Cleveland Heights Teachers Union
CHTU Upate - October 30, 2009
UNION UPDATE-MAKING THE ROUNDS
Very soon you will be receiving information regarding a District initiative called “Instructional Rounds.” Earlier this month, principals, district administrators, CHTU stewards, and selected teachers attended a day long training session on the instructional rounds process. The concept is based on the medical rounds model whereby teams of colleagues visit classrooms to gather descriptive and non-evaluative evidence to examine an issue or an instructional practice that the school as a whole has identified as a “problem of practice”. After spending time in several classrooms on the day of the visit, the teams debrief and without passing judgment, share what has been observed.
There is much more to the practice of Instructional Rounds than is described here, but it is important for you to know that the Union has been included in the initiative since its inception. Local 795 Second Vice-President Jen Bennett, Treasurer Laurie Chapman, high school Steward Bob Swaggard, and I are part of the District Rounds Team. All of us have participated in “rounds” visits not only in our district but in Akron and Columbus.
As you learn about the “rounds” process, please keep the following in mind:
- Teacher participation is totally voluntary both in terms of whose classrooms are visited and what teachers visit classrooms.
- The information obtained via the classroom visits will not be used in teacher evaluations in any way. This is a key component of “rounds” visits that if violated, destroys all trust in the process.
- If you are scheduled to be evaluated this year, and your evaluator is one of the members of the team conducting visits, your decision to participate will depend on your level of comfort with your evaluator’s presence in this different role. Again, the concern that the “rounds” visits could be perceived as evaluative was raised by many of our teachers at the recent training session.
As the “rounds” initiative is rolled out in your buildings, we want to know your views, and hear your experiences with the process should you choose to be involved.
We have heard some concerns expressed by teachers and stewards, and we will closely monitor the “rounds” activities. I think it is helpful to keep in mind what a Union president from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where “rounds” has been in place for five years, said to his membership: “This is a way of making administrators smarter about the work of teaching, and anything that does that can’t hurt.” More importantly, we believe Instructional Rounds can be a valuable tool for teachers if implemented and resourced properly. Teachers learning from the great work of their colleagues makes good sense as a professional practice and the ultimate beneficiaries will be our students.
Fraternally,
Tom Schmida, President
