Collaborative Efforts To Establish A Positive Culture

In this chapter, Fullan begins by maintaining that principals who are effective lead learners are necessarily also good managers, because they understand that having clear routines is essential for school improvement.” (57) He quotes from Viviane Robinson’s Student-Centered Leadership to both underscore the previous point and emphasize that successful principals take an active learning stance: “The principal who makes the biggest impact on learning is the one who attends to other matters as well, but, most important, ‘participates as a learner’ with teachers in helping move the school forward.” (58) Fullan also borrows from Helen Timperley’s work in responding to the question, Who is in a principal’s class? The principal’s class consists of “team leaders who in turn can leverage the learning of other teachers in their group”

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

Change is inevitable and for any school district to be success change is necessary. My school district is constantly going through changes; curriculum changes, assessment changes, teacher evaluation changes, and more, each year it’s something different.

And although I love my career choice and my students, I feel that more educators would enjoy our schools more if we had consistency and uniformity in administration. I say this due to the lack of teachers in my current district with the gap only to spread in the coming school year. This school year began with one hundred seventeen teachers, which quickly went to one hundred by Thanksgiving. If this was not enough, many have been retiring and/or quitting after Christmas which brings our current staffing to around eighty- eight; with many not returning next year. I cannot, entirely, blame our administration for this dilemma our school now faces because selection works both ways. A lot of new teachers come out of college into “another trap that can

Effective leadership requires purpose and direction. Planning and preparation are vital when evaluating the success of the institution. The course reading states: ?As a new principal, you must assess the capacity of delivery mechanisms, facilities, and equipment before you make recommendations for enhancements? (WGU Student Portal, January 5, 2017). Attention to detail, being flexible and problem solving are at the core of school leadership. This paper will discuss two types of delivery mechanisms as it relates to learning and provide specific examples of how programs are used. Next, examine school facilities, technology and equipment, including use and specifications. Finally, discuss process improvement as it relates to the educational institution.

Creating the opportunity for school culture will captivate that inspires children to dream and support learners to be successful. When students enter the classroom to expand their learning, they deal with positive learning that has an outcome that cultivate in classrooms to the highest level when children are appreciated and respected as teachers will have a rich cultural capital for families that gives an educational environment.

As instructional leaders, we are responsible for the academic growth of our students. It is my duty to foster a culture of learning. This is best accomplished by being a lifelong learner. Rather than focusing on the instruction of the teacher to the student, an instructional leader within a culture for learning focuses on the students by asking questions such as, “What was learned? What is the evidence that my students learned?” (DuFour, Richard and Robert J. Marzano. “High-Leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership.” How Teachers Learn 66.5. (2009): 62-68) Rather than the principal observing a teacher on instructional style, within a culture of learning, that school leader is directing her observations on ascertaining what the students learned, how they learned it and how they know what to do if they have not yet learned it. In looking at the traditional method of teacher observation, if a principal finds the instruction of a teacher is lacking and helps him improve this instruction, this does not guarantee that the learning will also improve. (DuFour, Richard and Robert J. Marzano. “High-Leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership.” How Teachers Learn 66.5. (2009): 62-68) Rather, the instructional leader of the school should be asking such questions as, “What are the students doing? Are they engaged in their learning

Asking the teachers to get involved in a plan to help the students improve would help keep the teachers in the school. “Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they do” (Robbins & Judge, 2013, page 74). Having the teachers assist in the goal of wanting the children’s performance to increase will help with the psychological empowerment of the employees. Psychological empowerment is defined in the book as, “employee’s beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment.” By involving them in the decisions and the steps to achieve the goal employees will feel like they are being valued. Engaging all the employees at this point is key in this situation to try and maintain the teachers in their positions to lower the turnover. Although, it sounds that the turnover is caused by teachers leaving for schools that are not as troubled having their input could help them want to see the school and students succeed. The cons to having all the employees involved is that all will have different ideas. The more teachers there are the more difficult it is to have everyone agree on one way. All teachers will have to follow the same policies and rules as the others. Also, another issue that may arise is teachers not willing to participate in the changes to help the students

As an educational leader, I must have a vision and mission statement for the school that is known by the staff, students, and parents. The vision will address the needs of the students academically, emotionally, and socially. According to DuFour (1998), “ Those who seek to transform their school into a professional learning community as characterized by an environment fostering mutual cooperation, emotional support, personal growth, and a synergy of efforts.” The leader must implement a plan that will cultivate the success of all students. The mission will speak to the direction of the school community stating what the desire goals are. The building leader will lead by example. High expectations will be communicated and encourage by staff and students. The educational leader of a school must develop a culture of team work to create a climate that is student friendly. The vision mission and goals of the leader should be transparent. The establishment of common goals is the first step. Without common goals, sustainable progress will be impossible and thus everyone will have lower expectations. The students, parents, and staff should be commented to the goals of every child reaching their full academic potential. The school environment should speak to goal setting and high expectations for all students and staff.

The role of a principal goes far beyond academics and learning and includes ensuring a school is a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. A school must be safe. Some student come to school without their primary needs met and a plan needs to be in place to provide those students with what they need to be able to learn. Principals must make sure that there are policies and procedures in place including an effective and consistent school-wide discipline plan. An administrator must use data to decide if a Positive Behavior Support System should be implemented and be ready to train all staff in their roles and responsibilities in following that plan.

This culture appears to be effective with the some of the norms and practices of the school system. For example, in collaborative classes, it is the norm for the general education teacher to lead instructions instead of utilizing parallel or team teaching instructional

According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

Recently, the superintendent of the school decided to retire after serving eighteen years in the district. As the former superintendent, he single handedly hired nine of the fourteen building administrators, and likened himself to that of a corporate manager. He believed that the district’s success was his responsibility, and that he alone was to credit for the formation of unified administrators, and policies. Upon his retirement, the Board of Education conducted a national search to hire a new superintendent. The new hire, a former high school principal and assistant superintendent, has a very contrasting style of leadership. Her collaborative and distributive leadership styles are causing

Although PLCs require more principal direction when beginning, the level of principal leadership should be scaffolded until all members are equal participants. When staff members collaborate and “share in the responsibilities of and accountability for improving instruction for the students of the school” (Hirsh & Hord, 2008, p. 28), the benefits to both the adult and student learners are exponential. It is essential that principals remain active participants in PLCs in order to give alternative perspectives and set examples for their staff (Hirsh & Hord, 2008).

Creating an understanding and sharing of one’s culture should be facilitated by the educators of the students. Teacher’s set the tone of what is acceptable and unacceptable through classroom management, teacher-student relations, and teacher-parent relationships. We must foster a culture of united we stand divided we fall through practices such Responsive Classroom and enhanced by the concept of Cultural Responsive Classroom Management (CRCM). CRCM is classroom management based on methods to formulate a caring, respectful environment that facilitates learning—and discipline out of a sense of personal responsibility (Weinstein,