STANDARD ONE
Standard 1: Strategic Leadership
Principals will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school’s vision, mission, and goals in the 21st
century. Understanding that 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.
Principals will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school’s vision, mission, and goals in the 21st
century. Understanding that 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 1a. 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.
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.
Durham School of the Arts' mission is to focus on rigorous academics and excellence in the visual & performing arts. Throughout my Principal Residency, I had the opportunity complete tasks that ensured that this mission was being carried out with fidelity on a daily basis. One example is that I was given the responsibility of supervising and facilitating the execution of a variety of performing arts events. This included checking on facilities, collaborating with security, communicating with teachers and students, and greeting guests from the community. I was one of the administrators on duty at one of the DSA productions of Annie which occurred in the month of November.
Element 1b. Leading Change:
The principal articulates a vision, and implementation strategies, for improvements and changes which result in improved achievement for all students.
The principal articulates a vision, and implementation strategies, for improvements and changes which result in improved achievement for all students.
I researched, designed, and implemented a year-long Problem of Practice focusing on the Durham School of the Arts Advisory Program. The focus of my Problem of Practice is to analyze the effectiveness of the Durham School of the Arts Advisory Program. This pilot program is for current 9th grade students who earned below a 4 on either the Math or Reading EOG in 8th grade. There are currently 134 students (DSA will add students after the first progress report, maximum number of 150) and 15 teachers (10 female teachers and 5 male teachers) participating in the program. Students are assigned to a group based on the gender in which they identify (students who identify as male have a male advisor and students who identify as female have a female advisor). Teachers meet with their students (ten in total) once per week on Tuesdays to provide advising/mentoring to ensure that targeted students successfully transition from middle school to high school.
Element 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.
The school improvement plan provides the structure for the vision, values, goals and changes necessary for improved achievement for all students.
Once a month I attended the School Improvement Team meetings. These meetings were an opportunity for a variety of stakeholders to discuss whether or not Durham School of the Arts was working towards accomplishing goals established by the school community. This experience taught me how School Improvement Team meetings are run and how the school goals are designed and monitored. I also had the opportunity to see how Principal Hawks facilitated the discussions by explaining district policies and answering staff questions.
Element 1d. Distributive Leadership:
The principal creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership and decision making throughout the school.
The principal creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership and decision making throughout the school.
At the beginning of the academic year, Assistant Principal Jones and I collaborated to assign students to a specific advisory. This is a spreadsheet we designed and used to help guide the decision-making process. We specifically used the following data points to make our decisions: gender, race and ethnicity, A or B Lunch, 1st period teacher, and 4th period teacher. Our goal was to use this information to design advisory groups that were balanced and diverse. This taught me how to use a variety of data points to make strategic decisions that would ultimately ensure student success.