Maintaining Teacher Motivation and Effectiveness After Tenure (Part III)
Accountability, Growth, Coaching, and Continuous Improvement
Dear Colleagues,
Introduction: Synopsis of Part I and II
We are now half-way through a four-part Series to systematically dissect what districts and schools need to improve relative to the teacher recruitment, selection, professional development/training, evaluation, tenure, and continuing appointment process.
This Series is especially important right now as many schools are hiring (or have hired) new teachers for the coming school year, and need to think about how to help them enter their (for some) new district, schools, and/or positions in a few short months.
The ultimate goal of these processes is:
To ensure that teachers consistently teach (a) academic and (b) individual and group social, emotional, and behavioral information, content, and skills to students in effective, differentiated ways such that, in a developmentally-sensitive way, they learn, master, and are able to independently apply these (a) to real-world problems or situations, and eventually (b) to successful employment and community functioning.
To facilitate this process, we are encouraging districts and schools to recognize that teacher evaluation needs to move away from an isolated “personnel appraisal” perspective that focuses on (a) “Should this teacher keep his/her job?” and/or (b) “How can I (financially) motivate this teacher to be a consistently effective teacher?”
Instead, we advocate a “professional development and growth” perspective where teachers (a) are continuously upgrading their instructional practices to align with the most-current research and content, and (b) are consistently demonstrating their dedication to their students, colleagues, schools, and communities because they are guided through training, coaching, consultation, and evaluations of their growth and efficacy.
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Revisiting the Four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency and a Blog Part I and II Review
In order to attain the ultimate goal above, we recommend that districts and schools focus consciously and planfully to four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency:
- Teacher Hiring and Orientation
- Teacher Induction and Tenure
- Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching, and
- Teacher Leadership and Advancement
In Part I of this Blog Series, we described the important anchors and activities to the teacher hiring and orientation process.
[CLICK HERE for Part I of this Blog Series]
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Here, we noted that districts or schools—to ensure quality hires when they have open positions—must attend to the following elements when (a) recruiting and hiring new staff, and then (b) welcoming and orienting them at the very beginning of the new school year:
- Know what they functionally need a new teacher to know and do in the classroom (described in observable, measurable, and behavioral terms);
- Determine—during the recruitment and interview process—what their candidates know and can do based on these needs;
- Hire only the candidates that come closest to meeting these needs;
- Functionally orient their new hires as quickly as possible; and
- Simultaneously close candidates’ knowledge or skills gaps as quickly as possible before or at the beginning of the new school year.
We noted that the goal for new hires at the “end” of the Orientation process is that:
Teachers need to be thoroughly, systematically, and functionally well-oriented to their new district and school as soon and as effectively as possible for them (a) to feel settled, safe, secure, comfortable, welcome, and integrated into their new setting(s); and (b) to successfully meet and exceed their instructional, collegial, and other professional responsibilities.
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Reviewing Blog Part II: Teacher Induction and Tenure
In Part II of this Blog Series, we suggested that the Teacher Induction process involve up to three years, and that Novice Teachers would come up for tenure at the end of their fifth year.
Across the entire discussion, we defined and differentiated among Novice, Transfer, and Transition Teachers.
[CLICK HERE for Part II of this Blog Series]
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In the Teacher Induction discussion, we recommended that teachers—through continuing professional development, coaching, and evaluation—learn, master, and demonstrate a skills- and outcomes-based sequence of professional content and skills in the three foundational domains essential for teacher proficiency: (a) Research and Curriculum Development; (b) Instruction and Student Learning; and (c) School, District, and/or Community Service.
These domains were interfaced with the pedagogical processes underlying successful classroom instruction by describing relevant areas from Danielson’s Framework for Teaching evaluation instrument. Critically, and once again, we emphasized using Danielson not for personnel appraisal, but as a professional development and growth framework and guide.
In addition to proficiency in the Research and Curriculum Development and Instruction and Student Learning domains, we noted that new teachers (indeed, all teachers) should be required to participate in ongoing School, District, and/or Community Service activities.
