Unsatisfactory Evaluations: South Carolina
Exiting Ineffective Teachers Policy
Analysis of South Carolina's policies
South Carolina requires that all teachers who receive an unsatisfactory rating on any domain of the formal evaluation be placed on an improvement plan. The state also stipulates that an annual contract teacher who has not successfully met formal evaluation criteria "will have his or her teaching certificate automatically suspended by the State Board of Education" and is ineligible for employment as a classroom teacher for a minimum of two years. To re-enter as an annual contract teacher, he or she must "complete a state-approved remediation plan" in areas of identified deficiencies. Upon completion of this requirement, the teacher is eligible for employment under an annual contract for one additional year to continue toward the next contract level.
Recommendations for South Carolina
Make dismissal a consequence of unsatisfactory evaluations for all teachers.
South Carolina should extend its policy regarding unsatisfactory evaluations to apply to all teachers, not just those on annual contracts. Any teacher who receives two consecutive unsatisfactory evaluations or two unsatisfactory evaluations within five years should be formally eligible for dismissal.
State response to our analysis
South Carolina recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.
-
South Carolina
Select another topic
Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Preparation Programs
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Research rationale
To review the process and types of personnel evaluations observed in other job sectors, including the problems inherent to some evaluation systems see, for example, Gliddon, David (October 2004). Effective Performance Management Systems, Current Criticisms and New Ideas for Employee Evaluation in Performance Improvement 43(9), 27-36.