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PALGRAVE STUDIES ON LEADERSHIP
AND LEARNING IN TEACHER EDUCATION

Differentiated Teacher
Evaluation and
Professional Learning
Policies and Practices for
Promoting Career Growth

Edited by
Mary Lynne Derrington · Jim Brandon
Palgrave Studies on Leadership and Learning
in Teacher Education

Series Editors
Maria Assunção Flores
Institute of Education
University of Minho
Braga, Portugal

Thuwayba Al Barwani
College of Education
Sultan Qaboos University
Al Khod, Muscat, Oman
The series focuses on original and research informed writing related to
teachers and leaders’ work as it addresses teacher education in the 21st
century. The editors of this series adopt a more comprehensive definition
of Teacher Education to include pre-service, induction and continuing
professional development of the teacher. The contributions will deal with
the challenges and opportunities of learning and leading in teacher edu-
cation in a globalized era. It includes the dimensions of practice, policy,
research and university school partnership. The distinctiveness of this
book series lies in the comprehensive and interconnected ways in which
learning and leading in teacher education are understood. In the face of
global challenges and local contexts it is important to address leadership
and learning in teacher education as it relates to different levels of educa-
tion as well as opportunities for teacher candidates, teacher educators
education leaders and other stakeholders to learn and develop. The book
series draws upon a wide range of methodological approaches and episte-
mological stances and covers topics including teacher education, profes-
sionalism, leadership and teacher identity.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16190
Mary Lynne Derrington • Jim Brandon
Editors

Differentiated
Teacher Evaluation
and Professional
Learning
Policies and Practices for Promoting
Career Growth
Editors
Mary Lynne Derrington Jim Brandon
College of Education, Health and Werklund School of Education
Human Sciences University of Calgary
University of Tennessee Calgary, AB, Canada
Knoxville, TN, USA

ISSN 2524-7069     ISSN 2524-7077 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies on Leadership and Learning in Teacher Education
ISBN 978-3-030-16453-9    ISBN 978-3-030-16454-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16454-6

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland
AG 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of
illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans-
mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or
dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Foreword

The policies and practices of teacher evaluation, supervision and profes-

sional learning represent a real quagmire. It would be next to impossible
for any leader to grasp what is at stake in this myriad jungle. Now we
have in one book comprehensive coverage of the domain, exposition of
the concepts, sorting of the relationship of teaching to improvement, and
how to understand the politics of assessing and improving teaching. Jim
Brandon and Mary Lynne Derrington have brought together a thorough
collection of close examinations of teacher evaluation and its variations.
The authors frame the contributions with an opening chapter—support-
ing teacher growth and assuring quality—and a closing chapter that is
provocatively titled: ‘lessons learned, not learned and yet to be mastered.’
In between the bookend chapters are 9 other chapters by a range of other
authors who as a set cover the waterfront of evaluation and improvement.
The book is divided into two main parts: one part contains six chapters
that focus on ‘teacher evaluation in practice’; the remaining five chapters
examine ‘the interplay of policy and practice’. The main overall message
of the book, and one that this book delivers with the utmost clarity is
caveat emptor. In other words, whenever you see the words teacher evalu-
ation your best bet is to examine the details in relation to the specific
policy or setting in which it is used. Don’t make any assumptions about
clarity or consistency of concepts. Once you have that stance—seeking
clarity of policy and practice—you can enter the treasure trove of ­chapters
v
vi Foreword

in this book that dissects in a variety of settings. The book is particularly

valuable because it is grounded in named settings, and represents various
settings in Canada, the US and Europe.
In Chap. 1 Brandon and Derrington set the stage by providing seven
clear conclusions that evaluation can be valuable under certain condi-
tions (multiple sources of data; conducted by competent, trained profes-
sionals, using transparent clearly understood processes, and so on).
Overall the authors report that high stakes summative evaluations demo-
tivates teachers and jeopardizes teacher learning.
I won’t go into the detail of the various chapters that unpack the prac-
tices of evaluation. Chapter 3 examines the ins and outs of evaluating
veteran teachers in California. The next chapter takes us to Quebec where
we see the flip side—how to evaluate and retain beginning teachers
through an induction process—basically a rocky road to find as high
yield set of practices. Chapter 5 examines one of the biggest bugbears of
evaluation—the credibility of the evaluator. Five STEM based high
schools in the US were studied, and shows that it is a mugs game if the
focus is on ‘proving’ the credibility of the evaluator (which the authors
describe as containing two components: expertise, and trustworthiness).
The authors correctly conclude that the answer must be found in devel-
oping a ‘culture of learning’—easier said than done.
Chapter 6 adds another valuable element by helpfully taking us back
to basic principles: teacher effectiveness and how to enhance it. The
author’s answer is to ensure that the focus is on ‘effective classroom
instruction’, which he concludes is a never-ending search.
Part II, beginning with Chap. 7, examines how policy and practice
interact. In a sample of Flemish schools, the authors find that most
schools distinguish between beginning and experienced teachers without
much differentiation among experienced teachers as group. In Chap. 8
Helen Hazi examines the latest US Federal policy in relation to teacher
evaluation—The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Basically she finds
that the notion of teacher assessment requires more and more complexity
and time demands of school principals to carry out such functions—an
assumption that the author seems to think cannot be upheld.
In Chap. 9 we find more policy chronology from the US. Zepeda
develops a highly valuable chart comparing on nine dimensions what she
 Foreword vii

calls ‘The old view of professional learning’ with ‘the new view’—essen-
tially a difference between bureaucratic fixing, and job-embedded learn-
ing. We get specific recommendations for the need to move to the new,
better system, but no particulars about how likely it will be taken up.
In Chap. 10 we return to Alberta. Hunter and Owusu provide a very
clear exposition comparing the US and the Canadian approaches to teacher
evaluation. By and large the US system is more formal, bureaucratic and
consequential. In Alberta there is formal requirement for beginning teach-
ers, but ongoing learning is framed in more normative terms. New teacher
standards have been developed but serve as frames to guide action. The
authors conducted an analysis of policy including five facets of local policy
implementation: fidelity, accessibility, implementability, currency (atten-
tion), and differentiability). They found that budget allocations do not
affect implementability, and or local attention because of weak links to
local action (in particular the interaction effects of ‘transaction costs’ (to
implement the policy), and ‘span of control’ limited implementation. Thus
impact of teacher evaluation policy is difficult to influence.
In the concluding chapter Derrington and Brandon don’t quite say,
but I will, that formal evaluation (except for beginning teachers) is a low
yield proposition. The irony is that the more formal the policy the less
likely the impact. They end up concluding: “in the final analysis, it’s all
about the principal”.
In my view Brandon, Derrington and their colleagues provide us with
a comprehensive and through review of the lays of the land relative to
teacher evaluation and professional learning. For this we thank them; we
need to know what is out there. For my money this book takes us back to
a basic solution that Richard Elmore named almost 15 years ago that “no
amount of external evaluation will be effective in the absence of internal
accountability”. I have developed this idea recently in a book called
Nuance. I called it “culture based accountability” defined as:

Individual and collective responsibility that becomes embedded into the

values, behavior, and actions of people in the situation. It is specific, trans-
parent, and evidence based…People in the culture come to embrace a focus
on continuous improvement…As culture-based accountability develops, it
engages external assessment as part of its responsibility (Fullan 2019, p. 75)
viii Foreword

Maybe this is what Brandon and Derrington meant when they con-
cluded that ‘it is all about the principal’, although I assume that they
meant principals and teachers working together to produce collective effi-
cacy. We need policies that produce the latter.

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Michael Fullan

University of Toronto,
Toronto, ON, Canada

Reference
Fullan, M. (2019). Nuance: Why some teachers succeed and others fail. Thousand
Oaks: Corwin Press.
Praise for Differentiated Teacher Evaluation and
Professional Learning

“Investments in teacher evaluation typically have yielded disappointing returns.

