The Role Of Instructional Leader At Napavine Jr.

Nix, S. J. (2008). Out of the Hallway, into the Classroom. Principal Leadership, 8(7), 28-31

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

For her falling test scores, Ms. Jackson should study the disaggregated data to see which groups are having the most problems and talk with her teachers about what they perceive to be reasons for failing test scores. Then she should conduct research to find out what strategies have worked in schools like her own. She can then work with teachers to tailor some of those strategies for their unique situation. She did not have to be a strong instructional leader when she began because the school performed well, but in light of the changing dynamics, she will need to work on being a stronger, visible instructional leader to improve academics.

The following information was gathered during a discussion with Dr. Clayton Mork from the Crescent School District. He shared his personal view of the role of an instructional leader. Also his view of how instructional leadership practices relate to student achievement. Dr. Mork shared two instructional leadership actions and outcomes he implemented at Crescent School District related to student achievement. Dr. Mork also explained his philosophy of curriculum development regarding involvement of teaching staff.

My belief is that the whole focus should be on the children. Their dreams and achievements. The primary focus should be on instruction, and teaching the children the right ways. Not only to learn, but to set a good example of the behavior that should be exhibited in the classroom, and beyond.

Participate as an educational leader, an equal partner, and a change agent in the curriculum development process at both the campus and district levels.

Key performance measures relative to this action plan are that our SIP will identify Marzano instructional practices on a yearly basis as a school-wide focus for implementation and/or improvement (strategy 3). Also, student growth meetings will be held each fall between school administrators and teachers and will revolve around students at risk of falling behind their peers and student sub-groups that may be collectively behind the total student population, thus closing the achievement gap (strategy 4). Building administrators will be proactive in arranging time for instructional rounds to facilitate professional growth among teachers.

The Instructional leadership team meeting took place on September 20, 2017. The people who came to the meeting were: Miss. Amber Merrick, cooperating teacher, Melba Foster, field supervisor, and Aide K Soto, teacher candidate. The meeting started with introductions and acknowledgments by Aide K Soto. Followed by reflections on teaching activities that addressed the procedures, expectations, TEKS, warm-ups, and development of lessons. Miss. Soto reflected on the differences between Pre-AP classes and regular. During the discussion about improvement areas, Miss. Soto considered the importance of learning the student’s names, becoming more observant, and applying classroom management. Miss. Soto emphasized

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

InTASC Standard #10: The teacher seeks appropriate leadership roles and opportunities to take responsibility for student learning, to collaborate with learners, families, colleagues, other school professionals, and community members to ensure learner growth, and to advance the professions.

The administrator should have an open communication with all school personnel. Administrators must communicate regularly and meaningfully with all members of the school community. They provide this leadership skill by demonstrating the commitment to academic excellence. As the instructional leader of the school, an administrator will; collaborate, provide professional development, and offer instructional support to those in need. As mandated by the district and state, the instructional leader has a duty to evaluate the teacher 's instruction and performance. Evaluations should be unprejudiced and well documented specifying both strengths and weaknesses of the teacher. As the instructional leader,

In order to choose goals for Russell Upper Elementary, I needed to take the pulse of the school. I knew that I would need the help of other teachers so I formed a leadership team. This team was comprised of myself, a fifth grade teacher, a sixth grade teacher, and the two grade level counselors. This team was formed to help RUE make school wide decisions. We decided to give teachers the Snapshot Survey of School Effectiveness Factors. The leadership team explained to staff the reasoning behind the survey so that they could understand the purpose of the data.“Substantive change initiative must be supported by both administrators and teachers”(Marzano 174) The leadership team converted the Snapshot Survey into an electronic version so we could

Administrators and teachers must work together to develop the PLC plan addressing the needs of their students. This means administrators need to trust teachers and allow them to work in a way that is autonomous from leadership. Delegating more responsibilities to staff was a way of creating a more knowledgeable community that could cope with the diversity of demands created by schools moving from being relatively simple organizations to highly complex ones. It was also recognized as in accord with the rhetoric of distributed leadership recommended as a strategy for school improvement and raising pupil attainment (Bolam et al. 2005, Webb, et al.

As an instructional leader I must look to the future. Human resources plays an integral role in this future because they initiate the hiring process, plan new teacher induction, and handle legal issues, to name a few.

Effective leaders and teachers understand how students learn, classroom designs, and teacher strategies enhance student learning. The theoretical underpinnings of successful classroom management stem from many factors to construct a learning environment. Students come into the classrooms, according to Levy (2008), with different personalities, abilities, and learning styles. Educators instruct all learners to meet the standards for their district and state. The observation of school mission will identify values, curriculum, and goals, which guide the mission statement and vision.