10. HR Management
a. Demonstrate knowledge of effective personnel recruitment, selection and retention
b. Demonstrate an understanding of staff development to improve performance of staff members
c. Demonstrate the ability to select and apply appropriate models for supervision and evaluation
d. Apply legal requirements for personal selection, development retention and dismissal
e. Demonstrate an understanding of management responsibilities to act in accordance with federal and state constitutional provisions, statutory and case law, regulatory applications toward education, local rules, procedures and directives governing resource management
f. Demonstrate an understanding of labor relations and collective bargaining
g. Demonstrate an understanding the administration of employee contracts, benefits and financial accounts
Reflection
Most businesses, large and small, have a human resources department. The uniqueness of a school district is that although it has a human resources department, school leaders must also serve in the role of a human resources leader and manager. As a leader in human resources, administrators must evaluate teachers and staff members, provide opportunities for growth and learning, understand the importance of recruiting and retaining teachers, have the ability to help dismiss staff members when necessary, and understand collective bargaining as well as employee contracts, benefits and fiscal records. All of these areas are critical to the success of our schools and achievement of our students. We need to ensure that as school leaders, we are retaining and helping grow excellent teachers and leaders. I believe that teachers are the greatest asset that any school can have. With their knowledge and will power, they can help our students achieve at high levels.
Knowing that student achievement is of the upmost importance, a thorough evaluation system for our teachers and staff is critical in our schools. Through the lens of a Professional Learning Community Facilitator, I have had the opportunity to strengthen my skills in the area of human resources by observing teachers for pro-pay and our teacher evaluation system. The system our district has in place involves having a pre-observation conference, an observation and post-observation conference. At the pre-observation conference, I would discuss lessons and planning using the Charlotte Danielson rubric with the teacher. The pre-observation conference, as seen in the attached artifact, shows the questions we discussed to help teachers think through their lesson and facilitation of students learning. It is meant to help teachers reflect on their lesson prior to teaching it and help them think through groupings of students, instructional strategies, and assessment. After the pre-observation, I would spend time in the classroom observing the teacher and noting what was discussed at the pre-conference. Then, we would follow up with a post-observation conference to discuss strengths and areas for growth. The attached artifact shows the various classrooms and disciplines I was able to observe through my Professional Learning Community Facilitator log.
I also believe that school leaders must ensure that they are helping teachers be successful. I strongly believe that new teachers must be mentored and lead through their first years of teaching. If we want to retain them and ensure that they are performing, leaders must invest their time in ensuring they have a master teacher as a mentor and are receiving the support they need. It is important to remember, that all teachers need the support of their leader and quality professional development to stay on top in their profession.
In the future, I look forward to being able to select the right people to ride on the bus. Jim Collins says in his book Good to Great and the Social Sectors, "business executives can more easily fire people and—equally important—they can use money to buy talent. Most social sector leaders, on the other hand, must rely on people underpaid relative to the private sector or, in the case of volunteers, paid not at all. Yet a finding from our research is instructive: the key variable is not how (or how much) you pay, but who you have on the bus". Knowing that school districts are strapped for money, it is critical that our school leaders are selecting the correct people to get on and stay on the bus, thus creating schools that have the best teachers.
Artifacts
PLC Facilitator Staff Observation Log
AStarr.PLCFacilitatorObservationLog.pdf (134 kB)