Week Two – Part B of the Comprehensive Final Report: Summarizing Leadership Experiences in each of the SBEC Superintendent Competencies
Overview
Welcome to Week Two of your Capstone Course. As we discussed in Week One, this course will help you review and reflect on your leadership development and extensive experiences during this program. This week you will continue the development of your Comprehensive Final Report – this time reviewing your success in completing your intern plan using each Domain and Competency.
In Week One, we had you discuss your career goals and as mentioned in the lecture, we will also ask you to develop a Job Entry Plan that helps you prepare for a career move.
Learning Outcome
Ø Review your logs and activities to determine what you learned during your internship to improve your administrative skills and abilities in each of the three domains and each of the ten competency areas covered on the TExES.
Ø Understand the importance of a job entry plan
Performance Outcomes
Ø Summarize what you have learned by domain and competency area (approximately one page per competency) and on the degree to which you have mastered and/or moved toward
Mastery in each of the nine competencies (Comprehensive Final Report), post to your blog, the professor’s cohort blog, the TK20 Electronic Portfolio and comment on the blogs of two other students.
Ø Initiate the development of a Job Entry Plan for a Central Office or Superintendent position, post to your blog, the professor’s cohort blog and the TK20 Electronic Portfolio.
Rubric
Use the rubric below to guide your work.
Tasks | Accomplished The evidence suggests that this work is a “Habit of Mind.” The educator is ready to mentor others in this area. | Proficient The evidence suggests that performance on this work matches that of a strong educator. | Needs Improvement The evidence does not yet make the case for the educator being proficient at this task. | Unacceptable There is no evidence of the candidate being proficient at this task. |
Review of SBEC Competencies | Student completes a thorough description of leadership and management experiences in each of the 10 Superintendent Competencies. In writing at least one page reviewing each competency, the student clearly describes experiences corresponding to the elements in each competency. Student receives a point for providing at least one page of his or her competency description and three points for addressing all elements of the competency. 10 Points for one page descriptions (1 point for each competency) 30 Points for addressing all elements of each competency (3 points per competency). 40 Points Total | Student completes a description of leadership and management experiences in seven to nine of the 10 Superintendent Competencies. In writing at least one page reviewing each competency, the student clearly describes experiences corresponding to the elements in each competency. Student receives a point for providing at least one page of his or her competency description and three points for addressing all elements of the competency; two points for addressing most of the elements of the competency. 7 - 9 Points for one page descriptions (1 point for each competency) 14 – 27 Points for addressing elements of each competency (3 points possible per competency). 21 - 36 Points Total | Student completes a partial description of leadership and management experiences of the 10 Superintendent Competencies. In writing at least one page reviewing each competency, the student partially describes experiences corresponding to the elements in each competency. Student receives a point for providing at least one page of his or her competency description and three points for addressing all elements of the competency; two points for addressing most of the elements; and one point for addressing at least one element. 3 - 6 Points for one page descriptions (1 point for each competency) 3 - 12 Points for addressing some elements of each competency (3 points possible per competency). 6 - 18 Points Total | Student demonstrates no effort to complete this activity. 0 Points |
Job Entry Plan | Student writes a brief description of a job entry plan that addresses first day plans, first week plans, first month plans, and first year plans. Student receives 3 points for describing plans for each: First Day; First Week; First Month; First Year. 12 Points Total | Student writes a brief description of a job entry plan that addresses some of his or her first day plans, first week plans, first month plans, and first year plans. Student receives 3 points for describing plans for three of the following: First Day; First Week; First Month; First Year. 9 Points Total | Student writes a brief description of a job entry plan that partially addresses his or her first day plans, first week plans, first month plans, and first year plans. Student receives 3 points for describing plans for one or two of the following: First Day; First Week; First Month; First Year. 3 - 6 Points Total | Student does not complete any of the tasks. 0 Points |
Assignment Mechanics | Responses are relevant to course content; no errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. 3 Points | Responses are relevant to course content; few errors in grammar, spelling, or punctuation. 2 Points | Responses do not reflect knowledge of course content, lack clarity and depth, and/or include multiple errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. 1 Point |
Week One Assignment, Part 1 – Description of SBEC Superintendent Leadership Experiences by Domains and Competencies
Using your Intern Plan, your course and campus supervised logs, please prepare at least one page describing how your experiences attempted to address each of the elements of the 10 competencies. Be sure to comment on lessons learned from these extensive experiences.
Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
One of my first tasks was to develop the following interpersonal skills throughout the internship:
- Converse with others in a positive and pleasant manner
- Avoid criticizing and value diverse opinions and perspectives
- Avoid interrupting others while speaking
- Acknowledge accomplishments of others
- Promptly get back to others with concerns or needs
- Share information with others who need to know
- Accept criticism
- Avoid being defensive when challenged
This was actually the easiest area for me because I am a very positive person that is always trying to build up other people. I am like the cheerleader in most situations. I always find the positive side of things and help others to see it as well. I think the older one gets the easier it is to focus on others rather than yourself. I remember when I was younger I was always trying to get my point across. This was often times in order to impress someone else. Now I am much less focused on myself than before so I am able to see the good in others and focus on helping them through their problems.
I love acknowledging the accomplishments of others. I do what is called “A Drop in the Bucket” every day at my school. This is based on the theory of the ladle and the bucket of water. The more you add to the water the more you help build someone up. In contrast, if a bucket is empty then you can’t expect them to build up others. I model this everyday by writing drops for three staff members every day. I also have students write them each day as well. I announce these drops during morning announcements and then give them to the person that it referenced. The staff loves this and it keeps the atmosphere positive. It also teaches the students how to show gratitude towards their teachers and other adults on campus. I love when the students show gratitude towards our custodians and cafeteria workers.
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
We have had a very interesting situation in my school district since I started this program. Last school year we had a superintendent that created a culture that in my opinion had become toxic. It was most often “the blame game”. People didn’t feel comfortable asking for help, voicing their opinions or providing any kind of feedback in fear of retribution. This created a fear of even speaking with people from the central office in fear that they would find a way to blame you for doing something wrong. A feeling of job security was nonexistent. This toxicity started with the school board and flowed down from the superintendent to the assistant superintendents to the directors and on to the campuses.
This summer our school board hired a new superintendent. He seems to be a humble man that is only looking for what is best for our students. He doesn’t claim to know everything and is always asking for feedback from others. Going through this experience in changing superintendents and the climate of our school district taught me more than any book or research paper could ever teach me. Our current superintendent has found many ways to promote the vision of the school district. He speaks about it, writes about it and asks for feedback in ways to promote it.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.
And
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
One of the first challenges that our new superintendent was faced with was the dress code for the staff and the students. Our former superintendent was very passionate about having a standardized dress program for all of our students. Our high school and jr. high students had the strictest dress code with the requirements being khakis only for pants. No jeans were allowed. All shirts had to have a collar, be solid in color and have a logo smaller than the size of a quarter. The dress code loosened up a bit as the level went down. Middle school students could wear jeans but still had to wear the same type of shirt and it had to be tucked in. The elementary students could also wear jeans but had the added piece of being able to wear long shorts. There was a lot of opposition to this dress code within the community. Our new superintendent listened to the public concern and changed the dress code within the first week of his tenure. Students in K-12 can now wear jeans and don’t have to have their shirts tucked in. This created a much better environment for our schools because so much time was wasted making sure students had their shirts tucked in. The majority of the dress code violations were because of not wearing a belt and not having shirts tucked in. Since school started I have only had a few violations and they were mainly new students to the district.
He also listened to the staff member’s concerns in reference to staff dress code. Our policy used to have the requirement of women wearing panty hose with dresses. This is a very dated policy because women don’t typically wear panty hose anymore. They are out of fashion and quite uncomfortable. Last year it loosened up a little bit by taking out the panty hose requirement and allowing staff members to wear dressy Capri pants and jeans and spirit shirts on Fridays. The administrators and central office staff weren’t allowed to ever wear Capri pants or jeans. Our new superintendent listened to the staff members concerns and changed the requirement so that administrators can now wear Capri pants. We are still hoping to be able to wear jeans and spirit shirts on Fridays but that has been approved yet.
