Performance Improvement Plan

Areas of Concern

The faculty has noted, with great concern, a tenured teacher who is no longer meeting performance expectations. The employee used to align with the standards that have been put in place by the faculty throughout the years.

Time management is one of the critical issues pertaining to the teacher and is a core of the philosophy of the institutions. The annual evaluation has revealed that the teacher is regularly late in reporting to school. She cannot meet the directions of the institutions regarding punctuality, which is to be observed by everyone including the leaners, the teachers and the management. The move is intended at solidifying the wholeness of the objectives of the school in teaching critical curricular and extracurricular skills. She is also late in handling day-to-day class activities such as teaching, evaluating the students and making multiple follow-ups as outline by the operations of the school.
The second area of concern pertains a deviation in the performance of the students under the care and management of the teacher. They have occasionally reported poor grades as well as drop in overall performance. The faculty notes a deviation in the nature of performance compared to the rest of the facilitators. The singling out of the teacher is based on the failure to not only meet the standards of the schools on the academic performance, but also triggering a culture of hard work, discipline and success.
The other area of concern regards the psychological soundness of students within the class environment and beyond. Parent have complained of the dissatisfaction of their children who constantly report bored in the particular teacher’s lessons. She is unable to engage with the learners at a personal level as seen with the lack of practical exercises.
As such, the fourth issues can also be defined as a strategic problem where the teachers use poor methods. She is said to spend the entire class lecturing as opposes to using multifaceted techniques. As such, the faculty reports an overall failure and intends to find a lasting solution.

Timeline for performance improvement

The faculty appreciates the complexity of the performance improvement process and is inclined to facilitating a practical and progressive strategy. It involves the articulation of any genuine struggles faced by the teachers such that she will require adequate time to adjust to the new demands (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2017). It also appreciates any inconsistencies that may be triggered by the students or the parents as they discover a change in the approaches used by the teachers. The proposed timeline is based on the four areas identified while contextualizing the areas of concern.

Regarding punctuality, the teachers will be allowed the first two weeks to reassess the requirement of the institution on time management. She will be allowed to explain the reason for her inability to report to class early as expected. The faculty will be open to assist accordingly should there be critical issues inhibiting the input of the employee beyond any underlying professional challenges. The two weeks will define multiple objectives including zero cases of lateness in reporting to school, timely completion of different class activities, and several instances of deliberate efforts to report to school earlier than the expected time.
Addressing the drop in the performance of the students will take more time given the complexity of the system. It is also based on the participation of the students upon the acknowledgement that the teacher is indeed grappling certain issues. However, it will be fixed at a maximum of three months where the teacher must at least restore the performance standards of the students before her input deteriorated. As long as the faculty can note deliberate and highly active measures to improve the grades of the students, it will be patient and assess the actual improvements towards the end of the three months period.
Thirdly, the issues regarding the participation and psychological soundness of the students will be expected to be fixed immediately. The faculty will allow a week for the teacher to reestablish the methods she was using before the sudden compromise, reconnect with techniques suggested by the school and engage with other teachers to be in tandem with the progress of the institution. She will be carrying out the various improvement requirements as she reconnects with her students.
Lastly, she will be accorded a maximum of two weeks to meet the standard requirements for teaching in the setup of the institutions. Lecturing can only be one of the multiple ways of facilitating learners.

Improvement Goals

The fundamental goal is to improve the grades of the individual students affected by the lowered input of the teacher. The faculty aspires to at least restore the academic performances of the students to at least the way it was before the gradual failure of the teacher to meet the standards of the capacity and the objectives of the institution.
Secondly, the faculty targets the reestablishment of a sound learning environment that considers the curricular needs of the learners, practical skills and psychological soundness. All the objectives can be attained through a partnership between the teachers, faculty, and the students.
The third improvement goal entails a mastery of the day-to-day expectations of the institution tied to excellence and discipline. Some of the critical requirements include punctuality and voluntary decisions to surpass the expectations of the school.

Consequences for failure to improve

The faculty will come up with certain measures to be put in place should the teacher failure to attain the thresholds prescribed in the performance improvement plan. The authenticity and capacity of the management to undertake punitive measures is based on the willingness of the teacher to improve and the fact that the institution must align with certain predefined standards of excellence (Hallinger & Heck, 2010). The employee will come to terms with the following implications should they fail to adjust accordingly following the engaging and comprehensive resolution to enhance their input as the teacher.

Failure to meet the guidelines of the school regarding punctuality and time management within the prescribed two-week period will result in a suspension. The rest of the requirements cannot be achieved without articulating the basic issues in question. Lateness will not be tolerated moving forward. However, the suspension will be temporary, where the faculty will allow a final opportunity to implement the performance improvement plan as defined in the timelines
Secondly, failure to at least restore the performances of the students to where they were before the gradual drop in the input will attract a permanent suspension of the contract with the teacher. The faculty perceives three months as enough to define the final fate of the employee. She will have no choice but to end her tenure with the institution. However, the faculty will not interfere with her interest to explore other professional avenues in different institutions.
Thirdly, the articulation of soundness and engagement in the classroom setup will have to be manifested immediately and the progressive impact cannot be compromised. It will be upon the students and parents to define any progress. As long as the teacher receives positive feedback, she will be free to continue with her work and the rest of the objective.

Strategies for including union representation

The faculty will support the request of the teacher to have a union representative during the series of performance-based meetings. However, the school must be involved in the selection of the professional from the union to encourage objectivity. The education system provides measures for securing the audience of the union (Budd, Gollan & Wilkinson, 2010). It will ensure that the teacher in question has participated in the process. The school will also provide necessary information regarding the rationale for coming up with the performance management plan as provided the existing education policy. It will avail records that justify that the employee in question has indeed failed to provide their critical input adequately. The move will be centered on the expectations of the teaching profession. It will also be in line with the formal commitment of the teacher to work alongside the philosophy and guidelines of the institution. The union representative will be involved in the structuring of the performance improvement objectives, timeline and implications. They will have an important role to play in defining the universal standards for a professional and fair performance improvement plan.

References

Budd, J. W., Gollan, P. J., & Wilkinson, A. (2010). New approaches to employee voice and participation in organizations. Human relations, 63(3), 303-310.

Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (2010). Leadership for learning: does collaborative leadership make a difference in school improvement?. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 38(6), 654-678.

Tichnor-Wagner, A., Wachen, J., Cannata, M., & Cohen-Vogel, L. (2017). Continuous improvement in the public school context: Understanding how educators respond to plan–do–study–act cycles. Journal of Educational Change, 18(4), 465-494.