Performance Evaluation Policy

Performance Evaluation Policy

Approved By and Date: Board of Trustees 08-12-2010
  Executive Leadership Team 02-19-2014
  ICORE 02-20-2014

The evaluation process is designed to ensure the continued quality of Stanly Community College’s educational services by systematically collecting information pertinent to measuring an individual’s performance and potential.  The process is intended to evaluate current performance, monitoring both strengths and weaknesses; to provide information necessary to the individual’s career development plan; to improve communication between supervisor and employee; and, most importantly, to enhance each individual’s performance, thus benefiting the College’s students, administration, faculty, staff, and community. The entire process is predicated upon a positive, constructive approach to performance appraisal.

Performance Evaluation Procedures

Approved By and Date: Executive Leadership Team 07-25-2022
  ICORE 07-22-2022

Performance appraisal should be viewed as a process, rather than an event.  While certain activities may occur on an established schedule, the process of improvement and communication should continue throughout the year.  All full-time employees of the College are evaluated using the same performance evaluation digital tool and process.  Supervisors are provided with feedback from their direct reports which informs of any areas for growth related to leadership abilities.  The President of the College is evaluated annually by the Board of Trustees.  Adjunct faculty are evaluated through a separate format as stipulated below.  Part-time staff are evaluated according to formats and criteria established in the respective departments.  Professional Development activities are expected of all full-time employees annually.

The College reserves the right to modify the Performance Evaluation procedures in the event of a declared state of emergency by federal, state, or local government officials or for other extreme circumstances as determined by the College’s Executive Leadership Team. If the annual schedule of performance appraisals is modified, the Coordinator of Professional Development will notify full-time employees as soon as practicable of the changes.

 Evaluation of Full Time Employees:

  1. In preparation for the upcoming year, performance goals are established through a mutual decision process between the employee and the supervisor.
  2. Professional Development activities planned are projected for the upcoming year.
  3. Throughout the year, the supervisor will provide feedback on performance.
  4. Midway through the year, a short conference will be conducted between the supervisor and the employee to get a status check on the employee’s goals and professional development activities.
  5. Prior to the actual performance review in the spring of each year, the supervisor will:
    1. review the job description for any needed changes, and
    2. for faculty members, review completed student evaluations of instruction for areas that need discussion in the review conference.
  6. In the spring of each year (timelines established by Human Resources), the supervisor will conduct a performance review conference with the employee, reviewing the progress on goals and professional development activities completed, as well as the supervisor ratings on the performance factors.  The conference is documented in the Performance Review and Appraisal digital portal (PR&A Portal) with the completed sign-offs and approvals to close the employee’s appraisal.
  7. In cases of disagreement with the appraisal, employees will have the opportunity to leave comments prior to approving the close of their appraisal. Approving the close of the appraisal does not imply the employee’s agreement of the ratings and comments regarding performance status recorded on the appraisal.
  8. The archived appraisal is available to HR, the employee, the supervisor, and the endorser for reference.

Supervisor Feedback Process:

  1. Approximately two months in advance of the performance review conference, Supervisor Feedback will be made available to complete within the PR&A Portal.
  2. In cases where fewer than three (3) employees report to the intended supervisor, additional individuals who work closely with the supervisor in other capacities may be asked to complete a paper version of supervisor feedback. This is added at the discretion of HR in order to preserve anonymity.
  3. The supervisor’s supervisor will be able to view compiled comments within the PR&A Portal and then provide a summarization of the results in the supervisor feedback area on the appraisal’s performance factors and discuss it at the performance review conference.

Evaluation of Adjunct Faculty:

  1. Adjunct faculty members are evaluated during their first semester of hire and periodically thereafter through a process of in-class observation or e-Learning class monitoring, and student evaluations.
  2. The Program Head or Dean is responsible for ensuring the evaluation is completed.
  3. In the case of in-class observation, the adjunct faculty member will be notified prior to the need for a supervisory in-class evaluation. The supervisor will sit in on a class period and monitor classroom activity.  The written observation will be discussed with the adjunct faculty member at a later time and signed by both parties.
  4. Supervisors are assigned monitoring rights for all e-Learning courses in their School.  Adjunct faculty members’ courses are closely monitored over their first semester of hire.  Supervisors maintain monitoring for all semesters beyond the first semester.
  5. Adjunct faculty members’ classes are evaluated by students every semester.  Supervisors examine course evaluations and discuss feedback with adjuncts.
    1. Positive feedback is noted and the evaluations are discussed with the instructor.
    2. Negative feedback in the evaluations is discussed with the instructor, and plans for improvement are made and monitored in the next semester.
    3. Extremely negative student evaluations may result in the instructor not being offered a course load in future semesters.
  6. Adjunct faculty members are employed on a course-by-course contract, and evaluation results from all methods above are used to inform the decision of supervisors to offer future course contracts.

Professional Development Expectations:

  1. Each full-time SCC employee is required to participate in professional development activities in order to promote professional growth.
  2. Each full-time employee is expected to earn at least three continuing education units (CEU) which is 30 hours of approved professional development. This will include 8 hours (0.8 CEUs) of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) professional development. While CEUs may be earned in a number of different ways, all should be designed to enhance the professional development of the faculty or staff member.  Employees on leave for a significant portion of the year will be given special consideration in the completion of the requirement. Employees should discuss with their supervisor what they anticipate for the upcoming year.
  3. Each hour of an approved professional development activity equals 0.1 CEU earned. Attendance of a full day of an event such as convocation or a conference will result in 1 CEU, and attendance of a half day of such events will result in 0.5 of a CEU. Some of the approved professional development examples include but are not limited to: Lunch & Learns, Professional Development Day sessions, Convocation, Mandatory Trainings, Onboarding sessions, Special Projects, service on Specialized Committees external to SCC, webinars, conferences, and course or curriculum redesigns.
  4. Employees who fail to meet the CEU expectations may be subject to progressive disciplinary action.  Repeated failure to comply with CEU expectations may result in termination.

 

Revisions: 04/16/2018, 1/28/2019, 5/12/2020 (procedures)