Case Study: Developing Professional Capacity

Rachel Malley
EAD 529
June 16, 2021
 Background

This case study is about a principal and staff members who have developed a new process for the

teacher evaluation process. The teachers get observed each year and will be scored based upon the criteria

in the new process. The past few months, many teachers have been scoring low through this evaluation.

The administration team is realizing that the teachers need more professional development within the area

of instruction. The principal must come up with a way to give the teachers the professional development

that they need in order to become more successful. The key decision makers in this case study are the

principal and two assistant principals.

Decision-Making

There appears to be a disconnection between the new evaluation process and the teachers. If the

teachers are scoring negatively in this new process, then they are possibly misunderstanding the

expectations of this process. I think that the teachers need to have some training sessions in order to fully

understand this new process. It is important as a principal that you set your teachers up for success and

give them support.

Policies
In the state of New Jersey, teachers are required to complete 20 hours of professional development

each year. By giving the teachers professional development sessions it will help them to score higher on

their evaluation. This will also help the students to have a greater academic performance.

Solution
A solution that I would suggest for this case study would be for the administration team to provide

teachers with multiple training sessions that would demonstrate how to score effectively on their new

evaluation system. I would also suggest giving teachers an academic coach that can help to give them

support throughout the year. These coaches can come from other districts or even be colleagues within the

school system. The teachers can meet with their coach, and they can collaborate with each other on how
to become more effective and successful. This can support the vision and mission of the schools because

the teachers and staff members are taking the extra step to ensure they are trained to provide the most

effective instruction to the students. Lastly, by providing the teachers with this amount of training, they

will feel more confident about themselves as educators because they will be having more positive scores

on the evaluation tool.

Data
It is important to gather data to find out exactly why the teachers were performing so poorly on the new

evaluation tool. As a principal, you know that you have very strong teachers but according to this new

process they are lacking in many departments. As the professional development sessions are planned, the

principal must be mindful of the areas where support is necessary. This will help to ensure that the

trainings are meaningful for the staff members.

Collaboration, Learning, High Expectations

This solution promotes collaboration among stakeholders because the administration and staff

members will be working as a team to ensure there are effective training sessions for their teachers. The

teachers will also be able to discuss and collaborate best practices with their assigned coach. This solution

promotes learning and high expectations because teachers are now expected to think and teach differently.

These training sessions will give them the opportunity to learn and try out new teaching methods.

Moral and Legal Implications

The only moral issue about this solution would be if teachers are still performing poorly after this

training session. These teachers can then just receive more one-on-one coaching time as well as more

support throughout the school year.

Prioritization/Timeline
To begin, I would take the time to set up some meetings with my administration team to discuss

how we will plan our professional development sessions. Then we can come up with a schedule where
our teachers can attend. These training sessions can take place in the beginning of the school year. They

would then run throughout the school year until all components of the new evaluation system are covered.

Lastly, coaches will be assigned within the first few weeks of school. These coaches will be available to

observe and have discussions with the classroom teacher they are supporting.