Just 1/3 of Rating
Poor Grade Won't Doom Principals

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

A Principal could receive a satisfactory rating even if his school received an F under the city's new grading system, according to a newly implemented Principal evaluation system.

JOEL I. KLEIN: Bark worse than bite?

Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein has threatened "changes in leadership" for some schools that receive Fs. But the school progress reports, which result in the school grades, will only count for about a third of a Principal's formal evaluation, which is the central tool used to determine a school leader's competency. Just as important will be the achievement of goals set by the Principal at the beginning of the year.

Outside Review Key

The school's rating on its quality review, an assessment of the overall school functioning by outside educators, will also factor prominently.

"The DOE wanted to make progress reports 100 percent of how they evaluated Principals," said Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Ernest Logan. "I don't want people to think schools are so cut and dry that you can just put a number on it or a letter on it."

ERNEST LOGAN: A multi-faceted rating.

About 85 percent of a school's grade depends on student progress on standardized tests.

Principals will set their goals and objectives in consultation with their Superintendent. They will cover five basic areas, including instruction, staff development, and leadership.

The new evaluation tool, known as the Principal Performance Review, will update the one that has been in use for the past decade. It maintains many of the same criteria but places increased importance on a Principal's use of data and has less of a focus on community relations.

Eye on Accountability

"There is a bigger emphasis on data, specifically on student performance data, linked directly to the progress report," said DOE spokeswoman Melody Meyer. "We wanted it changed so it would align with the accountability measures we are using for schools and that are available to parents to evaluate schools."

The new PPR, like the old one, has a five-point rating system but does away with the overall satisfactory or unsatisfactory rating. A Principal can get a zero, which means she or he has not met standards, up to a five, which states substantially exceeding standards.

The new review states that a Principal who gets an F and scores below proficient on its quality review should receive a zero, except in unusual circumstances. But there are a number of conditions that could cause a Superintendent, with the Chancellor's approval, to evaluate a Principal as partially meeting standards, a score of two, or meeting standards, a score of three. Those situations include a Principal's short tenure at the school, a recent appointment to turn around a failing school, a Principal's achievement of his or her goals or "other circumstances of at least the same magnitude and effect." The same is true for the Principal of a school that receives a D two years in a row or a C four years in a row.

More Numbers

The new PPR is also more numerically oriented, with scores given to all of its assessment components. And test scores will play more of a role in the final evaluation than previously.

But while the categories are rearranged and different language is used, much of the core criteria used to evaluate the Principals remains the same. For example, the previous five "key areas of responsibility" are now the five "core competencies." Three of these components used to be called instructional leadership, organizational leadership and staff development. Now there is curriculum and instruction, personal leadership, and development of staff.

The two new categories are use of resources and use of data. The old ones were student support services and community relations and communication. Much of the student support services category is spread out among the new five core competencies and the progress reports include student and parent surveys.

The new PPR does emphasize the "use of data" in a way the old one did not, specifying its use to "understand trends and patterns in student learning."

In the use-of-resources section, a Principal is specifically evaluated on his or her budget management skills, although management of finances and resources was included in the old PPR, under the "organizational leadership" category.

'Road Map to Success'

The progress report comprises 32 percent of the Principal's final evaluation. The achievement of the Principal's goals makes up 31 percent, the quality review score is 22 percent, compliance with legal mandates and key DOE policies is 10 percent and meeting the needs of particular student populations, such as English Language Learners and Special Education students, comprises 5 percent.

"What we have done here is to provide our members with an understanding of what they need to do to be successful," said Mr. Logan. "It's not a 'gotcha.' It's a road map to how to be successful, how to move forward - that's what an evaluation should be about."