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Performance Evaluation and Action Plan

John D. Watkins

College of Education, Grand Canyon University

EAD 533: Developing and Empowering Instructional Leaders

Dr. Anderson

January 18, 2023

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Performance Evaluation and Action Plan

Administrators get into a metaphorical chess match when deciding which team or group

to place teachers throughout their school. They hope they are choosing wisely that the chemistry

amongst teachers will develop, grow, and continue to get stronger as the year continues.

Sometimes, what looks like a good fit does not always pan out the way we hoped. For this case

study I have selected to analyze the elementary school scenario.

Part 1: Analyze the Case

Ms. Juarez, the third-grade team lead and three of her teammates have continued to show

significant growth in student academic performance. Ms. Monroe is the lone outlier on the team

struggling to keep up with the pacing guide, and according to district assessment data her

students are not performing as well as their peers in the other four third grade classes. I have

been informed that Ms. Monroe does not engage during grade level meetings, giving me the

feeling she is lacking in her effort to plan with the group.

In this scenario, I view the team leader responsible for inviting Ms. Monroe to all grade

level meetings and planning sessions by sending calendar invites as well as verbally tell her

when the group is starting to meet. Whether she pops her head into her room or gives her a phone

call, a friendly reminder could go a long way. Ms. Juarez has the responsibility as team lead to

explain grade level expectations when it comes to grade level meetings, including planning as a

team. It is also her responsibility to lead by example applying the school and district

expectations.

All stakeholders on the team will eventually be involved with the next steps. I would start

with meeting individually with Ms. Juarez, the grade level team leader, gathering more

information about the teams’ dynamics when working together. I would also have an individual
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conversation with Ms. Monroe. If conversations do not help resolve the issues, I will meet with

the whole grade level team asking if I could sit in on a grade level meeting or planning session.

The schools instructional coach will be a critical stakeholder in this process.

The questions I would ask the teachers of the third-grade team are, how often does the

team meet? How long has this situation been going on? Have you sat with Ms. Monroe getting to

know her on a personal level? Does everyone clearly understand the grade level teams

expectations about meeting and/or planning? What steps have already been attempted to help

Ms. Monroe? Has Ms. Monroe been given plenty of time to prepare or make the necessary

arrangements to meet with the grade level team? Has the entire third grade team created a list of

social norms describing each person’s responsibility during meetings?

Part 2: Identify the Larger Issues

For this scenario I will rely on the confines of district policy to help guide my decision.

The district policy about staff meetings and expectations will give me reasoning behind the

importance of meeting together. District policy about the teacher and leader evaluation process

will guide my decision as a tool to help teachers aim for professional growth goals and how this

scenario can influence their annual teacher evaluation.

Before taking any action, I would seek more information from Ms. Juarez. I would want

to know the strategies and different ideas the third-grade team has already done to incorporate

Ms. Monroe into the group.

If I decided to do nothing the potential negative effects on the third-grade team is even

more animosity and frustration amongst teammates than there already is. The students learning in

Ms. Monroe’s class are in jeopardy of learning loss the most. Potentially, Ms. Juarez and the rest
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of the third-grade team could step out of their comfort zone respectfully giving a coworker

constructive feedback that could hopefully improve the teams’ current dynamics.

If I do decide to meet and take care of the situation, students in Ms. Monroe’s class could

potentially catch up to the remaining teachers. In addition, grade level meetings could improve

becoming more of a collaborative experience. The overall relationship of the team could improve

as well. The possible negative effects if I get involved is robbing the third-grade team of solving

a problem as a group on their own. Ms. Monroe could view this as an attack on her raising her

suspicions causing her to fortify the current wall of trust against her current teammates. Datnow

and Park (2015) emphasize that building trust amongst school leadership members and their

colleagues is imperative in developing respect between team members. When the group values

each other, they are more likely to respond to feedback more positively than suspiciously,

creating a better team dynamic and preparedness for student achievement.

Part 3: Create an Action Plan

My goal throughout this entire scenario is to see my third-grade team successfully solve

this issue. I also want to support Ms. Monroe helping her make the necessary strides to catch up

to the performance level as the rest of her team. I want to see that Ms. Monroe become an

integral team member, participating in planning, including grade level team meetings. I do not

believe it would be the best decision to sit back and do nothing. The first action step I would

make is meet with Ms. Juarez. During this meeting I would seek to find out how things are going

with Ms. Monroe when it comes to planning and grade level meetings. I would provide Ms.

