I learned a lot about this in Human Resource
Management, with the exception of the case law examples nothing was new. I preferred hearing what Dr. Cannon had to
say about teacher evaluation and remediation.
It was fair for all parties involved and very detailed.
As a
leader who has worked with many administrators during my career, I think the
best way to emphasize the importance of stakeholders is to lead by example. If
you demonstrate fairness, and sensitivity to all stakeholders’ beliefs, and
ethical treatment of all employees, you will be leading by example. (Cannon, nd,
slide 12) The evaluation process must be honest if participants are to view it
with credibility. (Cannon, nd, slide 13)
In response to a question about
terminating a teacher she responded:
That
is a difficult decision, Steve, and it has to be done appropriately or the principal
will get himself or herself in trouble. Each principal should understand case
law, which is the court decisions, and statute law, which are the legislated
mandates, and know school district policy relevant to personnel. A clear
understanding of the differences between contract non-renewal, suspension, and
termination is a must before any principal begins a process that may result in
really adversely affecting the employment status of a professional or support
staff employee. (Cannon, nd, slides 14 and 15)
She followed up with steps that
should be taken in order to maintain fairness and objectivity.
1.
Begin the evaluation process early in the school year. If you are not in the
classrooms observing the teachers informally during the first month of school,
you are running late! Also, it helps set the climate and establish your role as
being involved instructionally if teachers and students see you in classrooms
early on. Set the stage so that you are checking on what students are doing so
that students don’t just see it as a time when their teacher is ‘on trial.’
After all, watching what students are doing --- how engaged and successful they
are in the learning --- is one of the best indicators of teacher effectiveness.
Then, if there are problem areas with a teacher's performance, the principal
and the teacher have plenty of time to work on the problems before a final
decision by the principal must be made.
2.
Utilize classroom walk-throughs often enough to ensure validity to what you see
in the designated observation, or in the formal evaluation visit. Teachers and
students begin to somewhat get used to administrators in the room if it happens
often enough, and the atmosphere becomes less threatening and more authentic.
3. If
there are any problem areas, schedule a conference with the teacher to lay out
your concerns and discuss the issues, and put a synopsis of the conference in
writing. The teacher should sign a copy of the synopsis before they leave the
room indicating that they have received a copy.
4. In
that conference, ask the teacher what he or she needs in terms of support in
order to meet performance expectations you’ve set. Brainstorm with the teacher
and consider all options: maybe mentoring, maybe professional development
opportunities, observing another teacher, and so on. Be sure to follow up with
any facilitation you need to do for those activities.
5.
Then, if problems continue, establish a reasonable timeline for the teacher to
demonstrate improvement and for you to conduct a follow-up evaluation. Conduct
another conference following the follow-up evaluation visit.
6.
Complete a third and final evaluation visit prior to making a contract status
recommendation to the superintendent. Now keep in mind, this recommendation is
usually required prior to the March school district board meeting. In order to
proceed, the legally required action 45 (now 10) days prior to the last
instructional day of the school year.
While
these steps will exceed the legal requirements for evaluation, I think the
process is fair, and it ensures that the teacher sees you as being fair, and
that other professionals get a sense of fairness and professional behavior on
the part of the principal. (Cannon, nd, slide 16)
In this course with all of the
legalities and lack of humanity I realized that things are the same all
over. It really does not take much to
terminate the contract of a teacher.
Even with documentation principals can easily be less than honorable and
manage to get the job of terminating the employee done. Let’s face it, we can cite case law but
really what it comes down to is whether or not the teacher can afford an
attorney. So things are the same all
over. The teachers have to resign in
order to save themselves and their reputations.
That is unfortunate because there really are teachers out there who
should not be teaching.
I would prefer to live in Debra
Cannon’s world where the administrators lead by example and demonstrate
fairness. I have seen the unethical
behaviors of principals in action.
Cannon, D., (nd). Human
resources management: Week four lecture, slides 12-16.
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