Preliminary Administrative Services Program Standards

Preliminary Administrative Services Credential (PASC) Program Standard 9: Assessment of Candidate Performance

PASC Program Standard 9 is met as follows:

Successful ASC program completers are required to provide proof of employment in an administrative role. Program completers that do have an administrative position will be recommended for a Preliminary Administrative Services Credential with proof of the relevant documents.  Program completers who do not have a valid administrative position will be recommended for the certificate of eligibility. Our Credential Analyst works with each individual program completer to ensure that the appropriate documentation is submitted–tailored to whether or not a Preliminary ASC or certificate of eligibility is needed. Field experience assessments are collected by the instructor of the two field experience courses and are validated by the mentor/coach and verified by the credential analyst. Learning assessments and feedback on course assignments provide ASC candidates with feedback on their performance and standing and the mentor/coach and field supervisor work collaboratively to promote candidate learning and success.

Upon successful completion of required program coursework, ASC candidates will have been given feedback through both summative and formative assessments by their professors and they will have been guided and supported in understanding the California Administrator Content Expectations (CACE):

CACE 1A: Developing a Student-Centered Vision of Teaching and Learning

CACE 1B: Developing a Shared Vision and Community Commitment

CACE 1C: Implementing the Vision [for equitable learning opportunities in the school using multiple data sources and strategies]

CACE 2A: Personal and Professional Learning

CACE 2B: Promoting Effective Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

CACE 2C: Supporting Teachers to Improve Practice

CACE 2D: Feedback on Instruction

CACE 3A: Operations and Resource Management

CACE 3B: Managing Organizational Systems and Human Resources

CACE 3C: School Climate

CACE 3D: Managing the School Budget and Personnel

CACE 4A: Parent and Family Engagement

CACE 4B: Community Involvement

CACE 5A: Reflective Practice

CACE 5C: Ethical Action

CACE 6A: Understanding and Communicating Policy

CACE 6B: Representing and Promoting the School

ASC candidates have opportunities through their nine required courses to receive guidance, assistance and feedback on both formative and  summative and assessments.  Program coursework involves summative assessments that are aligned with the California Administrator Content  Expectations California Administrator Performance Expectations. Some examples of such are provided below utilizing EDUT 6306: School Leadership: 

General Course Class Participation Guidelines (School Leadership Course): 

Class participation will be evaluated by the extent to which your contributions:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of course concepts and material;

2. Offer an analysis of the readings and any assumptions underlying conceptual frameworks;

3. Evaluate the ways in which the concepts in the readings align with, overlap with or counter your own values, beliefs, and perspectives;

4. Demonstrate careful reflection about your own assumptions, beliefs and experiences;

5. Build upon your classmates’ ideas and insights as well as offer alternative perspectives from your classmates’ perspectives through respectful, constructive input;

6. Ground theoretical readings in your own experiences as a teacher/administrator/learner;

7. Take the discussion in a new direction that contributes to others’ understandings and generates new ideas; and

8. Assume responsibility for your learning, the learning of others, and take leadership in building a learning community.

In other words, class participation is evaluated by the quality of contributions to class discussions and engagement in class activities as assessed by the above indicators and not by the quantity of contributions. Active participation looks different for everyone.  However, it is important to recognize that active participation does not mean dominating class discussions to ensure that your voice is heard.  Remember to be cognizant of power relations, class norms, and our own positionalities when we engage in class discussions and activities. Class participation includes active engagement with course readings.

Weekly Reflection Post (School Leadership Course): 

Post a 250-500-word maximum reflection that captures what you learned from this week’s readings. Answer the first question in bold below and in addition answer one of the following questions of your own choosing in your post: 

1. What are the major arguments or research questions examined in the reading(s)? 

2. What are the stated and unstated assumptions supporting the author’s arguments? What assumptions of your own were challenged? 

3. What are the philosophical orientations and perspectives of the author? 

4. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the authors’ position? 

5. What is new for you in the reading(s) or what do you understand from a new angle? What feelings or questions arose for you? What was confusing or puzzling? 

