Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4
Competency 1 Area:
The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.
During my internship I had the opportunity to work in a variety of situations that expanded my understanding of this competency. In the beginning of this work, I considered this an area of my strength; however, the internship work has strengthened my understanding of the importance of this competency. In order to ensure the success of all students, I worked with a vertical team of teachers and principals to build communication and consensus on processes that are necessary to create systems for curriculum and assessment for mathematics, science and social studies K – 12. This included the development of common curriculum documents that would be posted electronically so that all teachers had access to the same curriculum materials and all students had access to the same learning opportunities. Additionally, this team discussed the need for district formative assessments and developed a plan for the creation, administration, and evaluation of these tests. Because of the commitment by the team to develop common practices and expectation, an area that had been divisive and competitive in the past was resolved with a plan that everyone agreed to follow. This team also worked to reinstitute vertical content teams that consisted of teachers from all campuses and a variety of grade levels in order to share information and needs across the district. As a part of this work, information sharing through the curriculum portal was developed so that teachers, administrators, and any member of the electronic community could share ideas, ask questions, and post documents so that all information could be shared equitably and openly so that everyone has the same access to resources.
I also had that opportunity to participate on the district budget revision committee and learn how to communicate with competing departments to make financial decisions that benefitted all children, not just the needs of a specialized group. I learned the importance of open conversations that brought all stakeholders together to make decisions. Parents, community members, members of the local institute of higher learning, along with the local school district members, and most importantly, students, were included in this decision making process. What could have been a very emotional situation was handled in a way that created consensus about the budget decisions made. While no one liked the choices, everyone understood why those decisions were being made.
What began as a perceived strength has grown and developed. I will not ever underestimate the importance of this competency.
Competency 2 Area:
The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.
When I developed my internship plan for Competency 2 the plan centered on opportunities for facilitating the growth of the vision for the Huntsville STEM Academy. In 2009, I authored the grant that resulted in Huntsville ISD being awarded a Cycle 5 T-STEM grant for about $500,000. In 2010 the district opened a STEM academy with 106 freshmen. In January of this year, plans were being made to expand the academy by adding an additional class of about 100 freshmen and possibly expanding the sophomore class. However, two changes in the district, a new superintendent and the budget shortfall, resulted in the decision to close the Huntsville STEM Academy. My plans for promoting MOUs with the business-community partners and the development of a parent community committee for the STEM Academy ended. Instead, during the spring of 2011, I spent my time communicating the change in district vision so that it was supported by all partners that had enthusiastically invested their time, energy, money, and children in the program. I had the opportunity to work closely with the dean of the STEM Academy as we prepared to close the school. This included meeting with the campus teachers and reassuring them that they would have jobs in the next school year. It included meeting with TEA representatives regarding the funding. The Huntsville STEM Academy is the only T-STEM recipient to ever leave money in Austin. I was asked to communicate with vendors, business-community partners, parents and students. I completed the same activities I would have completed in order to “grow” a program, just in reverse. All of this took place as we were in the process of preparing our students for the TAKS test. The challenge to communicate this change in a positive way helped me understand that a superintendent has to be able to communicate vision when the situation is negative, as well as when it is positive.
As a result of this process, I learned how to put my own feelings regarding the situation aside and communicate the information necessary to strengthen programs for all children and build the district culture.
Competency 3 Area:
The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.
During the course of my internship, Huntsville ISD hired a new superintendent. Because of this, I was able to participate and document the process of hiring a new superintendent. TASB was hired by the Huntsville ISD Board of Trustees and I observed the superintendent search process, in particular the polling of the school community members and the Huntsville community members to identify their preferences in a superintendent. I then observed the new superintendent as he established communication with all stakeholders. He established a schedule of meetings with principals, directors, each school’s faculty and staff, community members, organizations and leaders.
Other activities included in this competency during my internship included:
- Working with principals to create an instrument for evaluating mathematics instruction on the campus. In this process I learned how important it is for a superintendent to collaborate with others to develop resources that ensure educational success for all students.
- Work with the Director of Human Resources, Campus Induction Coordinators, and teachers to refine the curriculum for the district’s First Year Induction (FYI) program for new teachers. In this process I learned more about how a superintendent has to respond to the diverse needs and interests of a group. We included teachers who had recently completed the FYI program so that they could share with us what worked and what didn’t work. The goal of this team was to provide meaning induction in order to ensure educational success for all students. This project also came under revision due to the budget shortfall. It required that we develop a plan that was leveled based on the funding that was needed to implement the components.
- Lead the implementation of the Flippen Leadership Blueprint in order to develop interpersonal relationships. This blueprint provides an excellent framework for establishing communication. It focuses on the diverse interests and needs of the school community and the importance of interpersonal relationships. Not only did I learn through this process how to communicate, collaborate, respond to the campus/administrator’s needs, and mobilize resources to implement the program; I also learned how important the Flippen skills are in communicating with others. As a result of this training it has become a practice for me to ask those I am working with to tell me how I am doing, asking what I can do to improve, and to ask how I can help them. It has changed the way I will communicate as a superintendent.
