STANDARD FOUR - Human Resource Leadership
Principals will ensure that the school is a professional learning community. Principals will ensure that process and systems are in place which results in recruitment, induction, support, evaluation, development and retention of high performing staff. The principal must engage and empower accomplished teachers in a distributive manner, including support of teachers in day-to-day decisions such as discipline, communication with parents/guardians, and protecting teachers from duties that interfere with teaching, and must practice fair and consistent evaluations of teachers. The principal must engage teachers and other professional staff in conversations to plan their career paths and support district succession planning.
Element 4A - Professional Development/Learning Communities:
The principal ensures that the school is a professional learning community.
In order to ensure that all grade levels have ample time to plan and problem solve together, the administrative team constructed the master schedule to allow for common planning time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, grade level teams meet together. The focus on Tuesdays is ELA, and the focus on Fridays is math. The administrative team and the literacy coach meet with grade levels on these days to discuss how to continuously improve in these areas. I was given the task of leading the math PLCs, as I have years of experience teaching the particular math curriculum used at the school. I operated from a standpoint of continuous improvement. Every two weeks, I visited classrooms for a walkthrough during math time. I provided teachers two things I noticed that were positive and two wonderings or questions to ponder. Then, in math PLC time, we discussed what I was seeing across the grade level and in individual classrooms. Each teacher (or PLC team) set a math goal to work on for the following two weeks. Then, when I visited their classrooms during that period, I looked for growth in that particular goal. One goal set by the second grade team was equity of calling students, so I tracked that during my visits that week.
Below is a schedule of the PLC meetings. A draft agenda is included in standard three.
The principal ensures that the school is a professional learning community.
In order to ensure that all grade levels have ample time to plan and problem solve together, the administrative team constructed the master schedule to allow for common planning time. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, grade level teams meet together. The focus on Tuesdays is ELA, and the focus on Fridays is math. The administrative team and the literacy coach meet with grade levels on these days to discuss how to continuously improve in these areas. I was given the task of leading the math PLCs, as I have years of experience teaching the particular math curriculum used at the school. I operated from a standpoint of continuous improvement. Every two weeks, I visited classrooms for a walkthrough during math time. I provided teachers two things I noticed that were positive and two wonderings or questions to ponder. Then, in math PLC time, we discussed what I was seeing across the grade level and in individual classrooms. Each teacher (or PLC team) set a math goal to work on for the following two weeks. Then, when I visited their classrooms during that period, I looked for growth in that particular goal. One goal set by the second grade team was equity of calling students, so I tracked that during my visits that week.
Below is a schedule of the PLC meetings. A draft agenda is included in standard three.
Element 4B - Recruiting, Hiring, Placing, and Mentoring of Staff:
The school executive establishes processes and systems in order to ensure a high-quality, high-performing staff.
I was privileged to have a Human Resources course with Dr. Gregory Hicks, and in this course, we were asked to complete a comprehensive review of the processes and procedures of our residency school’s Human Resources plan. We began by collecting an immense amount of data about our school, including its demographics of students and staff, performance data, and a review and analysis of HR processes. I learned an immense amount about my school and its vast needs during this assessment. In addition, I learned best practices related to Human Resources and analyzed our school’s practices in regards to these best practices. Below is the human resources analysis for Merrick-Moore Elementary School, as well as an idea human resources plan.
The school executive establishes processes and systems in order to ensure a high-quality, high-performing staff.
I was privileged to have a Human Resources course with Dr. Gregory Hicks, and in this course, we were asked to complete a comprehensive review of the processes and procedures of our residency school’s Human Resources plan. We began by collecting an immense amount of data about our school, including its demographics of students and staff, performance data, and a review and analysis of HR processes. I learned an immense amount about my school and its vast needs during this assessment. In addition, I learned best practices related to Human Resources and analyzed our school’s practices in regards to these best practices. Below is the human resources analysis for Merrick-Moore Elementary School, as well as an idea human resources plan.
Element 4C - Teacher and Staff Evaluation:
The principal evaluates teachers and other staff in a fair and equitable manner with the focus on improving performance and, thus, student achievement.
This school year, I was given the responsibility of performing both informal and formal observations, as well as walkthroughs for certified teachers throughout the building. Below I have attached several pieces of feedback from walkthroughs, as well as feedback from a formal observation, using North Carolina's teacher evaluation tool. Throughout this process, I have learned the importance of helping teachers have a continuous growth mindset. No matter where a teacher is in their years of experience or ability level, there is always an opportunity for growth. In every piece of feedback given to teachers, whether informally (through in-person conversations or email) or formally (through a post-conference), my goal was to help teachers set small measurable goals.
The principal evaluates teachers and other staff in a fair and equitable manner with the focus on improving performance and, thus, student achievement.
This school year, I was given the responsibility of performing both informal and formal observations, as well as walkthroughs for certified teachers throughout the building. Below I have attached several pieces of feedback from walkthroughs, as well as feedback from a formal observation, using North Carolina's teacher evaluation tool. Throughout this process, I have learned the importance of helping teachers have a continuous growth mindset. No matter where a teacher is in their years of experience or ability level, there is always an opportunity for growth. In every piece of feedback given to teachers, whether informally (through in-person conversations or email) or formally (through a post-conference), my goal was to help teachers set small measurable goals.