The implementation of the consulting teacher in Illinois school districts
Zion, Richard E.
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23175
Description
Title
The implementation of the consulting teacher in Illinois school districts
Author(s)
Zion, Richard E.
Issue Date
1991
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Thurston, Paul W.
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ed.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Administration
Language
eng
Abstract
The Educational Reform Act of 1985 mandated a state teacher evaluation procedure which required the use of a consulting teacher. According to the legislation, whenever a tenured teacher receives an unsatisfactory rating, the school district is required to provide that teacher with a consulting teacher. These consulting teachers would be appointed locally or if the local district had no qualified or interested candidates, the district had to request the ISBE to appoint a consulting teacher from outside the district. With only minimal guidelines to follow, local school districts have attempted to implement the role of the consulting teacher.
The purpose of this study was to determine how the consulting teachers implemented their role. The study further investigated how these roles were affected by the appointment of the consulting teacher by the ISBE, how the roles performed by the consulting teachers were affected by previous training, the types of problems the consulting teacher experienced, and how the consulting teachers viewed their experiences.
A multi-case study method was selected to provide a description of how the consulting teachers implemented their roles. Three sources of data were used: a survey questionnaire of 55 consulting teachers (28 locally appointed and 27 state appointed), a follow-up interview of 22 consulting teachers (11 state and 11 locally appointed), and an analysis of relevant documents. The major finding of this study was that both state and locally appointed consulting teachers employed a variety of roles. In trying to implement their roles, the consulting teachers often received limited assistance from the local administration who usually viewed the consulting process as the last step of an organized termination. In most instances, the local administration was unsure of what kinds of assistance the consulting teachers were to provide. Despite the lack of a clearly defined role, over 60% of the consulting teachers viewed their experiences as positive and a majority believed that teachers should serve in such a capacity.
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