Wow! It is amazing how much can be accomplished in 9 months when you are focused and goal-oriented. I have learned so much from my internship experiences, but I have learned even more by just observing operations and decision-making in our district through the lens of learning how to be a superintendent. I have posted my reflections to my internship experience for each of the 10 Competencies.
.Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
In order to be a leader of an educational community, a superintendent must be able to act with integrity, fairness and in an ethical manner, but they also must understand what “fair” and “ethical” mean at the state and federal levels. The activities that have helped me grow the most during this internship were the ones in which I looked and learned the Code of Ethics (19 TAC 247.1) and the DH and DHE legal and local policies. For one of my activities I reviewed the district employee handbook and local school board policy to make sure they were aligned. I found that they were and that our district employee handbook actually contained the Code of Ethic standards. I noted that it was updated to include the use of electronic media with students. After reading through these standards and interviewing the Director of School Personnel about trends and concerns in employee behavior, I developed a staff training that highlights the key components of ethical behavior. I conducted this training for my staff prior to school starting. For standard 1, Professional Ethical Conduct, Practice, and Performance, I highlighted and provided training for proper handling of money, and student records, and the implications of falsifying either. For standard 2, Conduct towards Professional Colleagues, and standard 3, Conduct towards Students, the main focus was on the use of social media especially with students and confidentiality requirement. We also provided sexual harassment training and conflict resolution training to help our employees know and understand and promote ethical behavior and to stay out of legal troubles.
Another activity I participated in for this competency was to read two journal articles on student motivation and share them with my principal team. I read and shared “100+ Motivational Techniques to Take Learning to the Next Level” and “Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time on Task to Homework”. Both of these articles emphasized that in order to motivate students an educator must spark the students’ interest and apply learning to real life as it relates to the student population you are working with. They also explained that the learning environment must be inviting, organized, and safe. The first article also suggested that students help set their own and be provided hands-on and cooperative group learning opportunities. The second article stated that motivation should be a part of the school culture. The authors explain that the school administration should provide training to staff members and should recognize staff members who are good at motivating students. As my principal group discussed these articles, we agreed that as leaders we must make motivation a part of our schools. We shared ways each of us tried to motivate students and discussed that by building community and school pride we could significantly improve student motivation. Since this discussion, a sub-committee of the Strategic planning committee has worked together to create an action plan to build community and school pride. Although this activity relates more to Competency 2, I feel it belongs in Competency 1 too, because when you work to motivate and provide learning opportunities to students who would otherwise not be interested in learning, you are advocating for all children.
“100 + Motivational Techniques to Take Learning to the Next Level.” (2008) Retrieved from www. smartteaching.org.
Brewster, C.& Fager, J.(2000, Oct.) “Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation: From Time on Task to Homework.” Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved from http://www.nwrel.org/request/oct00/textonly.html
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
During my internship, I participated in several activities that have helped me improve my understanding of how a superintendent can make an impact in the community by being a visionary leader and articulating that vision to all stakeholders. One of the first activities I completed was to examine a few vision statements from other school districts and compare them to our district. The first thing I determined is that many school districts have confused a mission statement with a vision statement. The other thing I noticed was that many school employees cannot tell someone what their district vision is. The length of the various vision statements ranged from 10 words to 40 words. As I studied my districts statement further, I realized that our superintendent’s vision for our district that she articulates very well is not actually written anywhere. Over the past year she has exclaimed at every meeting with stakeholders that “Sheldon ISD will be a premiere district.” That is her vision and one that the school board and all employees understand. Her decisions are all made in effort to guiding Sheldon ISD to become a district that other districts want to visit, learn from, and strive to be like because all of our students are successful and have many learning opportunities’. I have brought it to her attention that this vision is not actually in writing in our district plan or on the website. Our mission statement is clear and is written in the district plan and on the website. I have observed as my superintendent has made some tough decision in regards to personnel, curriculum, and budget, but she always makes them with our vision in mind and clearly shares that with the district.