Competency 4 Area:
The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.
Spring and summer 2011 provided an opportunity to learn processes and procedures never presented before. Due to the budget shortfall this year, I was able to observe and participate in the process of responding to the larger political, social, economic, legal and cultural context presented to local education agencies as the state legislature established a budget for funding schools that dramatically impacted the way schools do business.
In Huntsville, I experienced the process of working with the school board in numerous budget workshops to establish the financial plans needed for both 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 so that the cuts made did not impact students. I also experienced working with the school board on a remodeling/building project in response to the community needs.
During these two processes, I learned the importance of open, clear communication with the board of trustees that included providing them with information and data, but understanding that no matter what I preferred, they made the decisions. As Dr. Thompson says, “It is their school and their money.” I also learned how their preferences and personal interests impact the decisions that they make. During the building project, I made a recommendation to the board that $850,000 could be saved by constructing science classrooms (one per teacher) and building shared laboratory classrooms (2:1), instead of building individual 1 to 1 science lab classrooms. Even with the budget concerns, the board of trustees decided to build science lab classroom for every science teacher. This was in response to the teacher’s input to the board and the pressure from the community. It is their school, their money.
Lastly, during my internship program, I worked with the Director of Special Programs to implement communication processes for the bilingual and gifted programs in the district. Each program had communication problems that affected the larger community and caused concern with the board of trustees. The bilingual teachers were vocal to the community and school board that their students were not receiving the same quality materials and assessments. The parents of the gifted students were unhappy because the district had moved from a pull-out program to a g/t cluster program. In both instances the groups were not being included in the decision making process. We worked together to establish a professional learning community with the bilingual teachers so that they had input in the material selection and assessment creation. A parent organization for parents of gifted students was developed and g/t parents were utilized on the campus so that they were aware of all that was taking place for their children.
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7
Competency 5 Area:
The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.
Working in Domain II is easy for me as it is where I have the most experience as a leader. The activities that I engaged in with regard to competency 5 centered on the development, implementation and evaluation of vertical assessment processes for K-12 mathematics, science and social studies. They can be summarized as:
- Updating PK-12 mathematics, science and social studies curriculum documents with a focus on student engagement.
- Evaluating and updating PK-12 mathematics, science and social studies curriculum documents to include implementation of student use of technology.
- Lead a vertical team of mathematics teachers in the development and use of grade level common formative assessments with revisions for the new accountability system.
- Analyze district discipline data and evaluate its impact on student mathematics performance.
This process required that I develop a timeline, professional learning community for the work, and a budget for the finances allocated to time and publication. From this process I learned that it is the responsibility of the superintendent to ensure that curriculum resources are aligned and available for all teachers so that all students have access to a common state curriculum. I learned that this process is a huge time and monetary commitment. Since it is not a component of the school business that is public or showy and does not stir up passions on the part of the school board or community, it is often overlooked and underfunded. However, without these pieces a school district has no road map for teacher or student success.
In Huntsville ISD, the former superintendent was deeply committed to this competency. He developed a long-range strategic plan for the implementation of the curriculum. This is a very important process for a superintendent to develop, as the state is constantly changing the state curriculum or the state assessments. This requires a system to be in place for the continual updates. Since this is an area of strength for me, it will be a priority as a superintendent.
Competency 6 Area:
The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
While working on this competency my job involved approving all teacher requests for professional development in the entire district. I compiled reports that showed the number of teacher professional development hours by content or special program. I evaluated campus professional development plans for all staff development days. I also worked to establish a PK-12 list of district approved professional development activities in mathematics.
Coming in to the superintendent’s internship program I became aware that Huntsville ISD did not have a district plan for professional development. There were no essential trainings identified by the district and no plan in place to ensure that teachers had those essential trainings. Some teachers were attending multiple trainings each year, while others were attending none. Additionally, there was no limit on the number of days each year that a teacher could be absent due to professional development. In my internship process I worked to develop a plan for PK-12 mathematics that included all these elements. Professional learning can be an expensive investment for a district. In these economic times it becomes more important than ever for the superintendent to promote a program so that principals have responsibility in supervising the implementation of the district professional development plan. One strategy that is very effective is the Trainer of Trainers model (TOT). In this model trainers are trained and take the uniform training model back to the campus or training group. Also, the campus must utilize time within the school day for training, rather than releasing teachers to attend training off campus. This can be accomplished in several ways. Hiring rotating substitutes so that teachers can have a short training time within the day without missing their entire class load is one way this can be accomplished.
I learned how difficult it is for a superintendent to be personally involved in this process. The superintendent must be able to depend on leaders to accomplish the details. The superintendent must be committed to the funding, promotion, and support of the culture for professional growth.
Competency 7 Area:
The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.
During my internship I worked with teachers and principals in several ways that fit within Competency 7. I worked with principals and campus academic coaches to design quality professional development. Most campuses had a weekly professional development time. Most campus principals felt capable of implementing some professional learning, but all requested additional support to provide rigorous, adult-centered professional development in areas that did not fit with their personal expertise. Using the academic coaches as campus trainers, we developed a TESA (Teacher Expectations Student Achievement) training model. Since TESA is research based and focuses on teacher-student engagement, it was chosen to be implemented district wide.