6. How do your experiences as a leader or emerging leader relate to the reading(s)? 

7. In what ways might this reading connect to other course materials or to other courses? 

Anchoring the Discussion Assignment (School Leadership Course): 

Throughout the semester, you will be assigned to a partner to engage in reflection, synthesis and analysis of the readings and anchor a discussion of the required readings for 35 minutes. You and your partner will research a theme of your choosing and find one reading on a current situation, issue, or event related to our course readings. For example, the reading may be a newspaper article or blog post related to the course readings and themes for your assigned session. The reading can support or challenge the main argument in any of the readings or present a different perspective on the topic. You will share your chosen article with the class and me on Canvas and via email at least two days prior to your assigned class. The anchoring group will prepare introductory remarks and questions for the class to help facilitate a discussion of both the course readings and your selected article. These remarks should include an overview of the reading(s) and 4-5 questions to help stimulate and guide discussion. Reading discussions are not a synthesis or summary of the readings. A successful reading discussion is one where everyone participates and critically engages major themes and main arguments of the author. One way to stimulate and guide the discussion will be to select several passages or quotations from the readings that you would like to discuss and/or to select facts or information either in the readings or from additional research. The goal is for you to consider what you have learned, what questions the unit has raised for you, and examine these questions further—keeping in mind the possible contexts of your future 8 leadership role—in order to plan for this future leadership role. This assignment allows you an opportunity to share your interpretations, insights and questions with your fellow students, develop research and presentation skills and allow you to identify points of inquiry you are excited about to prepare for your analysis in your final course project. The class session anchors are expected to contribute equally to the work of this assignment and if needed you can submit an assessment of the contributions made by yourself and your peer(s), which will be factored into your assignment grade.

Leadership Impacts on Organizations: Organizational Improvement Plan (School Leadership Course): 

This assignment enables you to deepen your understanding of all the various ways that leaders influence student learning and outcomes through organizational leadership.  Leaders often implement educational interventions, programs or solutions believed to produce specific outcomes—such as improved test scores, more engaged students, higher graduation rates—without fully considering how to align organizational strategies with impact.  In this assignment, you will draw on your experiences with educational organizations to imagine a future educational organization in which you will be an educational leader such as an Assistant Principal, A Director of Curriculum, a Principal, or a Superintendent. Next you will create an organizational improvement plan guided by your theory of action.

Theory of Action

1) State your initial Theory of Action that addresses one equity issue in which the data suggests an equity gap in your future educational organization. As a means to connect your course learning, you have the opportunity to write your initial TOA related to how school leaders shape, harm and/or improve schools as organizations.  In this assignment, you will include your initial Theory of Action that identifies an equity issue that you would like to address and then discusses a possible leadership strategy, organizational practice, intervention or program to address this issue. Your initial theory of action may employ the following word stem: IF we implement (insert brief strategy description), including the following specific components (insert program components), THEN (teachers/administrators/parents) will (insert ideal adult behaviors) and students will (insert ideal student behaviors and outcomes).

Organizational Improvement Plan

2) Why: Discuss why your organizational improvement plan is needed based on your analysis of the equity issue and the root causes—at the societal level--and systemic context—at the organization level—of your selected equity issue.  Why is your organizational improvement plan needed?

3) What: Imagine a possible new program, organizational practice or organizational intervention to address this equity issue.  The new organizational practice, program or intervention is a three- to five-year organizational improvement plan that implements your theory of action (TOA) and discusses a leadership strategy employed to execute your organizational improvement plan.  You will draw connections between your imagined actions as a future educational leader addressing your chosen issue and the context (geographic location, demographics, persisting educational issues, dynamics with students, educators, parents, staff or other organizational stakeholders, etc.) of the imagined educational organization.

4) Impact: Next, you will discuss impacts on inequities in access.  For example, you might discuss how students labeled with learning differences with Individualized Educational Plans (IEPs) may need a specific program designed to better support their student learning and outcomes.  Feel free to use your creativity to imagine how you might address this issue such as securing a grant to help fund the initiative or arranging for a community-based organization (CBO) to provide a professional development training for teachers and/or staff.

Be sure to cite 3-5 course readings as you describe your identified equity issue and your theory of action that proposes a new organizational program or strategy to address your identified issue. In this assignment, stay focused on the leader as the organizational facilitator and examine the possible impacts that the educational leader may have on school organization and student outcomes.  This assignment should total 4-5 double-spaced pages.

Equity Responsiveness Presentation Assignment(School Leadership Course): 

This assignment is an informal, 3-minute presentation of the Theory of Action you discussed in your midterm assignment.

●  3-5 slides maximum (including title slide and optional references slide)

●  Use Google Slides and send me the link before the due date via a Google Doc or email.

1) Slide One: Title Page

2) Slide Two: Analysis. Draw on course readings from our course to analyze a particular equity issue in your educational organization to understand possible interventions. Cite one relevant course reading to discuss a specific equity issue you would like to focus your final paper on.

3) Slide Three: Organizational Improvement Plan. This is the same as your own “theory of action,” which is a three- to five-year organizational improvement plan.

4) Slide Four: Provide an estimated 3-5-year timeline of your organizational improvement plan.

5) Slide Five: List of References or Works Cited.

