Guidance to Principals for Scheduling Initial Planning Conferences

The following appeared in the Sept. 17 Principals’ Weekly.

As noted in the September 4 edition of Principals’ Weekly, the goal of the Initial Planning Conference (IPC) is for the evaluator and teacher to discuss expectations and the teacher’s goals for the upcoming year. You must work with your teachers to schedule IPCs at mutually agreed upon times. If a teacher does not agree with a proposed time, the teacher may decline and you should then request that the teacher identify an alternate appointment within a reasonable amount of time. If you have already conducted an IPC with a teacher but the teacher communicates to you that it was not held at a mutually agreed upon time, you should give the teacher the opportunity to have a follow-up conversation, during which the teacher can opt to change his or her observation option selections.

In addition, you should note that there are both required and optional components to the IPC. As noted in the September 4 edition of Principals’ Weekly, teachers are required to complete the Observation Options Selection Form and you should place a completed copy of the form in each teacher’s file. Teachers may opt to submit up to two artifacts or bring any other materials to the IPC. Teachers may also opt to use the IPC to prepare for the school year by completing a self-assessment on the Danielson Framework for Teaching rubric and setting two to four formative professional goals.