacher job satisfaction. The study employed Herzberg's Two Factor/Dual Factor theory as the theoretical lens through which to explore motivation and job satisfaction in the workplace.

Conclusions based on the results of the first phase led to formulation of questions, data collection, and data analysis for the second phase. A stratified random sample of 300 teachers was surveyed using the Job Satisfaction/Teacher Evaluation Survey with a 67% return rate. A statistically significant correlation between teacher job satisfaction and teacher evaluation exists. There were statistically significant correlations between job satisfaction and teacher evaluation and years experience and grade level assignment as well. There was not a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and teacher evaluation and gender.

Comments

Free and open access to this Campus Access Dissertation is made available to the UMass Boston community by ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. Those not on campus and those without a UMass Boston campus username and password may gain access to this dissertation through resources like Proquest Dissertations & Theses Global or through Interlibrary Loan. If you have a UMass Boston campus username and password and would like to download this work from off-campus, click on the "Off-Campus UMass Boston Users" link above.

Download
Off-Campus UMass Boston Users

Share

COinS