Standard 2: Developing a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
An education leader promotes the success of every student by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Principal as an instructional leader
An effective principal understands their limitations and builds capacity in everyone around them by giving them opportunities to use their talents and expertice for the good of the whole. An effective principal cares deeply about student learning, and is passionate about education. They are willing to put in extra time to help students and teachers succeed. An effective principal realizes that the most effective way to increase student achievement is in their role as an instructional facilitator. They put in time observing and working with teachers to help them improve their instruction. They guide teachers in setting goals and professional growth plans that will have great impact on student achievement. Principals must be open and honest, act fairly, set the tone of positivite culture, create a safe and clean learning environment, celebrate success, communicate clearly with all stakeholders, and help everyone focus their efforts on school mission, vision and goals.
Building a Healthy School Culture
Using Data in the instruction Process
It is imperative to use data in the decision making process so that one makes the correct decisions. Gathering data even in the form of thoughts and opinions of ones community, parents, and staff can greatly help a school leader to understand if they are taking their school in the right direction. Data drives remedial programs but an administrator must not loose sight of their top priorities.
School priorities should be established on sound moral judgement in conjunction with research and best practice and the needs of the students and community. If we look at Moslows hierarchy of needs a school must help feel in gaps so students can have their basic needs met such as food, shelter, and sleep. Once basic needs are met a school must have the following priorities…
1. Safety – A school must be a safe place free from harm or bullying
2. Love & Belonging – Students must feel like they are important.
3. Esteem – A school must be a place where success is celebrated
4. Self-Actualization – This all leads students to being able to fulfill their potential.
As a principle I will talk about this with my staff and how important it is for us to build student’s growth mindset so they understand the correlation between their effort and their growth. We will model lifelong learning so our students become lifelong learners and prioritize based on sound principles of success.
Building a Healthy School Culture
“Culture pervades people’s minds and forms their model for perceiving, relating, and interpreting their management, their work, and their selves. The professional lives within a school culture derive importance, meaning, identity, and belongingness from this culture” (Hackmann, Oliver, & Tracy, pg. 63). A healthy school culture is one that empowers everyone to succeed. It is a culture of lifelong learning, growth, improvement, change, high expectations, dignity, and respect. Although each school culture will be different, a healthy school culture brings “meaning, passion, and purpose” to all that administrators, teachers, and students do (pg. 62). In a successful school with a healthy culture, contributions are valued, and accomplishments are recognized and celebrated (pg. 63); there is a strong commitment to the learning of each student, and everyone works together for the success of the school.
There are several strategies that can be used to improve a schools culture. First of all one must look deeply at what the culture is and plan where it needs to improve. A school must have a mission that focuses on student and teacher learning, and create a sense of purpose by building rich history and traditions. Everyone must evaluate their assumptions of students, and their ability to learn and grow. There must be a strong professional community that builds on knowledge, experience and research to improve practice. There must be shared leadership, good communication, rituals and ceremonies that reinforce the culture and values, a physical environment that brings pride and joy, and a strong sense of respect for everyone (pg. 63-64).
I guess the best strategy of all is to assure everyone feels appreciated, important, and respected. A great culture building exercise for staff could be as informal as a barbeque or get together where everyone can talk and get to know each other better, but some schools seem to have their clicks and groups within their staff. A better strategy would be to plan activities with staff during professional development days where staff members work in groups on fun projects with other teachers they don’t know very well. I firmly believe that respect comes naturally as one gets to know their coworkers. It is hard to dislike someone when you know them and come to understand them.
A school leader helps build culture by supporting strong instructional programs within his/her school. They must assure that teachers are planning their lessons well because “in a healthy classroom, what is taught and learned is relevant to students; it seems personal, familiar, connected to the world they know” (pg. 66). It is then their duty to support a positive environment by emphasizing success rather than failure. It is also their responsibility to assess teachers, and to review the data that shows what learning is taking place. As school administrators make students their priority they assure students are first in the minds of their teachers. They constantly ask, how will this benefit our students? Said schools focus on student learning, so staff development has that same goal in mind, and the whole school grows. I know that a school leader can greatly impact their school culture, and change it for the better through their day-to-day positive and uplifting example of holding all stakeholders accountable for student learning. But they can also be purposeful in planning their improved culture of success. In this aim, we are never finished and can ever grow.
