Linking Performance Evaluation and Career Ladder Programs: Reactions of Teachers and Principals in One District

The consequences of state linkage of 2 reform programs-a career ladder and performance evaluation-in 1 Missouri district are explored. Interviews with 69 teachers (34 elementary and 35 secondary) from 2 schools and with 13 principals (9 elementary, 4 secondary) provided participants' interpretations of the programs, their linkage, and consequent problems. Teachers' responses were consensual. Teachers tolerated evaluation, criticized the career ladder, and saw the linkage between the 2 programs as contradicting both programs' intentions. Principals differed according to whether they viewed their role as that of a manager or an instructional leader. All principals, nevertheless, disliked the career ladder. Managers, however, accommodated teachers' career ladder mobility, whereas instructional leaders sought to protect rigorous evaluation standards. A conflict between teachers and instructional leaders over access to the career ladder that required central-administration intervention is described and analyzed. Linkage of these programs was incompatible, altered the state's original intentions for them, and made district consequences predictable. Limits of the programs are discussed, and alternative program forms more in keeping with the original intentions are suggested.