PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT
This chapter examines San Angelo Independent School District's (SAISD's) personnel management functions in five sections:
- A. Organization and Management
- B. Recruiting and Hiring
- C. Employment and Retention of Personnel
- D. Salary Administration
- E. Training and Staff Development
E. TRAINING AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The purpose of training and staff development is to accomplish specific goals, which include improving the quality and/or quantity of the work produced; lowering costs of maintenance or waste; lowering the number of complaints or misunderstandings relative to policy and procedure; and reducing turnover and increasing employee job satisfaction. There are three major elements in successfully implementing training programs: assessment of training needs, providing training and evaluation of training programs on the targeted employee groups.
SAISD delivers a broad-based staff development program for teachers and paraprofessionals. During the 2000-01 school year, the district required 21 hours of training for teachers, all of which was provided during work hours prior to the beginning of school. Elementary teachers most frequently requested training in Reading Renaissance, using computers for instruction and using math manipulatives. The district's central-office curriculum committee reviews and approves staff development requests. Topics are determined by content specialists for secondary staff and through needs assessments for elementary staff.
Instructional staff members are required to participate in additional training sessions based upon their individual needs and subject matter requirements. Staff Development publishes catalogs of course offerings for both instructional staff and paraprofessional staff.
During the 2000-01 school year, designated staff development days were planned and implemented by central office staff and focused on training in the use of new textbooks and curriculum. Building principals deliver training after school (elementary) or during a teacher's conference period (secondary). The Personnel Department oversees the district's programs for novice teachers and teacher-recognition programs.
Two trade days were designated for the 2000-01 school year. Participants could choose training sessions after school or on Saturdays. The trade day catalogue listed sessions by subject, and staff could choose the sessions they wanted to attend. Teachers could accumulate training in 1.5-hour increments because of block scheduling and planning sessions, and the training did not have to be related to the teacher's assignment.
Paraprofessional employees are required to participate in 15 hours of staff development each year. Six of the required hours addressed employee benefits and sexual harassment training and the remaining 9 were the employee's choice.
The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction supervises the director of Staff Development. A secretary and a half-time administrative assistant provide support to the Staff Development Department. The organizational structure of Staff Development is shown in
Exhibit 4-34.Exhibit 4-34 Source: SAISD Personnel Department, April 2001.
SAISD Staff Development Organization
1999-2000The Curriculum and Instruction Department provides training for teachers, administrators and paraprofessional staff. The department coordinates training efforts with the Personnel Department, which provides orientation to all employees and coordinates staff development for support staff under the direction of the executive director of Support Staff Services.
The SAISD budget for training for 2000-01 was $55,839 as shown in Exhibit 4-35. The professional trainers' consultant fees and expenses included $5,000 paid to Region 15 for training services.
Exhibit 4-35 Source: SAISD Staff Development Department, May 2001.
SAISD Training Budget
2000-01
Line Item 2000-01 Budget Professional Trainers and Consultants $25,056 Telephone $500 Printing $2,000 General Supplies $8,500 Staff Travel (including consultants) $19,483 Furniture $300 Total $55,839 The budget does not include salaries or benefits for staff, nor does it include training costs that are provided through grants received by the district for specific training purposes. These include three TEA grants, Accelerated Reading, Class Size Reduction and Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten.
To support training, the Staff Development director has access to 25 to 30 substitute employees per day who can be assigned to approved projects. The district pays for some teachers to attend meetings and training sessions out of the district. The staff members are expected to share what they learn with other employees when they return. In addition, presenters and experts are brought in to provide training.
The Texas Education Code (TEC) requires districts to budget adequate time and financial resources to support a comprehensive staff development program guided by district and campus improvement plans. Districts must identify training needs for teachers and administrators, and when appropriate, involve teachers in identifying needs and planning training courses.
A district's staff development program must plan for and promote student achievement for all students focusing on standards for student performance in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Staff development includes training in technology, conflict resolution, discipline strategies, district discipline policies and the code of student conduct. The staff development program promotes learning and collaboration with colleagues and reflects best practices from other school districts.
Staff development predominantly is campus-based, related to achieving campus performance objectives, and developed and approved by a campus-level committee. Activities may include: providing staff the opportunity to plan together to enhance existing skills; sharing effective strategies; reflecting on curricular and instructional issues; analyzing student achievement results; reflecting on means of increasing student achievement; studying research; practicing new methods; identifying students' strengths and needs; developing meaningful programs for students; implementing site-based decision-making; and conducting action research. Staff development activities may include study teams, individual research, peer coaching, workshops, seminars and conferences. The district may also use districtwide staff development that has been developed and approved through the district-level decision-making process, as required by the TEC.
FINDING
The Staff Development director offers registration and tracking of course completion for most training using the Access/Paradox database combined with the Pentamation system through the SAISD Intranet Web site. This registration system was implemented in 1997 and eliminated the manual process of registering and tracking the training for teachers and professionals. This electronic process improved the accuracy of each registration. Registrants now are capable of registering instantaneously after receiving the training catalog, instead of registering by mail and waiting for confirmation.
The catalogues offer a menu of training that staff can choose from to meet the department's needs, including mandated training and optional training. Each course is evaluated, and the evaluations are used to determine future staff development offerings. Electronic records for each staff member are kept by staff development so that employees can determine the number of continuing professional education hours received by training session.
The registration process for the staff has been reduced significantly. Staff members no longer need to manually register each person, or write or call registrants for additional information or for rescheduling; it is now all computerized. Principals can pull up the training each teacher has completed and use that information as part of the teacher's growth plan.
The Staff Development Online Registration and Tracking System also can limit the number of participants for each training session.
COMMENDATION
The SAISD online training system has streamlined the staff development registration process and provides teachers and principals with easy and immediate access to historical training data.
FINDING
Although the district participates in Region 15's staff development offerings, it places little emphasis on these courses. In 2000-01, 885 district staff participated in 137 Region 15 training sessions. This participation rate is lower than other districts in the area.
The district does not send Region 15 information to the campuses unless the district has determined that a substitute will be available for the date of training. The district provides its own training catalogs to staff.
Region 15 also offers many of the training sessions provided by the district, and has told the TSPR review team that they would be willing to work with the district to provide training during in-service days when school is not in session, or on Saturdays or after hours.
Recommendation 32:
Coordinate training efforts with Region 15 and eliminate duplicate in-house staff development training sessions when Region 15 can provide the same training.
The district should meet with Region 15 staff and determine which courses are needed and if Region 15 can provide those courses at a time when SAISD staff can attend without taking teachers out of the classroom, including during in-service days, after school and on weekends. The district then can eliminate duplicate courses from its own catalogue.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES AND TIMELINE
1. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and the director of Staff Development meet with Region 15 staff and review the staff development catalogue to determine course offerings available to the district. December 2001 2. The assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction and the director of Staff Development eliminate duplicative in-house staff development offerings. January 2002 3. The director of Staff Development and the assistant superintendent of Business and Finance provide information regarding courses available to staff. February 2002 4. The director of Staff Development monitors the use of Region 15 staff development and continues to eliminate duplicate training. March 2002 FISCAL IMPACT
This recommendation can be implemented with existing resources.
