Abstract

The degree of validity of various teacher evaluation systems in the Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been questioned. Despite several administrative and scholarly attempts, there has been an absence of an accepted set of dimensions for such measurement. In an effort to specify the desirable attributes and practices of religious educators, CES administrators have defined six CES values and seven principles of edification. One of these values is identified as Edifying Teaching. By CES definition, edification occurs when a student is built up spiritually. The seven principles of edification are believed to be important in fostering teaching that edifies. Although full-time employees have been trained on these dimensions, they are not yet the basis for teacher evaluation. This study explores the dimensions upon which students evaluate their seminary teachers and the potential viability of using the principles of edification as measures. While students may conceptually understand the principles of edification, there is evidence that they are unable to apply them to an evaluation of their seminary teacher. Exploratory factor analysis of student's ratings of their seminary teacher provides evidence that students discriminate upon the two dimensions of teacher-student relations and the teacher's presentation manner or skill. The first of these two dimensions, teacher-student relations accounts for 93% of the variance in this two-factor model.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Instructional Psychology and Technology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

1998

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etdm213

Keywords

Teachers, Rating

Language

English

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