Introduction

One of the strongest current movements in the United States is the effort to evaluate teachers in various ways, presumably as a step towards improving the educational system. A number of teacher evaluation schemes have been proposed and most of them involve the testing of teachers directly or the testing of students and holding the teachers accountable for the student gains. Hence, various states and municipalities have employed tests to measure what prospective teachers know before they enter teacher training and tests to assess what they know after teacher training, often with a minimum test score the teacher must attain before being allowed to teach. Teacher evaluation is also linked to merit pay plans to differentially reward teachers for performance and to dismissal procedures for incompetent teachers. Needless to say, there is a lack of public confidence in teachers and the schools, a lack of confidence inspired and expressed by the highest political figures and the mass media.