Jan 21, 2020, 3:47 PM
(from School Growth) "The Dance of the Lemons" is an unflattering description of the way some public school administrators pass around ineffective teachers from classroom to classroom or school to school. The phenomenon is also found in private schools as well, wrote Scott Baron, founder of School Growth. Schools engage in this practice because of fear, he argues: fear of legal reprisal, difficult conversations and the unknown.
School Growth research shows that nearly 50% of the lowest performing faculty in private schools have been employed by the school for five or more years. 98% of these institutions have no teachers unions nor they do have to manage around issues of tenure or similar barriers to personnel decisions.
The research also shows that the most effective school employees possess a high level of self-awareness and of emotional intelligence, neither of which are assessed on the typical observational feedback tool. In addition to reconsidering faculty feedback, Barron suggests schools to consider paying teachers to leave, a policy Amazon uses with the employees from which it separates.
Listen to the latest episode of the Net Assets podcast.
