Reflections of EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability

In the first week of EDLD 5333, part of our assignment was to create a personal vision for leadership. My vision was: through an ongoing process of listening to those more experienced, collaborating with peers and contemporaries, learning from those with different interests, and empathizing with the less fortunate, I will become the leader who others seek out for advice, for companionship, and for a trusted voice who is not afraid to make a difficult decision and see it through to completion.

In order to prepare this vision, another part of the assignment involved determining steps for a shared vision. Paterson's steps - collaborate, determine keywords and mutual understanding (2005) - provided me with guiding tools to help me concretely define what my vision is for leadership. This process can easily become bogged down, and it is easy to lose focus on the ultimate statement. By using these sites, it makes the process of creating a viable, relevant and concise vision statement much easier. I've had to write goals and visions in the past for previous careers and classes, and it was always painful. Refering to how Paterson's steps kept the process on track...I would have greatly benefitted from having these steps in past experiences.

Week two of this class dealt with analyzing data such as TAKS scores and AEIS reports. I would encourage all staff to delve into the data for their appropriate grade level. Teachers need to understand which segments of their students are grasping the material to allow for additional instruction time or differentiated instruction for those groups (Heritage, 2005). I would also encourage teachers to become familiar with similar campus results from around Texas to help students understand that there are other students in their similar situations who either are, or are not, performing the tasks to the standards that they themselves are being asked to do. Finally I would encourage teachers to familiarize themselves with the data so they could then authoritatively present it to the parents in their respective grade levels. Teachers, more often than administrators, have one-on-one opportunities with parents and would be the district's best resource for presenting school AEIS data to parents.

Week 3 was particularly in-depth for this course. Part of the assignment was to choose three strategies or activities, particularly one that addresses professional development. Using the strategy outlined in Developing Successful Thinkers, I would have teachers take the grade 8 science TAKS released test. Using the district’s curriculum system and benchmark tests, administrators and teachers will then disaggregate data and meet to collectively discuss areas of strength and weakness for individual teachers, and what they perceive as strengths and weaknesses among their students. A two-week science review will be conducted prior to TAKS. Grade 8 teachers will rotate through each other’s classrooms teaching their strongest TEKS concept (2005). Often we hear teachers and administrators remark at how difficult the state standardized tests are, and they often challenge those outside education to take a TAKS sample test. I would challenge teachers to do the same thing in order to develop a more efficient process for teaching. By taking the test, I believe that teachers could develop a way to integrate more than just "teaching to the test" topics into class.

In week 4, we discussed professional learning communities. Professional learning communities contribute to on-going professional development. Teachers and administrators who find it difficult to pull teachers from the classroom for organized professional development sessions can implement peer-lead learning communities in order to supplement organized professional development. Teachers in similar assignments can provide each other with the most focused and relevant discussions. Likewise, teachers linked either through assignment or geography can more easily share relevant best-practices for improving situations in their classrooms.

Formative assessments, and the sharing of the subsequent data among peer-lead learning communities, will provide a structure for the community to support the on-going professional development that the assessment data provides. Also, formative assessments can provide benchmarks for the classroom teacher to chart the progress of implementing practices learned through their campus- or assignment-based learning communities.

In week 5, I had the opportunity to conduct an interview of the principal of the middle school I had studied in the previous four weeks, as well as a teacher at that school.
Principal Angie Gaylord and Social Studies Department Chair Scott Shelby regarding Crockett’s Campus Improvement Committee (CIC).

Shelby offered a very important insight into how the CIC evaluates the extent to which their recommendations are implemented in the classroom. He said recommendations of the CIC are monitored by Professional Development and Appraisal System (PDAS) evaluators (vice principals, district coordinators, etc) and by department chairs. Teachers have the opportunity to submit items forward to the CIC by bringing recommendations to Gaylord, and Shelby said that teachers are given ample opportunity to voice concerns to the campus leadership team, administration, or CIC.

Gaylord said that as principal she chairs the meetings, which are one-hour long and conducted five times per year. I was surprised at how few meetings where scheduled, however Gaylord and Shelby both agreed that the CIC tends to operate very well as a team, with the overriding goal of improving the campus for its students. When conflict does arise, Gaylord said the group tends to talk through the issue to create win-win scenarios. She said members of the group use common sense and ultimately “everything goes back to students and their success.” Both Gaylord and Shelby agreed that though there are time-frames to the meetings, members will remain at a topic as long as is necessary to reach a conclusion or solution.

As Martha Richardson described in Consensus Leadership, Gaylord outlined that though the CIC process is more time-consuming and complex, consensus building is the optimal method for resolving educational policies and issues because it allows for the incorporation of the varied knowledge and experience of all committee members (Richardson, 2005).

The concepts of consensus buidling for decision making challenges my sense of "mission accomplishment". I always feel as though the person in charge should be the person in charge. Those who support that person are definitely welcome to provide input; as a matter of fact, it should be part of their job. However once the leader has received all of that input, I have always felt they are then charged with making a decision. As Richardson describes above, the principal would be best served by operating by consensus. Yes, this leadership option allows for incorporation of varied experience. However how often does a principal really have time to lead by consensus? In the future I would like to investigate how many school principals truly operate by consensus, and how effective that style is, versus how many operate in some adaptation of consensus leadership, and that method's effectiveness.

Peterson, K. (1995). Critical Issue:Building a Collective Vision, North Central Regional Educational Library. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le100.htm

Heritage, M., & Chen, M. H. (2005). Why data skills matter in school improvement. Phi
Delta Kappan, 86(9), 707-710.

Developing Successful Thinkers. (2005-2006) http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/bestprac/bpc_instruction.html

Richardson, M. (2005). Consensus leadership, Principal Leadership, 6(4), 32-35