PUBLIC SCHOOL OFFICIALS HEAR FROM AN EXPERT ON WORKER EVALUATIONS

JEFFERSON CITY -- Treat teachers like professionals, and, for the most part, classroom skills improve, an expert on employee evaluation told the Cape Girardeau Board of Education Tuesday.

Jerry Valentine, an expert on performance-based evaluation, spoke at the school board's annual planning meeting in Jefferson City.

Valentine, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has been working with Cape Girardeau's building principals to implement performance-based evaluation.

"Performance-based evaluation is a way to determine how do we help teachers grow and mature professionally, not a system to get the goods on somebody for an employment decision," Valentine said.

"We want teachers to enjoy their work, feel good about their work. All that carries over to the way we treat kids."

"For districts, it's a whole philosophy issue," Valentine said. "Do we believe they are professionals or do we believe they are the laborers and not able to make determinations of their own professional improvement?"

Superintendent Neyland Clark said Cape Girardeau has been a traditional district for years, using an authoritative model for evaluating teachers.

"It was mostly for zero-to-three-year teachers," he said. "We are starting to make a shift to the professional improvement model."

However, Valentine said, it may take some time for teachers and principals to develop a comfortable relationship that allows discussions along these lines.

The key, he said, is "principals, principals, principals. Principal attitudes, principal skills, and then teacher attitude and the process."

Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education, said all building principals have attended sessions on performance-based evaluations with Valentine.

He has also been working with district administrators to develop job descriptions.

Once job descriptions and expectations are outlined, principals collect data by observing teachers. Then they talk with teachers about expectations of both the principal and the teacher, provide an opportunity for improvement or growth, and then make employment decisions.

"It's not a one-time shot; it's an ongoing series of events," said Valentine.

He said principals should sit down with teachers and discuss professional goals. "We are trying to create a self-directed learner to give teachers skills in looking at their own performance, and then provide opportunity for improvement."