ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter, we argued that school administrators are likely to confront the incompetent teacher if: (i) the district attaches high importance to teacher evaluation; (ii) there are parental complaints; and/or (iii) the district faces declining enrollments. Two of these conditions, parental complaints and declining enrollments, are likely to evoke a confrontational response only if the district also suffers from a financial squeeze and/or is relatively small. When administrators decide to confront the poor performer, their actions generally fall into two distinct stages: (i) how to salvage the teacher; and (ii) how to get rid of the teacher if (s)he fails to improve. The major focus of the discussion in this chapter is on stage 1, salvaging the teacher who is judged to be ‘at risk’ (i.e., a candidate for possible termination).