Final Paper: Equity Responsiveness Assignment (School Leadership Course):

This assignment requires that you draw on the readings that provide a foundational understanding of equity issues in educational organizations and provide case studies and other possibilities for organizational leadership practices to address equity gaps and to support equity and excellence. Outlined below are the components to completing your equity responsiveness assignment.

Part I: Analysis of the Equity Issue(s) in your Educational Organization: Draw on readings from our course.  It is your job as the leader of an educational organization to make sense of equity issue(s) in your organization to understand possible new organizational practices or organizational interventions to address equity issues aiming to lessen the equity gap.  To narrow your paper and allow space for a thorough analysis, it is recommended that you focus on one issue in depth or perhaps two related equity issues.  To complete this part of the assignment, you need to apply and cite relevant course readings to discuss equity issues in schools, non-profits or higher education institutions. The write-up for this component should be 2-3 double-spaced pages. 

Part II: Organizational Improvement Plan.  Bring course readings and discussions to bear on improving your educational organization to address or even eliminate some of the opportunity/achievement gaps present in educational organizations in this current historical moment. While writing your organizational improvement plan, you need to rationalize your decisions with ideas from course readings; this will require that you provide citations/references for relevant course readings.

Your organizational improvement plan needs to have two sections:

Section A: Theory of Action and Organizational Improvement Plan will focus on the actual improvement plan, which is the same as your own “theory of action,” and should be between 1-2 double-spaced pages.  You should think of this as a three- to five-year improvement plan and include an estimated timeline of some sort in this section.  Please note that this plan needs to be realistic, which means you will need to make some decisions–not all of the equity issues facing educational organizations can be addressed at the same time.  Part of leadership is making difficult decisions that are principled and informed.

Section B: Organizational Improvement Plan: Assessment is your plan for assessing and recalibrating your organizational improvement plan—in other words your theory of action.  In this section, clearly outline how you will assess your improvement efforts, make sense of this assessment information/data, and then recalibrate your organizational improvement plan (theory of action).  Remember, school leadership is a social/relational practice, so no individual can do the assessment and sensemaking work of assessment data by themselves. You need to indicate how this will be a team or organizational process.  This section of your assignment should be approximately 1-2 double-spaced pages in length.

Part III: Personal Reflection: Complete a one-page, single-spaced reflection on what you learned about organizational improvement that centers educational equity and strategies to increase educational opportunities and supports. In discussing your learning and growth in this course, you might decide to discuss particular course readings, assignments, class discussions, lectures, guest lectures, films or other course activities that supported your learning. This final component is intended to support you in reflecting on your growth and learning throughout the semester. The paper will total 5-8 pages.

Active Engagement with Required Course Readings (School Leadership Course):

Students are required to complete all readings assignments prior to each class meeting.  Since readings are the basis of informed discussion and class participation, consider the following questions to guide your engagement with the readings:

• What are the major arguments or research questions examined in the reading?

• What are the stated and unstated assumptions supporting the author’s arguments? What assumptions of your own were challenged?

• What are the philosophical orientations and perspectives of the author?

• To what extent do you agree or disagree with the authors’ position?

• What is new for you in the reading(s) or what do you understand from a new angle? What feelings or questions arose for you? What was confusing or puzzling?

• How do your experiences as a leader or emerging leader relate to the reading(s)?

• In what ways might this reading connect to other course materials or to other courses? 

Additionally, it is imperative that you actively read course materials. Active reading essentially means that you are engaged in an ongoing discussion with the author. Some common strategies for active reading include:

• Making notes in the margins that indicate why you highlighted a given section or sentence.

• Identifying and paraphrasing thesis statements, research questions, summary statements.

• Asking questions through notes in the margins.

• Noting sections or statements that you agree or disagree with.

• Thinking about how the readings relate to other course materials.

Course Assignments: General Guidelines (School Leadership Course): 

Measures: A Strong Final Paper or Project Accomplishes Many of the Following Outcomes:

1)  Demonstrates a clear understanding of key concepts presented in the reading;

2)  Provides evidence and examples to support your assertions;

3)  Presents evidence from your experience as a teacher or learner that either supports or counters a theory, framework, claim or idea examined in the reading;

4)  Offers several questions that were raised for you as you engaged with the text(s);

5) Develops a possible counter-argument to your own argument and adequately addresses this identified counter-argument;

6) Employs examples from the texts to support your points (e.g., paraphrasing or citing quotations from the text);

7) Identifies assumptions in the authors’ arguments, ideas, or conceptual frameworks;

8) Compares or contrasts ideas or theoretical frameworks presented in the texts to other course readings or to course films, to readings in other courses, to campus lectures or to your own experiences or emerging theories.

Return to the PASC Program Standards Navigation Page Here