I had the pleasure of being able to shadow Superintendent Shirley Hall of the Maplewood School District. Ms. Hall took the reins of the district over in 2012 from a very popular superintendent who was credited with making great strides within the district. Although Ms. Hall had very large shoes to fill, she seems to be doing it with grace and enthusiasm. She credits the previous superintendent with making systemic changes and establishing the overall forward momentum of the district, but recognizes that she cannot rest on past success. Her goal is to take the district to the next level of educational excellence by focusing her and her administrative team's efforts on the P.E.L.P. coherence model from Harvard University. This model …show more content…
As I stated early, her philosophy of change is structured around the P.E.L.P. model from Harvard University. The acronym stands for Public Education Leadership Project and is rooted in how successful businesses have aligned their organizations and interact with all parts both within and outside of the organization. The model is similar to the Baldridge philosophy in that both take a holistic and systems approach to excellence. Both of these models are built on the concept that all parts of the organization are interrelated and interdependent. Therefore, all components must be working at optimal levels in order for the organization to be truly excellent. In order to actualize this philosophy, she has all administrators complete goal sheets. The administrative team, then, completes walkthroughs of each other's school and classrooms in order to find evidence of the goals in action. The walkthroughs are non-threatening and non-judgmental. They are intended to provide insights and feedback in a constructive, yet real way. This model is based on the book, Instructional Rounds in Education. This philosophy is rooted in the way medical students perform their rounds in a hospital and applied to the education setting. After the walkthroughs are completed, the administrative team meets to discuss, debrief and make constructive recommendations to the leader of the school. I was able to experience …show more content…
Hall does not just stop with relationship building within the school. She regularly meets with local business owners, community groups and is reaching out alumni of all ages. When asked what the major joy of her job was, she responded with building relationships. For her, getting people involved and excited about the revitalization of the district is her favorite aspect of the job. This is, also, one of her challenges. Connecting people to the success of the district is one matter, but asking them to support it financially is another. The district is growing in size and is in need of new facilities and internal academic structures to support the growth. As the district continues to grow she is challenged with ensuring that the schools continue to interact with each other and do not return to the independent silos they were when she arrived. Ms. Hall realizes that she is the internal and external face of the district. She takes that very seriously and therefore, tires to view challenges as opportunities and successes as building blocks and
Gorton, R. A., & Alston, J. A. (2012). School leadership & administration: Important concepts, case studies, & simulations. (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. [Kindle Version] (pp. 1-323).
“Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow” (Kouzes and Posner, p. 30). Over the past two years, Sunshine Elementary School has experienced an extremely high turnover rate. To reduce and improve past destruction, staff will learn to model the way by demonstrating the values set forth by myself. The values are the standard that will assist in the development of an organization filled with a variety of leadership that will create an atmosphere of a superb leadership growth school wide. Sunshine Elementary School (SES) is the pilot for this leadership development blueprint for Pflugerville Independent
The strength of the education in a community is directly responsible for how strong a community will be in the present and future, as does the efforts parents make in the learning processes of In a quote from Tom Peters, he states that “ leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” Working as a lead administrator in a building can have some powerful challenges, but as with anything, the approach is what makes the difference. A good leader will take advantage of the tools around them, knowing that every building has individuals who offer their very own strengths. In focusing on the individual teacher strengths of each specific teacher, a rapport can be built, but most importantly, the outcome will be a stronger building because of the process of spreading the wealth.
Leading organizations of school administrators offer educators various opportunities to encourage educators to become leaders. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has mandated that leaders be better prepared for the task of providing quality education to all. NCLB “… is forcing all educational stakeholders to face the weakness of contemporary school leadership and is making it impossible to ignore the need for higher quality principals” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). It is believed that all educators can be and are leaders in their own right. A leader is a visionary and has the ability to inspire others to aspire to greatness. Of the numerous opportunities that are offered, those that are most beneficial include but are not limited to leadership training programs, professional development, and creating shared leadership opportunities for teachers to become leaders. The systems “…that produce our nation’s principals are complex and interrelated – and governed by the states. Each state establishes licensing, certification and re-certification” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.1). States use the ISLLC standards “…as the framework for preparation programs and in service professional development of school superintendents, principals, and other leaders” (Hale & Moorman, 2003, p.3).
Harriet Alverez is experiencing a rough start in her new role as Assistant Superintendent of Management Services in the Wildwood Unified School District. What seemed like a great opportunity to work in both the education and business realms, has turned out to be considerably more challenging than she had expected. There are several causes of her unforeseen stress including Congress’ passage of No Child Left Behind, an inflexible and opinionated leadership cabinet, limited to no guidance, and her own inexperience. Each of these has led to a crucial juncture for Harriet in her first year in her new role.
