Teacher Peer Assistance & Review A Practical Guide for Teachers & Administrators

"The authors skillfully present the many ways a PAR approach can be tailored to a given district or school. This book provides a wealth of material to assist any principal, school, or district with its teacher improvement needs."
Peter Airasian, Professor
Boston College
Boston, MA

 "If you are ready for peer review, Anderson and Pellicer offer the model. If you are trying to make the decision, Teacher Peer Assistance and Review offers a realistic look at the pros and cons, the do′s and don′ts of this hot topic. A wonderful and unique addition to the literature!
Anna Hicks McFadden
Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations
Western Carolina University

"Anderson and Pellicer offer a thoughtful and fair analysis of peer review as it relates to teaching performance. This is the place to start if improving the overall quality of instruction is important in your school district."
Dal Lawrence, Past President
Toledo Federation of Teachers
Toledo, OH

"In their book, Teacher Peer Assistance and Review, Anderson and Pellicer present a compelling case for involving teachers in the instructional supervision process. They also point out the challenges associated with peer assistance and review and provide the reader with a step-by-step guide for overcoming them. Written in a clear, straightforward style, this book is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and policymakers who are serious about implementing effective peer assistance and review programs."
Aretha B. Pigford, Chair
Department of Educational Leadership and Human Services
Florida A&M University

Elementary and secondary educators are discovering what higher education faculty have always known―Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) programs work! Both new and veteran teachers can improve and update their knowledge and skills by linking with "consulting" teachers who provide support through observation, modeling, and sharing of information. PAR programs can strengthen teacher professionalism, improve teacher quality, and ultimately enhance student learning, if done well.

Anderson and Pellicer, two nationally renowned educators, chart a course for developing and implementing an effective PAR program based on long-standing successful programs. Easy-to-read sections highlight:

• What is teacher peer assistance and review?
• Ten essential questions to ask before you begin
• Criteria, standards, and data
• Key players and their roles, relationships, and responsibilities
• Reporting and using the results

Useful Web sites, sample forms, job descriptions, and applications, and an example of an educational policy trust agreement offer practical how-to help. Both administrators and teachers interested in understanding and incorporating a Peer Assistance Review program will find this book an essential guide.

Lorin W. Anderson is Carolina Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of South Carolina, where he has served on the faculty for 27 years. He researches and publishes in the areas of classroom instruction and school learning, effective programs and practices for economically disadvantaged children and youth, the allocation and use of school time, and effective assessment.

Leonard O. Pellicer is Dean of the School of Education and Organizational Leadership at the University of La Verne and Distinguished Professor Emeritus from the University of South Carolina. He has served in a number of teaching and leadership roles over the past thirty-five years. He served as the first director of the South Carolina Educational Policy Center, at the University of South Carolina, and was also the director of the African American Professors Program, a program designed to address the problem of a shortage of African American professors at predominantly white higher-education institutions. His experiences prior to joining the faculty at the University of South Carolina include service as a high school and middle school teacher, high school assistant principal, high school principal, and director of a teacher education center that provided staff development opportunities for teachers and administrators in five Florida school districts. In 1986 to 1987, he was a Fullbright Scholar in Southeast Asia. During this period, he taught graduate classes at the University of the Philippines and used his expertise in school leadership to assist in developing programs to train school leaders in the region. From 1992 to 195, he spent a good deal of time in the Republic of South Africa as a member of a team that developed a field-based training program for black principals in the "new South Africa." He holds a bachelor′s degree in English education and master′s and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Florida in Gainesville. For more than twenty-five years, he has written, consulted, and spoken extensively in the areas of school leadership, instructional leadership, and educational programs for disadvantaged students. He has coauthored two other books with Lorin Anderson for Corwin Press, including A Handbook for Teacher Leaders (1995 and Teacher Peer Assistance and Review: A Practical Guide for Teachers and Administrators (2001).