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In the Teacher Tenure discussion, we recommended a multi-dimensional tenure process (“with teeth”) that evaluates teachers’ growth and competence in same three proficiency domains noted above.
Here, we proposed a system where teachers can receive tenure after five years of successful teaching. To demonstrate proficiency in the three domains above, teachers would submit a Tenure Application Portfolio that might include progressively-created lessons, instructional videotapes and work samples, coaching and evaluation protocols, letters of support and recommendation, demonstrated student outcomes, and school or district service documentation.
Evaluated by a district-selected Tenure Committee of district and school administrators and supervisors, currently-tenured teachers and support staff, and other relevant individuals, the ultimate tenure decision would be made by the Superintendent or his/her administrative designee. Based on state law, tenure could be “for life” or part of a continuing appointment process.
If a tenure is not secured, the Superintendent’s decision could be revisited after the teacher spends an additional one to three years addressing any areas of concern, or the teacher might be allowed to remain in their current position for one additional year after which their contract would not be renewed.
The transition from Induction to Tenure would involve a Mid-Tenure Review at the end of a new teacher’s third year with the successful submission and review of a Mid-Tenure portfolio consisting of accomplishments to date in the three proficiency domains.
The remainder of this Part III of our four-part Blog Series will address the third Proficiency Pillar: Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching.
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Many facets of Part I and Part II of this Blog Series were summarized in a free-wheeling radio interview discussion with Host Larry Jacobs on Education Talk Radio on May 8, 2023.
I hope you enjoy listening to our 34-minute talk show presentation below:
Continuing Teacher Appointment
Because teacher proficiency and professional growth is a life-long process, Pillar III’s explicit presence and ongoing activities—across a school and district—reinforces this on both aspirational and functional levels.
On a functional level, once a teacher has been awarded tenure, we recommend that Continuing Teacher (or Tenure) Appointments be (re-)awarded, first, after the next six years, and every ten years thereafter.
The goal here is to ensure that:
Teachers (a) continue to grow and contribute to the instructional process in their classroom, grade-level or department, and school community; (b) maintain their currency and proficiency relative to new research and mature practice; and (c) establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or in a specialization area needed by students, staff, and/or the school.
The Professional Development Plan
The primary vehicle to attain this goal is a Professional Development Plan (PDP) that is written by each teacher and approved by their administrator. The PDP should have (predictably) three sections with explicit activities, timelines, outcomes, and evaluation criteria: (a) Research and Curriculum Development; (b) Instruction and Student Learning; and (c) School, District, and/or Community Service.
For newly-tenured teachers, the PDP can be written as a three-year document, but its outcomes are formally evaluated on an annual basis by and with each teacher. For tenured-continuing appointment teachers, the PDP can be written as a five-year document. Regardless of the timeframe, the annual evaluations could be conducted by the school administrator or by a designated team that also includes colleagues and others—and is similar to the Tenure Committee discussed in Part II of this Blog Series.
At the district or school’s discretion, teachers could be asked to submit a “Continuing Appointment Portfolio” (similar to the Tenure Portfolio) at the end of the sixth year cycle for newly-tenured teachers, and the tenth year for tenured-continuing appointment teachers.
For administrators concerned about the time commitment here, the PDP evaluation process could replace the current, bulky teacher observation and evaluation process that occurs in many schools or, at least, substitute for some of the contractually-required observations and feedback meetings.
If the annual, outcome-based evaluation of a teacher’s PDP is not acceptable, the teacher will be allowed—on the first occasion—to resubmit documentation or “make-up” any deficiencies during the next year (while also being responsible to the PDP goals and outcomes for that year).
If a teacher’s performance continues to be unacceptable, or if there is a second occasion of this, the teacher could be put on probation or—depending on the severity of the deficiencies—on a Professional Improvement Plan.