It is hard to imagine, however, the absence of formal processes for evaluating
something that consumes the vast public resources required to sustain an effec-
tive teaching work force. While acknowledging the well-known challenges asso-
ciated with productive teacher evaluation, this book offers timely accounts of
the most promising efforts to meet those challenges to date, evidence about the
effects of some of these efforts, and well- grounded recommendation to those
responsible for using teacher evaluation as a means of improving the quality of
schooling.”
—Kenneth Leithwood, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto, Canada

“Derrington and Brandon artfully intertwine how policy and practice can sup-
port teacher learning while moving away from demoralizing high stakes teacher
evaluation practices. Central to their message is the development of a culture of
reflection, whereby teachers and administrators work together to differentiate
professional learning needs. This book accomplishes what few other books on
teacher evaluation are able to achieve: A practical guide to teacher evaluation
that is informed by useful theory and honors adult learning.”
—Ian Mette, University of Maine, USA. Editor of the Journal of Educational
Supervision

“This book brings clarity to the concepts of teacher evaluation and professional
learning. Most importantly, it spells out how and under what conditions they
can effectively support teacher growth and student learning. A much needed
read in an education world full of good intentions and, overall, little impact.”
—Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, Ed.D, Chief Research Officer, Michael Fullan
Enterprises, Inc.

ix
 Contents

Part I Differentiated Teacher Evaluation in Practice    1

1 Supporting Teacher Growth and Assuring Teaching

Quality  3
Jim Brandon and Mary Lynne Derrington

2 The Power of Formative Evaluation of Teaching 15

Stephen P. Gordon and Marla W. McGhee

3 Providing Teachers with a Choice in Evaluation: A Case

Study of Veteran Teachers’ Views 37
Sharon Conley, Elizabeth Mainz, and Laura Wellington

4 Prizes and Imperfections: Examining Teacher Evaluation

Within an Induction Program in Western Québec 59
Trista Hollweck, Amy Curry, Kate Smith, Mike Dubeau, and
Terry Kharyati

xi
xii Contents

5 Credibility in Instructional Supervision: A Catalyst for

Differentiated Supervision 83
Chad R. Lochmiller

6 Teacher Evaluation and Differentiated Instructional

Supervision: A Tiered Approach to Promote Teacher
Growth107
Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz and Jo Ann Simmons

Part II Differentiated Teacher Evaluation: The Interplay of

Policy and Practice 127

7 Balancing Differentiation and Fairness in Teacher

Evaluation: The Story of Flemish Secondary Schools129
Melissa Tuytens and Geert Devos

8 The Language of Instructional Improvement in the U.S.:

A View from Current Law and Policy Reports149
Helen M. Hazi

9 Job-Embedded Professional Learning: Federal Legislation

and National Reports as Levers173
Sally J. Zepeda

10 Differentiated Evaluation Policy for Professionals in

Alberta Canada Schools: Local Policy Characteristics and
Budget Implications197
Darryl M. Hunter and Francis Owusu

11 Lessons Learned, Not Learned, and Yet to Be Mastered221

Mary Lynne Derrington and Jim Brandon

Index229
 Notes on Contributors

Jim Brandon is Associate Dean of Professional and Community

Engagement in the Werklund School of Education at the University of
Calgary, Canada. As an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership,
his research interests include quality teaching, instructional leadership,
supervision, and evaluation of teachers, principals, and superintendents.

Sharon Conley received her PhD in education from the University of

Michigan. She is currently Professor of Education at the University of
California (Santa Barbara), US. She has authored publications in the
areas of organizational behavior and theory in schools, educational
reform, and the managerial work environments of teachers. Among the
aspects of school organization she has studied are organizational routines,
systems of employee compensation, and teacher work design.

Amy Curry is a principal at Poltimore Elementary and the Teacher

Induction Program Consultant for the Western Quebec School Board.
She has worked as a literacy consultant, resource teacher and classroom
teacher and has spent time on loan to the Ministère d’éducation et de
l’enseignement supérieur creating evaluation tools for English Language
Arts. Amy is completing her Master of Education with Concentration in
Studies in Teaching and Learning at the University of Ottawa.

xiii
xiv Notes on Contributors

Mary Lynne Derrington is an Associate Professor in the College of

Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee in
Knoxville, TN, USA. Her research interests include teacher evaluation,
and qualitative longitudinal methods for studying change and imple-
mentation. She is the coordinator of the Doctor of Education degree
program in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy
Studies.

Geert Devos PhD, is a full professor in the field of Educational admin-

istration at the Department of Educational Studies, Ghent University
(Belgium). He leads the Bellon research centre for school leadership and
educational policy. His current research areas include educational leader-
ship, school improvement, and educational policy.

Mike Dubeau is Director General of the Western Quebec School Board.

He has also been Director of Human Resources, Director of Education,
an elementary and secondary school administrator, and teacher in the
district. Mike has his B Ed from McGill University and his BA and MA
from the University of Ottawa.

Stephen P. Gordon is a professor of educational and community leader-

ship at Texas State University. His teaching and research interests include
educational supervision, professional development, action research,
school improvement, and curriculum development. Dr. Gordon’s most
recent book is Supervision and Instructional Leadership: A Developmental
Approach (2018), coauthored with Carl Glickman and Jovita
Ross-Gordon.

Helen M. Hazi a professor of Educational Leadership at West Virginia

University in Morgantown, WV, USA, has been a teacher, a Supervisor of
Curriculum and Instruction, and an expert witness. As a member of the
Council of Professors of Instructional Supervision and the AERA SIG:
Supervision and Instructional Leadership, she writes about legal issues
that have consequence for supervision. Recent writings focus on instruc-
tional improvement: its origins, influences, and commodification.
 Notes on Contributors xv

Trista Hollweck is a PhD Candidate and Part-Time Professor at the

University of Ottawa in Canada. Her SSHRC funded doctoral research
examines mentoring, coaching, and professional learning during teacher
induction. Identifying as a pracademic, Trista engages in qualitative and
mixed methods research and is particularly interested in the intersection
between educational research, classroom practice, and systemic reform.
Trista has been a secondary teacher, vice-principal, teacher trainer and
consultant for the Western Quebec School Board.

Darryl M. Hunter is Assistant Professor, Department of Educational

Policy Studies, University of Alberta, Canada. His research interests lie in
the realm of policy implementation, educational law, and assessment in
Canada.

Terry Kharyati is Director of Education and Human Resources at the

Western Quebec School Board. A school administrator for seventeen
years, Terry’s current work is studying how to support both students and
staff in increasing their personal and professional levels of efficacy. Terry
believes strongly that the school board and in-school administrators can
positively impact student achievement if they focus on increasing the
level of health and efficacy in their schools and centres.

Chad R. Lochmiller is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership

and Policy at Indiana University Bloomington. His research examines
how leaders develop human resources and invest fiscal resources in sup-
port of educational improvement. To this end, he studies K-12 leadership
issues related to instructional leadership, leadership coaching, improve-
ment science, and resource investment. He has also written extensively
about research methods for leadership and policy studies. His research
has appeared in articles, chapters, and edited volumes.

Elizabeth Mainz received her PhD in cultural perspectives and com-

parative education from the University of California (Santa Barbara).
Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language in schools,
teacher thinking, and qualitative methods. A recent publication was
“Engaging with the syuzhet: A new methodological approach to analyzing
xvi Notes on Contributors

and visualizing internet discourse” (with A.L. LaFave) published in

2018 in Ethnography. She currently serves as a Secondary Teacher, Ventura
Unified School District, California, US.

Marla W. McGhee is an associate professor of educational leadership at

TCU (Texas Christian University) and the Director of the College of
Education’s Center for Public Education. Before joining higher educa-
tion, she served for over two decades as a teacher and administrator in
Texas public schools. Dr. McGhee’s recent publishing interests include
practicing instructional supervision, solution-focused strategies and the
clinical supervision cycle, and the instructional role and purpose of school
librarians and library media centers. With Dr. Barbara Jansen, she is the
co-author of The Principal’s Guide to a Powerful Library Media Center: A
School Library for the 21st Century.

Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz is an assistant professor in the School of

Education at The University of Texas at Tyler. Prior to joining the UT
Tyler faculty, she spent 20 years in K-12 education as a teacher, curricu-
lum coordinator, and principal. Dr. Oliveras’ work focuses on instruc-
tional leadership and school improvement. She is currently studying the
work of teaching principals in rural schools in Belize. Dr. Oliveras holds
a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction from Penn State.

Francis Owusu is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational

Policy Studies, University of Alberta, Canada. He is pursuing research in
policy capacity and implementation in Ghana.

Jo Ann Simmons has served as Superintendent of The University of

Texas at Tyler University Academy since October 2014. Previously, Dr.
Simmons was a teacher, coach and principal in Tyler ISD. She works with
low performing schools and mentors charter school superintendents
from across the state. She earned a B.S. in Education and a M.Ed. in
Educational Leadership from UT Tyler, and an Ed.D. in Educational
Leadership from Stephen F. Austin State University.
 Notes on Contributors xvii

Kate Smith is a Vice-Principal in the Western Quebec School Board.

After starting her career in Montreal, Kate moved home to Western
Quebec where she has taken on roles including teacher, guidance coun-
sellor, teacher leader, mentor-coach, consultant and administrator. Kate
has a Science and Education degree from McGill University as well as a
Masters in Organizational Studies in Education from the University of
Ottawa. Her passions include coaching, resilience and promoting a posi-
tive school culture.

Melissa Tuytens PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of

Educational Studies, Ghent University (Belgium). Her research interests
are situated in the field of personnel policy within schools, school leader-
ship and school policy in general. Currently, she focuses on the integra-
tion of personnel policy in the strategic school policy in primary and
secondary education.

Laura Wellington began her career as middle school teacher, and

worked in the US Virgin Islands and in Finland as a Fulbright teacher.
Laura subsequently served as a high school assistant principal and middle
school principal in California. She received her doctorate from the joint
doctoral program, University of California (Santa Barbara) and California
State University (San Luis Obispo). She currently serves as Director,
Office of Field Experiences, at Western Washington University, US.

Sally J. Zepeda Ph.D. is Professor of Educational Administration and

Policy at the University of Georgia, United States. Her research focuses
on supervision, teacher and leader evaluation, and professional develop-
ment. Her articles have appeared in Review of Educational Research,
Journal of School Leadership, and Alberta Journal of Educational Research,
for example. The book, Instructional Supervision: Applying Tools and
Concepts (Routledge, 4th ed.), was translated into Turkish. She co-edited
The Wiley Handbook of Educational Supervision (2019).
 List of Tables

Table 3.1 Study participants’ demographic information, subject, and

choices exercised (teachers and one administrator; teachers
grouped by school) 44
Table 7.1 Scoring categories for differentiation in teacher evaluation 135
Table 7.2 Frequencies of scores on differentiation in teacher evaluation
procedure (n = 30 schools) 136
Table 8.1 Psychological principles of improvement reflected in briefs/
reports of selected influential policy groups in the U.S. 161
Table 9.1 National publications and professional learning 176
Table 9.2 Contrasts between the new view and the old view of
professional learning 188
Table 9.3 Results and recommendation—the state of professional
learning190
Table 10.1 Means, standard deviations and correlations among five
facets of local personnel policy, Alberta, 2016–2017 209
Table 10.2 Budget predictions for five facets of Alberta school district
personnel policy 211

xix
 Part I
Differentiated Teacher Evaluation in
Practice
 1
Supporting Teacher Growth
and Assuring Teaching Quality
Jim Brandon and Mary Lynne Derrington

A high percentage of teachers are committed, successful, and student

focused educators, who seek and benefit from helpful feedback, collegial
dialogue, and high-quality professional learning. Supervision and evalua-
tion can be important contributors to the quality of their teaching – espe-
cially within collaborative school environments in which school leaders
respond to their varying needs, aspirations, and challenges with differen-
tiated approaches that promote and support career growth. Consequently,
the premise of this book is that student learning and quality teaching are
best served through government and district policies that enable oppor-
tunities for school leaders to differentiate teacher supervision, evaluation,
and professional learning.

J. Brandon (*)
Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
e-mail: jbrandon@ucalgary.ca
M. L. Derrington
College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN, USA
e-mail: mderring@utk.edu

© The Author(s) 2019 3

M. L. Derrington, J. Brandon (eds.), Differentiated Teacher Evaluation and Professional
Learning, Palgrave Studies on Leadership and Learning in Teacher Education,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16454-6_1
4 J. Brandon and M. L. Derrington

This introductory chapter provides the rationale for this premise. As

co-editors we situate three of the book’s themes within the current
research literature: (a) the widening global focus on teaching quality,
teacher evaluation, and continuous professional development; (b) differ-
entiated teacher supervision and evaluation practices; and (c) school lead-
ership approaches conducive to differentiation. We then provide a brief
overview of each the book’s chapters.
A major OECD study of teacher evaluation, Teachers for the 21st
Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching, reported that a large
majority (83.2%) of teachers from across the world who participated in
the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and who
had received appraisal and feedback considered them to be fair assess-
ments of their work, and most of them (78.6%) found that these evalua-
tions were helpful in developing their work as teachers (OECD 2013,
p. 9). Although our review of the teacher evaluation literature identified
a number of differences in the philosophical and theoretical underpin-
nings of evaluation, in how effective evaluations should be carried out,
and in the sources of evidence used for evaluation; agreement on the fol-
lowing six points was evident in a number of reputable sources (Brandon
et al. 2018a; Danielson 2012; Darling-Hammond 2013, Derrington and
Campbell 2015; Glickman et al. 2017; Marzano 2012; OECD 2013;
Zepeda 2017).

1. Professional approaches to teacher evaluation can both support teacher

growth through formative evaluation and ensure quality teaching
through summative evaluation.
2. Evaluation must be founded on a clear and coherent conception of
exemplary teaching practice based on current research. Effective eval-
uation models reference clearly articulated standards.
3. Effective evaluation requires transparent, clearly understood processes
conducted in a constructive, professional, and sensitive manner within
recognized ethical, legal, and contractual guidelines.
4. Evaluation evidence must be gathered from multiple sources and
should consider contextual variances in the teaching environment
(subject, grade level, class composition)
5. Evaluators must be competent professionals who have been well
trained in evaluation practice.
 Supporting Teacher Growth and Assuring Teaching Quality 5

6. A culture of continuous learning and improvement is nurtured when

differentiated approaches to supervision and evaluation are used to
respond to the varying needs, aspirations, and challenges of teachers at
all career and developmental stages.

A number of aspects of differentiation include, but are not limited to,

length of teaching experience from pre-service to veteran, the policy
impact that supports or fails to support differentiation, and school
administrator practices as they supervise and evaluate staff with differing
teaching experiences and content expertise. Glickman’s (1985) develop-
mental supervision is based on matching initial supervisory approaches
with the teacher’s or the group’s developmental levels, expertise and com-
mitment (Glickman et al. 2017).
Zepeda’s (2017) instructional supervision model indicates that teach-
ers should be given opportunities to transfer information and to con-
struct deeper understanding of their own practices within a
capacity-building learning community. Such supervision is a reciprocal
process that respects the differing developmental learning needs of nov-
ices and veterans.
In Danielson and McGreal’s (2000) conception, differentiated teacher
evaluation should provide a variety of options or tracks that target the
specific requirements of four groups: (a) beginning teachers, (b) experi-
enced teachers, (c) teachers whose practice is marginal and requires assis-
tance, and (d) teachers whose practice is unacceptable due to incompetence
or unsatisfactory commitment. The first two tracks acknowledge that a
very high percentage of teachers are committed and successful profes-
sionals. The third and fourth tracks recognize the need to address prob-
lematic teaching practice in two stages. Track three provides a combination
of further evaluation and support for those identified as requiring more
structured assistance. The fourth part of this multi-track approach is a
termination track.
Applying research informed supervision and evaluation practices in
the real and complex worlds of contemporary schooling pose myriad
challenges to school leadership practitioners. Flores and Derrington
(2017) found that principals are concerned about how evaluation affects
professional relationships and teachers’ motivation to learn. They fre-
6 J. Brandon and M. L. Derrington

quently feel “caught between the seemingly immovable rock of policy

and the hard place of leading school change” (Derrington 2013, p. 26).
As Young, Range, Hvidston, and Mette (2015) warned, “administrators
must ensure they possess a high level of instructional leadership regardless
of a prescribed evaluation model if quality instruction is to occur”
(p. 171). To this end, Le Fevre and Robinson (2014) determined that, “If
increased instructional leadership is to make a difference to student out-
comes, leaders’ practices need to be informed by defensible and evidence-­
based understandings of how to improve teaching and learning” (p. 60).
Welcoming and learning enriched school communities are vital to
ongoing professional learning for both novice and veteran educators.
Similarly, informed instructional support and growth focused teacher
evaluation can be significant contributors to teacher learning through all
career stages (Brandon et al. 2018b).

