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Appraisal of Performance
RUNNING HEAD: APPRAISAL OF PERFORMANCE
Name
Appraisal of Performance
Instructor
Institution
Course #
Date of submission
Scenario:
Washington and Jefferson School Districts
Due to changes in population and a rezoning of school districts it has been decided that the Washington and Jefferson school districts will be merged. With current funding, no staff cuts will need to be made but a redistribution of students to balance school attendance will require a redistribution of staff as well.
Both teachers and administration staff will need to be consulted and evaluated in order to make the most effective placements possible in the interests of the students, the parents, and administration alike. Your role as an I/O psychologist is to create a performance evaluation process to help facilitate this process.
Directions: In 25-50 words, for each step, briefly explain the actions you would take per the information from the case study above.
1. Determine the Reason for Evaluating Employee Performance:
REASON: Performance should be monitored to determine whether there are steps being taken to meet the goals and needs of the organization. My I/O assessments are used to identify the knowledge, skill, ability and other personal characteristics (KSOs) of these school employees. I must determine whether they would render a better job according to their strengths.
2. Identify Environmental and Cultural Limitations:
LIMITATIONS: As I/O I need to use more than just the feedback and evaluations from principals and superintendents(Aamodt, pg. 238). Questionnaires or interviews with other stakeholders such as teachers, parents, students and community interventionists will help determine whether the culture is collaborative, progressive and dynamic, or stagnant, isolated and secretive. The nature of the teacher affects student performance.
Step 4: Select the Best Appraisal Methods to Accomplish Your Goals.
To ensure that personality traits match job abilities, one common tool is the TheWorkplace Personality Inventory–II (WPI–II), which could be a first step to see if people are well matched. This, along with evaluations based on goal-focused performance, and the data of student performance, will bring up the type of culture and environment.
Step 5: Train Raters
As I/O, I can train school staff, principals, administrators, and superintendents on how to apply personality inventories into the process of hiring, interviewing and placing. Rather than make it tedious, personality tools can be filled and rated prior to job interviewing, so that the scale (rate, percentages) can be matched to previous appraisal forms.
Step 6: Observe and Document Performance: As a consultant, the I/O can conduct walk throughs to get a feel of the atmosphere in the school, as well as in each classroom. I would participate as an observer in professional development meetings and during staff meetings, to sense the responsiveness of teachers. I would then compare it to their class performances in standardized and formative assessments.
7. Evaluate Performance: Data is the best determining factor of performance. I would check the percentage of students still not mastering common core according to the standardized test. Then, I will look into the personality inventories for teachers and see if there is a correlation between test performance and teacher ability/methodology.
8. Communicate Appraisal Results to Employees: To avoid getting a grievance for insensitivity, I would post the correlation between teacher skills and student performance at a general, school-wide perspective. I will use graphs to show the correlation to the school, and determine whether it is time to do something about it. I will withhold names and present this during a faculty meeting. This could also be professional development.
9. Terminate Employees: I have to go by the organizational policies of suspension and termination prior to suggesting that a teacher is let go. I have to make sure all the documentation is in place, especially the data correlating teacher and student performance. Also, all previous appraisals and notes should be in order. This termination is not done by I/O, but by HR.
10. Monitor the Legality and Fairness of the Appraisal System: The best way to do this is abiding by the organizational mission, vision, statements of purpose, goals, standards and overall expectations. Also, school law experts can be consulted prior to even conducting any observations to prevent crossing over any delimitation to the investigation. Following these tenets will ensure a fair and legal use of the appraisal tools.