DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Assessment of Teaching: Purposes, Practices, and Implications for the Profession, edited by James Y. Mitchell, Jr., Steven L. Wise, and Barbara S. Plake; Series Editor, Jane Close Conoley (Hillsdale, New Jersey, Hove & London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990)

Copyright © 1990 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Digital Edition Copyright © 2012 Buros Center for Testing. This book may be downloaded, saved, and printed by an individual for their own use. No part of this book may be re-published, re-posted, or redistributed without written permission of the holder of copyright.

The topic for the 1987 Buros-Nebraska annual Symposium on Measurement and Testing was "Assessment of Teaching: Purposes, Practices, and Implications for the Profession." This topic was selected because of the current interest in developing, designing, and implementing accountability programs for teaching that are present in many states and education programs. The complex nature of teaching, combined with the unique measurement issues for assessing outcomes in the teaching context, provided the basis for identifying the topic of teacher assessment for the 1987 symposium. This volume provides a comprehensive look at the assessment of teaching, covering dimensions of assessment techniques, validity concerns, legal issues, application and implementation considerations, utility of assessment information, and views of the process of teacher assessment from the perspective of both an administrator and a teacher advocate. Therefore, this volume will focus on many related and vital facets of assessment of teaching. Through discussions of techniques, an evaluation of the utility of these techniques, an identification of contextual variables and concerns that impede direct linkages between teaching and student performance outcomes, and critical legal and political implications of teacher assessment, this volume provides the foundation for directed efforts toward improving the knowledge base for teacher assessment programs. It is clear that the cry for accountability in teacher performance is growing louder. This volume will hopefully serve as a tool for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating the utility of teacher assessment programs.