Self-Contained Special Education Teachers' and Administrators' Perceptions of Teacher Evaluation Systems

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of administrators and self-contained special education teacher’s usage of their current teacher evaluation tool. Little has been studied about the use of “canned” tools to explicitly evaluate and effectively provide feedback to special education teachers who teach in self-contained settings of students with low incidence disabilities. Using an online survey with ten specific questions, this study explored the perceptions of administrators and special educators. Chi-squares were run and statistical significance were found in several of the survey questions. For example, the chi-square test of independence ran between question number two (“My current evaluation tool/system is aligned to the following teacher evaluation framework: Marzano Framework, Danielson Framework, District Created Framework, or Another Framework.”) and question number 6 (“My current evaluation tool/system adequately provides feedback to teachers of students with low-incidence disabilities about their teaching practices to assist them in determining areas for improvement and developing their skills.”) yielded significant interaction ; ( c2 (1) = 1.078, p > .000). Major themes that emerged from the open-ended questions of the survey included; usage of an inappropriate tool, non- support of teacher growth mindset, and the importance of professional development. Recommendations include creating a unique tool for self-contained special teachers of students of low incidence disabilities.