For continued poor PDP performance and evaluations on its annual goals and outcomes, a teacher could lose his or her tenure status, would definitely be put on a Professional Development Plan, and could be terminated for the non-completion of that Plan.
The successful completion of a teacher’s PDP over time should automatically fulfill the professional development requirements, if present, at the state department of education level for continued teacher certification or professional licensure.
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Aligning the PDP with a School’s Professional Development and Improvement Processes
The PDP should be explicitly aligned with the professional development initiatives and activities in a school and, hence, with the school’s formal or informal School Improvement Plan.
In this way, teachers are formally held accountable for learning and implementing all school-wide professional development initiatives and, thus, teachers’ PDPs may be updated annually to include new professional development initiatives and activities.
More importantly, this integration maximizes the outcomes and return-on-investment of every school’s professional development initiative.
Critically, this integration also suggests that a portion of every teacher’s PDP will be shared by all of the teachers in a school, and will be “required” by the administration as part of the PDP development and annual evaluation process.
Significantly, it is recommended that this “portion” be differentiated by the number of years that different teacher group have in rank.
For example, it is recommended that for:
- Untenured Novice Teachers, school or district administrators and supervisors will dictate 100% of their PDP
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- Untenured Continuing Appointment Teachers, administrators or supervisors will dictate 75% of their PDP, and they will determine (with approval) the remaining 25%.
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- Newly-Tenured Teachers, administrators or supervisors will dictate 50% of their PDP, and they will determine (with approval) the remaining 50%.
NOTE that the “required” 50% will include both the school’s professional development initiatives and activities that all teachers will participate in and have on their PDPs; and the activities that will help these teachers to individually (as in the goal above) establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or in a specialization area needed by students, staff, and/or the school.
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- Tenured Continuing Appointment Teachers, administrators or supervisors will dictate 25% of their PDP, and they will determine (with approval) the remaining 75%.
NOTE that the “required” 25% will include both the school’s professional development initiatives and activities that all teachers will participate in and have on their PDPs.
At this point, the teachers’ coaching and leadership, and/or specialization activities will be integrated into the teacher-created part of their PDP.
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This entire process could represent a district’s “job ladder” for its teachers. While annual salary increases could still occur, the district could also include a significant salary “bump,” after six years for the newly-tenured teachers, and every ten years thereafter. . . as teachers successfully assume significant peer coaching or mentoring, and/or professional specialization responsibilities.
The Teacher Coaching Process
As post-tenure teachers continue their professional growth and serve their students, colleagues, and schools, a formal part of this process—guided by their PDPs—is (as above) to establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or to attain expertise in a specialization area.
In the former area, these teachers might become coaches or mentors of non-tenured teachers as they proceed through the six-year induction and tenure process.
Teachers at this level might serve as Grade-level Leaders or Department Chairs, as Chairs or Co-Chairs of a school-level committee, or on the school’s Leadership Committee or Cabinet.
Or, these teachers might be collegial coaches in one of the professional development initiative areas being implemented across a school.
In the latter area, teachers might engage in a systematic professional development and apprenticeship process—supported by the school both financially and relative to appropriate release time—that results in them becoming experts in specific specialization areas needed by the school.
Critically, this “specialization” is at a leadership level. That is, it is expected that the teachers will stay at the school to teach, coach, and elevate the knowledge and skills of colleagues or others in their specialization area. . . helping to close significant service-delivery gaps in the school, or enriching the school’s “offerings” in a tangible and meaningful way.
Based on a needs assessment by the school and/or as guided by a School Improvement Plan, specialization examples might include expertise in differentiated instruction, social skills instruction, motivating disaffected students, interventions for stressed or traumatized students, evidence-based literacy or math instruction, diagnostically assessing students suspected of dyslexia.
Significantly, teachers who are interested in the same specialization area could work in a training and, eventually, as an implementation cohort.
Summary
This is Part III of a four-part Blog Series collectively discussing how districts and schools can improve their teacher recruitment, selection, professional development/training, evaluation, tenure, and continuing appointment processes.
