Professional Development for School Leaders

Technical Assistance Phase 1

Self-Assessment and Plan Design

Why We Are Doing What We Are Doing? Changing Conditions

The work of schools has never been more complex and demanding and the challenges school leaders face to improve student achievement have never been greater.

Greater Expectations

As a result expectations for principals and superintendents have moved well beyond efficient management and administration.

Research on School Improvement

The key function of school leadership, to improve teaching and learning and to significantly improve student achievement can result from effective school leadership.

These changing conditions, increased expectations and research on school improvement have led to a new measurement of effective school leadership based not on skills of efficient management but on the skills of effective instructional leadership.

How will you measure up?

The new professional standards for school leaders are designed to focus our attention on understanding the changing conditions and how, as school leaders we can bring about continuous school improvement through specific actions and our own professional learning.

Leaders should be doing, and should be seen doing, that which they expect or require others to do…. Likewise leaders should

expect to have their own practice subjected to the same scrutiny others receive….

R. Elmore, Building a New Structure for School Leadership

Deepen our understanding of the New Jersey Standards for School Leaders and how they can be used for self assessment and continuous professional learning.

Relate personal professional development goals to district, school or department improvement needs.

Provide alternative tools for conducting a self-assessment and developing a preliminary draft professional growth plan.

What are we going to do today?

Think about a school leader with whom you have worked that you would consider a candidate for a school leader award. Discuss that persons qualities with a partner.

Now lets compare that individual against the New Jersey Standards for School Leaders.

The New Jersey Professional Standards for School Leaders

Standard One – Creating and Implementing a shared vision of learning.

Standard Two- Sustaining a school culture of student learning and professional growth.

Standard Three- Ensuring the management of the organization in a safe effective and efficient manner.

Standard Four- Collaborating with families and the community.

Standard Five- Acting with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner.

Standard Six- Understanding and responding to the influences of the larger political, social, legal and cultural context.

School Administrators shall be educational leaders who promote the success of all students by…

The Standards are defined by …

Knowledge- the theories, trends, principles, models and concepts a school leader should understand and be able to use.

Dispositions-what a school leader should value or believe in

Performances-what the school leader actually does.

A Framework for School Leaders: Linking the ISLLC Standards to Practice K. Hessel and J. Holloway

Ongoing Professional Learning

Three PhasesContemplatiContemplationon

CollaboratiCollaborationon

ImplementatImplementationion

ContemplatioContemplationnSteps 1,2,3Steps 1,2,3

•Assessing your individual Assessing your individual professional development professional development needs, readiness and needs, readiness and commitment.commitment.

•Assessing district, school, Assessing district, school, or department needs and or department needs and linking professional linking professional development to development to improvement objectives.improvement objectives.

•Proposing your Professional Proposing your Professional Growth Plan (PGP).Growth Plan (PGP).

STEP 1STEP 1• Assessing your Assessing your

individual individual professional professional development development needs, readiness needs, readiness and and commitment.commitment.In determining your individual professional development needs it will be useful to complete a self-assessment aligned with the New Jersey Standards for School Leaders, and to supplement the results of any self-assessment with feedback you may have received formally or informally from those with whom you work.

NJ PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL LEADERSSelf-Reflection Worksheet: Training Sample

Directions: Carefully read each indicator listed. Decide your level of agreement with each proficiency statement. Enter a brief description of your understanding of each indicator in the box you selected. Enter additional reflective comments relating to standard #1 at the end of this section.

Definition of Rating Levels:

1. Only minimal, if any, understanding or experience with the indicator.2. A moderate understanding and experience with the indicator.3. An excellent working knowledge and successful experiences with the indicator.

EXAMPLE:Standard #1

Indicator Rating Notes/EvidenceI understand what is 1 I know a little bit about systemsmeant by systems theory and I have heard oftheory. Peter Senge and his book but I have not read it. I am not

sure how systems thinking can

help me be a better school leader

Standard #1

A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship

of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community

Indicator Rating Notes/Evidence

I am committed to the inclusion ofa school vision that incorporateshigh standards of learning andcontinuous school improvement .

I understand what is meant bysystems theory and data-analysisstrategies.

I am aware of the variouscomponents of consensus buildingand negotiation.

3

3

1

I have worked with continuous school Improvement process used by MSA and trained in the Cambridge model

I teach courses for Rutgers GSEIn educational administration including systems theory, DDDM.

I am generally uncomfortable with and have limited skills in consensus building and negotiation.

Standard #1

A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship

of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community

Indicator Rating Notes/Evidence

I am able to facilitate thedevelopment of a shared visionthrough effective communicationwith stakeholders of the schoolcommunity.

I am able to facilitate theimplementation and monitoring ofa shared school vision usingappropriate strategies andevaluative resources.

1

2

It has been consistently difficult to involve community stakeholders in the school improvement process.

I have had some experience in implementing and monitoring a strategic plan based on a shared vision.

STEP 2STEP 2

• Assessing district, Assessing district, school, or school, or department Needs department Needs and linking and linking professional professional development to development to improvement improvement objectivesobjectives..

Possible Resources

• Program/school/district goals in Board-adopted strategic plans;

• Annual state-mandated goals required in district reports (i.e. QAAR, Multi-Year Equity plan, Five Year Facility plan, audit reports);

• Annual federally mandated goal setting required as part of federal funding applications (i.e. NCLB, IDEA);

• State or federally mandated review processes, monitoring or audits resulting in recommendations or corrective actions;

• Elective accreditation processes resulting in specific recommendations for improvement (i.e. Middle State, NSSE Study Evaluations, award applications)

STEP 3STEP 3• Proposing your Professional Growth Proposing your Professional Growth

Plan (PGP).Plan (PGP).

