The administrative role in teacher competency

As managers of teachers, principals must cope with a variety of educational mistakes in their schools. These cumulative mistakes lead to a state of borderline competency in the teacher. From interviews with 30 elementary school principals in a large urban school system, interviews and observations of 19 borderline competent teachers, and review of principals' teacher evaluation records, five states of coping with teachers' educational mistakes emerged: (1) deployment-enlisting the teachers' colleagues to watch over him or her and report back to the principal on the teacher's behavior; (2) detente-bringing the troubled teacher within the society of peers and rallying forces to help solve his or her problems; (3) determination-deciding that the range of the teacher's deviations exceeds the boundaries of normative behavior and there is cause for dismissal; (4) evaluation-assigning an unsatisfactory efficiency rating with extensive documentation and recordkeeping for teachers who have been identified as borderline competent; and (5) formal dismissal-taking action to remove a teacher from the school.