ADMINISTRATORS’ BARGAINING BULLETIN: Tentative agreement with LAUSD on a one-year MOU on administrator evaluation

●●smf: 4LAKids asked AALA if this agreement was A: the breakthrough proclaimed  in the superintendent’s  announcement – and heralded in the media as the draft solution to the Chicago Teachers Strike – or B:  a “compliance appliance” to satisfy Judge Chalfont’s terms and 12/4 deadline. Given that multiple choice, AALA bubbled in B.

from associated administrators of Los Angeles  Update Week of September 17, 2012 | http://bit.ly/SL0QQs

On September 10, 2012, AALA’s certificated bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with the District on a one-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on administrator evaluation that satisfies the Court’s decision of July 24, 2012, in Doe v. Deasy (Update, week of July 30). The Board of Education must approve this tentative agreement and is expected to do so within the next few weeks. AALA members will recall that in his decision Judge Chalfant stated that LAUSD must comply with the Stull Law which requires student academic performance, based on District and State standards, to be incorporated into the evaluation of teachers, principals and assistant principals. He further indicated that the District must comply with the law this school year, 2012-2013.

The court recognized that under the Education Employment Relations Act (EERA), evaluation is a subject for collective bargaining and changes in the evaluation process must be negotiated. The Judge set a deadline of December 4, 2012, for agreement to be reached between the District and its two respective certificated unions, AALA and UTLA. AALA’s negotiations with the District began in June, continued throughout the summer and into the new school year. Following our repeated requests, the District finally offered a concrete written proposal on August 29, which our team quickly countered. Intense negotiations during Labor Day week culminated in the MOU which is summarized below. (To see the full text of the tentative agreement, go to http://www.aala.us/about-us/key-documents/.)

Article VII of the AALA-LAUSD collective bargaining agreement which addresses evaluation has not been changed. AALA members retain all rights and protections provided by the contract.

Who is covered by the MOU? The MOU addresses the evaluation of principals and assistant principals only. It explicitly excludes APEISs and special education instructional specialists.

Initial planning sheets and conferences for principals and assistant principals will include a review of school-wide standards-based student achievement data in the evaluation planning and objective-setting process. Student performance for the past three years and the immediate past year, as indicated by CST results, where available, and AGT data on a school-wide, grade level/department basis, where available, will be considered. Additional sources of data may be used, depending upon school level, focus and goals. Many examples of such data are mentioned in the MOU, e.g., attendance rates, ELL and SEL reclassification rates, formative assessment data and school-designed standards-based student assessment data.

Where available CST and AGT will be used as an objective under the instructional leadership dimension on the initial planning sheet. Classroom observations will be informed by the data and objectives in addition to other considerations.

Final year-end Stull evaluation: Where available, CST and AGT will be referenced in the comments section for at least one dimension. Such student performance data may be referenced, as appropriate, in the overall evaluation section. However, CST and AGT results and all other student data are to be considered a limited part of the whole evaluation picture, with no specific predetermined weight to be given them, nor are they to be treated by the District or evaluators as the sole, or as the primary or controlling factor in determining the final overall evaluation of the administrator’s performance. The areas of evaluation indicated in Section 1.4 of Article VII will remain the primary factors for evaluation.

Training: ESC superintendents, directors and administrators will be trained regarding the provisions of the MOU. Instructional directors, principals and assistant principals will be provided training in the use of data for evaluation. Training will be consistent and coherent throughout the District. Previously scheduled ESC sessions will be used for this training. If any training is scheduled outside AALA members’ regular work day, they will be paid at their regular hourly rate. Participants will have the opportunity to evaluate the training sessions confidentially; evaluations will be given to AALA so we may make recommendations for improvement. An advisory committee of AALA practitioners will review these evaluations and provide input.

Survey: In April 2013, principals, assistant principals and instructional directors will be surveyed confidentially to determine the effectiveness of the modified evaluation process according to the provisions of the MOU.

Additional negotiations: Two separate MOUs related to evaluation will be scheduled for negotiations between AALA and the District, beginning later in September:

1. The responsibilities and working conditions of instructional directors and school-site administrators related to the implementation of the 2012-2013 pilot Educator Growth and Development Program (i.e., teacher evaluation); and

2. The responsibilities and working conditions of instructional directors and school-site administrators in the implementation of the pilot program on administrator evaluation (ref: the School Leadership Framework) for 2012-2013.

AALA and the District will continue negotiations with respect to evaluation procedures to become effective in 2013-2014.