Standard One: Strategic Leadership
School executives will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school's vision, mission, and goals in the 21st century. Understanding the schools ideally prepare students for an unseen but not altogether unpredictable future, the leader creates a climate of inquiry that challenges the school community to continually re-purpose itself by building on its core values and beliefs about its preferred future and then developing a pathway to reach it.
Element IA. School Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals
The school's identity, in part, is derived from the vision, mission, values, beliefs and goals of the school, the processes used to establish these attributes, and the ways they are embodied in the life of the school community.
Behavior Discipline Guide
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Our mission at Pattillo Middle School is to "provide quality experiences that ensure success and excellence for all students." In an effort to make certain that we have equitable discipline practices, we met as an administrative team prior to beginning of school year to discuss our school-wide expectations and areas of concern which have resulted in certain groups of students receiving disproportionate referrals/consequences as well as teachers having inconsistent ways in addressing misbehavior. I introduced the discipline pyramid of intervention I had learned about from specialized training I attended on Restorative Discipline. Then, I, along with my principal, created a Behavior Discipline Guide which was included in our staff handbook.
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Aligning Discipline with Core Values
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I co-planned and edited the opening staff meeting presentation. One of my responsibilities during the opening meeting was presenting on aligning our school discipline practices with our school’s core values. Staff first discussed our core values and what they mean to our school. Staff were then able to reflect on the difference between punishment and discipline. I then shared with staff three keys to success in this area: (1) consistent expectations; (2) appropriate consequences; (3) intentional relationship building.
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1B. Leading Change
The school executive articulates a vision, and implementation strategies, for improvements and changes which result in improved achievement for all students.
Student Behavior Reflection Implementation
This year, Pattillo is one of two schools in the district piloting a partnership program with NC Public Health Forum. The goal of this effort is to train staff members on the effects of trauma on childhood development as well as implement initiatives and strategies that improve the trauma sensitivity of our school. One strategy I introduced was a student behavior reflection form. Students who are sent to "Choices" (our term for ISS/Period Detention) complete a reflection form based on the incident for which they got sent to choices. These reflections serve as students’ exit-ticket. Therefore, when a student is sent to Choices, they must turn in a reflection sheet before they can go to their next class.
At the end of the day, these reflections are placed in the teacher’s boxes who sent the student to choices. Teachers are then able to use these reflections to (1) engage in restorative conversations and (2) hold students accountable for improved behavior. Teachers can share reflections with administration if they feel it is needed. [see artifacts below]
At the end of the day, these reflections are placed in the teacher’s boxes who sent the student to choices. Teachers are then able to use these reflections to (1) engage in restorative conversations and (2) hold students accountable for improved behavior. Teachers can share reflections with administration if they feel it is needed. [see artifacts below]
Opportunity Culture Design Team
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In preparation to roll out Opportunity Culture (OC) at Pattillo next school year, I participated on the OC design team. We met with school district and Public Impact personnel to envision what sustainable OC roles could be created within our school given projected budget and staff allotments. I also engaged in discussions about changes that could be made to the master schedule in order to better accommodate OC. We then presented our findings to the School Improvement Team for further discussion and consideration. |
1C. School Improvement Plan
The school improvement plan provides the structure for the vision, values, goals and changes necessary for improved achievement for all students.
School Improvement Team Member
I served as an active member of the School Improvement Team (SIT). I regularly attended SIT meetings and provided feedback that contributed to the creation of our School Improvement Plan. Our SMART goals centered around seeing a 10 point composite increase in the three tested subjects. As a result, I collaborated with ELA teachers to identify standards/skills that should be taught during each quarter. We then worked to create the interim benchmark assessments to track student progress. [see artifact to the left for my designated responsibilities in school improvement plan] |
Learning Walk Facilitator
I also led learning walks during departmental planning in order to increase our teachers' instructional capacity, Teachers were able to observe their colleagues and their implementation of strategies/concepts discussed at previous PLC and PD meetings. We utilized the "I heard..., I noticed..., I wondered.." protocol during these learning walks, which I then synthesized for teachers so that they could have feedback from their peers to further reflect upon. |
1D. Distributive Leadership
The school executive creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership and decision-making throughout the school.
Assigning Teacher a Leadership Task
After conducting a teacher’s observation, she inquired how she could become a “distinguished” teacher. I shared with her my desire to see her take on more leadership roles within our school so that she could share her expertise with others. In following-up with her via email, I requested that she present at an upcoming staff meeting on what she’s learned about closing the reading achievement gap from a recent course she had taken through East Carolina University. |
Delegation of Teacher Coaching
With the absence of an instructional coach at the start of the school year, my principal, assistant principal, and I implemented a teacher coaching model where we each were responsible for meeting 1-on-1 with teachers. When we finally secured an instructional coach during the spring semester, we restructured our model and I assigned the instructional coach the responsibility of coaching one of the teachers I was originally assigned. Additionally, to further develop the leadership and coaching capacity of one of our teachers, we assigned the teacher three of her colleagues to observe and meet with on implementing instructional best practices. [see artifacts below]