Designing And Implementing Human Capital Management Systems In . - Ed

Mission: All educators understanding evaluationsystems as a mechanism for improving practiceto increase student growth as evidenced by data.SEEC goes beyond legislative mandates byclosing the loop between educator evaluationand Human Capital Management with thestrategic use of NEFEC support, TeacherSupport Colleagues, professional learning,communication, and cross-district networkingand collaboration.NEFEC and the SEEC Steering Committee (comprisingleadership from participating districts) drafted a logicmodel to clarify the purpose of their TIF 4 grant.Immediate, intermediate, and long-term outcomeswere identified as measures to gauge progress forthe project (Figure 2). The measures aligned broadactivities in operational human capital management,educator evaluation, professional learning,performance-based compensation, and communicationsystems in SEEC and within the consortium. Effortsfrom NEFEC’s work on aligning and evaluating theeffectiveness of internal systems prior to the SEECproject resulted in a holistic approach to developingthe logic model. As a result of the approach, a deeperunderstanding of HCMS emerged.Figure 2:SEEC Project Logic ModelSEEC Mission: All educators understanding evaluation systems as a mechanism for improving practice to increase studentgrowth as evidenced by data.SEEC goes beyond legislative mandates by closing the loop between educator evaluation and Human Capital Managementwith the strategic use of NEFEC support, Teacher Support Colleagues, professional learning, communication, and cross-districtnetworking and collaboration.Operational HumanCapital ManagementSystemEducator EvaluationSystemProfessional LearningPerformance BasedCompensationCommunicationActivitiesRecruit, develop,and retain effectiveeducatorsDefine a commonvision for the processof instructionalimprovementAlign PL to educatorevaluation systemsthrough data anddifferentiationImplement PBC thatrewards educatoreffectivenessEnsure that allstakeholders understandthe vision of the SECprojectOutputsDistricts develop asystem that uses datato inform selection,retention, dismissal,and compensationCertified observersprovide quality feedbackto improve reflectivepractice, professionallearning, and instructionEducators participatein job-embedded PLaligned to individualplans that are informedRecognition ofachievement increaseseducator motivationand commitment toimprovement ofpracticeArticulate purpose ofHCMS including PBC,educator effectiveness,and all functions thatcontribute to studentgrowthImmediateOutcomesAlignment of activities,processes, andoutcomes to the centralvision for instructionalimprovementVision of instructionalimprovement based onthe belief that highlyeffective educatorsmake the difference instudent achievementCommon languageof instructionalimprovement supportedby TSCs through datachats, PLCs, and PL asa result of reflectivepracticeIncreased reflection onpractice, professionallearning, andcollaboration increasesfocus on standards-basedinstruction and studentexpectationsOrganized and efficientsystem for sharing anddisseminating a unifiedvision and clear purposeIntermediate Change in beliefs and behaviors positively impacting:OutcomesDevelopment of talent; Enhanced careers; Professionalism; Student learning; School culture; Educatormotivation.Long termOutcomesSchool systems better able to prepare students for college and careers as measured by the percentageof: Students assessed through classroom growth; Students meeting or exceeding expectations on stateadministered exams; Educators rated as effective or higher through district evaluation systems.Designing and Implementing Human Capital Management Systems in Educator EvaluationPositive changes inperception of HCMS,the educational system,and inter/intra-districtcollaborationEstablishment of anetwork withoutbounds that engagesstakeholders andpartners beyond thescope of the SEECproject5

