Leadership/Supervision Article Archives

• Performance Evaluation: Tenure — Ain’t it Awful! - Part 1
• Performance Evaluation: Tenure — Ain’t it Awful! - Part 2
• Working with Nonproductive Employees Part 1: Inarticulitus
• Working with Nonproductive Employees Part 2: Dismissing Employees with Justice and Fairness
• Working with Nonproductive Employees Part 3: Effective Evaluation: The Architecture of Accountability
• You Can Profoundly Impact Performance
• Effective Evaluations – An Oxymoron? The Mischief is in the Myth
• When It's Time to Dismiss an Incompetent Employee

The Human Dynamics of Personnel Evaluation (PDF)
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
Overcoming the fear of giving honest feedback requires a commitment to constructive communication.
Excellence in education is our nation's call to arms, yet accountability for producing results is sending shock waves through the field. The demand for accountability is an explosive dynamic involving individual behavior and organizational systems. more...

ACCOUNTABILITY @#$%!!&*Whose Good Idea Was This, Anyway?
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
Accountability is not for the faint of heart. It exists in a current paradigm of dread, fear and "gotcha!" When communicated as "produce the numbers or else", accountability can be debilitating. However, when approached as a vision for excellence, it can be exhilarating. Before we even begin to talk about "vision" and "excellence" in education, we must first acknowledge and address the status quo. more...

Altering the Culture of Accountability
By Mary Jo McGrath
The immediate focus of all administrators in education is to analyze the state budget, determine the district's allocations, and decide whether to implement a class size reduction program. But before you are drawn too far into the malestrom of implementation, I hope you will pause and consider the psychology of your undertaking. more...

Avoiding the tenure trap
Total Performance Management System Key to Successful Evaluations
By Mary Jo McGrath, Attorney at Law
The real issue underlying the debate on tenure is the inability to hold people accountable and ensure quality performance. Lack of accountability is resulting in a deterioration of the public education system and a rampant loss of credibility in the eyes of the public, particularly parents. more...

External Publications (Mary Jo McGrath, Expert Consultant)

Bad Teachers
A Must-Read Report for every Parent
By Ronnie Polaneczky
Hen Delynn Carrier's 7-year-old son came home from his first day of second grade at Liberty Elementary School in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, complaining that his teacher was mean and grouchy, Carrier reassured him that he was probably taking his teacher's comments the wrong way. "You know how kids are," says Carrier, 32. "I figured she was strict and probably didn't have the best personality for small children." She became concerned, however, when, over the next three weeks, her son became increasingly upset each morning as he prepared to leave the house. more...

Firing offenses: why is the quality of teachers so low? Just try getting rid of a bad one.
By Peter Schweizer Reprinted with permission from the National Review, August 1998
NATIONAL Education Association President Bob Chase, undaunted by the news that more than half of Massachusetts teachers had failed their competency tests, characterizes the problem of bad teachers as a matter of ''a few bad apples.'' But when America's children return to the classroom this fall, many of them will be instructed by teachers who are not only incompetent, but sometimes actively dangerous. more...