The authors report on three experiments designed to (a) test under increasingly more favorable conditions whether judges can correctly rate teachers of known ability to raise student achievement, (b) inquire about what criteria judges use when making their evaluations, and (c) determine which criteria are most predictive of a teacher's effectiveness. All three experiments resulted in high agreement among judges but low ability to identify effective teachers. Certain items on the established measure that are related to instructional behavior did reliably predict teacher effectiveness. The authors conclude that (a) judges, no matter how experienced, are unable to identify successful teachers; (b) certain cognitive operations may be contributing to this outcome; (c) it is desirable and possible to develop a new measure that does produce accurate predictions of a teacher's ability to raise student achievement test scores.

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This study was focused mainly on students' expectations of their prospective universities, and the question of whether or not family background or social status affect their career decisions was investigated. The sample consisted of 2,459 students in their final year at high school from 17 different provinces and 182 high schools all around Turkey. Results show that parents and environment had a great influence on students' occupational preferences. It was also found that students' expectations of universities varied greatly according to their social status and family income.

KeywordsProfessionalization of department heads is a relatively recent concept of interest in the higher education administration domain and as such few studies in the extant literature address the training needs of department heads and how they become more professionalized in their work. The aim of this study is to address this gap in the literature by examining the perceptions of department heads working in public and private universities in Turkey regarding the level of professionalization in their roles as leaders of departments.

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