Juarez professional development opportunities geared toward situations like this. From this

information I would hope to find out the steps the grade level team has taken to help Ms. Monroe

to feel more inclusive, while offering a few suggestions and strategies I would like her to try. I
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would ask Ms. Juarez to send me a calendar invite to their next grade level team meeting so I

could be of any assistance. If this does not fix the issues, and the team dynamics stay the same or

decline, I will move to my next step.

The second step I would incorporate into this plan, is for the schools instructional coach

to add Ms. Monroe to their coaching cycle rotations. The focus of these sessions will be over

curriculum, time management, collaborative planning, and effective teaching strategies. A

possible challenge that could arise is Ms. Monroe’s attitude toward the coaching cycle and

willingness to change the way she does things. If this still does not fix the situation, I will move

on to the third step.

My third step would be meeting with the entire third grade team revisiting the schools’

expectations when it comes to grade level meetings. In this meeting I would coach the grade

level team in discussing the expectations. I would emphasize that the group create a list of social

norms, stating the expectations and the roles each person is responsible for. These norms will

need to be written and visibly posted in the classroom where meetings take place. We will

investigate trust building exercises that I hope will allow the group to bond. This meeting will

give the third-grade team a chance to practice their social norms for meeting as a team. The last

thing I would want the team to feel is that they are being punished having to meet for an extra

meeting and doing extra work. The teachers could be unwilling to step up to these changes.

The fourth step to this action plan is to have an individual meeting with Ms. Monroe

through formal observations and feedback. Challenges that could come up is Ms. Monroe feeling

that she is being attacked about her teaching abilities. According to Fisher and Frey (2015)

conducting conversations about feedback and performance can be honest without feeling like it

is demeaning when constructing the conversation through describing the observation, evaluating
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its meaning, modeling what needs to be done, and understanding the consequences of the

performance. This will give Ms. Monroe and I a chance to clearly understand and discuss the

expectations.

When evaluating Ms. Juarez’s efforts, I will utilize the district Teacher Leader

Effectiveness rubric. This evaluation tool will allow me to assess the different strategies Ms.

Juarez has attempted to help improve the third-grade teams inclusiveness of Ms. Monroe.

Through the evaluation Ms. Juarez would benefit by providing proof of the strategies and when

they were attempted.

The timeline for this action plan to unfold will take some time. There will be some steps

that can be accomplished quickly. After seeing the most recent assessment data, I will want to

reach out to Ms. Juarez and begin the first step. This should take only a short meeting during her

planning period or another time before or after school. After this meeting I will wait until I

receive the update from the third-grade teams most recent meeting. During this time frame I

would enact the second step by meeting with the instructional coach requesting we get Ms.

Monroe extra coaching. This step could take place weekly for the next four to six weeks. If I

need to continue to the third step, that meeting with the grade level team will be within that week

from the update from Ms. Juarez on the progress they have been making with Ms. Monroe. They

will spend a weekly meeting for two-three weeks revisiting school expectations, creating a list of

social norms, and the roll each person will have. This step will last about two months to

implement and apply to see if we need to make any adjustments to the plan. The fourth step to

this plan will be met during the scheduled teacher evaluation schedule created at the beginning of

the school year. This step will consist of a pre-observation conference, an observation, and a

post-observation conference. During this time, I will investigate if Ms. Monroe has been
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applying some of the advice of her teammates have given her and how the coaching process has

been going.
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References

Datnow, A., & Park, V. (2015). 5 (Good) Ways to Talk About DATA. Educational Leadership,

73(3), 10–15.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2015). Feedback for Teacher Growth. Principal Leadership, 15(9), 52–56.

Union Public School. (2017). Board Policy Book: Policies applicable to employees.

https://scschoolfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/1967/4101_policies_applicable_to_employees.p

df

Union Public School. (2017). Board Policy Book: Professionalism in conduct, communications,

and staff/student interactions.

https://scschoolfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/1967/4020_professionalism3.pdf

Union Public School. (2010). Board Policy Book: Staff meetings.

https://scschoolfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/1967/4030_staff_meetings.pdf

Union Public School. (2017). Board Policy Book: Teacher & leader effectiveness (TLE) –

evaluation process.

https://scschoolfiles.s3.amazonaws.com/1967/4040_teacher_leader_effectiveness_eval_p

rocesses.pdf