Observational Lens: Mission, Purpose And Values

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

Prior to coming to Hoke County, Dr. Williamson had already served in a plethora of diverse roles in his educational career (e.g., teacher, assistant principal, vocational-educational director, principal, director of secondary and middle school education, director of personnel, associate superintendent, and a boys and girls basketball coach), therefore becoming a superintendent was inevitable; the school board knew he could advance the Hoke County’s School System, however the “key” was: he was a willing vessel.

ISLLC 2008 Standard 1: An education leader promotes the success of every student by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by all stakeholders.

Chiles Elementary School’s improvement plan is a section about the School Advisory Council (SAC), such as the name of the members, which stakeholder group each member is in (e.g., parent, business/community, or teacher), and SAC’s involvement in school activities. One of SAC’s major involvements was reviewing the previous 2014-2015 school improvement plan in order to prepare the 2015-2016 school improvement plan, which was indicated in the plan. Also indicated in the school improvement plan are lists of names for different groups, such as the school leadership team and the literacy leadership team (LLT) and their specific duties. For example, the school leadership team is responsible for meeting weekly to discuss school business (e.g., behavioral issues, curriculum needs, or guidance needs) and make decisions about the school’s learning environment. The literacy leadership team; on the other hand, “is composed of the team leaders from each grade level” and is responsible for meeting “monthly to discuss literacy issues, needs, and how successful… students are with the current plan” (Lawton M. Chiles Elementary SIP 2015-2016, pg. 18). All these information indicates how important the school value collaboration between administrators-teachers, teachers-teachers, teachers-parents, and

My interest in pursuing a position as a school administrator for an elementary school system is to provide leadership for staff members and quality education for all students, and to become part of the world of education. The Benjamin Franklin School located in the Dallas School District serves as a growing population of approximately 1,070 students. The school offers a well-defined educational system for the students, and it has an overall student-to-teacher ratio of 17:1. In addition to the statewide curriculum standards, the school offers special education programs and classes for the gifted and talented. As a result of the school district rankings in the student’s performance, Benjamin Franklin School has become the worst in the

The members of the board of directors have to illustrate their leadership skills when they develop the vision. They have formed their vision about child development differently than other school systems. They have to share the vision to their staffs, students, and communities in a successful way. In addition, the director boards have to motivate their staffs to follow the vision and achieve the organizational vision. Meanwhile, the director boards also have to defend their vision about child development from people who belief the test scores represent the future of children.

In light of accountability requirements, fear of not meeting AYP (Annual Yearly Progress), and required school improvement plans, often the idea of “school improvement” is considered a negative attribute. Obviously schools do not want to be singled out or identified as in need of improvement. Teachers often take the same view towards the idea of improvement. We as teachers take very personal that concept of improvement; we often parallel the need for improvement to failure. However my belief is that effective schools are always in a school improvement process and effective teachers too also are constantly adapting their practice in a culture of continuous improvement and growth. Therefore it is important as an effective leader to build a community of trust and collaboration. I quote “We are all in this together. Once we know that we are, we’re all stars and we see that we’re all in this together.” (Disney High School Musical, 2006) These lyrics from a popular Disney movie put to light exactly the school culture where the goal is not personal but as a community to use data driven and research based approaches in reflection and growth that assist all stakeholders.

Educational leadership has changed and evolved through the years as a result of dramatic changes in the school culture, student demographics, environment, science, technology, and economy. Given the complexity and unpredictability of the demanding challenges to educate all children, prospective school leaders may find it desirable to define their own beliefs about instructional supervision and evaluation as they prepare for the rigor of school leadership practice. While enacting supervision, a supervisor is guided by certain values, assumptions, beliefs, and opinions that support the purpose and process of supervision (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 2006). This can be described as the supervisor’s

An effective school leader possesses skills to create, implement, evaluate, improve and share a staff development plan. I met with Ben Rhodes, Sandy Creek Middle School’s principal, to interview him on the specific elements of his yearly staff development plan. We began with the design process focusing on the district and school goals. District goals include improving literacy across the content areas in reading and writing, Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC). Guaranteed and Viable Technology (GVT), and Closing the Achievement Gap (Equity in Excellence). Using a variety of assessments to focus on specific needs, Ben Rhodes and Mary Sonya, our Pupil Achievement Specialist, examined CSAP, Explore, MAP, and RAD data. They use the

All organizations have communication variables, but some of those variables are unique to elementary learning environments. The school’s faculty receives communication in the form of professional growth plans, formative evaluations, and summative evaluations. These processes are in place to ensure that educators are evaluated on a

Marzano, McNulty and Waters propose five steps for a plan of effective school leadership. The first step is developing a leadership team with purpose. The definition used for a purposeful community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that mater to all community members through agreed-upon process (Marzano, et. al, 2005). The second step is distributing some responsibilities throughout the leadership team. The third step is to select the right work. The fourth step is to identify the order of magnitude implied by the selected work. The last step is to match the management style to the order of magnitude of the change initiative. The last step incorporates whether this is first or second order change.

This requires one to have a true understanding of self and others. To develop the understanding of self, one must closely examine one’s system of values and beliefs, personal and professional vision, strengths, and perceived weaknesses. Each aspect will directly affect how one interacts with, and is perceived by the stakeholders of the school organization. One must also be keenly aware of how one’s espoused beliefs align with one’s observable behaviors. If the two are not aligned, undercurrents of mistrust might begin to ripple among the stakeholders. Other factors that are closely linked to one’s perceived ability to be an effective leader are related to one’s disposition, communication style, and approach to making decisions that directly and indirectly affect all stakeholders within an organization. With this being said, the intricacies of each facet being interwoven together directly affect if, and how well, stakeholders are motivated to attain organizational goals. The Johairi Window model is a four quadrant based analysis of the effects of what others do and do know about a leader’s behavior. These conscious and sub-conscious behaviors directly affect the stakeholder’s perceptions of how open or private a leader is when working directly with others which in turn affects how motivated those stakeholders will be to achieve the leader’s organizational goals.

School improvement is transformation. It is one of the most important actions of a school. It is a process that schools must use with fidelity to ensure that at all students are given the opportunity to perform and achieve at exemplary levels. School improvement is vital to schools and it is a process that cannot be done in isolation. It requires team work, collaboration, and constant analysis of data and setting of goals. School improvement goals focus on how to meet the needs of students. Addressing the educational needs, funding, and achievement gaps between subgroups is collaborative effort involves everyone that has a vested interest in the schools. These basic measures set the foundation for improvement. And so, if it is the

In the 21st Century, the school system must change in order for students to build the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in the future world that is changing rapidly. In an interview with the Deputy Superintendent of the Peace River School Division, Karen Penney, it was learned that the top leaders of school divisions do not necessarily agree that education needs major systemic change but have focused their efforts on smaller changes within schools, with teachers and school leaders. She does, however, recognize that a shift has to occur in how leaders manage schools and that the focus of education needs to be on skills rather than knowledge acquisition.