Evening star., 1935-05-23
TEACHER RATINGS
REVISED BY BOARD
Sweeping Changes in School
Control Simplifies
Procedures.

recognized lOng-StanQ1ng complaints
by teacher organizations against pres
ent methods and took upon its own
shoulders administrative responsible
tiles which normally would fall to the
paid officers of the school system.
Cutting through mass of complica-
tions resulting from gradual evolution
of the rating, promotion and Supervi-
sion systems over a dozen years, the
board ordered drastic simplifications
of procedure and granted the teachers
themselves an influential voice in final
determination of the standards upon
which they shall be judged.
Vital Decisions Reached.
Important changes effected were:
l. Ratings by immediate rating off,
GERS are made final. subject to limited
appeal. Heretofore the superintend-
ent Of schools has had final power Of
approval or disapproval
2. Substitution of grades a." SO"
''3" and a" for the six grades of "emi-
nently superior, excellent" very
good" good" fair" and ''unsatisfac-
tory under the old system.
s. Simplification Of the rating sheet,
with s points replacing the 50 points
of the present form.
A. Separate rating sheet for officers.
5. Requirement for personal visits
by rating officers and submission Of
written records OF each visit.
s. Records submitted by rating off,
cials are made available at all times
to the teacher affected.
7. Greater uniformity Of supervision.
8. In considering teachers fer pro-
motion to higher salary groups, q
stricter adherence to the law which
states that such promotions shall be
made for superior teaching and in
creased professional attainments.
Fight Long Drawn
The boards action was in approval
Of report by its Personnel Commit
tee. which has been considering the
matter since January 2, when a series
OF five public hearings was begun, with
a total Of 1874 hours devoted to tax
ing OF testimony. Six executive ses-
Slons were held by the committee to
thresh out its findings.
The subject was brought before the
board by the Teachers Union, which
for years has been fighting for revision
OF the procedure used in rating and
promoting teachers.
Two professional committees were
authorized to work out details. The
first will set up the necessary standards
for the four new grades; prepare q
rating sheet for teachers. and prepare
a supervisory form. The committee
Is to be composed of three persons
named by the Teachers Union, two
white and one colored; three named
by the Teachers Council, two white
and one colored; two officials named
by the superintendent of schools, one
white and one colored. and two persons
named by the High School Teachers
Association. one white and one colored
/ The appointment of additional off,
GERS to assist in the preparation ol
the rating sheet for officers Is con.
templated.
Salary Group Chosen.
j, The second committee will set up q
plan for promotion of teachers tc
higher salary groups, keeping in minc
the boards admonition for elimination
! Of considerations not directly bearing
on a teachers ability and professional
attainments. During the hearings
teachers testified that church affili.
ations, community activities of all
kinds and various other elements en-
tered into promotions.
Composition of the second commit
tee will be the same as the first with
the addition of the heads of the two
examining boards.
Following report of both committees
expected by November l, a manual OF
supervision and rating will be prepared
for distribution to each officer and
teacher, setting out all details of the
new system.
Although leaving formulation OF
standards to its professional commit
tee, the board stated generally the
connotation Of the numerically desig-
mated classes. Grade Cd will be ap-
piled to superior teachers; (2) to aver
age teachers who are entirely satisfac-
tory; CD to those who are inferior
and 90 to unsatisfactory teachers
The Teachers Union had recommend
ed that ratings be confined to salts
factory and Unsatisfactory"
Ratings Discussed.
Discussing the report after the
meeting, Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle
board vice president and chairman OF
the Personnel Committee, which in
cludes DR.. j. Hayden johnson and
George Whitwell, explained that Sec
ton which removes ratings from the
jurisdiction of the superintendent
During the hearings" she said,
there was testimony that ratings
some times were sent back to the rat
ing officers with statements they were
too high, and justifications were re-
quested. 1t then lay within the dis
cretion of the school officials to find
the justifications sufficient or insult
ficient as they saw fit.
We felt that this was wrong. We
didn't like the thought of people in
the Franklin Administration Building
passing on the ratings of teachers
they had never SEEN"
Appeals Permitted.
Provision is made that a teacher
may appeal his or her rating to the
superintendent of schools on three
specific grounds. The grounds are
bias on the part of the rating officer;
incompetency of the rating officer, and
lack of observation of the teacher by
the rating officer. Heretofore, appeals
could be taken for any reason.
Acting on the appeal, the superin-
tendent is empowered to set aside the
rating upon any of the three grounds,
or refuse to act. If his settlement of
the case is unsatisfactory to the
teacher, the Board Of Education may
be asked to step in as final arbiter.
All ratings must be in the hands of
teachers on the last day of school and