Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

John Harrison

Abstract

Value-added metrics or models (VAMs) are an important component of the teacher evaluation process that evaluators use to determine the value teachers add to their students’ academic achievement. VAMs are used to arrive at a score that is derived from the number of the teachers’ students who pass and/or fail a standardized assessment. While prior research has focused on VAMs with respect to impact on student success and performance, little is known about how teachers experience the implementation of these metrics and how those experiences may influence teachers’ job satisfaction and motivation. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of urban middle school teachers in Indiana who were evaluated with embedded VAMs. Using a theoretical framework of Herzberg’s theory of motivation-hygiene to analyze teachers’ job satisfaction and dissatisfaction that influence motivation, this study explored the influence that teachers perceived VAMs as having on their job satisfaction and motivation. Fifteen Indiana urban middle school teachers who experienced being evaluated with embedded VAMs as part of the teacher evaluation process were interviewed. The findings for this study indicated that in spite of the hygiene factors that existed in the teachers’ jobs, the teachers were satisfied with their jobs. The teachers who participated in this study described building relationships with their students and watching their students learn as more important than the use of VAMs in their evaluation process. The findings of this study can provide legislators, educators, and policymakers with valuable insights to make more informed decisions about teacher evaluation policies that may promote better education and thus positive social change.

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