•Create a draft of your plan using one of the recommended templates.•Explain how your goal was selected and how your goals relate to program/school or district needs.•Specify activities you are proposing to be engaged in, how your goals will ultimately be measured and what benchmarks, if any, might be used to measure progress.•Include a tentative timeline and the anticipated resources that might be required to accomplish your goals.

Standard #2

A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional

program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth

Indicator Rating Notes/Evidence

I value and I am committed to thepremise that all children can learnand be contributing members ofour society.

I have a clear understanding of theprinciples of curriculum development,assessment and effective instruction.

I am able to facilitate a well articulated professionaldevelopment program that ismeaningful, job-embedded andincludes multiple opportunities.

2

2

1

Homogeneous grouping andability based pullouts reflect an underlying belief that students have different potentials.

I am unsure as to how best to provide effective instruction to diverse students

We have only 2 in-service days with single “drive-by’ workshops. workshops are not embedded. I need information on how to do this.

Standard #2

A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional

program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth

Indicator Rating Notes/EvidenceI am able to access, analyze anduse data from a variety of sourcesto make informed decisionspertaining to instruction, assessmentand both teacher and studentperformance.

I am able to nurture and sustain anenvironment that is fair, maintainshigh expectations and fosters lifelong learning among the entirelearning community.

3

2

I have had extensive training in this area along with years of experience with using data sources. The staff is deeply engaged in examining student work and test data.

The school has a supportive culture for our students; however, I need to learn how to more effectively encourage life long learning in the community.

New Jersey Professional Learning for School Leaders

Part 1 Selecting a Standard or StandardsBased on a self-assessment against the New Jersey Standards for School Leaders and other sources the following standard(s) or specific areas within the following standard(s) have been selected as the focus of my PGP:

Based on my self-assessment and reflection, I have chosen to work on Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth. In particular, I want to focus on professional development in the school (or district or department).

Part 2 District/ School/ Department LinkagesEnhancing my knowledge and skills, dispositions and performance relative to these standards relates to district/ school/ departmental improvement needs in the following ways:

Based on the professional development needs assessment survey, there are not enough professional development opportunities in our school and virtually no job embedded learning experiences..-Classroom observations do not reflect effective implementation of what professional development already exists nor best practices research.-School leaders have not had ample opportunity to participate in their own learning.-Attendance at parent workshops is minimal.

Part 3 Specific Goals and Intended OutcomesThe specific goals of my PGP and intended outcomes can be summarized briefly as follows:

I will acquire the knowledge and skills and engage in activities that will facilitate a well articulated professional development program that is meaningful, job embedded, and includes multiple opportunities for learning.

Part 3 Specific Goals and Intended OutcomesThe specific goals of my PGP and intended outcomes can be summarized briefly as follows:A. ActivitiesI will engage in the following activities and detail how each activity enhanced the achievement of my goal.

In order to meet my goal I will:1. Learn and study the NJ Professional Development Standards2. Join and participate in National Staff Development Council (NSDC) activities.3. Research and read about exemplary professional development practices (books, internet, videos, etc.).4. Identify and visit schools with exemplary professional development programs.5. Identify and interview experts in the field.6. Keep a journal of experiences and learning.7. Share my experiences and learning with the staff and work with them to develop a vision and action plan for a new professional development program that meets the requirements of my goal. 8. Develop an assessment tool that includes attitudinal, observational, and performance data.9. Provide for the resources necessary to meet the goal.10. Facilitate implementation of the goal.11. Measure/observe impact of the project.

Part 3 Specific Goals and Intended Outcomes

B. EvidenceI will document my progress in enhancing my skills and knowledge, dispositions and performance with the following artifacts and/or outcomes:

-My notes about the NJ Professional Development Standards-Records of my membership and participation in National Staff Development Council (NSDC) events-Listing of research sources and notes from my reading and viewing-List of and notes from visited schools and workshops-Record of interviews-My learning/reflection journal-Agenda and minutes from faculty, team, and committee meetings where we discussed embedded professional development and worked on plans.-The actual plan and notes/reflections on implementation.-Our assessment of the project impact.

Part 3 Specific Goals and Intended Outcomes

C. Timeline and BenchmarksImplementation of my PGP will be in accordance with the following 3-5 year activity plan and applicable benchmarks:

Year 1: Activities related to the research and development of the new PD program.Year 2:Working with staff on the planning of and initial implementation of the new programYear 3:Full implementation and evaluation of the new program.

Part 3 Specific Goals and Intended OutcomesD. ResourcesThe following resources may be necessary for the full implementation of my PGP:

The NJ Professional Development Standards (No cost)-Funds for joining and participating in NSDC events ($500)-Time to attend NSDC events (3 days)-Time for visitations to exemplary schools (5 days)-Funds for purchasing PD books, videos ($200)-Duplication of materials for staff (No additional cost)-Consultant services to assist with plan and assessment ($500)-Materials for communications ($50)

Ticket Out the Door

Using your responses to the New Jersey Professional Standards for School Leaders Self-Reflection Worksheet for Standard 1 draft a PGP based on your responses.

Next Steps

1. Walk through the self-assessment and draft PGP process yourself.

2. If practical, work with a small group with the model or models suggested today or one customized for your district’s needs.

3. Present the information you received today to those administrators in your district who will be involved in preparing their own professional growth plans.

The Department’s Website will feature useful resources and links including:

Introductory Guide

Implementation Guide to School Leader Professional Learning Initiative

The New Jersey Professional Standards for School Leaders

FAQ’s

Alternative self-assessment tools

Draft PGP Template

Links to Useful Websites

http://www.nj.gov/njded/profdev/pd/leader/Or

the NJASA and NJPSA websites