Tips for Beginners

• Fix responsibility for evaluation and mentoring on one person.
• Separate the evaluation responsibility by years; teachers first year, principals second year.
• Eliminate "needs improvement" from your evaluation form.
• Let teachers develop the standards of practice upon which mentoring and evaluation are based. The buy-in to standards is triggered when teachers create their own standards of instructional practice.
• Ask teachers to be part of a real profession known for its excellence. Real reform starts with people's aspirations.
• Don't hire a supervisor for the program. Good people don't need supervision. Program co-chairs can handle the few problems that arise.
• House consultants in a single location if possible. This will increase inter-rater reliability and allow for on-the-job training.
• Equip the location with computers, phones, copy machines, etc.
• Govern the program with a joint union-management board. Rotate the chairmanship between teachers and administration or use co-chairs.
• Pay attention to hiring consulting teachers to report on every intern and intervention case to the governing board. Quality assurance takes time.
• Have consultants report to the governing board on each teacher assigned to them, both semesters. Ask tough questions about the reports and about teaching performance.
• Expect an employment decision for interns at the end of two semesters. That's long enough. Employment decisions tend to be made at the end of whatever time period is established.
• Have an appeal procedure for even the worst performers. They can go to court, too.
• Peer review is a hands-on process, and some top management and union officials' hands must be on.
• As soon as you get two opinions about a termination, your chances of ending up in court just doubled. So has your chance of losing.
• Don't extend the peer evaluation work of a consulting teacher beyond three years. Good teachers need to teach. Besides, three years is close to the burnout stage.
• Don't assume university people know more about mentoring and evaluation than you do. If they did, intern programs wouldn't be necessary.
• Don't set an arbitrary end for interventions.
• Once you have standards, don't make exceptions.
• Keep good records about why teachers leave your district. Retention should improve with peer review.
• Cost is mostly the price of a new teacher to replace the consulting teacher. Since new teachers become interns, the cost of the program is an investment in quality instruction.
• Peer review does not have to be complicated to be effective. Simple is better than complex.

Where Does Real Reform Begin?
Education should be an inventor's paradise because there are so many things we can do differently and get better results. The fact is that most of what passes today as reform does little to challenge the basic assumptions of those of us who work in schools about roles, responsibilities and accountability. If ever an institution was dedicated to repeating tomorrow what it did yesterday and today, it is education. Invention is rare, and our critics are having a field day.

The urgency to get better results is greatest in our urban districts, but all schools need to take a hard look at what needs to be corrected. Peer review is a good place to start, but if we haven't convinced you yet, there are other practices that cry out for reform. Check out these topics.

• Evaluation, mentoring and induction
• Teacher training, management training
• Compensation systems
• High standards, and stands-driven competence
• School governance
• Labor relations
• Excellence as normal
• Improve school finance
• Community involvement
• Parent support

This brief list is not exclusive. It is submitted as a point of reference.

Remember, you know more about education than any of your critics, and you should know what needs to be discarded, what should be saved, and what to invent.