 art I: Differentiated Teacher Evaluation

P
in Practice
The book is organized into two parts. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 com-
prise the first section, Differentiated Teacher Evaluation in Practice. The
four chapters in the second section – Differentiated Teacher Evaluation:
The Interplay of Policy and Practice – look more closely at ways that key
legislative and policy elements shape teacher supervision, evaluation and
professional learning in American, Belgian, and Canadian contexts.
In Chap. 2’s discussion of the two broad categories of teacher evalua-
tion – summative and formative – Gordon and McGhee make a compel-
ling case for the primacy of differentiated formative teacher evaluation.
The Power of Formative Evaluation of Teaching argues that both formative
and summative approaches are essential, should be kept separate, and
should be focused on quality teaching and learning. While summative
systems hold teachers accountable for these ends, successful formative
evaluation helps teachers meet the expectations of fair, valid, and reliable
summative evaluation systems. The authors begin with a brief review of
the main attributes of summative and formative approaches and then
 Supporting Teacher Growth and Assuring Teaching Quality 7

describe the benefits of and necessary conditions for responsive, ongoing,

and differentiated formative assessment. After detailing seven formative
evaluation formats, they shift to a series of four scenarios to illustrate
ways through which teachers can be given choices to take ownership of
their own improvement efforts: (a) clinical supervision, (b) student feed-
back on classroom practices, (c) collegial support group, and (d) collab-
orative learning walks. Each scenario describes professional learning
activities matched to the teacher’s characteristics and performance needs,
and a rationale for the selected approach to teacher learning. This chapter
focuses on formative evaluation with implications for summative evalua-
tion in that improvement in one of these critical performance areas
increases the likelihood of doing well on a future summative evaluation.
Through this beginning chapter, readers have an opportunity to consider
differentiated concepts in practice as the scenarios draw upon examples
and application of concepts presented elsewhere in the book.
Chapter 3, Providing Teachers with a Choice in Evaluation: A Case Study
of Veteran Teachers’ Views, explores a California district’s approach to eval-
uation, in which tenured teachers were offered three choices of evalua-
tion: administrator (a principal or assistant principal), partner (or peer
teacher), or portfolio. The purpose of this approach was to make teacher
evaluation systems more responsive to teachers’ needs and goals. Conley,
Mainz, and Wellington describe how veteran teachers, who have experi-
enced different approaches over their careers, viewed having more choice
in their evaluations. The authors draw on two levels of evaluation, the
individual and the organizational, as well as two purposes, improvement
and accountability.
Qualitative interviewing included a purposive sample of teachers and
administrators from a high school and a K-8 school. Teachers were iden-
tified as proactive on their campus and experienced, with all having at
least 10 years of experience. School and district documents were also
examined to understand the schools and the system of evaluation in
place. Results describe the evaluation options teachers chose, their per-
ceptions of the evaluations, and the process of choosing within the
choice-based system. Implications relate to ways evaluation systems
might be improved, thus promoting reform efforts. A change in evalua-
tion offering choice reveals complexities and tensions. Given that other
8 J. Brandon and M. L. Derrington

factors may also limit choice as systems are implemented, designers of

teacher evaluation may want to consider how much choice should be
offered at the outset.
Tensions between supporting new teacher growth through formative
processes and ensuring new teacher quality through high stakes summa-
tive evaluation are revealed in Prizes and Imperfections: Examining Teacher
Evaluation Within an Induction Program in Western Québec. In Chap. 4,
Hollweck, Curry, Smith, Dubeau and Kharyati examine a 2-year manda-
tory Teacher Induction Program (TIP) based on three pillars: (a) profes-
sional development, (b) a Coaching and Mentoring Fellowship, and (c)
summative teacher evaluation. Their qualitative case study used question-
naire, interview and focus group data collected from administrators, dis-
trict consultants, TIP consultants, Mentor-Coaches, Teaching Fellows,
and union executive members to inform policy and protocols that sup-
port teachers new to the district while providing targeted professional
learning and establishing a common understanding of high-quality
teaching. This chapter adds to the empirical understanding and discus-
sion around teacher evaluation, specifically as it relates to teacher induc-
tion. Since there are currently no provincially mandated teacher evaluation
policies in Quebec, this study’s findings may also be useful to develop and
refine more powerful evaluation practices in countries and regions with
autonomy to design teacher evaluation systems.
Lochmiller reports the results of an exploratory qualitative case study
conducted in five geographically dispersed public high schools located in
the western United States in Chap. 5. Credibility in Instructional
Supervision: A Catalyst for Differentiated Supervision explores how high
school principals establish credibility and support teacher growth through
evaluation. He draws upon qualitative data collected as part of a multi-­
site study exploring how high school administrators and classroom teach-
ers define credibility within the context of supervisory practice. An
iterative analysis of the data produced two findings. First, administrators
and teachers defined credibility differently. Teachers tend to define cred-
ibility as a fixed attribute of their supervisor and thus a reflection of their
experience in the classroom. Administrators define credibility as a
­relational construct that they can manipulate through various leadership
interactions. Second, the differences in these definitions explain how
 Supporting Teacher Growth and Assuring Teaching Quality 9

administrators approach classroom teachers within the context of super-

visory exchanges and thus potentially explains teachers’ growth because
of an administrator’s feedback. The chapter concludes that these differ-
ences have clear implications for teacher improvement as administrators
with lower levels of credibility might not be able to stimulate significant
instructional changes in some contexts. This chapter adds to the lens of
differentiation by examining supervision and evaluation of staff with dif-
fering teaching experiences and content expertise.
In Chap. 6, Ortiz-Oliveras and Simmons use qualitative case study
methodology to explore the work of practicing principals and coaches to
better understand their use of classroom observations to strategically
individualize the development of teachers through job-embedded profes-
sional learning. Teacher Evaluation and Differentiated Instructional
Supervision: A Tiered Approach to Promote Teacher Growth was conducted
in a three-campus charter school district in Texas following implementa-
tion of a tiered instructional support system. The authors explore the
experiences and perceptions of instructional leaders as they used teacher
evaluations for professional development through a tiered instructional
supervision system. The findings of the study contribute to a stronger
understanding of how principals can differentiate instructional supervi-
sion to promote individualized teacher growth using observation data.

 art II: Differentiated Teacher Evaluation:

