EDLD5333+Course+Reflection

EDLD5333 Leadership for Accountability was about the administrator's role in understanding how to disaggregate AEIS and PEIMS data to be in compliance with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal requirements. The knowledge that I found insightful is that a principal must first create a shared vision and know how to develop, articulate, and implement that shared vision with his/her staff. The principal’s personal vision of leadership is important because it sets the overall tone and culture for the campus. The personal vision of leadership should influence and help align overarching goals of the campus improvement process. The personal vision of leadership should be detailed, focused, and visible to the members of the school’s community. //"According to Conley (1992), a clear vision exists when people in an organization share an explicit agreement on the values, beliefs, purposes, and goals that should guide their behavior. A clear vision is the internal compass-providing direction."// (Crochet & Jones, 2007). This information holds true with what I've learned because our shared mission statement is displayed on a large banner in the entrance of our school. All students, staff, parents, and volunteers know the personal vision and culture that we as a campus are striving toward everyday.

Throughout this course, I have learned that the continuous campus improvement cycle is constantly changing. In order to continue to improve student achievement a principal must always review the student data, identify content area needs of improvement, create measureable goals and objectives to meet the weakness, and finally to research strategies, activities, and resources to develop a professional development session to address the weaknesses. //"Like everything else within a school, however, data collection and analysis happened within the context of a community, and how that community approaches this process can make a significant difference in the degree to which data influences school improvement. Data use holds the most promise when it occurs within a community that practices collective efficacy, has agreed-upon processes, shares common purposes and goals, and uses all its available assets"// ( Dean, Miller, Parsley, 2006).

 Communicating with colleagues through the discussion boards was a tremendous benefit as we helped each other revise our campus action plans. Having multiple people to look at your work helps the principal to learn from others experiences. As I reflect on the action plan that I developed earlier, I would be able to assess that the implementation of the math workshop could have a positive increase on student performance. As the principal, I would continue to have the teacher’s use the Everyday Count Calendar Math kits to help all students with math vocabulary and comprehension of basic concepts. To maintain the momentum I would continue to use the bilingual Math specialist to assist those students who were at-risk for failure in Math and who need additional remediation and intervention.

In the future, professional learning communities will continue to be in affect for every grade level to discuss vertical planning and assessment opportunities. Bi-monthly campus learning meetings will be held for all teachers to share best practices, lessons, and professional development ideas to help increase staff moral and student achievement. //"The regular use of such a professional learning process provides the fuel for continuous improvement while establishing a professionally enriching, results-oriented culture"// (McTighe, 2008). As always the principal should continue to support their staff as he/she monitors the continual implementation of the campus improvement process. The challenge comes in having staff embrace change as the campus works toward implementing a common goal to increase student achievement.