Hackmann, D., Oliver, D., & Tracy, J. (2002). The standards-based administrative internship: Putting the ISLLC standards into practice . Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.
My Reflections with Standard 2
My most memorable experience in the month of November was getting the opportunity to attend the mountain states educational leadership conference. This opportunity was beneficial to me in my learning in so many ways. I was able to meet and build relationships with many principals throughout Wyoming and North and South Dakota. They were able to share a lot of advice and experience with me, as were the many presenters. I learned things that will help me in each domain/standard as a principal. I learned leadership skills, ways to effectively manage my time and busy schedule, principals of effective staff development, ways to create mentoring programs, how to give effective feedback, and a ton about using technology as an administrator and creating a culture of success. I know that the info I learned at this conference will help me now as I prepare to be a principal, and in the future. I loved the personal stories that were shared about other principal’s experiences, and what worked and didn’t work for them, and I also learned from panel discussions where we could share what we had learned.
With regards to standard 2, my favorite presenter talked about effective principals: from ideas to results. He taught me that others will judge my performance by three things; my judgment, treatment of others, and my results. After the conference I know so much more about how vitally important it is to treat everyone with respect so I can advocate, nurture, and sustain a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
The second activity that I am continuing to participate in is the creation of a school induction and mentor-ship plan. I am heading this committee, and we met twice in the month of November to work on these plans. Our induction plan is very complete and just about finished. We are now working on our purpose and overall goals for our mentoring program. We feel this is a big need in our school so we can fully support the growth and development of our new teachers so they can become excellent teachers. We are throwing around the ideas of stipends, how long it will go, how to chose the mentors, ect. This process has been very valuable, because good school should have a program in place that gives new teachers places to turn so they can grow and develop in their first few years. Ever since I have been teaching I have felt almost on my own, which for me is ok, but I would love to have someone observing me telling me how to improve. Most teacher want to be good teacher, and we just need some guidance. I learned that as one is prepared a group will listen and follow.
One more experience that I want to share is with regards to goal #1 on my PIP. I created a plan to accomplish this goal and presented it to my principal, and my idea was shot down. I guess I will need to approach the goal in a new angle. I will keep working hard and doing my best.
An effective principal understands their limitations and builds capacity in everyone around them by giving them opportunities to use their talents and expertice for the good of the whole. An effective principal cares deeply about student learning, and is passionate about education. They are willing to put in extra time to help students and teachers succeed. An effective principal realizes that the most effective way to increase student achievement is in their role as an instructional facilitator. They put in time observing and working with teachers to help them improve their instruction. They guide teachers in setting goals and professional growth plans that will have great impact on student achievement. Principals must be open and honest, act fairly, set the tone of positivite culture, create a safe and clean learning environment, celebrate success, communicate clearly with all stakeholders, and help everyone focus their efforts on school mission, vision and goals.
Building a Healthy School Culture
Using Data in the instruction Process
It is imperative to use data in the decision making process so that one makes the correct decisions. Gathering data even in the form of thoughts and opinions of ones community, parents, and staff can greatly help a school leader to understand if they are taking their school in the right direction. Data drives remedial programs but an administrator must not loose sight of their top priorities.
School priorities should be established on sound moral judgement in conjunction with research and best practice and the needs of the students and community. If we look at Moslows hierarchy of needs a school must help feel in gaps so students can have their basic needs met such as food, shelter, and sleep. Once basic needs are met a school must have the following priorities…
1. Safety – A school must be a safe place free from harm or bullying
2. Love & Belonging – Students must feel like they are important.
3. Esteem – A school must be a place where success is celebrated
4. Self-Actualization – This all leads students to being able to fulfill their potential.
As a principle I will talk about this with my staff and how important it is for us to build student’s growth mindset so they understand the correlation between their effort and their growth. We will model lifelong learning so our students become lifelong learners and prioritize based on sound principles of success.
Building a Healthy School Culture
“Culture pervades people’s minds and forms their model for perceiving, relating, and interpreting their management, their work, and their selves. The professional lives within a school culture derive importance, meaning, identity, and belongingness from this culture” (Hackmann, Oliver, & Tracy, pg. 63). A healthy school culture is one that empowers everyone to succeed. It is a culture of lifelong learning, growth, improvement, change, high expectations, dignity, and respect. Although each school culture will be different, a healthy school culture brings “meaning, passion, and purpose” to all that administrators, teachers, and students do (pg. 62). In a successful school with a healthy culture, contributions are valued, and accomplishments are recognized and celebrated (pg. 63); there is a strong commitment to the learning of each student, and everyone works together for the success of the school.