After the pilot year and into expansion of the SEECproject, superintendents from all NEFEC memberdistricts participated in a technical assistance visitcentering on HCMS. The goal of the visit was to helpdistrict leaders realize the value of identifying keyeducator competencies before beginning work onimproving systems within the district. As part of thiswork, many districts documented that they did nothave a formal HCMS, though they did engage in someof its activities.An outcome of the visit was to prepare a foundationfor the Board of Director’s Leadership DevelopmentProject (BODLDP), which helped the superintendentscreate a long-term vision for their respective HCMS.Within the BODLDP, superintendents developedcollegial relationships and formed partnerships tohelp meet their common needs. Superintendentsengaged in their leadership development projectwith two to three focus areas of an HCMS in a multiyear, scaffolded approach designed to help the districtsdevelop supports for educators though all phasesof their careers.Following the initial visit, the SEEC districts convenedat the Expansion Summit for project extension toother schools; district leaders (e.g., directors ofcurriculum, human resources directors, principals,career-ladder teachers) worked in cross-district groupscomprising similar district roles to identify HCMSteacher competencies. They used a modified versionof the HCMS alignment tool to assess competenciesand prioritize areas of HCMS components (Heneman& Milanowski, 2011). Teams worked across districtsto discuss which teacher competencies were importantfor their districts based on their perspectives. Afterthis exercise, district teams reconvened to form aconsensus about which competencies were mostvalued by their district.This conversation and subsequent activities yieldedvaluable information about two areas. The firstillustrated the need for a strong central vision for thework in HCMS alignment in years 3, 4, and 5 of the TIFgrant. Also, the resulting alignment exercise revealedwhich fit areas could yield the greatest results froman initial plan to address the HCMS in each district.From the conversations, alignment exercises, and selfreflections, districts shared their preliminary actionplans with NEFEC. See Figure 3 for an overview ofthe HCMS program implementation in SEEC.Designing and Implementing Human Capital Management Systems in Educator Evaluation6

Figure 3:NEFEC HCMS ImplementationPlanning Year 2012–2013Pilot Year 2013–2014Implementation Year 2014–2015GrantReviewTA Visit: ProjectManagementTA: StudentLearningObjectivesCreated a LogicModelBODLDPProject StartTA: HCMSDistrict School Board PresentationsSEECExpansionSummitNEFEC OMSAlignmentBODLDPUpdateDistrict Site VisitsAlignment:SuperintendentsConsortium Steering Committee Meetings20122013Consortium ActivitiesAfter the Expansion Summit, NEFEC began presentingto district school boards about the progress of theSEEC project, including accomplishments and theHCMS alignment/logic model as the framework forthe grant. Members of the Student Growth Teamand leadership from NEFEC visited districts to discusstheir goals around an HCMS and as a way to identifywhat levels of support would be needed in the comingyears. By engaging stakeholders at this level, othergroups have become aware of the TIF grant and thepositive effects the support available through theTIF grant have had on educators.20142015District ActivitiesA comprehensive and deliberate approach tocommunication around HCMS has yielded positiveresults in relationships and practices for consortiumdistricts. For example, each district generated data fromthe HCMS alignment exercises, as well from examininghuman capital needs from their districts. As a result,each district has engaged in the development ofprofessional learning in leadership pipelines for bothpotential and current administrators, highly effectiveteaching practices and inter-rater agreement, teachercareer ladder progression, and a more targeted regionalrecruitment fair. The Steering Committee and othersubcommittees routinely met to review current practicesin professional learning and to inform future offerings.Designing and Implementing Human Capital Management Systems in Educator Evaluation7

