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I realize that you probably were thrown a sharp curve by the
actions of this teacher who expected a smaller, highly talented
class and probably a lot less effort than his/her peers in
planning, grading etc.. However, what you do not do is
knowingly sacrifice or limit the futures of bright, talented
high school students who you realize from experience may take a
few weeks to get used to the higher level of studying etc. for
an AP class if this is their first or second one.

The problems is really the administration's in that it did not
clearly define the number of students which could be in an AP
class due to staffing patterns AND/OR did not higher enough
teachers to cover the classes. You need to bring your
principal into this discussion right now first with yourself
and then with the teacher because he/she has not listened to
you... I would certainly make it clear to the teacher if he/she
persisted that it would show up in your reviews AND that your
recommendation would be that the teacher not be assigned AP
classes in the future. How about the most basic content area
class as the teacher knows well the accompanying behavior
issues that would be attached.

On 9/25/13, HS Admin wrote:
> I am a secondary director for my content area, and am the
> primary evaluator for all of the teachers in my department.
> I have one teacher in my department who is essentially
> trying to force students out of his AP class because he
> feels his numbers are too high. All of these students were
> recommended for that level, and many of them aren't doing
> particularly well right now.
>
> I voiced this concern to him a couple of weeks ago, when I
> told him that he needed to provide more support to his
> students. I sent him some materials to use, gave some
> suggestions as to how to approach planning, etc., and he
> has hardly taken any of the advice so far. I am obviously
> following-up by observing and documenting evidence, but
> that hasn't made a huge effect so far.
>
> As it stands right now, I have had parents calling and
> complaining about this teacher, and students coming to
> speak to me about dropping the class. Our policy is that
> you can't drop a class without a parent conference, so that
> has been what I have been scheduling.
>
> How do I handle the conference when the parents come in? I
> clearly disagree with the teacher's approach (this is my
> first year in the position), but I obviously don't think it
> would be appropriate for me to say that in front of
> students or parents. Up to this point, I have asked
> students about their own study habits or how they are
> advocating for themselves in class, but I don't know if I
> am even handling that the right way. If students drop down
> to a lower level, they will not be in an AP-track for other
> courses, and I have been discouraging them from dropping.
>
> How do you handle parent meetings/complaints when you know
> they are justified?

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