A second activity I completed was to help develop a climate/ cultural diversity plan and implement it in our district. We have a very diverse population that has changed significantly over the last 10 years. It has become imperative that the various cultures that make-up our district learn to appreciate and build on that diversity. Two ways I helped with this was to host cultural diversity training at my campus for all staff members. The second action was to participate on the “Unity and Pride” Strategic Planning committee. While on this committee, we came up with a plan of action to host various activities such as a community fair, to celebrate and promote everyone in our district and unite them together through their pride in our school district.
A third activity was to compile a list of social agencies that are available to help students, teachers, and administrators. As an aspiring superintendent, I believe it is important to know what resources are available to help you help other succeed in school and life. I began with our district Community Youth Specialist (CYS Worker). I know several districts cut this position because of budget cuts, but I see the extreme need for a district to have this resource available to them. School counselors just don’t have the kind of time it takes to help families in need of assistance, but without that kind of help, some students wouldn’t have clothes, food, electricity etc. Without those basic needs met, they will have a hard time learning. In this activity I also learned about the Community In School Program to help with dropout prevention. The Delpelchin Children’s Center and Family Time Crises and Counseling Center are also invaluable agencies to help families in need. Our district also collaborates with the Harris County Medical District and we have a school based health clinic in our district. The Texas department of Family Protective Services is also another agency that can help. Although a district’s primary goal is to educate its students, an effective superintendent knows that it is important to network with agencies that can help provide students and their families with resources that are needed to help students learn but that are not available through a school district.
My final activity for this competency was to interview the Director of Bilingual Programs. During this interview I learned that there are many federal and state guidelines that must be adhered to for bilingual education. As a leader of a school district, the superintendent must be aware of these guidelines and ensure that they are followed. The bilingual director shared with me all the testing that is required for bilingual education as well and how the data is tracked to ensure that the district meets AYP requirements. With a growing Hispanic population, she explained that we have many ESL students. The district recently required all teachers to become ESL certified and trained in the ESL strategies to meet the needs of our growing population of ESL students. She stated that there are many different philosophies about bilingual education and that it is imperative the bilingual director and the superintendent share the same philosophy in order to communicate and effectively build a bilingual program in a district.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.
.
Knowing that a superintendent must be able to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and constituents, I wanted to examine not only what my superintendent had in place, but I wanted to evaluate my communication skills. Therefore, one of the activities I completed for this competency was to survey my staff members on my communication to them. Specifically I asked them about my weekly preview I send out. I received a positive response in regards to the weekly overview I send out so that staff members know exactly what is happening each day on campus and in the district. They claimed this form of communication helped them plan accordingly and not be caught off guard. However, my staff stated that they would like more frequent feedback from my classroom visits. With that information I worked on a second activity to build by interpersonal relationships with staff members. I began to acknowledge staff members with written cards or post-it notes. I held team leader meetings to discuss campus needs and disseminate information, and I provided written minutes as a follow-up to meetings and trainings. Although of these activities helped me to be an effective communicator and are activities that I would carry to central administration with me.
My second activity was to look at the job description for the public relations position and review the communications and products this person has created for the district. Through this process I have watched as the current superintendent really started to utilize the public relations person to promote the district and her vision. Over the last year, our superintendent has given out a weekly message to the district staff and bi-annual message to the community. These messages have significantly improved in both content and format by collaborating with the PR person. The superintendent has collaborated with our PR department on acknowledging staff members and promoting events for families and community members to participate in. A superintendent should be a visionary leader that can effectively articulate to the community, but having a good PR person that can make your communication even more effective and available in different formats to the community would definitely enhance the communication and reach more stakeholders.
Next, I observed our parent center and interviewed our district parent liaison and translator. This parent center provides resources and trainings to parents to not only help them with helping their child in school, but it provides classes that can help their parents with their own education. There are classes in computers, ESL, and obtaining a GED that are held both during the day and at night. The center is centrally located in our district and hosts a variety of parent trainings and provides resources that parents can check out and use at home to help their children with homework. This center was designed at first for our bilingual parents, but is not for all parents in our community. This center was the vision of the superintendent upon acknowledging that our community had many members that never finished school themselves and didn’t know how or even think they could help their own children with their schooling. This parent center is a great example of a superintendent mobilizing community resources and establishing partnerships with families to strengthen programs and support the district goals that all students can learn.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.
