Austin ISD moves forward with Professional Pathways for Teachers initiative

Appraisals

The primary objective of PPfT is to increase student achievement, said Michael Houser, AISD chief human capital officer.

Other priorities include developing efforts with meaningful input from stakeholders and aiming to "professionalize" teaching by ensuring teachers have control of their own career development, he said.

As part of the initiative—a collaboration among AISD, local employees union Education Austin and the American Federation of Teachers, which is a trade union with more than one million members nationwide—AISD teachers get feedback based on an appraisal rubric including "strands" of teaching behaviors.

The pilot teacher appraisal program has been implemented during the past four years, Houser said.

The PPfT appraisal is currently being implemented at 20 campuses in AISD with the plan to go districtwide in the 2015–16 school year, according to board documents.

"What you're seeing is an example of some collaborative efforts over the last eight years that have really begun to infiltrate our schools, and we're really very, very proud of some of the results that are occurring," he said.

Next steps and feedback

The district will examine compensation as the next step in developing the system, which could affect the budget depending on the kind of system established, according to board documents.

Trustees asked how the district is looking at affordability concerns as part of the initiative. Finding housing that staff can afford, is an issue, Houser said, adding that as traffic in Austin increases, staff are compelled to live as close to their work as they can.

Education Austin President Ken Zarifis said the district needs to ask not only why teachers come to AISD to teach, but also why they stay in the district.

"We have to think long-term with our employment of educators and school employees," he said, noting the process must be collaborative and include feedback from teachers to be successful.

Trustee Ann Teich said professional development for administrators helping to implement this program is critical, and there must be an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect when it comes to working with teachers.

"This is a refreshing change from our old corporate model, which has been around [since the '80s] in Texas [where] we just decided that education was a business, and we're all cogs," she said. "We have known for a long time that education is not a business but has businesslike aspects."