One of the ways that I worked with the supervision component of this competency involved the monitoring and evaluation of department heads at the high school. When analyzing district formative assessment data it was discovered that the high school mathematics department chair was resisting the implementation of the district curriculum and the science department chair was supporting it. Based on this data, I formed a team of the two department chairs and worked with them together to identify curriculum needs, create assessments and evaluate assessment data. In the process of doing this, the nonconforming department chair became cooperative and supportive. She actually volunteered to create additional assessments.
From these two processes I learned how important it is for the superintendent to be involved in the development of the model and to also model what he/she expects others to accomplish. If I had not worked directly with the principals and academic coaches to train on professional development, it would not have happened. If I had not taken the time to work directly with the two department chairs, change would not have happened in the direction that it needed to go. The superintendent has to be a leader and model the changes expected.
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10
Competency 8 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.
The spring of 2011 provided opportunities relating to budgeting, personnel, resource allocation, and financial management like no other year in my 32 years as an educator. As stated in one of the earlier reflections, the budget shortfall resulted in the closure of the Huntsville STEM Academy. Since I wrote the grant for the school, I was the program coordinator and supervisor. When the school closed, it gave me great opportunities to apply effective leadership and management principles. Working with the STEM dean/principal and the middle school and high school principals, we were able to reassign the four STEM teachers into teaching assignments for 2011-2012. Parent meetings were held in order to help parents understand why the school was closing and why the change was needed. This was particularly difficult because the year before we were involved in selling them on the advantages of the smaller, 21st Century Learning community, and assuring them of the longevity of the program.
This change happened not only because of the budget but also because of the change in the superintendent. The former superintendent had been committed to the implementation of 21st Century Learning, particularly in relation to under-represented students having access to engineering programs. When the new superintendent was hired, he had a different focus and the STEM Academy was cut. This situation helped me understand that this also happens to the superintendent. Many times changes in the board of trustees creates a change in the focus and direction of programs in the district. I learned valuable lessons in how to undo a program that was, at one time, an emphasis.
Activity #18 involved the supervision of the curriculum and instruction secretaries. During my internship, I was responsible for supervising two secretaries for our department. This activity helped me understand how important it is to consider the individual needs of the personnel placed in my charge. While a superintendent needs to consider the financial aspects of schools, schools are mostly people and people have needs. Several times during the internship, the secretaries needed personal days for things that I, personally, would never take off work to do. However, it was important for me to consider their needs and understand that turning down their request would be harmful to the management of the office.
Competency 9 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.
Competency 9 is one of the areas that I am the weakest in regarding my performance as a school superintendent, I keep hearing that this is an area that one needs experience in to feel confident. I am still wondering how that will happen.
The activities that I completed in my internship program that applied to this competency were:
- Conduct and document district wide science safety inspections.
For this activity I worked with the campus principal and designated campus science lead teacher to conduct science lab safety inspections in accordance with the state guidelines. This process was quite frustrating. Several of the campuses were in need of maintenance in order to have the science lab comply with the state requirements yet there was no money available to make the changes. The high school science classrooms were remodeled and brought into compliance with the state regulations.
- Observe one bus driver during the morning or afternoon bus route.
Huntsville ISD has a unique transportation system. Students are bussed to a central loading dock on their neighborhood bus, At the loading dock they disembark their neighborhood bus and transfer to their campus bus. Approximately, 3500 students in grades PK-12 are on the loading dock at the same time. In the afternoon, the process is reversed. At the time of year that I rode with the bus driver, students were very familiar with their transfer process. Because the buses are neighborhood buses, the discipline problems that usually occur on a bus are lessened. The buses have students from the same family and all levels. In the past when I have been in districts where the buses were campus based, a bus full of junior high students always had problems. That is not the case. I was impressed with the relationship that the bus driver had with his students. The bus driver is essential in providing a safe learning environment.
- Coordinate with food services for the district end of year First Year Induction luncheon.
Food services is a critical component in providing a safe and effective learning environment. Many of the students receive their best or only meals of the day at school. In working with the food services department to schedule food for the end of the year teacher induction luncheon, I found the catering aspect of the department to rival any private food service provider in quality and price.
Competency 10 Area:
The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
During my internship process I have observed three superintendents implement positive change and communicate district vision during difficult times. I have observed all three utilize organizational and problem solving skills to accomplish that task. While all three used different styles, all were effective in different ways. Watching my superintendent communicate the same, consistent message during the budget shortfall made an impression on me. He communicated effectively and positively a message that framed the budget changes without sacrifices for the student.
This is the competency in which the intern combines the aspects of all the other competencies. During my internship I have participated on committees, worked with vertical teams, and made decisions individually that effected teachers and students system-wide. I have been successful and met with defeats. I have effected positive change and have worked to undo the change that was implemented.