P
The Interplay of Policy and Practice
The four chapters in this second section – Differentiated Teacher
Evaluation: The Interplay of Policy and Practice – look more closely at ways
that key legislative and policy elements shape teacher evaluation and pro-
fessional learning in American, Belgian, and Canadian contexts.
In Chap. 7, Balancing Differentiation and Fairness in Teacher Evaluation:
The Story of Flemish, we learn that considerable autonomy is provided for
individual differentiation in the Flemish teacher evaluation policy that
was the product of collective bargaining between the government and
teacher unions in 2007. Although the process is standardized in requiring
10 J. Brandon and M. L. Derrington

that all teachers should experience a global, equal process every 4 years
through (a) the appointment of an evaluator; (b) the formalization of an
individual job description for each teacher; (c) one or more feedback
conversations; and (d) an evaluation conference with a formal evaluation
report. The Flemish policy provides autonomy to school administrators
to use differentiated evaluation approaches. Tuytens and Devos investi-
gated how principals exercised autonomy and differentiated teacher eval-
uation within this policy. In addition, the authors used the construct of
procedural justice to discern how teachers perceived the fairness of this
differentiation in terms of the procedural characteristics of teacher
evaluation.
This mixed methods study employed critical case sampling to increase
data richness around the quantitative results from 278 teacher fairness
perception questionnaires. In the qualitative phase, the researchers inter-
viewed principals and three to four recently evaluated teachers in eight
secondary schools. One significant finding was that where there was more
differentiation in evaluation between teachers in schools, the individual
teacher perception of procedural justice was also slightly more positive.
Although differentiation was evident in terms of the evaluation of groups
of teachers (beginning and experienced, for the most part), individual-
ized differentiation in teacher evaluation was scarce in Flemish schools
that participated in this study.
Helen Hazi’s Chap. 8, The Language of Instructional Improvement in the
U.S.: A View from Current Law and Policy, takes a close look at what she
views to be the next policy frontier for states to explore after two decades
of focus on teacher evaluation – instructional improvement. Instructional
improvement is a fundamental purpose of teacher evaluation, yet few
scholars attempt to consider its meaning and roots in behaviorism and
workplace psychology. Language matters, Hazi asserts, as it reflects an
ideology that guides practice. In this chapter the author examines how
instructional improvement is promoted in the language of current US
law and national reports.
The current policy climate of teacher quality in the public schools cen-
ters around the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), the reauthorization of
No Child Left Behind is the source of the quest in the US for effective
teachers. The prevailing view is that when principals evaluate teachers
 Supporting Teacher Growth and Assuring Teaching Quality 11

and deliver “actionable feedback,” teachers change their behavior. Hazi

examines how instructional improvement is promoted in the language of
current legislation and national reports from key US policy influentials.
Through content analysis, passages were extracted and placed in a matrix,
then interpreted with a critical eye to the conventional wisdom of behav-
iorism and workplace psychology. Her analysis of relevant statutes and
key policy reports identified their inherent messages about instructional
improvement. Hazi challenges simplistic, and flawed notions, about
feedback and its deliver and calls for policies and administrative practices
based a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of teaching
and of the literature on how teachers learn.
In Chap. 9, Job-Embedded Professional Learning: Federal Legislation and
National Reports as Levers, Sally Zepeda focuses on professional job-­
embedded learning that situates teachers as the drivers of learning that is
differentiated, personalized, and contextually relevant to the needs of
schools and teachers. Zepeda first provides an overview of US federal
legislation that shaped evaluation and its nexus to job-embedded profes-
sional learning. Professional learning has received attention in US Federal
acts such as Goals 2000: Educate America Act (1994) and national orga-
nizations such as the National Commission on Teaching and America’s
Future (2009). Subsequently, Race to the Top (RTTT) funds, part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), opened the door for
professional learning to become part of teacher evaluation systems.
Steadfast from 1965 to present, a new view of job-embedded professional
learning emerged that supports teachers’ learning from the complex work
of teaching in collaboration with others. Zepeda examines job-embedded
learning as a construct for differentiated individual and collective devel-
opment. She asserts that professional job-embedded learning can provide
coherence between instructional supervision and its processes of class-
room observations linked to teacher evaluation systems. Job-embedded
professional learning situates the teacher as learner actively engaged in
processes that support growth and development, collaborative learning
structures, and building individual and collective capacity and efficacy.
Zepeda concludes that policy makers must champion supportive systems
and engage in practices that operationalize the construct of job-­embedded
learning. A significant implication for differentiated approaches to super-
12 J. Brandon and M. L. Derrington

visory practices is potential coherence and a seamless process between

instructional supervision, teacher evaluation, and teacher growth and
development.
In Chap. 10, Differentiated Evaluation Policy for Professionals in Alberta
Canada Schools: Local Policy Characteristics and Budget Implications by
Hunter and Owusu, differentiated policy for the evaluation of teachers is
considered in terms of organizational and theoretical ideas about span of
control, econometric ideas about transaction costs, and policy studies of
implementability. Forecast budgetary costs of differentiated policy are
explained in relation to these ideas. Sixty-two Alberta Canada school dis-
tricts’ local human resource policies were rated for their content and
characteristics in relation to policy to fidelity, accessibility, implementabil-
ity, currency, and differentiability. These ratings were then statistically
regressed against school districts’ provincial budget allocations to see
whether overall budgets predicted those facets of local human resource
policy. Significant relationships were found in many policy facets. The
authors argue that the implementability of a differentiated policy is
bound up in a host of competing considerations in school board central
offices. These include the overall geographic area that a school jurisdic-
tion encompasses, the time required to appraise large numbers of profes-
sional staff, and the complexities of evaluating staff spanning multiple
subject areas and interests, regardless of career stage. They conclude that
a human resource policy which enables experienced teachers to choose
their own outside supervisor, who focuses on particular problems within
their individualized area of professional interest, offers a desirable level of
flexibility.
In our final chapter, Lessons Learned, Not Learned, and Yet to Be
Mastered, we summarize key themes related to differentiated teacher eval-
uation. A potential theme to explore is teacher experience as the basis for
differentiated supervision some chapters discuss new and veteran teacher
programs and the perceptions of choice in evaluation. Along with teacher
choice, a chapter introduces evaluation versus procedural fairness and
whether or not a uniform procedure applied to all teachers is the best
method of evaluation. Another potential theme is the differentiation
­possibilities possible in staff development models such as job-embedded
approaches. The next potential theme is the significance of teacher grade
Another random document with
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residence.—I took passage with my two mates, & Josiah Crosby, in
a Schooner for Bass River, we reached the river about the suns
setting, & being but about 6 miles from my family, I could not feel
willing to sleep without seeing them—consequently myself, & my 1st.
mate, Mr. Berry each hired a Saddle horse, & started for Brewster,
and I reachd. my dwelling, & gave a knock, at your G. Mothers,
sleeping room window, the same I now occopy, about 12[o:]Clock. x x
x x it may perhaps amuse my dear G. Childen, if I turn back to the
time of my arrival, a prisoner, at St. Johns, a circomstance then took
place, connected with my knocking at the window, as above
Petition to the I learned, on my arrival in St. Johns, that the
Port Admiral Port Admiral, Sir J. T. Duckworth, had given liberty,
to the American Supercargoes & passenger, to
purchase a vessel, & git home at their own expence, & he wou’d give
them a protection from British Cruseirs; & as I had on board, two
Brothers, Josiah & E. C. Crosby, the latter, quite a lad; the Idea
struck me, that posibly, by application, I might obtain liberty to send
the boy home, by this conveyance; for they had already purchased a
small vessell & were then fitting her for sea—I accordingly drafted a
petition; applying pritty strongly to the old Gentlemans feelings, in
behalf of the disconsolate Parents &c &c, and presented it myself—
after perusing the petition; the old Gen” rested his head in his hand,
for a few moments, and looked up very kindly in my face, saying Yes,
Yes, Mr. Cobb, send him home to his Parents & I wish I felt at liberty
to send every American in port home.—This, wou’d give me an
oppertunity of informing my Family of my capture, of sending some
money, spared me by the captors; and grattifiing my relatives by
sending home their beloved son.
I accordinly fixed him away; making a plaid for his
neckhankercheif, with 24 Dubloons in Gold amounting to $384
dollars, which the dear child put round his neck, in my room, in St.
Johns & did not take it off, untill in my house, in the presencs of his
Aunt; and after having delivered my letters &c—This happened, at
about 8 [o:] Clock on the same evening I arrived at Bass revir—well’,
at 12 [o:] Clock, as before stated I knowked at the Winder.
 It appears she had been reperusing my Lengthy letter, Amegining
& revolving in mind all the horrows of my situation in an English
prisin, after she had been in bed, & had not been asleep, when I
know’d at the Window.
Who is there! said she—it is I, said I—well’, what do you want; to
come in; for what said she; before I cou’d answer, I heard my
daughter D., who was in bed with her say, why, Mar it is Par, this was
aneogh, the doors flew open, and the greetings of affection &
consanguinity multiplied upon me rapidly.
End of the Thus, in a moment was I transported to the
Voyage greatest earthly bliss, man can injoy, viz to the
injoyment of the happy family circil.
To fall of 1812—

