Gilroy
– One year after the controversial firing of a Gilroy High
School English teacher, district officials and the Gilroy Teachers
Association are still striving to find agreement in negotiations
regarding teacher evaluations.
Gilroy – One year after the controversial firing of a Gilroy High School English teacher, district officials and the Gilroy Teachers Association are still striving to find agreement in negotiations regarding teacher evaluations.
Last March, Gilroy High School English teacher Kristen Porter, was fired the day after challenging the board to openly review GUSD’s teacher evaluation process. She had been notified earlier that she was not going to be re-hired by the district and told the reason was because she was “not a good fit.” A more comprehensive evaluation process may prevent such reasoning in the future.
One area of contention exists between the GTA and district concerning teacher participation in district walk–throughs.
According to GTA president Michelle Nelson, teachers participating in these walk–throughs do not always feel comfortable evaluating district programs because of the difficulty separating an evaluation of the program from an evaluation of the teacher.
Walk–throughs last about five minutes and are used to gauge how well certain teaching procedures are adopted throughout the district, Nelson said. They are not a type of teacher evaluation, but a policy evaluation. Nelson claims five minutes is not enough time to complete an adequate assessment.
“(Evaluators) look for something the teacher did just five minutes ago, or they miss it,” she said. “Maybe they didn’t look for it, or haven’t been trained properly … They call it a snapshot, but you have to visit the class multiple times, from beginning to end,” to really comprehend how well a procedure is followed.
But school officials believe teachers are a necessary component in determining how successful a district program is by engaging in these district walk–throughs.
“Unless you see it, you only know what you’ve been told,” said Linda Piceno, the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources.
Nelson also argued that teachers should not be a part of the district evaluations because even though they are not supposed to be used as a method of teacher evaluation, many teachers believe they are indeed used for this purpose.
“We have evidence to the contrary,” she said. “It doesn’t happen that much, but it has happened.” She said the walk-through policy has become “a little muddied.”
Gilroy Unified School District teachers are not allowed to evaluate each other. They may observe each other, they may coach each other, but district evaluations are not supposed to include peer input.
“That’s not the teacher’s job,” Nelson explained. Teachers evaluating each other might create an environment of distrust among peers.
Piceno was unaware of any instances where teachers directly participated in district evaluations.
In the past, the district did not always follow evaluation timelines or use consistent practices across the district Nelson said.
“Last year that wasn’t done all of the time,” she said. “We’re just trying to make the district accountable for following procedures.”
According to current district policy, all permanent teachers must be undergo an evaluation by administrators at least once every two years and non-tenured, temporary or probationary teachers must be evaluated at least once each year. Before an overall unsatisfactory evaluation is given, at least three scheduled classroom observations must occur. Each scheduled observation is supposed to be followed by a conference with administrators. Nelson said that this policy has not been consistently followed.
In addition to observations by administrators, teachers are also evaluated based upon student work and test results.
According to Nelson, the GTA and district have reached a tentative, unsigned agreement regarding teachers partaking in district walk–throughs and changes in the checklist used to evaluate teachers.
Piceno denied a tentative agreement had been met, and said, “We haven’t signed off on an agreement.”
The next time the GTA and district is scheduled to meet to discuss negotiations is May 23.
Piceno did say that changes to the evaluation checklist would be closely linked to statewide standards including: Engaging and supporting all students, creating an effective learning environment, understanding and organizing subject matter, designing learning experiences for all students, assessing student learning and continuing professional development.
One noticeable change in the way observations are conducted is in the follow up policy for non-tenured employees she said.
“All non-tenured employees will have their observations by Nov. 1 so the teacher will know right up front if there are concerns,” Piceno said.
Should a teacher receive a negative observation, new policy would require the teacher to submit a written plan for improvement to the administration. This usually occurs at the end of the year after evaluations are completed.
But this way, “we catch any concerns early, so teachers can get the support they need,” Piceno said.
Teachers can either adopt the recommendations made by the administration or devise their own – whatever works she said.
“We’d expect to see improvement, not perfection,” Piceno said.