Working with school board and understanding their roles and responsibilities was an area that stood out as an area I needed to learn more about. Many of the activities I participated in for competency 4 involved learning more about the school board and their relationship with the superintendent.
I attended monthly school board meetings and observed the format and legal guidelines that school boards are required to follow. I watched as the school board made decisions for the school district, approved expenditures, and debated other issues such as the name of the new elementary school. It was interesting to watch each time as some board members were very vocal while others were very quiet. I watched as the board members were elected to the various officer positions and wanted to know more about the board’s responsibilities. I interviewed my superintendent and learned that there are written guidelines that school boards follow. I learned that the superintendent answers to the school board and that they evaluate the superintendent. My superintendent explained that there are many associations that provide trainings for the school members and superintendent. I gained good advice as she told me that school board members want to know that what they are doing matters and makes a difference. She shared with me that she tries to get to know each of them and lets them know how appreciative she is that they volunteer their time and talents to making our district a great place for students. She shared several organizations and associations that provided support to superintendents, so as another activity, I compiled a list of these organizations to have for future reference. My list includes; Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA), Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), Texas Gulf Coast Superintendents Association (TGCSA), and the Texas Association of Community Schools (TACS). Through compiling this list, I also created a list of publications and books to refer to for more information. Two of the best resources I found were The New Superintendents Journal published annually by the American Association of School Administrators. They also publish The School Administrator monthly. TASA publishes an interactive online journal entitled INSIGHT quarterly. I although I have read the legal and local policies on the operations of the school board and responsibilities of the superintendent, I am relieved to know that there will be resources and people I can turn to once I am in the position of superintendent.
Another activity I completed was to obtain the job description for the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. I chose to look at this position because it is the position I would be interested in for my next career move. I learned that this position supervises many other positions as well as coordinates the district curriculum. The job description also states that a candidate for this position must be excellent communication and public relation skills as well as possess the ability to interpret policy, procedures, and data. This position is evaluated by the superintendent using the same evaluation tool used for the principals in the district. This evaluation checklist includes many of the attributes found in the superintendent competencies.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
Knowing that state and federal accountability guidelines are tied to district funding and recognition, the superintendent must be able to interpret and understand assessment data. As one of my activities I reviewed ways assessment data were used by different stakeholders and reflected on how the leader could seek to improve the use of assessment data in the district. I learned that the superintendent used the district assessment data over a couple of years to identify that the district had a vertical alignment concern in our curriculum especially in the math content. She used this information to guide stakeholders and eventually the school board in to adopting C-scope, a vertically aligned curriculum, as our district curriculum. I learned that she used the data to determine the need to reassess the way the master schedule at the secondary levels was made. The decision to hire curriculum specialists and instructional coaches for each campus was also driven by the data.
With the accountability standards changing with the implementation of the STAAR assessment and the federal AYP standards continuously being raised, it is imperative that the superintendent attend trainings and stay informed of the changes and communicates those changes effectively to all stakeholders. These changes as well as the assessment data should drive the decisions being made by the superintendent.
Another activity I participated in to build my skills in this competency was to be an active member of the strategic planning committee – Community Unity and Pride. As a part of this committee I helped create an action plan to build the pride the stakeholders have in our community as well as bring all of our community members together through community events that unite them for the improvement of our community and schools. This committee was a sub-committee of the original strategic planning committee stated by the superintendent. Each committee developed an action plan for one of the five selected goals for our district. The board recently adopted these action plans, most of which will start during this next school year. The purpose of this strategic planning was to keep the district moving forward to being a premiere district even if the leadership changes.