Each part of the Series has separately discussed (Part IV coming soon) the four Pillars of Teacher Preparation and Proficiency—our organizational model to help districts and schools successfully accomplish these improvements:
- Teacher Hiring and Orientation
- Teacher Induction and Tenure
- Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching, and
- Teacher Leadership and Advancement
In this Part III of the Blog Series, we addressed the third Pillar, Continuing Teacher Appointments and Coaching.
In the Continuing Teacher Appointment area, we recommended, once teachers have been awarded tenure (see Blog Part II) at the end of their sixth successful year in-rank, that Continuing Teacher (or Tenure) Appointments should be (re-)awarded, first, after the next six years, and then every ten years thereafter.
The stated goal here is to ensure that:
Teachers (a) continue to grow and contribute to the instructional process in their classroom, grade-level or department, and school community; (b) maintain their currency and proficiency relative to new research and mature practice; and (c) establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or in a specialization area needed by students, staff, and/or the school.
A Professional Development Plan (PDP), written by every tenured teacher with their school’s administration, was suggested as the driving force of this process.
The PDP should be organized in the three Teacher Proficiency Domains discussed throughout this Series (Research and Curriculum Development; Instruction and Student Learning; and School, District, and/or Community Service). . . with each section describing explicit goals, activities, timelines, outcomes, and evaluation criteria.
By annually reviewing the Plan’s data-based outcomes and by successfully accomplishing its goals, teachers would demonstrate the systematic and ongoing progress needed to attain the goal immediately above.
For teachers not accomplishing the goals of the Plan over time, different administrative responses were outlined—including the potential that teachers might lose their tenure status, would be put on individual Professional Accountability Plans, and could ultimately be terminated for non-completion.
We also detailed how to explicitly align teachers’ PDPs with the professional development initiatives and activities in a school and School Improvement Plan. The intent here is to keep teachers formally accountable for learning and implementing all school-wide professional development initiatives and activities. More importantly, this alignment helps to maximize the outcomes and return-on-investment for each of the initiatives being implemented.
Here, we suggested that a teacher’s status (Untenured Novice—0%/100%, Untenured Continuing Appointment—25%/75%, Newly-Tenured—50%/50%, and Tenured Continuing Appointment—75%/25%) would determine how much of each year’s PDP would be written by the teacher or written by the school’s administration.
Relative to the administration’s contribution, every teacher would have PDP goals and activities related to the school’s current professional development and school improvement initiatives. Beyond that, the teachers would determine their own relevant activities in the three Teacher Proficiency Domains—of course, as approved by their administrator(s).
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In the Teacher Coaching area of this Pillar, we discussed the goal—guided by their PDPs—of having post-Tenure teachers establish themselves as educational coaches or leaders, and/or of attaining expertise in a specialization area.
In the former area, we addressed the potential of having “mature” teachers become coaches or mentors of non-tenured teachers as they proceed through the six-year induction and tenure process.
In the latter area, we addressed the potential of having teachers engage in a systematic professional development and apprenticeship process—supported by the school both financially and relative to appropriate release time—that results in them becoming experts in specific specialization areas needed by the school.
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While the end of the school year presents opportunities to reflect and celebrate the accomplishments of the current year, it also offers opportunities to critically analyze and identify the improvements needed for the coming year.
Personally, I don’t ever believe that the school year “ends.” This is because I believe that the best planning for the next school year begins at the end of the current one.
While it is important to take a summer “break” to relax and renew, on at least an administrative level, the summer is the best time to revisit our mission and realign student, staff, and school practices so that we can “reboot” in the Fall and be even more successful during the next school year.
I am already scheduled to work with a wide variety of districts and schools across the country to facilitate this reboot process. . . but I am ready and willing to assist you and your colleagues this Summer and Fall also.
If you are interested in discussing your aspirations for the future, I am happy to provide a free one-hour consultation and discussion with you and your team at any time. Please feel free to reach out.
Best,
