Standard 4 - Human Resource Leadership
Principals will ensure that the school is a professional learning community. Principals will ensure that process and systems are in place which results in recruitment, induction, support, evaluation, development and retention of high performing staff. The principal must engage and empower accomplished teachers in a distributive manner, including support of teachers in day-to-day decisions such as discipline, communication with parents/guardians, and protecting teachers from duties that interfere with teaching, and must practice fair and consistent evaluations of teachers. The principal must engage teachers and other professional staff in conversations to plan their career paths and support district succession planning.
Element IVa. Professional Development/Learning Communities: The principal ensures that the school is a professional learning community.
At Neal, I collaborated with the Instructional Leadership Team in order to create a manual for PLCs to use as a resource. This manual served as a resource for the norms, structures, goals, and other valuable documents that would help our PLCs become more effective in order to perpetuate student achievement. Teachers had the autonomy to create their own norms, goals, and structures for the their PLCs as well as delegate responsibilities throughout the PLC. PLCs have found that this manual has helped to regularly guide their work. Through the use of these manuals, the leadership team was able to quickly identify PLCs which were more in need of support and provide that support as needed.
Element IVb. Recruiting, Hiring, Placing and Mentoring of staff: The principal establishes processes and systems in order to ensure a high-quality, high-performing staff.
At Neal, I collaborated with the Beginning Teacher Coordinators in order to provide new teachers with the mentoring that they needed front loaded at the beginning of the year in order to be successful throughout the year. Additionally, at both Neal and Bethesda, I have served on the interview committees during the hiring process. Beginning this year teachers at both Neal and Bethesda have access to online staff handbooks that also support in knowing the expectations for all staff members. Clear communication is a key system in order to ensure that all staff members have the essential knowledge in order to be highly successful. Additionally, I worked together with our Technology Facilitator and Testing Coordinator at Neal in order to provide professional development pertaining to using technology tools as a means for formative assessment. Below you will find examples of documentation for each of these.
Element IVc. Teacher and Staff Evaluation: The principal evaluates teachers and other staff in a fair and equitable manner with the focus on improving performance and, thus, student achievement.
At Neal, in collaboration with the Instructional Leadership Team, we created a set of Peer Observation How-To's that ensure that evaluations are fair and equitable. Additionally, I created a schedule of evaluations at both Neal and Bethesda that ensures that each teacher is receiving an evaluation from at least 2 different administrators in addition to their peer observation. Additionally, I love the opportunity to be in teacher's classroom and provide informal feedback. Below are examples of artifacts pertaining to these areas. As a member of Bethesda's Instructional Leadership Team, we also created the Walkthrough tools below in order to help us identify strengths, areas for improvements, and promote inquiry through dialogue.
Coursework
Distinguished Leadership in Practice with NCPAPA
Problem of Practice
Professional Development and Specialized Trainings
Crucial Conversations
Crucial Accountability
Readings
on common ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities (DuFour)
Reframing Organizations (Bolman & Deal)
Distinguished Leadership in Practice with NCPAPA
Problem of Practice
Professional Development and Specialized Trainings
Crucial Conversations
Crucial Accountability
Readings
on common ground: The Power of Professional Learning Communities (DuFour)
Reframing Organizations (Bolman & Deal)