The foregoing was written by Gen Elijah Cobb during the Year 1843,
with the intention of completing, but the state of his health prevented.
He remained at home from 1812 to 1815 or 1816, when he made
several voyages to Europe in the Ship ‘Paragon’ built for him, and
considered at the time one of the finest ships of her day.
In 1818 & 1819 he made two voyages to Africa in the Ship “Ten
Brothers,” taking with him on the first voyage, his son Freeman.
The second voyage, there was much sickness of a contagious
character, and the ship on her return was sunk at the end of the
wharf to prevent contagion in the city of Boston.[7]
He left the sea in 1820, and after that time remained in Brewster,
Mass. filling the various civil offices of Town Clerk, Treasurer,
Inspector General, Representative and Senator, and Justice of
Peace & Quoram, also the military rank of Brigadier General.
 He was a strong supporter of the Universalist church of the town,
in whose doctrines he took much interest.
He was tall & straight of fine figure his face very pleasant to look
upon. He loved children and was loved by them. Distinguished for
his sterling integrity as well as talent loved and respected by all who
knew him, he died at the age of eighty. “May our end be like his.”
His body & that of his wife lie in the new cemetery, Brewster.
E. W. C.[8]
Brewster June 19, 1857
 LETTERS

From Messrs. Joshua Wall, John Baxter,

Jacob Tidd and William Hayden
Boston Nov 27th 1801.
Capt E Cobb,
Sir,
We expect that Peace in Europe, will make considerable
difference both in the price, of the articles, with which you were to
load, and also in the demand for them, in this Country; by the time
you could return; from these considerations we think it best for you to
sell the Ship Monsoon, if you can get from Eight to Ten Thousand
dollars, clear of the Mates and People, and all other expences: if you
cannot sell the Vessel and the prices of goods ordered have not
considerably fallen you will please take a freight to any part of
America or elsewhere if to be obtain’d on terms that you think will
answer, in either of the above mentioned Cases you will place the
proceeds of your outward Cargo, (and Ship if sold) in the hands of
some safe House in London, say Thos Dickerson & Co if they still
remain good—in addition to the above we have only to say that
feeling much confidence in your judgment, we leave it to you to do
as you think will be most for our Interests.—If the Peace continues
we think the following articles will not be worth more in Boston next
spring than say,—
Iron—100$, to 110$.
Hemp 200$ to 230$.
Tumblers 40 Cents pr Straw.
Glass 8$, pr. Box, to 9$.—
Platillas[9] no Sale unless very low.—

we are with much regard

Yours—
Joshua Wall
John Baxter
Jacob Tidd
William Hayden
Orders for the From Bixby, Valentine & Company, and
Voyage Humphrey & Clark
Boston February 11th 1811.
Capt Elijah Cobb
Sir,
you being Master of the Ship William Tell, we wish you as soon as
you get your cargo on board to proceed the first fair wind for Lisbon
on your arrival at Lisbon you will apply to Messrs Gould, Brothers &
Co and if you with them think it for our interest you will dispose of
your cargo to the best advantage or proceed to Cadiz or Gibralter as
you may think best. Should you proceed to Cadiz we should
recommend the house of the Widow of Morace Roberts & Co to you
to do your business if you should proceed to Gibralter we should
recommend the Hous of George Allardyce & Co but in all cases
should you think best you will value on any other houses you may
think most for our interest, after discharging your cargo you will remit
the proceeds of our goods and the amount of your freight to Samuel
Williams Esqr London payable to the order of Bixby Valentine & Co in
favour of Humphrey & Clark except such amount as you may think
proper to invest for a return cargo on our accounts after discharging
your cargo you will in case it is at Lisbon or Cadiz ballast your ship
with Salt and proceed to the Havana if at Gibralter you will ballast
with Stone or Sand as you may be able to obtain, and, if any cheap
Red Wine or Malaga Wine can be obtained or any freight you will
take and proceed to the Havana with all possible dispatch, In case
you get a part of a cargo at any place before mentioned you will
have it shipped as the property of Messrs Drake & Murdock,
merchants of Havana, in the name of some Spanish House, On your
arrival at the Havana you will call on Messrs Drake & Murdock where
you will find our instructions how to proceed, our object is to get a
freight home from the Havana for the Ship with laying out what funds
you may have for a return cargo in Molasses or Sugar on our Accts.
as we may think most for our interest on your Arrival

Account of Belem Port Charges of the

American Ship Wm. Tell Captain Elija Cobb
Pilotage inwards 6·400
Entry-autos and Pratique 1·100
Pratique Officers and Boathire 1·700
Provedor of the Health ·200
Doctor & Surgeon 1·200
Sending the health clearance to Lisbon ·200
 Second visit of the Health ·
Petition and diligence & Extra Services 3·600
Waiter of the health day a 300 ·
reis each per day ·
2 Waiters of the costomhouse at Belem ·
4 days a 600 reis each perday 4·800
Belem Certificate ·240
Officers of the Castle 3·820
Vice Consul for [TN: illegible handwriting] 3·000
[TN: illegible handwriting] $320
[TN: illegible handwriting] $240
[TN: illegible handwriting] 2$970
N. 29 $790
Received amount hereof in full Lisbon
the 12th of Dec.mr 1811
[TN: illegible handwriting]
Port Charges in 1811.

Should you at your port of discharge be able to procure to the

amount of 3 or 4000 dollars in Undoubted Bills on the Havana at 30
or 60 days sight at a handsome discount, guarenteed by either of the
houses we have recommended you to, we think it adviseable for you
to take them and invest the proceeds in the Havana as we may think
best on your arrival there—
We should not confine the destination of the Ship after her
discharge in Europe but think it so unlikely for you to get employ
either at, Lisbon, Cadiz or Gibralter for the Ship it will be best to fix
her destination that we may be able with what we shall load
ourselves to obtain freight sufficient to fill her up in the Havana
without loss of time—
Remuneration The voyage being different from our
expectations when you left Boston, we agee to give
you for your services Thirty dollars pr month, Two pecent on the nett
Sales of your Cargo and half pr Cent on your remitting Bills to
England or returned Cargo and five pr Ct primage on your Cargo
from the Havana to the United States, We believe all the Shippers
except Mr G. Snow consign their goods to you and allow you the
same commissions and we understand Mr Snow consigns to you in
case you should not sell at Lisbon—
Should the terms before mentioned meet your approbation you
will acknowledge this agreement to be the terms on which you
proceed the voyage—
Should you not be satisfied with the Compensation we offer, you
will proceed the voyage and we will give you as much as any Master
has out of this port on Such a voyage—
Wishing you a pleasant voyage and Safe return
We are yours with respects
Bixby Valentine & Co
Humphrey & Clark

