The Principals’ Corner:

In their passion to have on file a process and document to supervise teachers, districts tend to come up with a “one size fits all” model for all teaching staff.  The problem, of course, is that while most teachers are in the classroom and the form of evaluation fits their role nicely, there are other teachers not in a classroom role whose positions require a whole new approach to evaluating their performance.  Let’s take the school guidance counsellor as a case in point.

While there are differences among states, provinces and districts, most counsellors perform three major functions:

• counselling students on personal issues that are affecting school performance,
• helping students prepare and submit applications to post-secondary institutions of learning,
• helping students with program choices that meet their aspirations and which are in keeping with requirements for a graduation diploma.

That’s a far cry from what is required by a classroom teacher undergoing evaluation.  Rather than adding an abbreviated section to the standard teacher performance report called “Teachers in Other Professional Roles”, why not simply develop a whole new set of criteria for a counsellor and then, concomitantly, identify the data-gathering techniques that can be used to fashion a performance appraisal.

Before looking at the knowledge, skills and values required for the position, a cautionary note needs to be provided here.  In many schools, counsellors are seen, quite erroneously, by regular teaching staff as holding a position which is not as demanding as that of a classroom teacher.  It is necessary, then, for the counsellor to cultivate a positive image of the work of a Guidance Department as a source of support to staff as well as to students.  Above all, counsellors need to make every effort to be a team player and be respectful of what is required by a classroom teacher.  Supporting a student in a one-on-one situation is far different from doing the same in a full class of students.  The following descriptors are designed to underscore that fact.

With that in mind, let’s start off with the criteria for evaluation: skills, understandings and values.

Skills:  A guidance counsellor needs to:

• Work cooperatively with students, staff and parents to address student issues
• Be able to influence others (including students, staff and parents) to ensure that students’ needs are met
• Possess excellent communication skills in both expressive and receptive domains with particular emphasis on active listening
• Be assiduous in record-keeping

Understandings:  A guidance counsellor needs to know:

• The basic tenets of psychology as those tenets pertain to the personal counseling function
• Ministry graduation requirements and other pronouncements pertaining the earning of credits including the assignment of credits for past learning and experience
• Basic admission requirements for colleges and universities and a detailed knowledge of the processes used to apply to post-secondary learning institutions
• Regulations that pertain to the maintenance and confidentiality of all student records

Values:  A guidance counsellor needs to be:

• Acutely aware that a counsellor is also a teacher with similar responsibilities though a different venue
• Empathetic with students, staff and parents
• Careful and discrete with the information shared by students, parents and staff
• Sensitive to the needs of all stakeholders and respectful of a variety of viewpoints

With that as a basis for evaluation, what needs to be done differently by the principal as supervisor to gather data on performance of a teacher playing a substantially different role from a classroom teacher?  That’s the subject of October 29^th’s blog.

Dr. Dan

Check out our Education Individual Coaching or Contracted Services such as Teacher Appraisal:  Developing a School-Based Teacher Appraisal System.