This exp l oratory study was designed to identifyrnthe major prob l ems of the curren t system of TPA operatingrnin senior secondary schools of Addis Ababa ; and hence,rnto discover if relationships existed between appra i sersrnand appraisees in perceiving the problems thusrnidentified . To this end , a nswers to basic questionsrnpertaining to the purposes and criteria of TPA, skillrnand competence of appra i sers, t iming and frequency ofrnappraisal, and process and procedures involved inrnappraisa l were sought.rnFollowing a review of the literature related to thernproblem under study , a survey questionnaire was deve l oped ,rnfield-tested and modified , and distribu t ed to a samp le ofrn154 appraisers and 356 appraisees drawn from 13 senio rrnsecondary schools of Addis Ababa . Of the respective tota lrnsample size of the two study gr oups , 144 93.51 pe r cent)rnapprais ers and 324 ~1.01 per cent) apprais ees filled inrnand returned the ques tionna ir e .rnThe findings of the study showed th at the twornstudy groups perceived the pr imary purpose of a systemrnof TPA to be formative rather than summa tive . On therncontrary , summative purposes were report ed to be thernixrnprimary concern of the current system of TPA; and therneffectiveness of the system in achieving its purposesrnwas rated a little more than average. Moreover, thernvalidity , reliability , and utility l evels of thernperformance criteria under use were rated far below thernmaximum high; and the level of satisfaction of appraisersrnand appraisees with the criteria was a little more thanrnaverage.rnRespon ses from the majority of the appraisers andrnappraisees revealed that no pre- appraisal meetings andrnpost-appraisal conferences were held in senior secondaryrnschools under study . eRO , on the other hand , was reportedrnto be widely practised in most of these schools; but, onrnaverage, once in a semester and not for more than 40rnminutes.rnAppraising the performance of teachers was , by andrnl arge , the responsibility of assistant principals andrndepartment heads . However , as perceived by most of therntwo study groups, teachers would prefer department headsrnto be designated appraisers of teachers ' performance .rnMoreover , most of the appraisees had no trust andrnconfidence in their appraisers ' skill and competence inrnappraisal.rnIt was confirmed by almost al l appraisers andrnappraisees that performance ratings of most senior secondary school teachers were above 3.00 points.rnHowever , reports revealed that while high performancernratings proved ineffective to stimulate teachers tornimprove performance , low ratings obsessed teachers andrnthey often antagonized their appraisers and negativelyrnaffected their job.rnIn general, the level of satisfaction of appraisersrnand appraisees with the system of TPA currently operatingrnin senior secondary schools was below average . Nevertheless ,rna l most al l appraisers and appraisees perceived thernpotential value of the system ; but for it to functio nrneffectively, they recommended necessary revisions inrnthe d es ign and operation of the system in which teachersrnwould have meaningful participation .