Elijah Cobb to his Wife

Prince’s Island 4th Feb. 1819
My Dear Freind
We are here; & all well, thanks to the controler of every event, but
under circomstances, must remain here two months longer, as we
have a considerable part of our cargo still on hand, business is
astonishingly altered since last voyage, the coast is crouded with
vessells & goods of every discription, & the natives have nothing to
buy with. This circomstance is owing to the late interior war, which
has recently raged with great violence & prevented the natives from
procuring Gold dust & Ivory as formally.—my object for waiting is to
git clear of the Perishable part of my cargo for coffee, when their
Crop comes in, which is now commin[c]ing but will not be at its
height untill the last of March or first april—I also calculate to touch at
one of the windward W. India Islands (on my passage home) in order
to s[ell][10] my Tobacco, Flour, Tea, & salmon; which I cannot sell
here for an[y thin]g [10]—& some Corn, which I shall receive here in
barter, so [that][10] you need not be antious if we dont git home untill
[the la]st[10] of July. we may sooner, but I think it douptfull;—What I
have sold of the cargo, has been at about as good profit as last
voyage, the deficulty is not so much in the price, as in finding people
able to purchase, Scarcity of produce is the great complaint. This
comes by Esq. Clark, via the W. Indies, he will sail to morrow; Capt
Nickerson is very sick on shore, he will leave him to come with us if
he git well, but I have hardly a hope, he is however in the hands of a
mercifull God, may his will be done, & the submission of the creture
sincier…. I expect our people will all write to their freinds, another
oppertunity will offer in about 15 or 20 days direct for Boston. I will
then write again.
Hard Times Pars love to all his children, he earnestly pray
that his life may be spared, & he permitted, once
more to greet his little flock in health & hapiness.
Docter will have all the perticulars respecting the Schooners
Voyage by the Esq: it is consequently unnecesary for me to write—.
They have not managed matters quite to my mind, but so it is, &
prehaps for the best.
Love & respects to all freinds
Your Affectionate Freind
Elijah Cobb
Feby 7th Since the a[bove][11] to the astonishment of us all Capt
Nickerson has so far reco[vere]d[11] that we have taken him on board
the ship,—Esqr C[lar]k[11] is very sick, the Boy young Kimbal is dead.
Feby 14th He is gone—. Nickerson does not gain any Strength
wishes to go to sea & try a change of air, he is sildom himself we
have as yet kept the Esqrs death from him,—such senes of distress
& death, is severely trying to me, May God preserve me—We all
continue well except Capt Mayo, he has had a slight fever, but is
apperrently doing well; I have had a smart attact of the Nervous
head ake, but have got over it,
A schooner will sail for Boston in a day or two, will write more fully
Your as ever
Elijah Cobb

The Fever Elijah Cobb to his Wife

Princes Island 18th Feby 1819
My Dear freind
I wrote you 4 days ago by the Schooner Hope which I sent away
under the care of John Dillingham 3d he being the only one willing to
undertake, … you may posibly git this letter first, it is therefore
necessary to repeat that Esq. Clark has paid the dept of nature, it
was my task to close his Eyes the 11th Inst after a sickness of 8 days
—Young Kimbal died 4 days before, Capt Nickerson was very sick
on board this ship, but his fever having turned, it was the advice of
Every One to send him to sea, that a change of air would have a
good effect; I accordingly did, but fear he never will reach America;
we must however commit him & ourselves to a mercifull just God,
who always acts for the good of his Creaturs & happy would it be for
us; if we could always bow with humble submission to his righteous
dispensations.
Capt Mayo has been very sick; his fever turned two days since, &
the people here who are no doupt better judges than strangers say
he is out of danger, he also has great currage, but he is very weak. &
it will be a long time before he gits [his][12] strength, he is on shore, I
am something unwell, & [takin]g[12] Medicine that I cannot see him to
day—
 Feby 20th Alas Alas, Capt Mayo is gone; an unfavourable turn in
his disorder was his passport to (I trust) realms of blessedness—I
have ordered the ship amediately to sea; shall work up to the
windward of these islands & pass away 3 or 4 weeks, untill the sickly
season passes of.—I must then return & git pay for 3 or 4000 Dollars
of goods trusted out to A. B. C. &c &c, in orders for coffee—and had
I have foreseen the consequence; I would not have put it out of my
power to have left altogether at pleasure altho we should have brot
home half our cargo, but circomstancd as I am, we must take all
reasonable precaution, and trust our lives & healths, to an alwise,
aljust, & mercifull God, who cannot err.
The scenes of distress, together with anciety of mind, which I
have had to encounter within the last 15 days, have nearly unmaned
me, I wou’d write to Mrs Mayo but am not able, do afford her all the
consolation in your power, & oh, may God of his infinite mercy pour
the balm of consolation into her afflicted Bosom—
The crew will all write; they are well as yit, but quite alamed,
which induces me to put to sea, where we shall git good air, & I
hope, fresh sperits
I had, (previous to this last shock) written a few lines to Mrs Clark,
I do not feel able to put in order by copying, I inclose it, you’l deliver
it, or not, as you think proper.
My love to our little ones & all freinds—dont give yourself too
much anciety, put your whole trust in God, he can releive in the
greatest distress or most [imm]inent[12] danger.
Your affectionate friend
Elijah Cobb
Puts to Sea 21. Feby We meant to have got out yesterday,
but we had our ship to rig almost as well as sails to
bend & Ballast to git—the Vessell which brings this, will sail
amediately, we shall go in the course of the day—I feel nicely this
morn” as to health. Mr Thatcher & Mr Crosby are both hearty, thank
God. Myrick & Bates, complained yesterday, we gave them both a
smart purge, they are nicely this morning & no appearance of a
fever, the sea air will make them harty again; as I before observd
Amigination in this country works wonders; As to myself I feel a sort
of pleasing confidence that I am again, to be permited to visit my
beloved family—to offer a word of consolation, to the afflicted freind
of those entoomb’d in this foreign land, but in every instance, I trust I
shall be anable to say in sincerety thy will be done.
Your
E. C

Elijah Cobb to his Son, Elijah Cobb, 2nd

Prince’s Island 24th April 1819
My dear Son
This will accompay a letter directed to you or Mr Haven (should
you be absent) containing a Bill of exchange for 300 Dollars, with
perticular instructions relative therto. should you receive it before I
return, you may send it to yr Mar, or keep it in your hands (as you
like).
We are all well, shall tarry here a few days longer & the[n]
proceed for St Thomases, where I hope to procure a considerable
quantity of coffee. & then proceed as bifore mentioned, hope yet to
reach Boston in all the month of July.
 Ivory, Coffee and Palm Oil: a Typical Bill of Lading.

The Rainy I expect before this, my letters (by the two

Season schooners) filled with heart rending tidings to our
Brewster freind have been received, my mental, as
well as bodily distress, has been such, that I hardly know what I
wrote in those letters (probably much incoherency) as they were
dictated by the feelings of the moment, but I trust those scenes are
not to return upon us this voyage, the place is healthy, frequent
turnardoes, with thunder lightning & copeous showers purifies the
air, all nature smiles, & the human form wears a cheerfull
countenance in place of the gastly visage, which so recently
presented itself at all points.—What abundant cause of greatfull
praise to the supreem controler of every event both of time &
eternity, more especially to us the living monuments of His mercy
who for wise purposes (tho” hidden from our veiw) have been spared
while so many have fallen around us, May we express our gratitude
by keeping his commands.
I have written to your mar by this conveyance hope it will not be
long (after you receive this) before I shall be permitted to see my
little flock in health.
 Your Affectionate Father
Elijah Cobb

