"I think there are a lot of people out there who think the way to address climate issues is to develop more complicated thermometers. "
Being a "Plan, Do, Check, Act" guy, I really like good thermometers when it comes to changing the climate. Assuming the environment is closed and can be adjusted, as it is in companies and schools.
Now, I work for an incredibly competitive company that promotes global free trade. We actively pursue productivity and efficiency gains. We consistently work to eliminate waste and still produce results. How else will we succeed on the global stage ???
Ironically, a key aspect of this effort revolves around having incredibly good climate measurement systems. Now this doesn't come cheap, however it is still an excellent investment. Some of the benefits include:
- Employees that are unable to perform well in a position can be trained/coached or shifted to a different role that better matches their strengths and passion. Or their employment can be terminated if a good fit can not be found. This is typically good for the employee and the company.
- Managers and Supervisors that are unable to attain results while keeping their employees engaged and motivated receive the same options and treatment as noted above.
- Overall, the key is that the environment is maintained to ensure that Managers, Supervisor's and Employees are treated well. Therefore we all strive to achieve the goals for the good of ourselves, the company and our stakeholders.
- annual performance plan creation (contains~10 SMART goals directly related to the RAS goals) (describing personal improvement and performance)
- quarterly performance reviews / discussion (Spvr/Employee)
- yearly 360 degree feedback surveys (ie nothing fancy... send an 8 question survey to co-workers and parents with results sent to Spvr)
- Annual Employee Opinion Surveys (example) (Identifies Enterprise issues and Poor Managers)
- Act on the Information !!!! Need to show results or people will not believe you are serious about improving things !!!!
9 comments:
Due to some anomalies with the first attempt at this post. We are starting again with a clean comment field. There is a humorous story attached with this, however I can not share it with you. The upside is there was no ill intent involved.... Just an oops !!! What did I do...
So does the silence imply that these really are foreign concepts within our public schools?
I am pretty certain top down observation does occur. However, I think it is typically once every 2+ years for tenured teachers... And somewhat more often for probationary(ie non-tenured) teachers or tenured teachers that are getting many complaints.
I was thinking about almost every college and business course I have taken over the past 25 years. (and that's a lot of them...) They almost all had a questionaire that asked me to rate the teacher, class, material, etc. Why have I never seen this come home regarding my kids classes? It seems it would be valued to get the kids/parents perspectives...
A fascinating and simple concept !!! Unless it is true that the Board, Admin and Teachers are bound to the status quo and improvements and corrections are hamstrung by the public system and contracts.
Thoughts?
OK, so I meant to reply earlier but had some issues. :-)
The unions would never go for most of this. Now schools have to watch non-tenured teachers 3 times a year. For those who are tenured, they are supposed to be watched once every 5 years. Now I believe this is not nearly often enough. My bigger complaint is that there is almost no peer observations at all. Non-tenured teachers will often have a mentor watch them once or twice in the year but again, that ends after year 3.
As for surveys to the students. This does actually happen in most of the classrooms from grade 7 on up for many teachers. I know there is one or two exceptions to the rule but most of the teachers are going through this. Now, is that information used for anything in particular? I have no clue.
I don't know if the results make their way back to "management" or if it should be used for anything special. The problem with a survey like this is that in grade 7 and 8 kids are more likely to rip "mean teachers" and reward those who are "nice". Where in my mind, the better teachers are more likely the "mean" ones at that grade.
OK - back to work now.
DJ
That is roughly what I thought, however I'll ask my eldest about the in class surveys. I agree that the kid's feedback may be a bit subjective and based on some "interesting" criteria.
I think parent feed back would be interesting and possibly more useful. We have one teacher that has twice entered incorrect grades on assignments that have not been completed yet...(within a 2 mth period...) Probably a fixable error if someone notifies them that it is unacceptable. Thank heavens for parent portal and an observant spouse. However what happens to the other kids, whose parents aren't paying attention.
However, it is kind of like some of the thermostats in the office. These don't appear to be hooked up to the new HVAC system. Not much sense having them on the wall if they don't measure and adjust the system/climate. They just keep frustrating the employee who is freezing while turning up the thermostat....And it gets no warmer.
Does anybody know of any employee satisfaction measurement method being used?
In ten years I was never asked outside of my annual review. I wasn't a teacher so a little different. But I've never heard of anything from the teacher side of the house either.
DJ
Checked with the 9th grade daughter. She has no memory of taking a class/teacher survey. Typically she is pretty reliable on this sort of thing.
As for the grade entry errors I mentioned. 1 was a grade for another student entered against my daughter's scores... Another was just entered against the wrong assignment/row/column... The second error seems more understandable and likely to be caught.
Though I noticed at the school board meeting that Gayle W. was discussing some form of student survey that was going to be given regarding how the school transition went.
I don't know anything about surveys of students in specific classes from 7th grade and up, but the district does a periodic (looks like every two years) survey of all students in grades 4-12. Here's the link to a results summary and the survey questions for 2005 and 2007 on the district website:
http://rdale.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=61526&sessionid=b4785955248cf550438a765b7dac20c3
It doesn't look like this link will work but I'm sure our host can fix it!! (thanks)
The survey categories in 2007 were sense of belonging, teaching/learning, sense of community, sense of safety, and access to technology, and there were approx 55 questions.
I didn't hear what Gayle said at the School Board meeting, but maybe this year's survey will add some transition related questions.
RAS Student Survey
Host action item completed !!!
Thanks for the link !!!
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