Elementary Teachers’ and School Heads’ Perspectives of Upward Evaluation: Inputs to Procedural Guidelines Development

Abstract

Upward evaluation is a procedure or process where subordinates rate the performance of their supervisors. This process is unheard of in the elementary schools, hence, this study explored teachers’ and school heads’ perspectives of such evaluation regarding their attitudes, how it should be designed, and the performance areas to be included in the evaluation. Participants included 140 teachers and 21 heads assigned at Oras East School District during the school year 2018-2019 and data used in evolving procedural guidelines on upward evaluation were obtained using self-structured questionnaire. The study revealed that both the school heads and teachers have favorable attitude towards upward evaluation. They were agreed that upward evaluation should involve subordinates and immediate superior of school heads as raters without anonymity, using the behavior approach and both the rating and critical incidents techniques in rating, to be conducted once before every school year ends where evaluators shall be asked to rate the school head on station with the school district supervisor visiting each school to facilitate the conduct of the evaluation using a devised performance appraisal form, and the results be communicated a week after the evaluation for discussion between school head and immediate superior. Five performance areas identified that were included in upward evaluation are on instructional leadership, learning environment, human resource management and development, parents’ involvement and community partnership, and school leadership, management and operation. The procedural guidelines evolved describe how upward evaluation may be undertaken to produce results fair enough to provide feedback of school heads’ performance.