I learned through this process that it is important for a superintendent to communicate and collaborate with community members in order to respond appropriately to their needs.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.
When our new superintendent interviewed for his position in our district the board of trustees told him that their vision was to create a culture of world class schools where the focus is on higher level instruction rather than test taking strategies. The following excerpt is from our school district website:
Under the leadership of new superintendent Dr. John Kelly, Pearland ISD seeks to provide a world-class education to all students.
As the district embraces the challenges of growth in spite of reduced state funding and increased accountability standards, Kelly is focused on creating world-class schools that prepare students for success beyond the classroom.
"Such goals are not achieved overnight; in fact, they require constant attention and work. But we have very tangible potential to become the best district in all the land," he said.
He didn’t waste any time getting the school district vision and message out there to the public. He is not only sharing the vision of the district but he is also being honest about the current financial crisis. I feel that it is important to make sure that you are sharing the true picture of what is going on. Avoiding the bad situations can also create a toxic environment when the truth comes out.
When I first started this program I had a problem with avoiding the negative situations. Unfortunately, this makes a bad situation worse. I have now learned that I need to address these situations head on as soon as possible so that I can change the negative situation into a positive situation with my vision that supports all students. A perfect example of this is a situation that occurred last week. I have a Spanish teacher that is out on maternity leave and she had a long term substitute that was not meeting my classroom management expectations. I met with her many times and reiterated my expectations and relayed the parent complaints that were coming to me. I spent a lot of time in the classroom and had many conferences with her students. A few years ago I would have not done anything about this situation so quickly but now I have the philosophy that you need to take care of these types of situations carefully but quickly. I always try to pray about big decisions before I make them so I prayed about it a lot and when I made the decision last week to let her go and hire someone else with better discipline I was able to do it with confidence that it was the right thing to do. I told her that I admired how she handled the situation and that I would be happy to help her with her weak areas. I gave her a copy of my favorite discipline management book and told her to read it and let me know when she was ready to start subbing again. I told her that I would give her another chance and help her to grow in her weak areas. She was grateful for the advice and said she appreciated my honesty and my willingness to help her grow as a teacher.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
And
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
As a school principal I am very involved in the planning and implementation of plans that enhance teaching and learning on the campus level. I have always been very involved in vertical and horizontal alignment of curriculum. After being involved in this program I tweaked my principal’s expectations and “the three main things to focus on”.
- Rigor
- Student Engagement
- A Sense of Belonging
The principal’s expectations are basically a listing of what I expect from classroom management to instructional delivery. The three items above are the areas that I always emphasize. First of all if students don’t feel that they belong to the organization they won’t be able to work to their maximum potential so we create an environment where students feel like they belong to a team. We do this by dividing the students into teams and have competitions throughout the year where their team can strive to be the best. Students absolutely love this because they feel that they are part of something that is fun and exciting. We have a pep rally, hall decorating contests, academic contests and community service projects each semester. Another area of emphasis is rigor. I always emphasize that advanced classes should never be doing the exact lesson that a regular class is doing. They are capable of so much more. They need to take the lesson and stretch the thinking of the students so that they are constantly being challenged. Although I know it is vital to prepare our lower achieving students to become proficient it is also vital to meet the needs of our average and above average students by taking them beyond the status quo. The third area is student engagement. Nothing gets under my skin faster than when I visit classrooms and the students are off task or bored to tears. With the use of new technological advances there is no excuse for lessons to create passive rather than active learners.
As part of my internship and my doctorate program I completed a literature review on gifted and talented strategies. I wanted to find out if we used gifted and talented strategies for lower level learners if we would see better results. The research was very interesting and showed that all students can benefit from gifted and talented teaching strategies. In combination with the principal’s expectations and the new research on gifted and talented techniques I feel that increasing student’s expectations and training staff to teach at a higher level is vital to a successful tenure as a superintendent.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.