Technology is another method for enhancing the learning for all students. As the world around us quickly changes to a world dependent upon technology, telecommunications, and information systems, superintendents needs to stay current on what technology is available to enhance the learning for all students and preparing them for the world they will live in. With this in mind, I attended TCEA (technology conference) to learn about the technological advances that have been created and how they can impact student learning. At this conference, I learned that online learning is now available to students at all ages. This will require public schools to reassess the way they teach and what they offer to students. Students are completely “plugged in” to technology and future superintendents will not only have to acknowledge that fact, they will need to budget for and incorporate this same technology in the delivery of the curriculum.
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Our superintendent often starts or ends her meetings with, “We are obsessed with Instruction.” She has emphasized student learning over the last couple of years and has set several practices in motion to improve student learning. Observing her during this internship has been a great experience in learning how the superintendent can have such a positive impact on the instruction and student learning in a district. Two years ago, we implemented C-Scope, a K- 12 vertically aligned curriculum, in our district. As part of my internship, I interview the Curriculum and Instruction Specialist on the implementation and sustainability of C-Scope as our district curriculum. She explained that without the support of the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent district wide implementation would have not been as effective as it was. They went to each of the campuses to explain what C-Scope was and why they made the decision to use it as our district curriculum. They also explained that it must be used as written in all subjects and the held the instructional coaches and the campus administrators responsible for making sure it was implemented with fidelity. The superintendent supported her decision by hiring an instructional coach for each campus and purchasing the massive amounts of consumables that were needed for the C-Scope lessons. The only area I saw that needed improvement was how the district delivered the consumable materials to the campuses. I suggested using a materials tracking sheet and created one for the district to use. I also suggested that each campus have a contact person that was responsible for receiving the materials and issuing them to the teachers on the campus. These suggestions were implemented and streamlined the process.
During this internship, I also interviewed the district math curriculum specialist to assess current needs, goals, and level of service provided by central office to the high school. The superintendent approved hiring a math specialist/ math coach for each campus that worked closely with the math teachers. The group of coaches meets with math specialist on Fridays to determine needs and develop staff trainings to help improve the math instruction across the district. Math scores have significantly improved in the district although we still struggle with getting the African-American sub-pop to score as high as the other sub-pops.
Another activity I participated in for Competency 6, is helping to improve our primary (Pre-K/K) reading program. After reviewing the end of the year TPRI/ Tejas Lee data and evaluating how many Kindergarteners entered 1st grade on Guided Reading Level of “C” or higher, it became obvious that teachers needed more training in small group guided reading instruction and listening comprehension. After looking at district wide reading data, it was obvious that we needed to be build vocabulary better in all of our students. With this in mind, I have helped facilitate the implementation of a new Pre-K curriculum that emphasizes oral vocabulary development and listening comprehension. I have also assisted in training Kindergarten teachers in listening comprehension activities. I have helped adapt the district curriculum based assessments and report cards to reflect these needs and align them with the Pre-K guidelines and Kindergarten TEKS.
I also worked with the Bilingual director and parent liaison to develop a system to notify the parents of our bilingual Pre-K and K parents of students who scored very low on the oral proficiency entrance assessments and to provide them training on how to build vocabulary and work on early literacy activities at home. After reviewing the scores of our students during LPACS, I thought it was critical that we notify parents of students who are starting behind and how they can help close that gap at home.
I consider Curriculum and Instruction to be strength, but these activities really taught me how important it is for the Superintendent to have strong understanding of curriculum and student learning and to be strong at advocating and sustaining improvements in the instructional program. Without the superintendents’ support, the district could not be unified in its approach to the district curriculum or instructional practices.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.
Competency 7 is intertwined with Competency 6 so much that many of the activities I participated in during this internship fell into both categories. Therefore, I will not repeat my reflections described in Competency 6, but will reflect on two other activities that I completed that are tied more directly to staff development.
I have been fortunate enough to attend Ginger Tucker’s staff developments several times over the last couple of years for training on the First Year Teacher Academy and Mentor Programs. The district brought in her in house this year to conduct training on staff development techniques and facilitating adult learning. I was able to collaborate with her and implement several of her techniques in my back to school training for my campus staff. As a superintendent it will be important for me to understand adult learners and how to keep them engaged while I am facilitating meetings. The techniques I have learned through this collaboration will be very beneficial to me as a campus administrator and eventually a central office administrator.
