Personal Professional Goal Setting and Teacher Perception: Implementation in a Suburban School District

Given the cyclical nature of the school year, each fall, thousands of teachers set upon a new year with their own set of goals to accomplish during that term. Recognizing this reality, a suburban school district in Northwestern Pennsylvania set out to maximize its impact by implementing a personal professional goal process in all ten district buildings, five elementary (K-5), three middle (6-8) and two secondary (9-10 and 11-12) schools. The freedom with which the district allowed each building to operate to implement the process led to questions about that implementation as well as the perceptions of the process among staff members. The purpose of this research was to examine the implementation of this process, and the perceptions of teachers related to it. A district wide survey was conducted, and all professional employees were invited to participate. Focus group and interviews were then held. The survey provided quantitative data which would provide information to determine the shape that the process’s implementation had taken. Qualitative data from the focus groups and interviews would point to some of the differences in perception of the process and its impact on professional development, evaluations, student achievement and professional practice. This study found that an emphasis on explicit communication as it relates to goals and evaluations as well as some standardization of elements could lead to an improved goal process across the district.