There are several strategies that can be used to improve a schools culture. First of all one must look deeply at what the culture is and plan where it needs to improve. A school must have a mission that focuses on student and teacher learning, and create a sense of purpose by building rich history and traditions. Everyone must evaluate their assumptions of students, and their ability to learn and grow. There must be a strong professional community that builds on knowledge, experience and research to improve practice. There must be shared leadership, good communication, rituals and ceremonies that reinforce the culture and values, a physical environment that brings pride and joy, and a strong sense of respect for everyone (pg. 63-64).
I guess the best strategy of all is to assure everyone feels appreciated, important, and respected. A great culture building exercise for staff could be as informal as a barbeque or get together where everyone can talk and get to know each other better, but some schools seem to have their clicks and groups within their staff. A better strategy would be to plan activities with staff during professional development days where staff members work in groups on fun projects with other teachers they don’t know very well. I firmly believe that respect comes naturally as one gets to know their coworkers. It is hard to dislike someone when you know them and come to understand them.
A school leader helps build culture by supporting strong instructional programs within his/her school. They must assure that teachers are planning their lessons well because “in a healthy classroom, what is taught and learned is relevant to students; it seems personal, familiar, connected to the world they know” (pg. 66). It is then their duty to support a positive environment by emphasizing success rather than failure. It is also their responsibility to assess teachers, and to review the data that shows what learning is taking place. As school administrators make students their priority they assure students are first in the minds of their teachers. They constantly ask, how will this benefit our students? Said schools focus on student learning, so staff development has that same goal in mind, and the whole school grows. I know that a school leader can greatly impact their school culture, and change it for the better through their day-to-day positive and uplifting example of holding all stakeholders accountable for student learning. But they can also be purposeful in planning their improved culture of success. In this aim, we are never finished and can ever grow.
Hackmann, D., Oliver, D., & Tracy, J. (2002). The standards-based administrative internship: Putting the ISLLC standards into practice . Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press.
My Reflections with Standard 2
My most memorable experience in the month of November was getting the opportunity to attend the mountain states educational leadership conference. This opportunity was beneficial to me in my learning in so many ways. I was able to meet and build relationships with many principals throughout Wyoming and North and South Dakota. They were able to share a lot of advice and experience with me, as were the many presenters. I learned things that will help me in each domain/standard as a principal. I learned leadership skills, ways to effectively manage my time and busy schedule, principals of effective staff development, ways to create mentoring programs, how to give effective feedback, and a ton about using technology as an administrator and creating a culture of success. I know that the info I learned at this conference will help me now as I prepare to be a principal, and in the future. I loved the personal stories that were shared about other principal’s experiences, and what worked and didn’t work for them, and I also learned from panel discussions where we could share what we had learned.
With regards to standard 2, my favorite presenter talked about effective principals: from ideas to results. He taught me that others will judge my performance by three things; my judgment, treatment of others, and my results. After the conference I know so much more about how vitally important it is to treat everyone with respect so I can advocate, nurture, and sustain a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
The second activity that I am continuing to participate in is the creation of a school induction and mentor-ship plan. I am heading this committee, and we met twice in the month of November to work on these plans. Our induction plan is very complete and just about finished. We are now working on our purpose and overall goals for our mentoring program. We feel this is a big need in our school so we can fully support the growth and development of our new teachers so they can become excellent teachers. We are throwing around the ideas of stipends, how long it will go, how to chose the mentors, ect. This process has been very valuable, because good school should have a program in place that gives new teachers places to turn so they can grow and develop in their first few years. Ever since I have been teaching I have felt almost on my own, which for me is ok, but I would love to have someone observing me telling me how to improve. Most teacher want to be good teacher, and we just need some guidance. I learned that as one is prepared a group will listen and follow.
One more experience that I want to share is with regards to goal #1 on my PIP. I created a plan to accomplish this goal and presented it to my principal, and my idea was shot down. I guess I will need to approach the goal in a new angle. I will keep working hard and doing my best.