PAR Program

The Peer Assistance & Review (PAR) program is mandatory for all new and non-tenured teachers. New teachers are teachers in their first year of employment with the School District who are not tenured in Pennsylvania.

PAR is also mandatory for tenured teachers who have been rated unsatisfactory in the previous school year.

A tenured teacher who believes that their teaching competence will benefit from PAR also may request participation. Principals may also request that tenured teachers who are in their Professional Development Plan (PDP) years participate in PAR as part of Special Observation Status.

Participation in PAR provides a teacher with coaching supports for the full school year from a peer coach in the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Coaching is customized to meet the needs of the teacher and may include modeling, co-teaching, co-planning, data collection, and real-time feedback in the classroom. In this peer coaching model, the relationship between coach and teacher is confidential.

PAR Panel

The PAR Program is led by a panel comprised of eight members, four of whom are selected by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers and four of whom are selected by the School District. The Chair of the Panel alternates annually between the Superintendent and/or CEO and the President of the Federation, or their designees.

The Panel makes all discretionary decisions regarding the Professional Growth System (PGS), including determining eligibility for the PAR Program; monitoring the overall progress of teachers participating in PAR; making retention recommendations for new teachers and tenured teachers participating in PAR; creating and monitoring processes of the PGS.