Case+4-+NCATE+and+Pennsylvania+West+Virginia+Teacher+Evaluations



Policy Document:

Artifacts:

__Class Findings__:
 * Teacher evaluation forms (e.g. Pennsylvania; West Virginia) are reflective of local criterion for teacher quality and professional expectations.
 * Teacher evaluation forms look different similar, yet different, across the two different states.
 * The NCATE standards' language was present in both states' teacher evaluation forms at various steps in the teacher certification process (i.e. initial certification; permanent teaching certificate).
 * The teacher evaluation forms differ significantly in how professional dispositions is measured and what characteristics are deemed as part of professional dispositions.
 * The NCATE standards' language provides some attributes to professional dispositions, but it is not very detailed in how to measure or look for professional dispositions.

__Recommendations__:
 * A definition of professional dispositions would be a set of positions, guidelines, values, and beliefs that are meant to measure a professional teacher's demonstration of skills, strategies, and awareness necessary to be an effective teacher.
 * In the development of a teacher's professional dispositions, teachers must realize how students are agents of learning in the process of teaching and should be respect for this essential role.
 * Assessments of professional dispositions should be sensitive to gender roles and/or experiences, regional values, and the enactment of professionalism in a variety of contexts.

__Conclusions__

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) provides standards and recommendations for measuring professional dispositions within local educational contexts. Our group examined initial and permanent teacher certification evaluations from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The two states, who require NCATE certification within all of their teacher education programs, integrate conceptualizations of professional dispositions into their teacher evaluations. In considering the two research questions, the definitions of professional dispositions is limited to the language available in the standards or local contexts' considerations of measuring a teacher's dispositions through observation. The recommendations made by the group, for the second research question, center upon developing sensitivity in the assessments of professional dispositions and expanding professional dispositions to the influence of the students' contributions in the educational process.