It appears that the Fairfield County School Board is failing its students by not emphasizing the vital importance of the students’ progress in the Superintendent’s annual review (Super’s evaluation form gets mixed reviews, Nov. 27 issue of The Voice of Fairfield County.)
The school board is failing both its students and the Superintendent by not following the advice of the American Association of School Administrators Association. The AASA states:
“The need to effectively evaluate the superintendents of schools annually is not only a fundamental responsibility of the boards that employ them, but it is also legally required in most states.”
The AASA also conveys to Superintendent evaluators the significance of how, “the standards and accountability era initiated a trend to link superintendent performance to student achievement and other measurable student performance standards.”
In other words, a Superintendent’s evaluation should be largely reflective of standard measurements of student success.
We have to remember education is for and about the students’ preparedness to move forward in life.
Therefore our school board must lead the charge in emphasizing the ultimate value of student progress by ensuring the Superintendent is held accountable for student performance and progress.
In order to have an effective review, the school board must, a year ahead, convey specific standards which hold the Superintendent accountable for student progress. Futhermore, it is incumbent upon the board to significantly link their aforementioned directives to the Superintendent to quantify student achievement and other measurable student performance standards.
If measurable student progress meets the board’s high expectations, then the review could be deemed effective and the Superintendent could be rated ‘meets expectations’.
In the best case scenario, if measurable student progress far exceeds high standards, the Superintendent could be rated ‘excellent’.
Randy Bright
Ridgeway
