STANDARD ONE Strategic Leadership
School executives re-imagine a school's vision, mission, and goals to best prepare students for a successful future through building on core values and beliefs with impactful process amending.
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Standards 1A, B, C, and D: To align efforts with our SIP plan that will then maximize academic and behavioral growth, I collaborated with our SIT team leadership to create this presentation for the mid-year SIT check in staff meeting. We included celebrations of achievement for each grade with a walk up song, data to analyze for next steps, and support with a new intervention program that would be launched the same week. Normalizing data analysis and midcourse corrections are strategic elements that will propel increased achievement as well as teacher satisfaction. Presenting these in a manner that meets the needs and culture of a building is an important skill to ensure buy-in and collaboration with staff. This buy-in then facilitated distributing leadership to grade level leads and teachers to empower them to analyze their own data and instate needed changes, to then be measured by the newly generated data. All efforts are cross-checked against our school's annual SMART goal addressing academic growth. |
Standard 1A: In order to communicate Combs' mission and strategic goals in a user-friendly format, I created a two-page infographic to present at a staff meeting. This was utilized at a critical juncture in January in which a recommitment to our goals was the springboard for the introduction of intervention groups. The school's practices of 4DX and our newly instated Strategic Bets were also included to demonstrate alignment of efforts toward the overarching goal of academic growth for all. After the distribution of this handout, I observed several posted in rooms in the teachers' work areas as a reminder and reference to focus new efforts upon. The continual, but not repetitive, referencing of a school's vision, mission, and strategic goals is an important skill to ensure all change and improvement efforts are consistent with the school's desired outcomes. |
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Standard 1A: While leading magnet tours for the parents of prospective students, I began each one at the poster in the front lobby that explicitly states the mission and vision of Combs. These guiding principles lay the groundwork for what the parents will see while walking through the building. Seamless alignment between our mission and vision to the instruction, culture, magnet theme, and school processes is evident at every stop of the tour, and is referenced continually. This explicit highlighting of the ingrained nature of the mission and vision clearly demonstrates the fiber of Combs and allows parents to make an informed decision for their children. A school leader is the primary community-facing spokesperson for a school's mission and vision and must be prepared to share it in varied situations. |
Standard 1B: Conducting continual improvement through effectively leading change was the focus of ELP 551-612 during year 1 of my MSA coursework. Based on well-grounded writings from such notable authors as Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, Doug Lemov, Dale Carnegie, and Stephen Covey, this reflection outlines the steps a new school leader should undertake while initiating and leading the change process in a school. It is vital for school administrators to be steeped in best practice from published authors to base responses to individual school needs upon. Continual consuming of professional literature is a necessary element for individual professional development throughout a leader's career. I am fortunate to be in an assistant principal Professional Learning Network with outstanding WCPSS leaders to sustain my professional growth through the shared reading and reflection of quality texts. |
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Standard 1C: Our highly functioning School Improvement Team monitors the progress of our School Improvement Plan regularly using the Indistar platform. Achievement data and staff input protocols were used initially to determine the exact goals that would most impact student achievement. Once they were chosen, data to measure the goals is reviewed regularly along with the planned actions that were completed. Minutes are uploaded with fidelity and attendance at SIT meetings remains high. Although our dip in achievement scores for the 2018-19 school year was not preferred, efforts aligned to the SIP are expected to boost scores for the current year, notwithstanding the school disruption due to COVID-19.
Standard 1D: The power of distributive leadership lies in a leader matching a need with their staff's skill set. In establishing the mentor program at Combs, I enlisted the expertise of our outstanding school counselor to provide a presentation at a staff meeting addressing how to build relationships with challenging students. She shared age-appropriate and practical hints to empower the staff to build the foundational relationships needed for the academic and social mentoring to be impactful. Distributing leadership not only expands staff capacity, but also provides individuals the opportunity to advance to the distinguished designation on their NCEES evaluation tool. This staff member not only earned this designation but also reinforced her openness to serve as a quality resource for other staff. Such building collaboration is established and reinforced by leaders directly distributing tasks to qualified and talented staff. |
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Standards 1A, 1B, and 1D: A comprehensive plan to craft and sustain a positive school culture based on a school's mission and vision was the culminating project for ELP 595C. This plan for a fictitious elementary school includes highlighting the mission statement, the use of teacher perception data, alignment planning, memorable messaging, systematic problem solving, establishing a culture of celebration, internal communication methods, opportunities for distributed leadership, and the creation of a critical friends growth partner program. The overall natural theme represents the growth mindset culture I aspire to establish while in leadership that will spur continual positive change. Many slides also highlight connections to committees that staff could join to further distribute leadership. |