0.4 The art of successful school-based management  (Page 15/36)

For matters relative to evaluation, the IL would have the primary responsibility for making“judgments concerning the overall quality of the teacher’s performance and the teacher’s competence in carrying out assigned duties as well as provide a picture of the quality of teaching performances acrossthe professional staff”(Nolan, 2003). These data will be collected as part of the teacher’s overall evaluation in terms of retention, tenure, and promotion. The actual process for making employmentdecisions is described later in this paper.

Within the context of supervision, the goal of the IL is to offer instructional support for teachers throughouttheir professional career paths. Novice teachers might receive close-ordered coaching to help through the stresses of being new tothe profession. Tenured teachers might receive support in the form of instructional development and experimentation. End-of-careerteachers might receive requests from the IL to share expertise with others or to take on staff development responsibilities. Atwhatever the career stage, the nature of the instructional support will be in the form of developmental supervision ormentoring.

Research on mentoring emphasizes that the direction and content of instructional development is a sharedresponsibility of both the novice teacher and mentor teacher (Glickman, 2002; Reiman, 1999; Reiman&Theis-Sprinthall, 1993). Through collaboration and coaching the pair of teachersobserve each other, share reflections on experiences, and develop professional development plans. Although during the early stages of the professional relationship, the mentor will likely assume adominate role; over time the nature of the relationship will shift responsibilities from the mentor to novice (Gray&Gray, 1985).

A key function of the IL is to identify, develop, and supervise a cadre of successful teachers who aretrained in developmental supervision and mentoring. The IL will be the lead mentor and will offer support and guidance to the cadreand will also substitute in cadre classes when the mentor is conducting observations or conferences. Each mentor will providereports to the IL regarding dates of mentor contacts, the nature of the observation, and any issues that the IL might need to address.Because of the need for confidentiality and trust in the mentoring relationship, care will be given not to offer specific details ofthe mentor’s contacts. The mentor’s contacts will be formative in nature. Differently, the IL will conduct summative observations andevaluations of teachers for employment decisions. The IL will offer summary reports and recommendations to the MP and those reportswould become a part of the teacher’s personnel file. The MP will also make recommendations, again for inclusion in the personnelfile, for employment based on teachers’performances of non-instructional responsibilities (e.g., bus duty, lunchroomsupervision, committee participation, attendance). The instructional committee will receive recommendations and will offerits recommendation for employment as well. In effect, employment decisions then come upon a three-vote decision: one vote from theIL, one vote from the MP and one vote from the instructional committee. Based on the three reports, the MP will construct aletter to the Director of Personnel that summarizes the findings and will offer a recommendation regarding the continuing employmentstatus of the teacher. Both the MP and the IL will sign the letter. Any disputes or dissenting opinions will also be submitted, asattachment, to the Director of Personnel for inclusion in the personnel file.