Teacher evaluation and the demoralization of teachers

Drawing from two years of ethnographic data, this case study details one middle school science and mathematics teacher's experience of new statewide teacher evaluation processes. Initially, these processes held potential as professional learning opportunities. However, limited opportunities for sense-making about what counts as “good” teaching foreclosed on teacher learning contributing to teacher demoralization. Evaluation processes eroded teacher professional identity by reshaping notions of professional competence in ways that did not make sense to teachers. Insights from this study inform debates about teacher evaluation and contribute to scholarship questioning the relationship between accountability policies in education and teachers' professional growth.