The strategic plan for improving chronically low performing schools will utilize a leadership component, and four phases. The four phases are equivalent to the frames of Bolman and Deal. Bolman and Deal (2003) discuss four frames: Structural, Human Resource, Political, and Symbolic. They define the frames as follows: Structural- reflects a belief in rationality and a faith that th...
By sharing responsibilities of leadership, staff will collaborate, learn, and be more effective (Nappi, 2014, p. 29). Administrators are the leaders but the silent leaders that run the school at Centreville High School are the different teacher leaders and they make up as the Instructional Coach, Testing Coordinator, Cooperation Team Leads, Instructional Leadership team, School and Safety, Activities Director, and Mentors. All of these leaders make up the school and allow for a more efficient running school. Many administrators encourage teachers to take the role of leader to see the potential and allow for creativity and differences in the school and many teachers know the history of the school. The teacher leaders know their colleagues
Chad Miller, manager of Buffalo Wild Wings in Dubuque, excellently showcases leadership characteristics each time I work with him. Throughout my one and a half years working underneath him, I have witnessed many great exchanges of leadership from Chad to customers, employees, and his other managers. He remains professional, shows his passion for the sports within the restaurant, as well as the food and atmosphere, clearly communicates effectively, and has inspired many people to move up within the company. However, another great example of leadership comes from the Director of Student Life, Diversity, and Leadership of Northeast Iowa Community College, Kara Popp. She exudes professionalism, while maintaining a light atmosphere during the time I work with her. Her communication style clearly shows her passion for the school by consistently instilling excitement and enthusiasm into her audiences. As president underneath of Kara, I have transformed into a proper leader. Although my previous leadership experience, as an 18 year old manager at a McDonald’s restaurant, showed my immaturity throughout my tenure, but beca...
The school board goal is working to create an educational system where student success is inevitable and all students are cultivated to become fierce competitors in a global society. Collectively, they have the power to transform educational opportunities for our children. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? They must respond to the needs of the next generation of learners; giving them a fair chance to succeed, to compete, and to become world-class competitors. Our children deserve the best; we must stop settling for less than world-class. I feel that the board played a very important part in every child educational in there district. They must do there best to help that child to achieve their goal in society. Superintendent's is the main key communicators are a network of McComb School District residents who are interested in our schools and well-connected to the schools and/or the community. The idea is to promote a continuing exchange between key communicators and the school district. The key communicators become the eyes, ears, and mouthpiece for our
The following information was gathered during an interview with Dr. Clayton Mork from the Crescent School District. Dr. Mork shared information about his leadership style and characteristics as an administrator. This discussion assisted me in the development of a personal theory-based model of school leadership.
As a leader candidate, I can understand the challenges and multiplicity of complications that administrators must face each day. However, I will not accept any remote possibility that the students must be affected by some flaws of the school organization. We all as leaders, must be strategic with people, time, and money to guide our students towards an academic success.
Huang, T., Beachum, F. D., White, G. P., Kaimal, G., Fitzgerald, A., & Reed, P. (2012). Preparing urban school leaders: What works?. Planning & Changing, 43(1/2), 72-95.
With the passage of NCLB, many school reform efforts have been initiated using top-down model in which each school leaders have been charged with initiating bold administrative changes to address the legislation. With the number of leadership theories and models, researchers have become interested in studying those to determine which might bring forth the most significant results for leading such change. Due to the lack of highly qualified administrators and the increasing demands for administrators, Bush, O’Brien & Spangler (2005) studied a program, the Southern Tier Leadership Academy, a collaborative of the New York Education Department. The study included three separate cohorts who completed an eight month program. Whereas, Somech (2005) chose to investigate directive and participative leadership approaches, and which would more significantly impact school effectiveness. Perhaps Somech’s reflect Scherer’s (2009, p.7) understandings as described in Educational Leadership, ‘broom-wielding leadership can indeed be beneficial’ as is putting advocates into positions of power and influence and building teams, both of which are seemingly contrasting opposites.
John C. Maxwell is spot on when he says “Leadership makes a difference.” Not only does leadership make a difference, it is the difference between success and failure, especially when it comes to a school. Granted Maxwell is more of business person, his knowledge, wisdom, and experience can easily translate into any setting, especially the education field. After reading Maxwell’s book, I sat down with my mentor and discussed a few of these nuggets of Leadership Gold.
Marzano, R.J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B.A. (2005). School Leadership that Works: From Research to Results. Alexandria, VA. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.