One of my best trips of my life was last summer when I was selected to be a part of the Harvard University Summer Leadership Program. It was sponsored by the Raise Your Hand Texas Organization. They paid for all of my travel expenses, hotel and food for ten days in Cambridge , Massachusetts
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
This is an area that I spent a lot of time on trying to increase my skills. I didn’t feel confident in my budgeting or my financial management at the district level. I am fine at the campus level but when it has to do with the entire district and responsibility for fiscal recourses I feel under confident. I met with our Chief Financial Officer several times in order to understand the funding formula and the financial crisis in Texas
In the area of technology I feel very strong. I opened a campus four years ago and had the responsibility of acquiring all of the resources needed for this new campus. I had to fight the district in order to get the newest technology but ended up winning in the long run. They didn’t feel it was wise to purchase document cameras and projectors instead of overhead projectors because the teachers didn’t know haw to use them. The great thing is that within one week of using these projectors the teachers were quite confident and certainly wouldn’t have wanted an overhead projector instead. It seems silly now to even consider buying overhead projectors.
My current technology project is figuring out how to get some online classes going at my Jr. High. I have contacted blackboard and am waiting for a response to my inquiry.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
This is also an area of weakness for me so I made sure to include three areas to work on for this competency. I examined the reports from local health and fire inspections, interviewed the transportation director, and interviewed the food service director. While examining the reports from health and fire inspections I realized how much I still had to learn. It frightens me when I think about the scope of responsibility that a superintendent has in reference to the safety of all students and staff members. There are so many things that can and have happened in school districts that threaten the safety of the students. Again, I reminded that it is the great leader that hires good people not the great leader that knows every thing. I can’t possibly learn every thing there is to know about the safety threats that can occur but I certainly can make sure that I hire the very best people for these jobs.
When I interviewed the transportation director and the food service director I realized that I was more familiar with the personnel issues, training and safety required than I thought. Throughout the years I have worked in very large districts and very small districts. It is the small districts that helped me to understand these types of things since there weren’t that many departments to divide out responsibilities.
Blog Follow-Up: We encourage you to post reflections on your above Competency Review and Description to your blog, and to read the postings of your fellow students. This will be a very valuable experience as you reflect on lessons learned during this internship.
Week One Assignment, Part 2 – Job Entry Plan
In Week One, Part 2, we asked that you identify your career and leadership goals. One of the most important skills in preparing for a career move is developing a job entry plan(s). The job entry plan should describe what goals, objectives, activities, and resources needed for you to accomplish your first day duties.
Please write a job entry plan describing the following for your
FIRST DAY – I would do surveys in order to determine the areas of weakness in the school district
FIRST WEEK – I would analyze these surveys and with district personnel create a plan that addresses the areas of weakness
FIRST MONTH – I would have a committee focused on just Public Relations that will share the great things happening in our district. I would develop a strong cabinet with central office administrators, directors and principals.
AND FIRST YEAR – I would meet with the Board of Trustees each month in order to review our plan of action and make sure that we stay focused on the plan and vision of the school district
Goal(s) to create a learning environment for students that is conducive to maximum learning by using the strengths of the board of trustees, administrators, teachers and all personnel
I would make sure that all staff members understand that we need to always value one another and their jobs
Objective(s) work with the district professionals in order to create a team that is focused on the vision of the school district in a way that all participants actively contribute to excellence
Activities addressing goals and objectives
Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives
Blog Follow-Up: Once again, we encourage you to post reflections on your Job Entry Plans to your blog, and to read the postings of your fellow students. This will be a very valuable experience as you reflect on lessons learned during your planning for moving into a new job.
Reminder regarding the parts of your Comprehensive Final Report
Part A of the Comprehensive Final Report: Career and Leadership Goals
Week Two – Part B of the Comprehensive Final Report: Summarizing Leadership Experiences in each of the SBEC Superintendent Competencies
Week Three – Part C of the Final Report: District Improvement and Recommendations
Week Four – Part D of the Final Report: Reflections on Reflective Leadership
Week Five – Part E of the Final Report: Three Year Professional Development Plan
The Educational Leadership faculty has developed a template for each candidate to develop a three year professional development plan. Based on the lessons learned during their internship, the candidates are asked to complete the following Template:
Goal | TExES Competency and Domain | Objective (What do you want to improve?) | Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?) | Professional Support (Who will help you improve?) | Date of Completion | Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?) |
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