Ifg Policy Notes

IFG Policy Notes

Managing the Incompetent Teacher

An eight-step organizational approach to the problem of identifying, remediating, and, if necessary, dismissing incompetent teachers is described. Addressed to school superintendents, the eight steps are as follows: (1) establish "excellence in teaching" as a high priority for the district, (2) adopt and publish reasonable criteria for evaluating teachers, (3) adopt sound procedures for determining whether teachers satisfy these criteria and apply these procedures uniformly to teachers in the district, (4) provide unsatisfactory teachers with remediation (assistance) and a reasonable time to improve, (5) establish and implement procedures for ensuring that appraisers have the requisite competencies, (6) provide appraisers with the resources needed to carry out their responsibilities, (7) hold appraisers accountable for evaluating and dealing with incompetent teachers, and (8) provide incompetent teachers with a fair hearing prior to making the dismissal decision. The District Evaluation Practices Inventory, included, is a guide for districts that wish to implement the approach. A seven-page bibliography completes the monograph. (FWR)

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