Back in 2015, Alberta Education, through a very collaborative process, established a policy on Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation. It was very forward thinking by eliminating cyclical teacher evaluations and replacing those evaluations with a focus on growth. It is not that all evaluations were unnecessary (there are still four reasons to initiate an evaluation) but the assumption of competence of teachers holding professional/permanent status led to a shift in continuous improvement and growth of practice.
In the leadership class I teach, that shift from cyclical evaluations to assumed competence and a focus on growth was widely unknown. Sadly, most of the teachers in the class had no knowledge of the importance of this shift in policy. Without proper explanation and poor implementation at various levels, growth plans were seen as merely compliance documents. You get it done by the end of September and maybe, you get it reviewed at the end of the year. In between, there is little action toward the goals developed.
I don’t think it is fair to be harsh on systems or leaders or teachers for allowing this process to become a mere check in the box activity for many, but I think based on my experience, it needs to be reviewed and focused on going forward. Time, which seems to be in short supply in the education system, needs to be allocated to make this a truly growth experience for teachers and leaders. More on that later!
One of my upcoming assignments for this leadership cohort is to provide me with their own leadership growth plan. To assist in this task, I requested copies of their current growth plan to allow me to provide some feedback. Being brutally honest (and I shared this with the cohort), the majority of the plans were compliance in nature. Goals were typically weak, strategies were mostly events and success indicators/measures were rarely focused on personal professional growth.
What ensued was a great conversation on the importance of growth plans and some strategies for moving them from compliance to commitment documents. Here are a few suggestions that came out of the discussion:
- Growth plans take time both for the teacher writing and the leader reviewing. While the growth plans may need to be “completed” for the end of September, it should probably start as a draft to be developed over a longer period of time.
- Growth plans always must begin with self-reflection around the quality standards. “Where am I successful and where might I need growth?” are essential questions to guide the growth plan process and “How does my growth plan align with my team, school or system goals?” This is not to take the autonomy away from individuals but link to available resources.
- Growth plans must always be conversational. Leaders need to ask the right questions in the initial meeting and follow up meetings to guide the growth discussion. Ask questions that cause the individual to be reflective on her own practice.
- Strategies are not events. They need to be more specific to the goal at hand.
- While all growth should positively impact students, success indicators should focus primarily on the improvement of the teacher. What does success look like from the individual’s perspective and not on outcomes of students? I like to ask those I’m coaching, “What does it look like when you get there?” Start with end in mind and then link your success indicators back to your strategies and then back to your goal.
- Growth plans must be living documents and so are short (no more than three goals) and to the point. The individual teacher should review them often since, this is about her own growth. As a professional, you should drive the process.
- Coaching or supervision should be ongoing throughout the year. Leaders should align their “walkthrough” practices to the areas of growth desired by the teacher. Follow up conversations or feedback sessions are then focused on the growth desired by the teacher.
The growth plan process takes time to be effective, but it is necessary to ensure continuous improvement and the professionalism of all educators. System leaders need to begin having more conversations around what their school leaders are doing around growth plans. Start the dialogue at both the system and school level. The importance of the growth plan cannot be lost and in fact needs to be strengthened.
