A. Mandatory Laws. (None.)

B. Permissive Laws.

Part 1, Chapter 6.

CHAPTER XIV

Appraisal

Sec. 15.-And in general to do anything not inconsistent with this act which is necessary for the proper establishment, maintenance, management and carrying on of the public schools of such district.

C. Interpretation by the Board of Education.

Although neither mandatory nor permissive laws provide definitely for exercise of the appraisal function the Board of Education interprets the general spirit of the law (Chapter 10, Sec. 3) to mean that the body to which the power to make and also to execute the educational plan is definitely delegated, is also empowered to judge the effects of the plan. Such activity is currently practiced by all boards of education in the making of changes, from time to time, in accordance with the needs and desires of the people. Without the power of judgment intelligent action is impossible.

The Board of Education further interprets the law as providing definitely for appraisal by the people through the choice of representatives at regular elections. The policy of the Board of Education is that all judgments shall be made in light of objective evidence, as far as possible, rather than in terms of subjective reactions.

D. Adjustments to life needs in advance of formal legislation.

The Board of Education deems it essential in order to secure the greatest degree of efficiency to provide for appraisal upon all levels and by all agents. It is the policy to make provision, through organization, for judgment or appraisal by field agents, by the executive, by the Board of Education, and by the people of Hamtramck.

I. THE PLAN

Purpose

The purpose of all appraisal activity shall be the judging of the several activities to determine: (1) the efficiency of operation of the several activities and (2) the worth and value of the results of the activities in relation to the efficiency of instruction activity.

The aim of appraisal activity is to make the instructional process ever more efficient both in planning and in executing so that the public schools of Hamtramck may serve the needs and desires of the people ever more efficiently and the greatest opportunity for development shall be given to each individual child in accordance with his capacity and need.

Organization

Appraisal activity shall be organized upon five levels. Primary appraisal shall be made by every individual engaged in activity essential to the operation of the schools.

1. Teachers engaged in classroom or extra-classroom activity shall be expected to judge the effectiveness of their work. Operating agents engaged in rendering services complementary and essential to the instructional activity shall be expected to judge the worth and value of their work in terms of its purpose. They shall be required to transmit data, judgments, criticisms, and suggestions to the principal.

2. The principal shall be required to judge the worth and value of all activity within a school in terms of the stated objectives and its contribution to the efficiency of instruction, and to transmit such judgments, criticisms, and suggestions, together with essential data, and teacher judgments, to the Superintendent.

3. The Superintendent shall judge the worth and value of all activity within the school system in terms of its contribution to the efficiency of instruction in accordance with the objectives as set forth in the policy of the Board of Education. He shall be required to submit such judgments, criticisms, and recommendations, together with the essential data, to the Board of Education.

4. The Board of Education shall consider the worth and value of all activities upon the basis of objective evidence as presented by the Superintendent. The Board of Education shall consider the data, the interpretation, and recommendations by the Superintendent, and shall arrive at a legal judgment. This action, together with the complete evidence, shall be transmitted to the people.

5. The people will judge the worth and value of the schools in terms of their understanding of such activity. In accordance with Board of Education policy means shall be provided to keep

the people fully informed so that they may exercise intelligently and constructively their power of appraisal in accordance with the means provided by law.

Appraisal Methods

Appraisal may be conducted by means of four methods:

Appraisal by Method A is the crudest means of arriving at a judgment. In the absence of scientific evidence judgment may be based upon presentiment, intuition, or "hunch."

Appraisal by Method B proceeds through the collection of a series of readily available facts interpreted in terms of training and experience.

Appraisal by Method C is judgment based upon inconclusive trial of activity or practice.

Appraisal by Method D is judgment based upon the results of conclusive evidence secured through the results of scientific experimentation.

It shall be the policy to conduct appraisals, where possible, upon Level D.

Procedure

The routine procedure to be followed in appraisal of any means of procedure may be described as follows:

Planning. The Board of Education, after deliberation and discussion, adopts a general policy in respect to some phase of the instructional activity. After adoption, the Superintendent is requested to devise means of procedure whereby such policy can be made effective. The Superintendent studies the problem and proceeds to the development of an effective means of procedure in accordance with the technique developed in Chapter VI. The means of procedure must be approved by the Superintendent as ready for and capable of administration before presentation to the Board of Education for consideration and approval.

After the Board of Education has approved the plan, it will be returned to the Superintendent with authority to put it into practice. The steps involved in planning are shown in Diagram 29.

Executing. The plan is initially placed into operation when the Superintendent transmits it to the principals with instructions to place it into operation.

The plan is transmitted by the principals to the teachers. The teachers execute the plan by placing it into operation in the class room. These steps are shown in Diagram 30.

Appraising. After the teacher has used the plan for a definite time-period she tests and forms a judgment of the results, recommends, and suggests improvement. She transmits both data, judgment, criticisms, and suggestions to the principal in writing. The principal collects data and judgments for the entire school and proceeds to analyze the results for the entire building and to arrive at a judgment. His data, judgments, criticisms, and recommendations, are then transmitted to the Superintendent. The Superintendent collects the evidence for the entire system. The actual collection and analysis will be made through the instruction department which in turn will make its own judgment and recommendations.

The superintendent now has the data for the entire school system, the judgments, criticisms, and recommendations of the principals, the judgment and recommendations of the teachers, and the judgment, criticism, and recommendations of the instructional specialists. He then proceeds to interpret and to judge the work for the entire system and to make recommendations for improvement. His report, including all of the data, an analysis of all judgments and recommendations, is transmitted, together with the recommendations, to the Board of Education.

The Board of Education in turn judges the effect of the working of the plan upon the basis of the evidence presented by the Superintendent. The judgment of the Board of Education is transmitted back to the Superintendent and the entire process is performed again and again. The time element intervening between adoption of the initial policy and the judgment by the Board of Education of the results may be short or long, depending upon the activity. If the policy involved is a fundamental one, the Board of Education will transmit all of the evidence together with recommendations and decision made to the people through regular informational channels.

While the appraisal by the Board of Education is constantly being made in terms of specific immediate results, the legal appraisal by the people will tend to be in more general terms. As the process of community education develops the group will tend to make increasingly more intelligent appraisal of general results