Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: This study extends the body of knowledge in the field of K-12 teacher supervision through an investigation of contemporary literature on supervision in traditional and cyber schools; an inventory of current cyber school supervisory practices, procedures, policies, needs, and issues; and a review of related supervisory documents. The results of the outreach effort yielded an effective response rate of 9% resulting in an unintended, but important finding, in that a better mechanism is needed for identifying, categorizing and reaching cyber schools. The study supports contemporary beliefs related to the necessity and importance of a quality supervisory program and that multiple considerations and approaches are available. Participating schools report substantially lower teacher to supervisor ratios than the national average and that supervision practices have a positive impact on quality of instruction. Respondents indicate that the principal is primarily responsible for supervision however; many call upon other individuals such as peer mentors, instructional supervisors, and team leaders to assess and support the teacher. Most participating schools incorporate the use of classroom observations using archived data and report that email is most widely used and most useful supervisory tool. Student work/test scores, input from students, teacher self-reflection, and input from parents are reported to be the most widely used sources of data. Professional development needs and a lack of time for supervision are reported to be the biggest supervisory challenges facing cyber school administrators.
Author: Eric G. Rosendale
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1519453794