Three Case Studies of SEEC Districts Implementing an HCMSBradford County School District, Union County School District, and Flagler County Public SchoolsBradford County School District: Focusing onRecruitment, Induction, and MentoringAt the heart of Bradford County School District’s HCMSis a focus on professional learning for all educators.The district has committed to creating a culture ofcollaboration and professionalism across the district.Working closely with NEFEC, Bradford County SchoolDistrict began the development of its HCMS toprofessionally support its educators by strategicallyenhancing its recruitment, induction, and retentionprograms and processes. Similar to many rural districts,the district must rely on strong support from district staffin a variety of roles outside their small human resourcesdepartment to make these changes, as its humanresource department comprises two staff members.Despite the challenge of a small human resourcedepartment, the district’s investment in this culturaltransformation has created a collaborative environmentfor all educators across the district to help in developingnew and enhancing existing programs and processesto further educator professional learning. Notably, thedistrict has a recruitment and retention committeecomprising multiple stakeholders—the superintendent,human resource staff, retired administrators, teachers,and business partners. The committee works with thedistrict and community to support the professionallearning and growth of the district, including itseducators and students.Understanding the challenges in recruiting teachersto rural districts, the district has reached out tolocal colleges and universities to establish closerelationships. These relationships are not simply withthe placement offices and internship coordinators withthe colleges and universities, but also with individualdeans and professors. In addition, these relationshipshelp develop strong intern programs that lead toenhanced recruitment efforts. Having the youngestsuperintendent in the state of Florida has been anadvantage in recruiting recent teacher graduates to thedistrict. The superintendent attends university job fairsand speaks individually with prospective candidates.In addition, the district has strategically evaluatedthe local teacher preparation programs to determinewhere the most successful candidates graduate fromfor specific grades and subjects. Using this information,the district targets the specific teacher preparationprograms for candidates. When interviewing thepotential candidates, the district has now createda standardized interview protocol. Prior to this work,the district’s principals had autonomy to create theirown questions. The new protocol focuses on agreedupon district competencies and aligns to the Marzanoevaluation system to ensure that new teachers are theright fit for the district.Having the youngest superintendentin the state of Florida has beenan advantage in recruiting recentteacher graduates to the districtIn order to support new teachers, the district hascomprehensively revamped its induction program.The new induction program provides new teacherswith an overview of the district and offers a deep diveinto the educator evaluation system. The professionallearning around the evaluation system helps teachersbetter understand how the system is a tool for helpingthem grow professionally, as opposed to simply beingan accountability tool.In addition to enhancing the induction program,the district has developed a supportive mentoringprogram for new teachers. This new program servesas a professional support structure to help newteachers grow, as well as to retain them in the district.The mentoring program strongly links to the district’sprofessional development programs and helps newteachers to secure the necessary support to growprofessionally—for example, navigating the evaluationsystem and using it as a supportive structure. Mentorswork with new teachers to develop a notebook thatchronicles their progress. The district recognizes thatif it can retain teachers for the first three years, thereis a strong likelihood that the teachers will stay for along time.Designing and Implementing Human Capital Management Systems in Educator Evaluation8

Union County Public Schools: Focus onRecruitment, Selection, and InductionLike several other consortium counties, Union CountyPublic Schools decided to focus its HCMS effortson teacher recruitment, selection, and induction.Union County Public Schools regards the teacherevaluation system as a framework for understandingand communicating best teaching practices anddefining the competencies to be supported by itsother HCMS practices.Union County Public Schools has developed arecruitment strategy that includes establishing linkswith local teacher preparation programs to increasethe number of intern teachers who get a previewof working in the district, emphasizing its relativelyhigh ranking on the state accountability system andcommunicating a message to teachers in training whohave left the area to come back home. The districtalso developed an internet-based application systemto make it easier and faster to review applications.The district developed standardized interviewquestions aligned to the teacher evaluation rubric.Principals have responded favorably to thisinnovation and mentioned they “get a better feelfor the candidates.” The principals reported that oldquestions were too vague to get a good idea of theskills of each candidate, saying it was “like shootingin the dark.” The district reported that it was satisfiedwith a greater percentage of new hires this year thanin the past. The district also now obtains and considersthe evaluation ratings of experienced teachers whoapply from other Florida districts.Union County Public Schools also revamped itsinduction process to prepare new teachers for themore rigorous performance evaluation process. As thedistrict staff person we talked to observed, “you can’tteach them about the evaluation system in a day,”so the district designed its new induction process(with the help of NEFEC staff) to help new teachersunderstand each element of the process and whatthe evaluators will be looking for.Examining human capital management practices asa system has encouraged Union County Public Schoolto reflect about how one aspect of the HCMS affectsother aspects, and how to use evaluation data tomonitor important human capital metrics, such asthe quality of new hires and the retention of effectiveteachers. The district also used evaluation ratingsfrom the different elements of the observation rubricto decide where to focus district-wideprofessional development.In a small district like Union County Public Schools,Teacher Support Colleagues (TSCs) are an importantresource to implement more active human capitalmanagement. In the induction program, TSCs ratedHighly Effective act as mentors and are also involvedin coaching on new state student standards. Inaddition, the district considers some TSCs as potentialfuture administrators, and teacher leader activities areexpected to help prepare them for these roles. Districtstaff observed that they “[ ] could not get to wherewe are without them. We would not have thought ofcreating those positions nor have money to continuewith them” without the TIF grant.While performance-based compensation has not beenthe major emphasis in Union County Public Schools,staff noted that with the state mandating morerigorous evaluation and performance compensation,TIF helped the district get ready to implement thestate mandate and encouraged teachers to pay moreattention to evaluation. Union County Public Schools isalso interested in establishing a career ladder to sustainits teacher leader positions.A small district like Union County PublicSchools does not have enough staffto mentor the new administratorsThough Union County Public Schools continues tomove ahead with its HCMS efforts, administrators notetwo challenges. First, training new administrators,especially those hired from outside the district, onthe new evaluation system takes time and coaching.A small district like Union County Public Schoolsdoes not have enough staff to mentor the newadministrators. Second, the more rigorous teacherevaluation that comes along with the TIF grant hasdisconcerted some teachers. It also seems to bea factor in some new teachers leaving the district.This is one reason that that the district has usedits induction program to coach new teachers onits evaluation system.Designing and Implementing Human Capital Management Systems in Educator Evaluation9

