Collaborative Learning Plan

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

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”

A principal should be a leader of the school and of the community. This role includes many responsibilities but few as demanding as supervision. Ultimately the principal is responsible for supervision of the students, the entire staff, the physical school, and all school events. These

According to former Indiana state superintendent of schools Dr. Suellen Reed, “We know from our research that there’s no turnaround school without a turnaround principal” (as cited in Gammil, 2007, para. 2), further supporting the fact that “school leaders have an essential role in cultivating a positive school culture in public schools” (Peterson and Deal, 2002, p.30). However, it is imperative to improve our understanding as to how principal leadership impacts the school culture in high poverty schools to ensure that all children receive a quality education, regardless of zip code, in an environment conducive to learning. The six measured factors are as follows:

The second quality of an effective leader is to have a vision. The vision should also include the schools missions, purpose and goals. The principal should be progressive and constantly looking for ways to keep the staff and students motivated to work towards a common goal. As an effective leader you must continuously promote the vision. This could be done with a school created slogan that fits the community. Most people want to belong and feel a part of something successful or on the path to greatness. It is a wonderful feeling to be a member of a successful school community where people really

The watching of the videos “The Principal Story” and “North Grand” in combination with reading the textbook “Leading in a Culture of Change” by Michael Fullan and our class discussions have provided me with many insights about my future as a high school principal. I have served as a mathematics teacher for almost twenty-three years and have served in many leadership roles throughout my career, however my participation in this course has verified that, although I have a strong foundation of knowledge, I still have much to learn about leading a school. I am coming to understand the position of principal is a monumental task and should be entered with into with much thought. Holding this role as principal requires that I use this position to

Number of studies have asserted that teaching experience of principal positively associates with his/her instructional leadership (Eberts & Stone, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Hallinger, 1983; Leithwood et al., 1990). Studies have identified personal values of principal to indirectly shape his/her attention to varying aspects of educational programs (Barth, 1980, 1990; Cuban, 1988; Glasman, 1984; Leithwood et al., 1990, 1992). “Research on effects of principal leadership on student learning draws its conceptual lineage more directly from research on school effectiveness and school improvement.” (Hallinger, Bickman and Davis,

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.

I think and every successful teacher will agree with me that promoting the success of every student is the main value of any educational professional and it is very important for a leader to demonstrate these traits. What is leadership? Some people think that it is good to be a boss and it is easy to rule any organization. Leadership is more than just to rule any organization. It is the development of a practice around a mission or vision and an ability to inspire others to do the same. There are three sets of practices make up this basic core of successful leadership practices: setting directions, developing people and redesigning the organization. Foster (1989) says, “Leadership differs from conventional administration in much the same way that education differs from training (p.10).” This speaks to results- to the why of teaching. And the value of a leader can be determined by their results. If their aim is high-quality education (an admittedly vague term), academic success, and well-being of each student then this is the standard by which they should be judged. Burns admonishes that “power and leadership are measured by the degree of

A solid school vision statement and its accompanying goals should reflect the culture of a school and provide for improvement in the school’s instructional program, and professional development to improve student learning (ELCC 2). The meta-analysis work of Marzano, Waters and McNulty (2005) discovered the importance of each of these dimensions in relationship to school principals and the successful school environment. Furthermore, principals’ skill in each of these dimensions has demonstrated a positive correlation to student achievement (Marzano et al.).

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).

In a well-researched and scholarly book, Doctors Joesph and Jo Blase accomplish two tasks: outlining how principals should apply instructional leadership skills while performing their jobs, and describing how principals should maintain positive relationships with their teachers while still effectively leading. As well published, credentialed authors in the field of educational leadership, the both of the Blases serve as credible sources on the topic. To accomplish their desired tasks, the authors divide the book into brief chapters that each explain either an attribute of instructional leadership or a method for maintaining positive principal-teacher relations. According to the authors themselves, the book’s shows “what successful instructional leaders do to enhance teaching and learning and the effects that their behaviors have on teachers’ performance and well-being” (xiii). Through the authors’ careful organization of research, use of primary sources, and use of secondary sources, the book accomplishes this goal.

The author has designed the personal learning plan around the diagnosis of his learning needs, statement of specific learning objectives, learning resources and strategies, evidence of accomplishment, how the evidence will be validated, and how the learning will be evaluated. I will concentrate on the five disciplines: Systems Thinking, Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Visions, and Team Learning introduced by Peter M. Senge. This will allow me to expand my leadership abilities at my current job as well as jobs that I may hold in the future. What distinguishes leaders is the clarity and persuasiveness of their ideas, the depth of their commitment, and the extent of their openness to continually learning

The principal must have knowledge and understanding of effective communication strategies when collaborating with staff, educators, and students (O 'Connor & Jackson, 2017). The teacher’s morale is ultimately impacted by the principal 's open-line of communication; therefore, the school environment affects how the principal is perceived by the teachers and staff morale can influence student learning. However, the principal should focus on developing a collaborative relationship among the teachers, which foster new ways of exchanging view points and ideas (Whyte & Karabon, 2016). The principal plays a major role in how effective the vision or goals are followed by subordinates. In other words, how the perception of the principal ethical and values are aligned with the teachers. Hence, collaboration in schools is, the result of teachers and principals working together for the end results, which are student’s high achievement in learning. When the skillful principals and the sagacious educators “walk the talk” effective leadership and the strategic guidance is a must in the collaborative community of succeed.

Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers