STANDARD TWO - Instructional Leadership
Principals set high standards for the professional practice of 21st century instruction and assessment that result in a no-nonsense accountable environment. The school executive must be knowledgeable of best instructional and school practices and must use this knowledge to cause the creation of collaborative structures within the school for the design of highly engaging schoolwork for students, the on-going peer review of this work, and the sharing of this work throughout the professional community.
Element 2A - Focus on Learning and Teaching, Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment:
The principal leads the discussion about standards for curriculum, instruction and assessment based on research and best practices in order to establish and achieve high expectations for students.
The school has designed an Instructional Leadership Team (MILT), as a subset of the School Improvement Leadership Team. This team includes the school administration, as well as several teacher leaders. The main goal of this team is to ensure proper implementation of curriculum and assessment based on what is taught. This team meets weekly on Thursday afternoons and spends much of its time on how to best support teachers in their teaching and learning, including the planning and implementation of professional development offerings. Below is a snapshot of the MILT running agenda.
I serve on this team, and my main role is to lead the Professional Development piece of the team. I work with this team to guide the professional development plan for the school year, and we are currently working on the plan for the upcoming year. We have surved staff members to seek feedback surrounding the greatest areas of professional development needs. I have been able to work alongside some of my colleagues on this team to present workshops on Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion strategies, as well as The Center for Responsive Schools' The Power of Our Words.
The principal leads the discussion about standards for curriculum, instruction and assessment based on research and best practices in order to establish and achieve high expectations for students.
The school has designed an Instructional Leadership Team (MILT), as a subset of the School Improvement Leadership Team. This team includes the school administration, as well as several teacher leaders. The main goal of this team is to ensure proper implementation of curriculum and assessment based on what is taught. This team meets weekly on Thursday afternoons and spends much of its time on how to best support teachers in their teaching and learning, including the planning and implementation of professional development offerings. Below is a snapshot of the MILT running agenda.
I serve on this team, and my main role is to lead the Professional Development piece of the team. I work with this team to guide the professional development plan for the school year, and we are currently working on the plan for the upcoming year. We have surved staff members to seek feedback surrounding the greatest areas of professional development needs. I have been able to work alongside some of my colleagues on this team to present workshops on Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion strategies, as well as The Center for Responsive Schools' The Power of Our Words.
Element 2B - Focus on Instructional Time:
The principal creates processes and schedules which protect teachers from disruption of instructional or preparation time.
The master schedule at the elementary level is crafted with much intentionality. I had the opportunity to work on master schedule revisions this summer to ensure common planning time for all grade levels. This was one of the "big rocks" requested by staff during an end of year survey. The staff felt that they did not have ample time to plan together, as well as to create and grade common assessments and to problem solve academic and behavior concerns with individual students. This year, with a master schedule that includes this common planning time, teachers are able to work together to plan and problem solve.
The principal creates processes and schedules which protect teachers from disruption of instructional or preparation time.
The master schedule at the elementary level is crafted with much intentionality. I had the opportunity to work on master schedule revisions this summer to ensure common planning time for all grade levels. This was one of the "big rocks" requested by staff during an end of year survey. The staff felt that they did not have ample time to plan together, as well as to create and grade common assessments and to problem solve academic and behavior concerns with individual students. This year, with a master schedule that includes this common planning time, teachers are able to work together to plan and problem solve.