Flagged as needing a Performance Review?

I have been flagged as needing a Performance Review and I am unsure how to proceed. What can I do to prepare for this?
–Martha

Evaluations of your teaching or professional role (librarians, counsellors, instructional designers or other instructional support faculty) are conducted for the purposes of obtaining right of first refusal if you are either a newly hired Sessional faculty member or in the final year of a Limited Term contract or for renewal of a tenure-track appointment. This process must be initiated by the departmental Performance Review Committee (PRC), which consists, normally, of three tenured colleagues and the department Chair. If you fall into one of the above employment categories, any failure of the department to evaluate your performance will not negatively affect you.

A TRUFA observer must participate in all PRC meetings to ensure that the Collective Agreement process is followed. The PRC will use the following evidence to determine whether or not you are meeting departmental standards:

If you are a classroom instructor,

1. student evaluations of your course and your teaching administered in your absence by the PRC. A member of the PRC will consult with you to determine the best time for the administration of student questionnaires. If the questionnaires are done on paper, students are given about 20 minutes to complete the numerical assessments and to provide comments. If done through Moodle or any other online utility, the questionnaire will be left open only for the 20 minutes of classroom time;
2. a report on your teaching by a colleague of your choice who will attend one of your classes; and
3. other information you may want to supply to demonstrate your teaching effectiveness, e.g. course outlines, sample assignments, etc.

If you are an instructional support faculty member,

1. an evaluation of your performance completed by students and faculty who use your professional services;
2. an evaluation by a colleague you choose to report on your performance; and
3. any additional information you may want to supply to demonstrate your professional role effectiveness, e.g. project plans, new methods developed, course design plans, etc.

To prepare for a PRC evaluation, you can determine the best time for both the administration of the student questionnaire and the peer classroom visit. Students should have received sufficient feedback on assignments by the time of the questionnaire administration to enable them to make a legitimate assessment. You can then determine who might be an appropriate colleague to conduct classroom or professional role assessments. Finally, you can begin to put together a small dossier of classroom/professional role materials for the committee.

You have the right to meet the PRC in person if you choose to clarify any aspect of the student/faculty or peer evaluations of your work.

I would suggest that you read Article 7 of the TRU / TRUFA Collective Agreement to familiarize yourself with the process. The Collective Agreement is accessible here.

And I would further suggest that you attend the TRUFA Performance Review information workshop on Thursday, October 15th from 10 to 11:30 am in Open Learning 127 to learn more about the performance review process.

If you have any questions about the PRC process, please contact the TRUFA PRC Coordinator, Cindy Ross Friedman (cross@trufa.ca).

Submit your own question to TRUFA Stewards here.