SPECIAL EDUCATOR IMPROVEMENT PROCEDURE (SEIP): AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER EVALUATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an evaluation procedure designed to assist special educators improve their instruction. A single subject, multiple baseline across subjects design was used to test this evaluation procedure, the Special Educator Improvement Procedure (SEIP), with six teachers of self-contained special education students over a seven week period. The SEIP was composed of the following components: (1) presenting multiple videotaped samples of the subject's teaching performance to a team of evaluators, including the subject, the subject's supervisor, a peer and another educator chosen by the subject; (2) having the evaluation team assess the subject's instruction using the revised Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments (TPAI-R); (3) allowing the subject to compare his or her self assessment with the assessments of other evaluation team members; and (4) having team members make specific suggestions as to how the evaluatee might improve his or her instruction. Following the seventh week of the study, two independent observers used the TPAI-R to rate videotaped samples of the subjects' teaching. These ratings were used to test the prediction that subjects who participated in the SEIP would be ranked higher on the TPAI-R than would subjects who had not yet participated in the SEIP. However, the results of statistical analyses using Revusky's R(,n) statistic and Tukey's HSD procedure did not support this prediction. At the conclusion of the study, evaluation team members completed an experimenter developed questionnaire. An analysis of their responses supported the predictions that (1) the participants would rate the SEIP as being very beneficial for helping special educators improve their teaching and (2) the TPAI-R was a good instrument for assessing the adequacy of special educator's teaching, but failed to support the prediction that the participants would rate their participation in the SEIP feedback session as being very beneficial. It was concluded that the results of the study were inconclusive regarding the effectiveness of the SEIP in assisting special educators to improve their instruction. It was suggested that additional research be conducted using a revised version of the SEIP.