SOCIOLOGY AND TEACHER EVALUATION

Although technical questions of teacher evaluation are the most frequently addressed by researchers, still other concerns need to be examined. The most technically excellent teacher evaluation system can be installed in a school district, but be doomed to failure if the sociological dynamics are not addressed. Sociological problems concern the effects of the larger social structure (e.g., expectations, norms, power) on the behavior of individuals and subgroups within that structure (Goodman, 1992; Homans, 1950, 1961; Larsen, 1962; Parsons, 1937, 1964). Sociological dynamics often describe the real world fate of teacher evaluation programs better than a systems analysis flow chart, theoretical formulations about effective teaching behavior or duties, or exhortations to increased professional behavior. Educational sociologists, such as Cusick (1973), Jackson (1968), Lortie (1975), and Johnson (1990), have shown how workplace culture powerfully shapes educational and evaluation practice. Sociological interventions in teacher evaluation largely determine whether the organizational structure elicits compliance and support for the technical procedures, or actions contrary to the goals of the organization and participant efforts to defeat the evaluation program itself. Sociological perspectives are under represented in most research and development in teacher evaluation.

Selected Sociological Constructs Having Implications and Applications for School Teacher Evaluation

Alienation	Control	Expectation	Norm
Anomie	Culture	Function	Power
Approval	Emergent	Gemeinschaft/	Relationship
Author/Pawn	phenomenon	Gesellschaft	Reward
Authoritative	Endemic	Information	Role
reassurance	uncertainty	Influence	Sanction
Authority	Energy	Innovation	Sentiment
Charisma	Entrepreneurship	Investment	Status
Coercion	Equilibrium	Justice	Symbol
Contract	Exchange	Leadership	Value