Publication Date

1964

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Tink, Albert K.||Belnap, Ralph A.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

School of Education

LCSH

Teachers--Salaries; etc; Teachers--Salaries; etc; Teachers--Rating of

Abstract

The topic of merit pay has long been a source of confusion and apprehension to teachers and other educators due to several outstanding issues, those being, (1) Who is to evaluate teacher performance? (2) How shall the rating be done? and (3) What are the qualifications, abilities, skills, and experience of the raters? This study analyses thirty-two school systems in twelve states presently using a merit pay plan. A descriptive approach was used. This paper's major intent was to answer the following important questions raised about the process of evaluation in merit pay. 1. What is the general role of the administrator in the programs investigated? 2. Will the administrator be the only evaluator upon which the final outcome is based, or will he be part of a committee of other administrative personnel? 3. To what degree will teachers and the community enter into the assessment of teacher effectiveness? 4. What personal and professional traits or skills will have to be demonstrated by the rater in order to best facilitate the evaluative task so that the maximum amount of acceptance is gained by the teacher? 5. What are the future implications of the administrator’s role in this type of program? What preparation, if any, outside the normal administrative qualities are necessary? The results of the study show that in the greatest percentage of school systems presently using a merit type program, the principal and/or other supervisory personnel are delegated the major responsibility for evaluation. Twenty-one of the systems investigated showed other administrative or teacher personnel involved in the merit assessment. Teachers involvement in the merit rating was found in six of the thirty-two systems. No systems reported lay personnel involved in the assessment process, although in one isolated case (see Adams, Colorado study) members of the community were responsible under certain conditions for the initiation of a merit award for teachers. As stated above, they were in no way involved with the assessment process. The study showed that in order to best facilitate the merit evaluation process, certain personal and professional skills had to be in evidence by the rater. Examples are, conference techniques, organization and administration of personnel for merit pay program, knowledge of techniques for successful classroom observation, etc. In the area of personal traits, perceptiveness to problems, interest in teacher welfare, skilled in the art of working with people, etc., were considered necessary. The future may find the administrator's role in merit pay projected toward a specialized area, it may be that administrative training will have to be geared towards strong professional preparation in evaluation techniques, classroom observation, use of statistics, counseling, psychology and conference techniques. In addition, the study points up the necessity of democratic orientation for all administrators.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

108 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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