Finally, our district has implemented the PLC (Professional Learning Community) approach to help teachers collaborate about instruction and student learning at all levels. The superintendent once again explained to the campuses and other stakeholders the purpose for PLCs and mandated that we build PLC time for teachers within the instructional day. I have firsthand experience with PLCs at the elementary level, so I interviewed the High School Principal to see how this process was working at the high school level. He explained that they have built these meetings into the master schedule and that it has made a tremendous difference for the teachers and the students because it has forced the math teachers to collaborate on their lessons, discuss their own strength and weaknesses, and share students in order to meet the students needs. The instructional coaches also meet with teachers during these meetings to be a resource as needed. They work closely with teachers that are struggling with the delivery of instruction by modeling lessons, observing, and providing feedback to teachers as needed.
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
Competency 8 is still the area I feel I need more training in. I believe that this is an area that I will not feel proficient in until after I am a superintendent and experience for myself. However, knowing that I needed to know more about the budget process and desiring to possibly apply for a Human Relations Director position in the future, I completed several activities in this competency.
One of the activities I completed was to interview the Chief Finance Officer and observe his presentations to the school board about the district budget. Due to budget cuts this year, we were asked to design and submit a zero-based budget proposal for this school year. This was a new experience for people and forced me to collaborate with my principal team and seek guidance from the CFO. Observing his presentation to the school board helped me to further understand the process of adopting a tax rate and the difference between the M&O and I&S funds and what they can be used for. In reflecting on these activities, I am still adamant that I only want to be a superintendent where there is an effective, ethical, and understanding CFO as I know I will continue to have questions about the budget process.
Another Competency 8 activity was to interview the Human Resource Director and discuss major requirements and duties such as recruitment, certification, evaluation, and dismissal of personnel. Through this interview I learned that there were many more laws and paperwork involved in this position than I had previously expected. I also learned that it is critical that the HR director and Superintendent communicate regularly on staff needs, expectations, and the evaluation process. She explained that a couple of years ago she and the superintendent would meet with the principal of each campus prior to contract recommendations to go over the recommendations before the principal conferences with the employees and submits the recommendations. This process has helped ensure that there are no surprises if an employee grieves their recommendation and that the administrative team is consistent in their recommendations. I also learned that there are many deadlines that must be met in regards to certifications and evaluations. The HR director shared her process of notifying all administrators of the deadlines through reminders on our district outlook calendars. I also learned the value and effectiveness of having a certification specialist to help employees keep up with their certifications and ensure that all staff members are 100% highly qualified. In reflecting on this experience, I believe that a superintendent must really understand each department like Personnel Services so that they can support the needs of the department to make the department as effective as it can be for the sake of the district.
A third activity I participated in this competency was to review the use of technology by administration. I examined the use of IPADs and Skyward by campus and central administrators. Having information at your fingertips in regards to students and staff increases the time on task and efficiency of administrators. Each principal and assistant principal as well as the superintendent and assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction have been issued IPADs. We have been provided training on using IPADs with Eduphoria so that we can conduct evaluations and walk-throughs on this device and provide instant feedback to staff members. We also have access to our student management system, Skyward, where we can pull up a students’ information where ever we are. The overall opinion of using IPADs for evaluations and student information access is highly favorable among all the administrators. This implementation of this device has increased the visibility of the administrators in the classrooms. As a superintendent, I will continue to look for ways technological advances can streamline the paperwork and provide access to student information quickly so that administrators can complete their responsibilities efficiently and effectively.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
For Competency 9, I focused on activities that helped me understand the systems and procedures are district has in place to ensure a safe and secure learning environment for all of our students and staff. One activity I completed was examining the districts discipline policy and provide an analysis of it’s’ strengths and weaknesses. In this analysis, I noticed that the student code of conduct and parent student handbook were pretty thorough about the rules, regulations, and consequences. The district has taken a strong stand on safety by adopting a standardized dress code and requiring that students have their student ID on them at all times. The weakness of this policy is that it is very time consuming to enforce and takes students and administrators out of the classroom therefore minimizing the learning time. Although office referrals and alternative placements have decreased, there is still a need for more consequences and alternatives to ISS, DAEP, and Suspension. Our district doesn’t have a lot to offer in the way of discipline alternatives for repeat offenders of class disruptions and minor infractions.
