The Big Question???
How do you decrease stress surrounding teacher evaluations? Easy
Answer… Increase trust!
The most valuable
thing principals can do to support the evaluation process is increase
trust!
As I have stated in a previous posts: I know… the “evaluation process” does have
some negative tones due to the political uncertainties regarding the
process. We should change the name! Let’s call it the “professional growth process.”
Seems a bit more positive and reflective. For the purposes of this post and future posts,
it will be referred to as the professional
growth process.
Developing trusting relationships with teachers, while creating
shared leadership opportunities, should be the focus for every administrator
and will simultaneously decrease stress surrounding the professional growth
process. Relationship building and fostering
shared leadership opportunities promotes a sense of community and cooperation
in schools. Teachers have many
expectations and responsibilities and it is the principal’s job to support and
encourage continues improvement through the professional growth process,
without making it seem like “it’s one more thing” that they are responsible to
manage within their day. Building trust
surrounding the professional growth process is key!
What can principals
do to foster trust within their building and surrounding the professional
growth process?
1. Build genuine
relationships.
-
Demonstrate an awareness of personal details within
your entire faculty. Know and care about
them as people with lives outside of school.
-
Express a positive outlook and enthusiasm of
support for teachers. It isn’t what you
say… it’s how you say it that motivates staff to improve and continually to
develop a growth mindset.
-
Be available and visible, visiting classroom
frequently during non-observation times.
-
Create a climate where staff members feel
comfortable expressing concerns regarding curriculum, instruction, and building
operations.
-
Create a climate that demonstrates that every
job is important and each person needs recognition and respect.
-
Find humor in daily routines and help everyone
understand that we choose our attitudes.
2. Create a strong
working relationship with teachers built on trust and honesty.
-
Be honest
during the professional growth process.
Tell teachers what you are looking for and provide suggestions for
improvement. Don’t tell teachers that everything
was great if you are still looking for specific areas of
instructional/classroom management improvement or increased student engagement,
parent communication, etc.
-
Provide specific and timely feedback after
formal and informal observations.
-
Demonstrate active listening of teacher concerns
and provide ideas that will support teacher and student growth. Listen and survey teachers regarding building
initiatives. Staff buy in is key to
creating a successful and collaborative culture.
-
Understand that a single classroom observations
(one way or another) does not provide the entire picture and multiple visits
during the year are necessary.
-
Support teachers during sensitive meetings. Always bring conversation back to what is
best for the child. If a teacher is
wrong or upsetting a parent then I will state the following:
o
I know (teacher) really cares about your child
and that is why emotions are high right now, let’s take a couple of minutes to
put things into perspective. At this time I will restate concerns and provide
some solutions.
o
What (teacher) is trying to say… state this and
then model an appropriate response.
o
I can tell that you (parent) are upset right now
and don’t agree with (teacher)… let’s take a day or two to think it over. This will give time for the principal to
collaborate with teacher regarding an appropriate response to parent and
support for student.
If teacher is wrong, or lacks relationship
building skills with parents or students, then those are conversations that
need to take place with individual teachers in a confidential manner and not in
front of parent.
-
Direct parents back to the teacher to resolve
concerns before you step in. Parents
tend to contact the principal before teachers even know that there is a problem
or concern. Principals should give teachers the chance to collaborate with
parent before becoming involved.
-
Support teachers who are struggling at their
profession. Counsel them to improve and
be honest about the professional growth process. In extreme cases, you might need to counsel
an educator into a different career and this will only be successful if you
have a positive relationship with that person which is built on trust.
-
Don’t rescue teachers, give them encouragement
and support to be successful. They will
thank you for the reassurance and trust.
3. Provide
opportunities for professional growth.
-
Provide sustained professional development
opportunities that are meaningful and relevant to current trends in
education.
-
Provide professional development at a reasonable
pace, not to overwhelm but to provide direction and excitement for professional
growth.
-
Increase targeted and sustained professional
development activities during staff meetings.
-
Support and differentiate teacher goals and
professional growth through instructional conferencing - reviewing environment,
instruction, planning, and professionalism.
No need to have school wide professional development on communicating
with parents if only a couple of teachers are in need of support.
4. Create a culture of shared leadership.
-
Provide opportunities for teacher leadership
through committees, leading student groups, building management decisions,
creating surveys, book studies, sharing on twitter and/or blogging, professional
development presentations, etc. This
will increases accountability and a sense of ownership within building
decisions and enhances growth as a building.
-
Understand that your faculty has exceptional
skills to offer. Focus on shared,
continuous improvement, promoting cooperation and cohesion within the school. Allow your staff to provide professional
development during staff meetings, building on their strengths!
-
Allow your staff to take the responsibility of
building trust within grade level groups and developing each Professional
Learning Community member’s self-awareness about the things that are most
relevant to the building mission and vision.
5. Show competency and demonstrate
knowledge.
-
Show competency and demonstrate knowledge of
building management, curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices that are
congruent with district and state mandates.
Create a plan of how to manage state, local, and building operational
needs while recognizing change is inevitable, embracing it at every
opportunity.
-
Ask a few simple question before bringing new
initiatives to the staff: How is this
going to benefit students? How is this
going benefit the building climate? Is
it necessary to enhance student or staff success? Did I survey the appropriate stakeholders
before moving forward?
-
Demonstrate consistency and accountability by
addressing needs of the current situation.
Decrease unknowns surrounding building management, calendar, behavior
management, PTO activities, district initiatives, etc.
-
Provide a supportive and safe environment
conducive to learning that provides support for student with academic and
behavioral needs.
-
Understand and provide direction regarding the
evaluation tool and district/state process.
This post is more of a reflection on how I want to operate
as a building principal, decreasing anxiety around the professional growth
process. I know, seems overwhelming! Good thing, we are all in this together for the
betterment of students. Professional growth process should be a
positive experience and the umbrella to everything we accomplish during the
school year. We should use it to improve
our instructional practices and professional growth, with our number one focus
being the core: Student Learning. I want the professional growth process to
support educators and not be the cause for stress, and the best way to
accomplish that is by increasing trust!
The increased teacher evaluation attention seems overwhelming! Something to consider: educators usually have long careers with plenty
of time for sustained growth. We should
have a strategic plan that changes with the ever-changing educational landscape
throughout our careers.
Enjoy relaxing, learning, and reflecting over the summer!
Keith
