Latest / The Leaders Lounge - AASPA Podcast / Four Effective Supervision and Evaluation Practices

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Four Effective Supervision and Evaluation Practices · The Leaders Lounge - AASPA Podcast

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to ASPA's Promising Practices Podcast Series.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Alexis Christ, Meetings Coordinator with ASPA.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are joined by Cheryl Heinsman, Supervisor of Performance Management, Growth and Development at Prince William County Public Schools.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Cheryl.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hello.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Alexis.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's good to be here.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Good to have you.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Cheryl, how long have you been with Prince William County Public Schools?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And can you share a bit about the size of your district?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, I've been with this district since 2015.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: Very dedicated.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in four different departments, all in the same line of work.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: We've just we've all been grown so much in the past 11 years that I've been here.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_01: And we have over 90,000 students enrolled.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: We have over 100 schools.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then we also have over 19,000 employees.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we're quite a large division.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Our promising practice topic for today is for effective supervision and evaluation practices.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Cheryl, tell us more about this topic and how it can help you or your district.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Well, sure.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think effective supervision for all of us is because we're all a director court and we all have a supervisor.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's key and it's top of mind for us to be able to feel valued at work, to be able to feel like we're engaged in the work that we're doing, and also that we are managed in a way that allows us to do our best work and be innovative and creative with student achievement, or if we are in the central office realm, even with being able to manage and lead that work in schools.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why are effective supervision practices so critical right now for district leaders?
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we are definitely in a retention period with our schools, with our teachers, and even with some other employee groups.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it's important to know that retention is highly preventable just by using effective supervision strategies.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: A recent study from Gallup says that 42% of employees, when they leave their positions after being interviewed, have said that their supervisors did not know they were leaving, nor did the supervisors even have a conversation with them the past two months before they left.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: When I talked to principals about this and just kind of give them that statistic, it's a thought that they, gosh, it's almost 50%.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if 50% of their staff were to walk away tomorrow because of the lack of engagement and the lack of supervision that was effective for them, it would really be a detriment to their schools.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: What does it really mean to build strong supervisory relationships and why does it matter for retention?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's important for us to be clear at the very beginning of a school year of what we expect from our employees, from our teachers, and then of course teachers from our students.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: So in the performance management realm, we are talking about building trust to be able to retain our employees and our staff members.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: So to do that, we need to make sure that we're having several opportunities to have a conversation.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to make sure to build relationships.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: You're going to have to communicate to do that.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: So that involves popping in as many times as we can, uh, just with infrequent visits, being able to just, as we're walking through, some informal communications can occur.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: We could have walkthroughs for observations, for informal observations, or for formal observations with our teachers.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: But these things need to happen in CLT meetings.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: We can have some discussions.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: We can have a coaching conversation at certain times before or after an observation.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: But then we can also have just informal discussions in the faculty lounge when they walk by.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's just those times to know that they're feeling valued and that they're feeling cared for, and that we do ask them what matters to them inside of school and then, of course, outside of their work inside.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: What makes a supervision conversation meaningful instead of just procedural?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_01: When I think of meaningful, I think that on the other side of that conversation, I want to be able to feel heard.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: I want to feel like I've been clear in my thoughts or my intentions, and I want to feel like there is someone there that is offering some thoughts back.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe sometimes it's a thought partner, and maybe sometimes it is just making sure that someone is hearing them.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think to be meaningful conversation, we have to be active listeners as leaders.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we need to slow down a bit.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, several studies show us that as humans and as Americans especially, we are the worst culture for listening rather than speaking.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's something when I often do those professional learning sessions with teachers, even with TPO leaders, oftentimes they realize they're not such good listeners after we do these exercises.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then they realize that that's one of the first things they'd like to make an initiative is to just be silent sometimes, to be able to listen to the other person who's speaking, and then be able to paraphrase what they've said.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that means that you are invested in the conversation.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: You're showing them that you value what they're saying, and then that builds a trust without having to be spoken for.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of things that can happen in that silence where it's a meaningful conversation.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: You might be considering the next thought that the person is talking about.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: You might also be considering a coaching question.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you might be just considering to build their capacity and to open their thinking.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: All of those things can happen as we're paraphrasing and pausing and then initiating the next piece of the conversation.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then finally to make a meaningful conversation feel like it's meaningful and that the other person is that lead, asking lots of questions, but starting the conversation with a question and always ending the conversation with a question.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: That will build those thinking skills and build capacity in the next conversation that you have with that individual.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: How do coaching conversations differ in supervision process?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, when you're thinking about coaching conversation, as a leader of the conversation and as the coach in the conversation, you're going to stay in a curious mode.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're gonna, of course, already know that that psychological safety has been built because of the active listening skills we talked about with the previous question.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you're also gonna make sure that you're using the right questions for the right conversation.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oftentimes when I'm in a coaching conversation, I will ask first, what is my role in this conversation?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Are we solving a problem?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, are we opening thinking?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: Are we closing some thinking?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: Am I just facilitating your thoughts as a thought partner?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's always good to define that so you as the coach can kind of know which road you want to stay in and those questions that you might want to ask.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to be prepared too and have some coaching questions in front of you if you're new to the coaching idea.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know a lot of times we say a coaching conversation, and we might use that kind of loosely, if you will, but a coaching conversation is one that is questions for each of you, ones that will build thinking, ones that will also build innovation and creativity, and build the capacity in the individual who is being coached.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So the goal here is in brain research, the one who's speaking is the one whose brain matters is getting heavier, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we want to make sure that we're facilitating those thoughts and those things that they want to say by using the right questions.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some examples could be um, what is the next thing I would see in your classroom when I return for an observation next week?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, what are some strategies you're considering with your lesson plan in being able to teach World War II?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Or what barriers might you anticipate with this lesson that we're planning to observe tomorrow?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so you can see now that's an open-ended response.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it's me leading a conversation, but being able to know that I can still guide and lead the thinking of the other person if needed.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: If district leaders could focus on one shift tomorrow, what would you recommend?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: I would guess that supervision needs to be uh reevaluated in all of our minds as leaders.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think we need to stay in a curious mode of ourselves and our professional learning and professional growth.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important that we respect everyone as a leader, regardless of title.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and if everyone is treated in that way, then we're going to realize supervision isn't about control.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's about communication that cultivates growth, clarity, and connection.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up today?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I would just say, as a district leader, uh, commit to at least having one very thoughtful conversation with each of the direct reports that you supervise.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then do that once a week for 10 or 15 minutes.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then eventually you'll build that coaching culture, and then both of you will expect that you and your direct report.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Cheryl, for sharing your insights and promising practices with our members.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: We invite you to join us next month and every first Wednesday of the month for our promising practices podcast series where we will explore best practices for your district.