Another activity I completed was to review the district crises management plan. Our district has been very proactive in providing procedures and training in those procedures in the event of an emergency or a crisis. All the assistant principals attend training in the summer to review these procedures and make an action plan of training their staff on these procedures. The district has implemented an Emergency Operation Center at the administration building and Incident Command Post at each campus. Each campus has crises management team that has been trained on how to handle the various emergencies that could arise. These procedure are also in writing and posted on the website and given to each employee to refer to. The district conducts its own safe and secure audit each year to ensure that all policies are being practiced to ensure the safety of students and staff.
The director of transportation worked with me to help me understand the needs and current issues for the transportation department. This activity helped me to understand how important it is to have an organized, effective communicator, and effective problem-solver as the district transportation director. This position is critical in keeping our students safe as they are transported to and from school and school activities. I observed our transportation director make a proposal for the district to purchase propane buses to increase efficiency and decrease costs. This job is much more than routing buses and keeping buses maintained.
I also interviewed the child nutrition director to get a better understanding of the current state and federal guidelines for child nutrition. This is also a much bigger job that it appears on the surface. There are many regulations that drive the decisions of what can and cannot be served on the lunch lines and who can and cannot qualify for free or reduced lunches. There is a definite financial component to this position. Both the financial aspects and the regulations must be understood by the superintendent as they field questions and complaints from parents about school lunches.
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
A superintendent must be an effective problem solver and sometimes the problem to be solved is complying with federal and state requirements and facilitating those requirements positively. One of the activities that I participated in for Competency 10 was to observe how the district is handling the transition for TAKS to the STAAR assessments. I participated in trainings for the implementation of STAAR and worked with the curriculum department to see how they were addressing the curriculum needs to align the curriculum with the STAAR requirements. A superintendent cannot lead change positively without a clear understanding of what change needs to take place and how to support staff members during this time of change.
During this internship I observed how the superintendent worked with the various district departments to open a new elementary for this school year. I was hoping to have more involvement in the decision-making process for the selection of staff for the new school, but I did not get the opportunity. However, I did learn from this experience. The superintendent chose to work with a select few central office personnel to transfer teachers not only to the new campus but to different campuses across the district. The explanation we were given was that they took this opportunity to equalize the teaching staff at all five elementaries. I believe this was a bold move for the superintendent and trust that her decision was based on the big picture for our district and not on the theory that sometimes people become complacent and need to be moved around. This decision caused many hard feelings and lowered morale across the district. As a superintendent I believe I would seek more input from the campus administrators and those actually involved with the teachers to ensure that I was moving around the correct staff members if we truly needed to spread the experience and effective teachers around the district.
Another activity I observed during this internship was the district process of choosing the district calendar and developing the summer school schedule. The process allowed all stakeholders to have input on the calendar in an organized manner.
Finally, I observed how the superintendents used the district assessment data to improve instruction in the district. After reviewing the data, they saw the need for the special education director and bilingual director to keep track of their departments data for the district share their departments data with the campus administrators to ensure that everyone understood the data and the implications of decisions made on campuses at ARDS and LPACS and how they affect the campus and district’s scores. The data was shared at our summer instructional leader meeting which was a great platform to get everyone on the same page for monitoring student progress and making effective decisions at the campus level that will help the district as a whole. Although the primary goal of the district is to ensure that all students learn, there are federal and state guidelines that have to be met and these regulations require all departments in a district to communicate effectively. The superintendent used this fact to make the decision to hold a monthly leadership team meeting.
In reflecting on the activities I participated in this competency and all the other competencies, I am amazed at not only how much I participated in, but in how much I learned about the overall operations of a school district and the superintendents role in managing the district.
