Transcript Educational Administration Program

THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLABORATIVE DISTRICT
LEADERS:
PERFORMANCE ON PA AND NATIONAL LEADERSHIP STANDARDS
Superintendent Certification, Ed.D. Program Concentration
School of Education, Goodwin College
Drexel University
What kind of leader is needed in today’s school districts?
Leaders who can transform schools:
 around a consensus vision for students’ 21st century learning
 and can establish a learning/collaborative culture throughout the
school and community.
Drexel’s Educational Leadership Program
How does Drexel’s School
of Education develop
transformational leaders?
With a Leadership Standards Framework
National Leadership
Standards
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Vision
School Culture
Management
School/Community
Ethics, Integrity
Wider Contexts
Internship
National and State Standards Framework
 In the Drexel Program, students must perform on the
national leadership standards (ISLLC, ELCC).
Aspiring leaders in PA must perform on the PA Leadership
Standards (PIL)
 What is the alignment of the PA Leadership Standards to
the National Leadership Standards?
The alignment of PA Leadership Standards to the
National
Standards
 Vision
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The leader ..creates an organizational vision around personalized
student success.
The leader is the architect of standards-based reform in the school.
The leader uses appropriate data to inform decision-making at all
levels of the system.
 School Culture
•
The leader creates a culture of teaching and learning with an
emphasis on learning.
 Management
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The leader manage resources for effective results.
The alignment of PA Leadership Standards to the
National Standards
School/Community/Parents
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The leader collaborates, communicates, engages and empowers others inside and
outside of the organization - to pursue excellence in learning.
Ethics, Integrity
•
The leader operates in a fair and equitable manner with personal and professional
dignity.
Wider Contexts
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The leader advocates for students in the larger political, social, economic, legal and
cultural contexts.
Internship
•
The leader supports professional growth of self and others through practice and
inquiry.
Leadership Standards Framework
How does using a Leadership Standards
Framework create
a transformational school district leader?
A Comparison
The answer to this question can be seen in a
comparison between a leader who does not use a
standards framework (traditional) and one who does
(transformative).
Traditional Educator Leadership Model
A more traditional model that does not use a
standards’ framework for leadership
often uses “management” as its core organizing
principle.
Results of using a traditional model
Though it is necessary to manage an organization well,
constant rapid change and external accountability
requirements (such as NCLB), can result in a feeling
of being over-whelmed by events outside of one’s
control.
Results of using a traditional leadership model
 If one places this traditional leadership model within the
standards framework, one sees the use of the Management
Standard as the basis for organization and control.
 The other standards of: school district culture, vision,
ethics, parents/community, wider networks and lifelong
professional growth, are addressed
through the Management Standard.
Traditional Leadership
viewed within a Standards Framework
Management
Vision
School
Culture
Parents/ Ethics Wider Internship
Community
Contexts
What happens when the standards framework
is used?
Two things happen.
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First, the Vision Standard (which describes a
district and community’s plan for students’ 21st
Century learning/performance)
becomes the organizing and sustaining principle
through which the school’s mission gets accomplished
and evaluated.
What happens when the standards framework is used?
Secondly, a district culture of learning, is
established to support the work.
Standards Framework
The school district
becomes a
learning organization.
Transformational District Leadership
Standards Framework
Vision
School Mgt Parents/ Ethics Wider Internship
Culture
Community
Contexts
Vision/
Mission
Constant Change is the Norm
 How will district leaders respond to change?
 In the traditional model, change is incremental and
often done in a crisis mode as a reaction to an outside
event.
 In the transformational model, leaders facilitate and
manage change as they serve the district’s vision.

This is called, “2nd order change.” It transforms the
entire organization.
PIL Standards
 Standard 1
VISION
•
The leader ..creates an organizational vision around
personalized student success.
•
The leader is the architect of standards-based reform
in the school.
•
The leader focuses on school improvement and acts as
an agent of school reform.
Example of a district leader facilitating a
consensus vision/mission
 Arne Duncan, former Superintendent of Chicago
Public Schools, now Secretary of Education
Mr. Duncan testifies at an Education and Labor Committee hearing
concerning mayor and superintendent partnerships in education on
July 17, 2008 about his district’s vision for 21st Century learning
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1mlSGUaRE&NR
=1
 A vision of 21st Century Learning
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AZVCjfWf8&feature=fvw
Standard 2: School Culture and Student
Learning
The School Culture Standard has two parts:
1.
Establishing a learning culture to support the school’s
vision of students’ 21st Century learning goals --
Standard 2: School Culture and Student Learning
And secondly,
Providing needed resources, commitment and time for
learning, collaborative work and building leadership
capacity throughout the system.
Standard 2: School Culture and Student Learning
 New York Chancellor, Joel Klein, explains how important school
cultures are in shaping high expectations for both staff and
students. This happens through staff-wide instructional
leadership.
 http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/instructional.html
 Click on “A Culture of Success”
Additional views on building a culture of learning
and support and the Instructional Core
 Superintendent Sheldon Berman, leader of
Jefferson County Public Schools talks about
building a culture of caring communities
 http://www.edutopia.org/louisville-sel-superintendentberman-video
 Dr. Richard Elmore , School of Education, Harvard
University on the instructional Core and Usable
Knowledge
 http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/leadersh
ip001a.html
Standard 3: Management
of finances, facilities and resources to serve the district’s vision
Management “to serve the district’s vision” is described by Katherine Merseth,
Senior Lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education. These “lessons” from
a recent study of high-achieving charter schools, found that a “clear sense of
purpose” resulted in a coherence that made management of the school run as
smoothly as the underlying gears of a watch.
Go to: http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/LP333.html
Video clips 1 and 2 provide more in-depth information on the strong
connection between a clear sense of purpose and effective management
practices.
Standard 4: District Schools, Parents and Community
“The leader collaborates, communicates, engages and empowers
others inside and outside of the organization to pursue
excellence in learning.” (PIL Standard)
 “Community-Built School: Working Together to Make a
Change
At Capitol Elementary School, educators and community members
combine their efforts to build a new school and revitalize a community.”
Edutopia
 http://www.edutopia.org/capitol-elementary-school
Standard 5: Integrity, Fairness and Equitable Manner
 “The leader operates in a fair and equitable manner with
personal and professional dignity.”
(PIL standard)
 A school or district leader gains respect by acting with integrity and in
a fair and equitable manner. This can often be observed within a
context of collaboration and shared decision-making.
 In this example, a teacher describes how the school leader’s democratic
leadership style brings about the staff’s respect.
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 http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/gaining.html
 Click on “Democratic Leadership”
Standard 6: A leader is a student advocate within the larger contexts:
political, legal, social, economic and cultural
 A district leader will need to continue learning about,
deal with and influence others in all the wider
contexts that affect schools.
 Working across wider contexts can also be applied to
teacher and student learning.
 The following example from www.edutopia.org
describes how students learn World Affairs through
Digital Media.
 http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-globalkids-video
Standard 7: Internship and Lifelong Learning
PIL standard:
“The leader supports professional growth of self and
others through practice and inquiry.”
A Mentoring Administrator is a role model for
lifelong learning
 A mentoring administrator provides an invaluable learning
experience for other aspiring leaders.
 Alexandra talks about her enjoyment of lifelong learning within a
supportive culture, including mentors.
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/professional.html
Click on “A Culture of learning”