Flagler County Public Schools:District-Wide Re-OrganizationFlagler County Public Schools is a small, coastal districtin eastern Florida. The superintendent of FlaglerCounty Public Schools viewed the HCMS approachas a strategic framework for the district and usedit as the approach to reconceptualize and redesigndistrict and school administration and organization.The Flagler County Public Schools case is unique inthe SEEC consortium because the integration andimplementation of the HCMS sparked a districtwide reorganization and reenvisioning of strategicobjectives. Therefore, the case description will focuson their unique efforts in organization and strategyas they relate to HCMS.The superintendent and key district administratorsused Human Resources Alignment Exercise to reflecton their practices, and this reflection sparked deeperanalysis of how Flagler County Public Schools currentlyoperates as a school district. It also spurred reflectionon how the district might improve as a learningorganization by adopting an HCMS approach.Clarity and coherency to organizational structureand mission have been two of the biggest benefitsof adopting an HCMS approach. Flagler County PublicSchools has used the HCMS approach as a frameworkfor engaging in decision-making, understanding districtprocesses, and identifying current organizationalstructures. Their analysis yielded the following insightsabout their current organization:1. The district managed its work in “silos,” or separateorganizational departments, with little definition tothe relationships and interactions among differentdepartments of the district administration.2. District initiatives were not aligned to strategicpriorities.3. Administrative projects were managed byindividuals rather than teams.The superintendent has used the HCMS approachas a springboard to explore and identify otherorganizational design approaches that could be usedto enhance the effectiveness of district and schooladministration. In this exploration and analysisof approaches that would complement its HCMSframework, Flagler County Public Schools identifiedperformance management as an approach thatwould redefine its district administration.Performance management instilled a cross-functionalapproach, which broke through the organizationalsilo structures and resulted in a team-basedmodel to working on district initiatives. In the reconceptualization of the organizational design of thedistrict, Flagler adopted a systems view to create fourpillars for its strategic framework:1. Teaching and learning;2. Leadership development;3. Instructional and operational innovation; and4. Student and community engagement.Each strategic goal has an executive director and isinterconnected to Flagler’s HCMS framework to driveall district decision-making around projects, initiatives,and innovation. In addition to reorganizing the districtadministrative structure around the four strategicgoals, all job descriptions were rewritten to alignwith the HCMS framework.The HCMS approach has substantively changed the wayadministrators work in the district. As a result of thecombination of HCMS and performance managementapproaches, administrators are working together morethan they have in the past, on teams that are aligned tothe four strategic goals. They have deeper discussionswith administrators and curriculum staff and talk aboutwhat it means to work in cross-departmental teamsrather than silos. Flagler County Public Schools hasadopted innovative approaches to identifying rootcauses of district challenges, such as using processimprovement strategies to identify the core causesof lags in student achievement.Further, the HCMS approach has highlighted areas thatwere not supported in Flagler’s former organizationaldesign. For example, there was no person or teamtasked with community engagement, and in the past,the community criticized the district for a lack ofcommunication. Since its reorganization, Flagler CountyPublic Schools has made communication a priority andhas tasked cross-

settings such as recruitment, hiring, and retention. After identifying their HCMS issues, the districts, with NEFEC's support, went on to examine their current practices around these areas. They also identified the educator competencies, as defined by district priorities and elements of their teacher and principal practice observational rubrics.