Section 50.320  Professional Practice Components for Principals and Assistant Principals

Consideration of the professional practice of a principal and, as applicable, assistant principal shall comprise a minimum of 50 percent of the performance evaluation rating and include each of the following elements.

a)         Any instruments and rubric used to evaluate the professional practice of a principal or assistant principal shall align to the Illinois Standards for Principal Evaluation (see Appendix A). 

1)         The rubric shall state the indicators for each standard and provide a clear description of at least four performance levels to be considered for each indicator.

2)         A school district may choose to adopt the rubric contained in the State performance evaluation model for principals, developed pursuant to Section 24A-7 of the School Code, or it may develop its own rubric.  Any school district that uses a rubric other than the rubric contained in the State model shall establish a process to ensure that all principals, assistant principals, and principal evaluators are familiar with and understand the content of the rubric, the different levels of performance used for professional practice, and how the overall professional practice rating will be determined.

b)         No later than February 1 of each year, or June 1 of each year for schools located in CPS, each principal or, as applicable, assistant principal shall complete a self‑assessment that is aligned to the rubric to be used to evaluate professional practice.  The self-assessment shall be used as one input in determining a principal's or assistant principal's professional practice rating.

c)         Observations

1)         The plan shall provide for a minimum of two formal observations at the school in which the principal or assistant principal is employed. 

A)        The qualified evaluator shall observe school practices and may directly observe the principal's or assistant principal's interactions and activities during his or her work day.

B)        The formal observation shall be scheduled in advance and shall include at least one objective for the observation (e.g., reviewing classrooms, observing leadership team meetings).

C)        Feedback from the formal observations shall be provided in writing (electronic or paper) to the principal or assistant principal no later than 10 principal work days after the day on which the observation occurred.  For the purpose of this subsection (c)(1)(C), a "principal work day" is any day in which the principal or assistant principal is contractually obligated to work, regardless of whether students are present.

D)        Other evidence and information received by the qualified evaluator that would have a negative impact on the evaluator's rating of the principal (e.g., parent complaints) shall be shared with the principal within the timeline established in subsection (c)(1)(C).

2)         There is no limit on the number of informal observations that a qualified evaluator may conduct, provided that he or she deems the informal evaluations necessary to fully assess the performance of the principal or assistant principal being evaluated.  Evidence gathered during informal observations may be considered in determining the performance evaluation rating, provided it is documented in writing.

d)         If a district chooses to use professional practice ratings that do not correspond to the performance evaluation ratings required to be used under Section 24A-15 or 34-8 of the School Code, then it shall ensure that the four levels chosen align to the required performance evaluation ratings.

e)         The school district or qualified evaluator shall inform the principal or assistant principal how evidence of professional practice collected will be used to determine a professional practice rating.

f)         In providing feedback to principals or assistant principals on the instructional environment within a school (Section 24A-20 of the School Code), as applicable to an evaluation plan, the school district or qualified evaluator shall use only the results from a school climate survey authorized under Section 2-3.153 of the School Code [105 ILCS 5/2-3.153].  The results may be used to help the principal set priorities and goals, but shall not be used as a single measure to determine a principal's performance evaluation rating.

(Source:  Amended at 39 Ill. Reg. 11112, effective July 23, 2015)