Samuel Swan, Jr., to Mrs. Elijah Cobb

[Ship] Belvidere—Quarantine—
June 27th 1819
Mrs. Cobb—
Madam—
I arrived here last evening 84 Days from Africa—I left the Ten
Brothers at Princes Island April 4th—After the loss of Capt Mayo, the
ship proceeded to sea in a very sickly state—The change of air soon
produced a favourable effect; and on the Ships return to Princes in
March they were all quite recovered, though still m[uc]h[13]
debilitated—One man only was any ways ill during my stay, & he
was again on duty when we sail’d—The ship had been on her return
to port thoroughly clensed by washing with vinegar, & limejuice, and
twenty four hour’s fumigation with strong charcoal fires in the hold, &
between decks—During this time I was honoured with Capt Cobb’s
company on board the Belvidere—
I believe, Madam, you may rest perfectly free from any
apprehensions of the sickness again appearing on board the Ten
Brothers—Every precaution has been taken to purify the ship—& the
more immediate cause of their sickness was also removed—It is
during the few weeks interval between the closing of the Dry, &
setting in of the Rainy season, that the Islands are most unhealthy—
The atmosphere is then heavy, & the Harbor is so situated that the
little air that is in motion during the day is intirely secluded from the
shipping, while a vertical sun produces an intensity of heat that
operates powerfully to render the place unhealthy—After the rains
commence, the frequent tornadoes which accompany that season, &
always blow from the eastward, directly into the harbor, so purify the
air that there is little danger of sickness with the usual precautions
which all strangers should observe for preservation of health in warm
climates—
Good News As I was in daily communication with Capt Cobb,
I can assure you of his intire restoration to health,
except the debility incident to a severe attack of fever—
It was Capt Cobb’s intention to close all business with the utmost
dispatch, & he thought to be able to sail in all April to a certainty—He
will touch at Martinique on his passage to America—
I am fully aware, Madam, that the charge of presumption may be
alledged against me—Indeed (reasoning from analogy) I offer no
other apology for writting, than the satisfaction I believe my own
family would recieve by any communication from a person who had
seen me abroad, at a time when a variety of reports respecting my
safety would render any news highly gratifying—
I cannot close without most respectfully offering, thro’ your family,
the tribute of my consolation to the family of the late Henry Clarke
Esqr of your t[ow]n[14]—On my first arrival at Princes, in Decr, I found
him there; & our constant intercourse, during the short stay I there
made, gave me abundant cause to honour & admire him—on my
leaving the place he accompanied me out of the harbor, & our last
resolve, when he quited me, was, to visit each others families when
both should be at home—Nothing could exceed the shock on my
feelings, on again visiting the Island, to learn his lamented death—If
the respect of a stranger can be acceptable to his family, I beg,
Madam, you will mention my name, as one who feels proud to
acknowledge an acquaintance, & friendship, with him abroad—
With regard, I remain,
Madam, respectfully your
Most Humble servant—
Saml Swan Jr—
Mrs Elijah Cobb—Brewster—
NB. Letters from Capt Cobb, have been sent to his Son in Boston—
others from people on board, will be forwarded by post office on my
arrival to town.
S. S.

A Birthday Elijah and Mary Cobb to their Son,

Letter Elijah Cobb, 2nd
Brewster, 27th June 1820
Dear Son
Your affectionate parents fondly recolect that This Day, compleats
the full time of 21 years, since the Supreem doner of every thing,
was pleased to gladen the parential heart in the birth of a Son; Who
has since continued his existance thro” Infancy; thro” Youth, & brot
him to the commincment of manhood, without suffering any action
(of their childs) to wound their hearts; What abundant cause of
greatfull Praise for those inestimable favours,—May He enable them
to suplicate with fervency & effect, to continue His Mercies to them &
their children, & may it laden all their hearts with a greatfull song of
Thankgiving & Praise,—We recieved your letter by Mr Copeland &
noted your observations upon Mr H’s enquiries, we think it wou’d be
as well, to continue where you are a while, (at least) untill the Fall,—
But altho” I wou’d not inculcate the Idea of taking the advantage of
any ones necesity; I think as Mr H. has contributed so very sparringly
to yr support during the long time you have remained with him, He
ought now to give you a full support at least untill you see your way
clear to commince business for yourself, which time we look forward
to with pleasure, mixed with a degree of anciety, naturel to parential
feelings always antious for the wellfare of their ospring. prehaps the
old edage will apply, that effection is blind, but we feel confident
(from your former & present deportment) that propriety, entigrity,
virtue & piety will govern all your actions,—Those virtues exercised
by a finite being will receive an infinite approbation & blessing—
Every advice, & every assistanc from your Parents, will at all
times be cheerfully bestowed, & it is (we presume) unnecesary to
ask, who is so suitable to advise a child as its fond doating parents—
We will close for the present, by supplicating Our Heavenly Father,
to take you into His holy keeping; to direct each gardian Angel to
watch over you, that no improper action may ever sully a good name
or wound yr parents feelings
Affectionately Yours
E. & M. Cobb
NB. Debby is favourably convalessent. wish you to inform me, if you
hear any thing from Capt Tycross, or Mr Hathaway—
We hope Mrs Haven will come with Lincoln (expect him the next
tide) we shall be highly pleased with a visit from her, & think it can be
made pleasant to her.

To His Son Elijah Cobb to his Son, Elijah Cobb, 2nd

Brewster 2d Jany 1836
Dear Son
As our representitive will leave in the morn” I avial myself of the
oppertunity to forward by him the small paper Package, which I
found snugly laceed up, in the branch part, of your last package of
trees. I found the mice had made a hole thro” the paper, among
some small seed, when, or where it was done I cannot say, I found
no other traces of them either about the package or ground where
they were—I put the inverlope around them again, but shall have an
eye to them frequently.
The Lyceum appear to be in successfull opperation, Mr Williams
gave the introductory address, his remarks were bassed upon the
word curiosity, it was good; the best production ever I heard from
him, the followg officers were chosen—George Copeland esqr,
President, Joseph Sampson Esq. Vice P.—John P. Washburn,
Secretary, my humble self, Treasurer, and Franklin Hopkins Libran—
24 became members, by signing the constitution, & paying from 50cs
to 2.00—the members were then, formed into 6 Sections of 4 each,
for discussions, by the board of managers, (the 5 officers as above)
and the followg subject assigned, for the next wednesday eve” viz,
which exarts the greatest influance, in a country Town, wealth or
knowledge—the discussion was assigned to the 1st & 2d Sections,
under the managements of the Revd messrs Conant, & Williams, the
former advocating wealth, & the latter knowledge—the subject was
ably & ingenously managed on both sides, but the decision was in
favour of wealth. an addition of 17 became member, making now 41.
The next Wednesday Eve” we are to have an address by the
Revd Mr Simpkins—the subject for discussion is, which injoys the
greatest satisfaction, the Rich man, or poor man—assigned to
Sections 3d & 5th Revd Mr Pratt, & Father—I expect a powerfull
opponent, but cannot feel any fear upon the subject. He cannot
expect much assistance from his Section, except what he gits from
our bror Jo. & I have Mr Washburn in my Section, which I think will
match Docter.—There appears an interest in the cause, among our
young men, the older ones must begin, but they will soon come
forward.
Local Affairs Our high School goes on well, it is as full, as
they can accommodate 46—there appears perfect
satisfaction with Mr Washburn, the instructor—he appears to be wide
awake, & master of his business.
We are looking hourly for the Fayette, think she will be here in the
morn”—she no doubt came unexpectedly to you, but she must have
had a fine time, and our shore is now clear of Ice for her return.
My eyes are somthing better, but very weak, I am obliged to deny
myself the pleasure of reading, altogether, and I am in agony with
writing thus much, altho” I have had 5 or 6 spells at it.
Grandfather wishes the children all, a happy new year, not as the
compliment of the season, which is in the mouths of the multitude,
but in sencerity of heart.
 Father

Elijah Cobb to his Son, Elijah Cobb, 2nd

Brewster April 3d 1837
Dear Son
Your last pr Patriot, gave general directions about placeing
manure &c &c, all which, Father thinks, manifests agriculturel
judiciousness. Freeman commenced work March 27th, but
anticipating your injuntion, relative to sea-weed, & a fine oppertunity
presenting last week, he did very little else—we shall have, by night,
anough up by my salt works, to replenish your Barn Yard—a noble
lot, of excellt seaweed came on shore, directly below my landing,
while the other parts of the shore was quite distitute—I hireed an
extra team, & extra man to pitch one day & we have secured, a fine
lot of it. F. & Joshua are at it to day, I have tried to git another team,
but have not succeeded, there is still abundanc on the shore, & I
shall keep the boys at it, as such a fine chance, sildom offers, of so
good a quality.
I expect you intend to lay down, the peice of land you planted,
back of the barn, if so, you’l want grass seed for it,—I shou’d put on
it, ½ bushl herds grass, ½ bushl red top, & 8 lbs of red clover—Oats,
we shall have anough, between us—you have not many, but I have a
plenty.
Townsman and The Patriot will go Wednesday Eve”—I hope
Farmer you’l be able to return with her, abt Saturday night
—I am writing now, (morn”) as I shall be engaged
thro” the remainder of the day—the Towns committee are coming to
settle the accounts of the Treasury for last year; & in the afternoon a
Town meeting of importance—a Poor house in agitation, herring
fishery to be new moddleed, suplus revenue, &c &c.
in haste