Assessing principals through self-led conferences.

Personnel evaluation holds great promise for the productivity of students if done thoughtfully. At the same time, it holds great peril if conducted mechanically in a check-off manner and strictly for compliance.

Superintendents should ask themselves: "How can I provide supervision and evaluation of our principals in a manner that empowers them as high-performance leaders for learning on their campuses?"

Over the past 13 years as a superintendent, I have conducted something I call "principal-led evaluation conferences," or PLECS. I've modified the evaluation process depending on local circumstances, but the objective is the same--to inspire school leaders to do their best work.

In my current assignment, I outline for the 11 building principals at the beginning of each school year the topics of interest to be considered in an end-of-year evaluation conference involving the principal, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and myself. Principals are instructed to use whatever props, portfolios, oral presentation skills and/or technology at the year-end performance review to fully demonstrate their leadership and management relating to district mission and campus vision.

In recent years, the major areas of action and discussion included differentiated instruction, curriculum implementation, technology integration, data-driven decision making and professional development. Other topics germane to principal performance, including a request for help or needed inputs, also have been an important part of PLECS. Of course, the emphases change from one school year to the next as new district and campus needs materialize.

A few days after the annual conference, my assistant superintendents and I provide the principal with a written evaluation. This is in the form of a narrative that we combine with the traditional five-point rating scale ("clearly outstanding" to "below expectations") on various measures. The performance review provides a written and statistical account of our judgment on the principal's progress during the year.

Providing Focus

To implement our school district's mission of providing an "individualized, personalized and challenging education," we have provided a laser-like focus on implementing differentiated instruction (as described by Carol Ann Tomlinson in her book, How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms,) technology integration (via Intel's Intel-Teach-to-the-Future) and data-driven decision making (as laid out by Thomas P. Jandris in his book, Essentials for Principals: Data-Based Decision Making).

Principals prepare ahead of time and bring to these conferences their answers and evidence on questions such as "Describe how your faculty has participated in and mastered the district book study. (Teachers and administrators formed small-group study sessions around Tomlinson's book and completed written self-assessments of what they've learned about differentiated instruction.) "How do you plan to promote, model, monitor and evaluate technology integration on your campus now and in the future?" "Have you read the district recommended book on data-driven decision making and, if so, what has been the impact on you and/or your campus?"

In the words of curriculum and management expert Fenwick English, we "focus, focus, focus" as the goal for principal-led evaluation conferences.

Creating Ownership

If the old adage, "People will be a friend to that which they buy into," is still at work in our schools, then these conferences belong to our principals as do the results, good and bad, that they reveal. PLECS is a reflective process by which all parties learn what has been, what is now and what is anticipated.

A marshalling of new plans, resources and positive attitudes almost always results from this type of principal evaluation during my experience with it. In essence, the superintendent who states "this is what we're about," "this is how we've gone about this year," and "this is what we anticipate in the future" ensures greater ownership to the challenges and solutions of modern school leadership.

During our principal-led evaluation conferences, we pose questions of ownership such as "What further help do you need from the central office to assist you and your campus in the implementation of differentiation, technology integration and data-driven decision making?"

Our principals can respond and do so robustly with suggestions of how we can improve student learning.

Personal Accountability

If accountability in the principal's office is a product of implementing a well-conceived vision for teaching and learning, then evaluation of the principal must focus on accomplishing those techniques that are based on data and research.

Among the accountability questions principals are asked to address in our annual conferences are these: "How have you promoted, modeled, monitored and evaluated differentiation at your campus?" "What tangible evidence have you seen that technology integration has made a positive difference in classrooms ?"

In essence, the principal is asked to attest to how his or her leadership and management have made evident the desired results of the organization. PLECS are personal!

Gary Mathews is superintendent of Carroll Independent School District, 3051 Dove Road, Grapevine, TX 76051. E-mail: MathewsG@ cisdmail.com