Cohort 5-Day 8 Journal Staff Evaluation & Program Accountability Systems Heather Kortlandt

1)

What are some possible extensions of this learning, which could directly improve your work in this area? Some of the learning on Day 8 centered around having courageous conversations since teacher/administrator evaluation often requires these. I think some of these ideas around having productive and courage conversations could directly impact my change initiative project in a couple of ways. One way is when I meet with the vertical leadership teams one of their biggest obstacles that they have expressed is having tough conversations with their PLCs when they bring back and try to implement district decisions. Perhaps someone in the PLC brings up a point that the vertical team hadnt thought of or perhaps some just plain disagree with the decision. The more tools that I can give to empower them to ask the right questions of their PLCs to elicit thinking and rally the troops around the why of decisions the better they will be to handle those difficult leadership situations. I think the POP handout for planning intention conversations could help me with both teachers and administrators in various situations. I like this handout because it really helps the person needing to have the intentional conversation plan and deliver clearly the 2-3 outcomes that must be accomplished by the conversation. I can see this protocol being useful with a variety of conversation types. 2) What are some examples of your work in this area? As assistant principal I have conducted teacher evaluations, and I currently work with the superintendent on the process for teacher and administrative evaluation. I have conducted preobservation conversations, but they have been shallow and not specific. Now that I could use the format provided by this session, it gives the teacher and myself some additional think time on specific items which could make the conversation much richer. I love the idea of passing the pre-observation form out before we meet so that the teacher knows and is ready for the discussion. 3) What evidence exists of the impact of the work you are doing in this area, especially as it relates to your Change Initiative Process? The evidence that exists is the teacher evaluation toolkit binder that I have created for our principals to follow. It contains all of the necessary documents, rubrics, timelines and processes our principals should be following to ensure consistency within the evaluation process throughout the district.