Management
The candidates demonstrate how they manage the learning organization, including operations and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Wisconsin Administrator Standard 4
The administrator ensures management of the organization, operations, finances, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Revised 5-2016
The following rationale and artifacts demonstrate my development as an emerging leader and provide evidence that the standard has been met.
Self-Reflection:
Management is an important aspect of the role of any leader, especially a principal. Because I am seeking my 051 licensure, I have been given the opportunity to be a part of management within our school. I understand that the most important factor of management is creating a safe workable environment. When students, staff, and community know they are safe within the school, they can better focus on their work or learning. In order to promote safety within the school, all teachers, staff, and administration need to be active and visible within the school. This would include, but not limited be to, passing time, before and after school, lunch, and recess. By being visible and having staff ready and prepared for various situations, the staff quickly address the situations when they arise, or, better yet, is proactive and prevent situations. Secondly, there is a limited amount of time that students are in contact with their teachers; therefore, effectiveness and efficiency is required for success. I will expect an effective and efficient staff, and if there are needs for improvement, I will allow time for this to occur. According to Blake and Mouton's Managerial Grid, I will create a high task and high relationship workplace. I will relate the best I can with each individual, understand their needs, and give them the tools to be successful, while holding each of them to high expectations. As illustrated in my artifacts, I understand that as a principal and leader, you must coach and guide people to become better. Every person within your school (teacher, secretary, principal, janitor, student) needs to understand that self reflection, constant improvement, and development is necessary. This will be accomplished by constant communication, collaboration, and personal development opportunities. Overall, I want every individual in my school to feel like they are the best at what they do. I want every individual to understand that hard work and dedication leads to success. Finally, I want every individual know that there is a strong support system that can provide help and support when needed.
In Educational Leadership Class( Fall 2014), EDL 705, I used my “Personal Best Leadership Project” to explain one of my leadership roles and how it promoted effective learning. I received an "A" on this project. The vision and implementation of this project is still ongoing. In this paper, I explain how I was able to lead those around me to promote more effective and efficient learning. We live in the 21st century, and we are surrounded by technology. I envisioned a school that was overwhelmed with technology and a variety of media, where ways of learning would be endless. Students and staff would not feel restricted, but instead creative and exploratory. Books would become obsolete, because each individual would have a wealth of knowledge and learning at their fingertips. By incorporating one-to-one devices in our school district, we prepare students through creative and engaged learning. This is essential for current occupations and possibly for jobs that don’t even exist yet. We drowned our school in technology! We embrace it! Everyone is learning exciting new things from each other! So far, this has been very successful. Not only has the retrieval, interpretation, application, and sharing of knowledge been more efficient, but the communication, readiness, time management, and overall production/effectiveness within the school has increased by leaps and bounds. Honestly, I would have not changed a thing with this project. Gresham School is so confident in the success of this, that they have presented at the national SLATE (School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education) conference and have even counseled other schools regarding the implementation of technology.
My second artifact is the "Needs Assessment Educator Effectiveness Initiative" paper that I developed during the Summer of 2015. In EDL 755 Supervision and Personnel Development, I reflected up our current evaluation system and how it could be more effective and useful as a Professional Development tool. After completing the "Needs Assessment Educator Effectiveness Initiative" paper and presentation, both of which I received "A's” on, I quickly understood how State Teacher Effectiveness Initiatives should not be seen as more paperwork and a burden, but rather a tool used collectively between administration and staff for a purpose. When analyzing my current situation in how staff is evaluated, I quickly realized that there is a lack of accountability. People do not know where to go for support, and worse yet, they don't even know if they are being effective! After talking to individuals within the school, they expressed the lack of feedback and guidance in our current system. Furthermore, evaluations were not done until the end of the year, and people did not have any time to change or reflect upon themselves until the year was over. At times, staff even felt that they could have quickly improved themselves if they were made aware of the needs for improvement. Last, I reflected upon the fact that only the teaching staff was evaluated, the majority of the evaluations were negative, and there was a lack of guidance or tools for improvement. Throughout this project, I learned that administration and ALL staff need to clearly understand the purpose and vision of the school, and decisions and evaluations need to reflect this. Administration and staff need to work together to improve themselves, others, and to solve problems. The evaluation and reflection process should not be once a year, but an ongoing process. Administration needs to guide staff and supply them with tools (books, articles, conferences, presentations) that fit their needs for improvement. Also, the principal could use inservice for group improvement and professional development in areas that he/she considers large concerns throughout the school/district. As principal of a school, I would definitely create an environment in which constructive criticism is considered as a way to self reflect for improvement. This is not an individual process, but a process in which administration and staff work together for the greater good of the person or school. The constructive criticism also needs to be balanced with rewards. When someone or a group of people do something great and extraordinary, the principal must recognize their accomplishments.
Throughout the past two years, I have a better understanding how to appropriately manage and evaluate others. I have personally seen the frustration of others when individuals are not held accountable for their actions, and evaluations are not used as a tool for improvement. Mis-managed, people quickly point fingers, blame others, give up, or become frustrated. This type of environment is not safe, is unstable, and is not productive. By creating a safe environment in which each person takes care of his/her own needs for their self improvement, improvements of others, or improvement of the school, a community is formed full of productivity and accomplishments. Schools that are properly managed are fun to work at, fun to learn at, and are pillars of their community. As principal, I will create this type of environment. I will first educate myself about the current culture and problems within the district. I will celebrate those who do well. I will also supply tools, professional development, and time necessary for each individual and/or group to improve themselves.
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