Why principals often give overly high ratings on teacher evaluations

Recent research found that principals who are required to evaluate their teachers often give higher ratings than what they think these teachers deserve. This study aimed to explore principals’ considerations while evaluating teachers. Participants were 39 Israeli principals. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed in four stages – condensing, coding, categorizing, and theorizing. Four considerations emerged for principals’ over-evaluations: (1) time constraints/prioritization (low perceived value for high time investment); (2) evaluation's ineffectiveness for improving teaching (via teacher development or dismissal); (3) the imprecision of teacher evaluation measurements; and (4) impingement on interpersonal relationships. This study demonstrated how principals serve as local mid-level policymakers by actively buffering, rather than bridging, the policies imposed on their schools from above.