The North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards

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.

The importance of effective leadership and its impact on improving student achievement are evident in today’s schools (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom, 2004). While the school principal is traditionally thought to be the school leader, Glickman (1989) proposes that “the principal of successful schools is not the instructional leader but the educational leader who mobilizes the expertise, talent, and care of others” (p. 8). Lumpkin, Claxton, and Wilson (2014) contend that helping “each school fulfill its mission and energize and expand the professionalism and professional contributions of teachers, the expertise of all teachers, especially teacher leaders, is needed” (p. 59). Teachers directly impact student learning, and

New York State has nine characteristics of an effective leader. At a minimum a good leader should have at least four of the nine characteristics. The first and main quality, I believe is to know and understand what it takes to be a leader. In order to be successful in any role, you must know the role and understand what it entails. Furthermore you must be aware of the challenges and issues that may arise while in the positions. For example as a principal you may be required to work long and late hours. That fact may be an issue for some people depending on their family dynamic. In addition you will have to be ok with making decisions that will not please everyone. Some may have difficulty delivering bad news or not being liked. It’s important to know what you are up against, because you do not want to accept a job as educational leader and realize that it is not the job for you.

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. This quote by Tom Peters best summarizes my philosophy of teacher leadership. As a teacher leader, it is up to me to inspire, direct, and encourage others so that stronger teacher, administrative, and student leaders may be born from the process. Teacher leadership involves collaboration between teachers, administrators, and teacher leaders with the goal of positively impacting the student learning environment. With student learning as the ultimate objective, teacher leadership “becomes an indispensable avenue for school improvement” (Coggins & McGovern, 2014, p. 21). So how do I as a teacher leader begin this process? I believe that teacher leadership can be achieved through three means: modeling, mentoring, and collaborating.

As one leads with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner, they lead by modeling those values and beliefs that belong in an educational setting. They show concern and care personally for the students, staff and communities learning, behaviors, and lives. Leaders promote a culture of openness and trust. They model appropriate behavior and skills to improve learning and engage others to share in this process through collaboration.

According to Jaiana and Whitford (2011) No Child Left Behind outlined a provision to acquire teachers of high quality to deliver instruction. Likewise, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards contends the best way to improve schools and to impact student learning is to strengthen teaching. Successively, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) was established in 1987 (NBPTS, 2013). The NBPTS is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization, with a 63 member board of directors, consisting mostly of teachers. The key role of NBPTS is to improve schools by strengthening teaching through a three part mission: high and rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do, to develop and operate

Apply principals of effective teaching based on educational theory, laws, county and school policy, and ethical practice in the comprehensive

Aside from the administrative duties, educational leadership involves soliciting the cooperation and working with teachers to improve the pedagogic processes in their schools. Furthermore, this will require team effort from all the stakeholders to achieve these goals and adherences to the school’s mission and vision.

There have been several times where I have shown leadership here at Saint Viator. I have been a part of Service and Song every summer, where I have lead 6th through 8th graders who are interested in helping others, and dedicated in bettering our community. Every year I have been a group leader, leading them through our service trips, leading them through group discussions, and leading icebreakers. When doing this I made sure to get everyone involved and make everyone feel comfortable with each other. I also had the honor of really getting to know the kids who will one day be walking through our halls. For me being, a leader means always doing the right thing and inspiring others. Another time I have shown leadership is when I didn’t have a

Both the NAEYC and the Pennsylvania’s Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators have copious amounts of information about regulations and standards that educators must uphold in the classroom. Both of these documents are important for educators to read and understand because these regulations must be maintained in and out of the classroom. Many of the topics covered in both the NAEYC and the Pennsylvania’s Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators cover material that give guidelines for daily issues and practices in the classroom.

Since its development in 1994 the standards of Educational Leadership have pursued promoting an understanding on what is expected from the educational administration field.1 The goal of this paper is to present a personal appraisal of a connection between the ELCC standards and my own experiences in district leadership and a reflection on my professional practice of the standards. It is implicit that an educational leader should promote the success of every student by advocating and effectively implementing the 6 standards of Educational Leadership. 2

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

Professional Standards: High-level, broad guidelines that describe what any school leader needs to know and be able to

Over the years, I have worn many educator hats such as a Director of Resource, classroom teacher, Head Start teacher, special’s teacher, and as a teacher’s aide. My leadership experiences have not been ones in an administrative role, but I have had leadership experiences both informal and formal in nature. My years as a professional educator with a Virginia Collegiate Professional license has allowed me to teach in public settings as well as Catholic schools, at many different grade levels and for me, all of those experiences have influenced my leadership skills.

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