The SABIS® core value of continually improving is prevalent in all SABIS® schools. Not only are there systems in place to help students do their best, there are also systems in place to achieve the same for faculty and staff. SABIS® Network schools engage in an annual performance evaluation process to evaluate the quality of employees’ efforts and assess their effectiveness in contributing to the achievement of the school’s mission.
More and more schools in the network are using the SABIS® HR Roundtable as the performance evaluation approach of choice. The HR Roundtable was introduced at the onset of the 2014-15 academic year and is designed to yield fair, objective, and thorough assessment of employees’ performance. The HR Roundtable merges a pure data-based approach of performance assessment with results of classroom observations (in the case of teachers) with feedback from the school director and other individuals involved with the employee in a direct, supervisory role.
“Rather than relying on a single person’s impression of an employee’s job performance, we have developed a comprehensive set of objective, data-based performance assessment measures,” says Ralph C. Bistany, SABIS® Regional HR Manager, “and then we moderate the resulting numerical performance assessment based on feedback provided by relevant managers.”
The data used as part of each teacher’s performance assessment includes a measure of value added for each student, a comparison of class averages against other sections of the same class taught by different teachers, and results from formal classroom observations. As the school year progresses, the data gathered for each teacher expands and is averaged and used as one component of the final assessment.
The HR Roundtable is held twice per academic year, once at the end of Term 1 and again at the end of Term 2. At the end of Term 1, the purpose of the HR Roundtable is to assess HR individual performance, ensure that staff members are familiar with implementing the SABIS® Educational System™, and are meeting academic expectations. Following each roundtable session, any necessary adjustments are made to the employee’s final performance evaluation before formal, written feedback is shared with the employee. This approach ensures a fair and comprehensive assessment across the board.
Based on the outcome of the evaluation at the end of Term 1, employees may be enrolled in a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), if needed, to help them improve their effectiveness on the job. At the end of Term 2, the HR Roundtable functions as a means to follow-up on staff members who are on improvement plans as well as identifies employees who can be placed on a career development path based on potential.
“The value-added of conducting the HR Roundtable is that it contributes to the objective performance review of employees through the moderation of ratings assigned to employees with similar job descriptions,” explains Bistany. “It helps remove subjectivity from the review process and lets employees know how committed we are to a fair and effective review cycle.”
Feedback from the HR Roundtable has been very positive.
“Last year we had one teacher who struggled with implementing the SABIS® system. As a result of the HR Roundtable, she was placed on a Performance Improvement Plan. With all the guidance and follow up – not to mention the willingness from her side to improve – she has become one of our best teachers.” – Gerda Kleynhans, Middle School AQC at ISC-City of 6 October
“The HR Roundtable has given me the chance to listen to opinions of all the individuals involved in the evaluation process, so the teachers can be evaluated in a fair way. All the roundtable members can discuss the results and agree or disagree. As a result, I have clear feedback to give my teachers so that they know what to work on.” – Rim Al Khatib, Science Coordinator & Math/Science Teacher at the SABIS® Sun International School – Baku, Azerbaijan
“The HR Roundtable meeting that took place during this year was the first one I have attended as I had just been promoted to Middle School English Coordinator. It did not come as a surprise to me to find that during these meetings every teachers’ academic and non-academic performance were assessed carefully according to set criteria that encompass every possible area of improvement or evaluation.” – Sermeane Kum Naksch, Grades 5-8 English Coordinator at ISC-City of 6 October.
“The importance of the SABIS® Roundtable lies in a fact that as an employee we do all our best to meet what is expected of us. With the help of the evaluation, I can find out my strength and weaknesses. I can also find out where I have a gap and need to work on. The evaluation criteria is very detailed ranging from attendance to how we have built relationship among colleagues and students, including all necessary fields of our job.” – Narmina Khalilova , Student Life Coordinator at the SABIS® Sun International School – Baku, Azerbaijan
To date, the SABIS® HR Roundtable is being implemented in SABIS® Network schools in Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Germany, Panama, Lebanon, and Jordan, with plans to implement the program more broadly around the network in the coming academic year.