Standards 1 - 6 Unwrapped

While the individual teaching styles of the team were very different, it became apparent that commonality existed in terms of supporting the growth of our students. After team collaboration, we adopted the following vision statement: “We will provide a classroom climate that fosters thoughtful and respectful consideration of alternative viewpoints and ideas, personal ownership of learning, and individual construction of personally meaningful knowledge.”

The entire Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards focus on actions/ skills that leaders should be modeling in their schools, and there is not one standard that is more important than another. Leaders should be concentrating on how to make the learning environment more effective for student learning. In this essay I will give the challenges faced in that standard and the purpose of the standards and how do they impact that educational community.

Promoting student success is the founding principle of each of the Educational Leadership Constituencies Council Standards for Educational Leaders (2002). Influential educators combine their knowledge of leadership styles with personal experience in order to meet individual needs and encourage all students to achieve their potential.

ISLLC 2008 Standard 1: An education leader promotes the success of every student by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by all stakeholders.

The vision was not created in isolation by key players within the school but it was a shared vision created by all staff members. So many times educational leaders create school vision’s in isolation and then try to sell their vision to school stakeholders and it doesn’t work well. By creating the shared vision it gave each faculty member a voice in the process. The members of the staff have a sense of ownership to this vision and are more likely to believe it and live it and help sell it to the students. The community stakeholders also share in this vision because they had a voice in the process of selecting a vision for the school as well. Each school is different in student make up, staff members, school leaders, community partners and a pleather of other features but each schools vision must be learning centered with the 21st century workforce as a driving factor in its

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.

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”-Jackie Robinson As an educational leader, there are more opportunities to influence and impact others, however, there is great responsibility to ensure these will produce positive effects. As a new leader, I have spent a great deal of time analyzing and figuring out my domain of influence as well as when I have a voice to speak or act within my authority.

Educational leaders play significant roles in the modern society. Their effectiveness depends on their strengths. Primarily, it is vital having a comprehensive understanding of who is an educational

Standard 1: Effective educational leaders develop, advocate, and enact a shared mission, vision, and core values of high-quality education and academic success and well-being of each student.

plan is to improve student learning and to prepare students for the world we live in

While reading the vision statement, it mentioned that they hope to prepare learners to meet the challenges

As the leader of a 21st century school one must embody the qualities that best reflect the ever-changing face of education. Traditionally, the leader of a school focused a large portion of time and energy on typical managerial functions within the school. These tasks, although important, will not propel a school to achieve excellence. Today’s school leaders must be visionaries who create a sense of purpose driven unity. As a transformational leader, one must also be the beacon of learning in establishing and effectively cultivating professional learning communities. One must recognize and further develop the leadership skills of those within the school in order to ensure the vision and mission of the school is achieved. Keeping in

An effective leader needs to be genuine and true to the values he holds. If the leader is not honest with those he interacts with, they will not trust him for long. Being clear about values allows the leader to help establish a solid setting for the community to build upon. Strong leaders demonstrate the following values: being trustworthy, caring, focused, flexible, direct, knowledgeable, and approachable. By having a foundation that focuses on the importance of education an instructional leader can focus on clarity and purpose. Through having this clarity of focus, a leader is further prompted to be a lifelong learner (Robbins, 2009).

As I began this Leadership in Education course, I entered with an open mind and eagerness to learn about varying leadership styles and approaches. Over the years, I have fortunately been exposed to numerous genuine, caring, exceptional leaders in higher education. They all shared one commonality: student-centeredness. This has been my compass and guides me in my work. Through this course, I wanted to learn how I can better support students, whether directly or indirectly by leading other professionals and para-professionals in their work with students.

Those who learn to be instructional leaders acquire many characteristics that are beneficial to their schools and communities. The writer concurs that Instructional leaders exhibit a clear sense of direction for their schools and prioritize and focus attention on the things that really