Policy, procedures and required practices regarding teacher evaluations in (Arch)dioceses across the United States

The universal foundation of all Catholic Schools is passing on the faith and ensuring high quality academic instruction is provided by qualified Catholic educators. This directive was affirmed in a document entitled, Renewing our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium, writing, All Catholics must join together in efforts to ensure that Catholic schools have administrators and teachers who are prepared to provide an exceptional educational experience for young people-one that is both truly Catholic and of the highest academic quality (p.1). Due to the structure of Catholic schools this responsibility typically falls to the school principal. One way principals can ensure teachers are providing high academic instruction based on the Catholic faith is to maintain a policy directly related to the teacher evaluation process. The purpose of this doctoral project was to identify the strengths and areas of growth within the teacher evaluation policy, procedures and practices of 22 (Arch)dioceses.;After a thorough review of literature key standards of a quality Catholic school teacher evaluation policy were identified. The initial six standards were Frequency of Evaluation, Standards of Practice, Performance Levels, Evidence of Performance, Feedback, and Decision Making and Planning. Due to the essential role of faith in Catholic schools, teacher evaluation policy, procedures and required practices must include a seventh standard related to Catholicity and passing on the faith through personal faith formation of teachers and instruction embedded in the Catholic faith. A matrix was developed based on key standards found through the research. A panel of experts was solicited to critique and provide feedback regarding the significance and validity of each standard identified in the matrix. The matrix was revised based on feedback provided by the expert panel. A policy analysis was conducted of 22 (Arch)diocese from across the United States using the matrix to analyze each of the 22 (Arch)diocesan teacher evaluation policies. The results from the findings were analyzed by Standards and Indicators, geographical region, and (Arch)diocesan size. The findings from this doctoral project revealed common strengths and opportunities for growth.;The findings demonstrated that all 22 (Arch)dioceses had a policy related to teacher evaluation. Further, a majority of the (Arch)dioceses' polices addressed the number and frequency of summative evaluations required for Catholic school teachers. Findings also confirmed consistent opportunities for growth for (Arch)diocese. These opportunities included the evaluator providing multiple types of on-going feedback to teachers in a timely manner. An additional opportunity of growth for all (Arch)dioceses would be to provide training for all evaluators to ensure fidelity of implementation of the teacher evaluation policy, procedures and required practices.