Perceptions of Public School Teachers Regarding the Effectiveness of the Career Path System Evaluation Instrument in the Bahamas
Problem. The purpose of this study was to measure public school teachers’ perception regarding the effectiveness of their evaluation instrument, the Career Path System, in the Bahamas. Method. The research population consisted of two categories of public school teachers: (a) level of teachers—elementary and secondary teachers, and (b) status of teachers— evaluated and non-evaluated teachers. The data were analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics, means, and ANOVA. Results. The results of this study indicate that public school teachers, regardless of the categories elementary or secondary, evaluated or non-evaluated, perceived 44 of 46 performance items of the Career Path System (CPS) evaluation instrument as satisfactory. The two performance items that were perceived by teachers as unsatisfactory are related to student creativity, originality, and investigative skills that came under the domain Student Achievement. A hierarchical preference of the five domains selected by teachers from most satisfactory to least satisfactory was: Teacher Planning, Record Keeping, Teacher Observation, Classroom Management, and Student Achievement. The general evaluation information also did not affect the perceptions of teachers regarding their stance on the effectiveness of the CPS instrument. The results of the survey suggested that evaluated and non-evaluated teachers were unanimous in their conclusion that the CPS was a sound and effective instrument. Conclusions. Both elementary and high-school teachers and evaluated and non-evaluated teachers shared a great deal of unanimity regarding the perceived soundness of the Career Path Evaluation instrument. However, there were two performance items under the domain Student Achievement that teachers perceived as unsatisfactory; (a) students’ work shows evidence of creativity, originality, and imagination; and (b) students’ work shows evidence of the use of investigative skills. Other general evaluation information supports teachers’ perception of the Career Path Instrument as being a sound assessment document. Suggestions for further research include an expansion on this study to target a demographic component and a longitudinal study over a period of 3 to 5 years to investigate the changing perceptions of teachers.
Education, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
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