Who Is The Superintendents ' Leadership Program? Essay

The West Fargo Public School system is not only the fastest growing school district in the State of North Dakota, it is also one of the most innovative and creative. The district’s Mission is “Educating today’s learners for tomorrow’s world”. Teachers employed by the district take this Mission statement to heart and live it in their own lives. To them, education is a lifelong process, not just something everyone experiences between the ages of 5-17. Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that this past summer 20 elementary and secondary teachers began a 20 month educational journey by enrolling in West Fargo’s second Teacher Leadership Academy (TLA). The Academy is a collaborative effort between West Fargo Public Schools and North Dakota State University’s Educational Leadership Program. The 20 teachers began their journey this summer and will be meeting during the school year every-other Wednesday after school. At the end of five semesters they will be awarded the Masters of Education (M. Ed.) degree. Some of the unique features of the Teacher Leadership Academy are: a) rather than traveling to campus for their coursework, Academy students are taught at the district’s Leidal Education Center, b) classes are facilitated by not only university professors, but the district’s two assistant superintendents [Dr. Allen Burgad and Mrs. Beth Slette], and c) course assignments are focused around the district’s initiatives and strategic plan.

Boys State was a program that, quite frankly, I was discouraged from attending. I heard from multiple people from across the State that, “all you do is march,” and that Boys State is “military school.” I can say with utmost confidence that I will spread the opposite view. Boys State entirely exceeded my expectations in every way, and I cannot thank you enough for granting me such an exceptional opportunity.

In this module I have had to think about how this company functions in a lot more detail than I have ever done before. It is easy to take for granted some of the work that is done on the quality side of the business. It was interesting to look at and audit my department and discuss with my manager areas where I believe we can improve.

According to the author in the introduction of the book, this work was basically intended to serve as a guide for developing moral leadership in schools geared toward superintendents, supervisors, principals, and any other persons at the upper levels of school management. The author's design was to provoke thoughts and raise questions in the minds of these people to help them analyze the leadership processes in their schools and help them make adjustments to the leadership process that will in the end reduce the need for "direct" leadership in favor of "moral" leadership. He

The way I look at and feel myself today would readily reveal not only the palpable changes in me but the undeniable transformation that happened to my whole self brought about as a product of my undertaking the Superintendents’ Leadership Program. A number of my subordinates and local stakeholders have noticed that difference in my person since I subjected myself to the strenuous but enjoyable regiment of the Superintendents’ Leadership Program.

Since its development in 1994 the standards of Educational Leadership have pursued promoting an understanding on what is expected from the educational administration field.1 The goal of this paper is to present a personal appraisal of a connection between the ELCC standards and my own experiences in district leadership and a reflection on my professional practice of the standards. It is implicit that an educational leader should promote the success of every student by advocating and effectively implementing the 6 standards of Educational Leadership. 2

Leadership is an essential component of a schools’ success or failure. Learning By Heart, by Ronald S. Barth provokes teachers and administrators to reflect on their practices and contributions to their school. Roland Barth offers us different viewpoints on educational reform from his own experiences in education from being a public school teacher and principal to being a Harvard University faculty member. He mentions how school improvement and restructuring will come from within every teacher and administrator not from any program because “schools are not capable of improving themselves”.

Marzano, McNulty and Waters propose five steps for a plan of effective school leadership. The first step is developing a leadership team with purpose. The definition used for a purposeful community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that mater to all community members through agreed-upon process (Marzano, et. al, 2005). The second step is distributing some responsibilities throughout the leadership team. The third step is to select the right work. The fourth step is to identify the order of magnitude implied by the selected work. The last step is to match the management style to the order of magnitude of the change initiative. The last step incorporates whether this is first or second order change.

20). Without a clear understanding of expectations, followers will have a difficult time making sense of goals, anticipated outcomes, and success criteria. As evidenced in observation data, Mr. Smith, Director of Elementary Education, provided direction for school administration, teachers, and instructional leaders at central office. He outlined professional development plans for elementary leadership for the 2016-2017 school year, developed a roll-out plan for standards-based reporting K-5, coordinated next steps for observation data related to school improvement planning, and established expectations for reporting student growth in literacy on a quarterly basis. Evident in his dialogue with teachers, administrators, and central office staff was his ability to listen to those in the trenches at the school level. While outlining expectations, goals, and success criteria, Mr. Smith understood that building a sense of community was critical; this leads to the next task of leadership – creating

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

An invitation to any honors program is a sign that truly shows the potential and exemplary attributes one sees in you, and is willing to guide you on that path to success. The Howard University’s School of Business Executive Leadership Program aims to do just that. Being a part of this historical Honors Program doesn’t only open doors to opportunities at Howard University; but opens doors to the future business world. The path to an understanding of business is very rigorous and I have to be well-prepared and educated to traverse the real business world, which is exactly why I hope to accomplish this through the Executive Leadership Honors Program. The business environment requires leaders who are willing to dedicate and challenge themselves, and who sees every opportunity as a way to develop their character and progress.

Much of this clinical experience has been examining the specific role of a superintendent within a school district. I found that the reflections as part of the weekly journal to of particular interest and benefit as I examined he “Guiding Questions” for this final synthesis essay. Interestingly, my colleagues in this course found these reflections not to be beneficial. During one of our class meetings it was noted that these were not a beneficial exercise and that reflection was not needed. To that, I would counter that reflection s always needed but it is often the easiest item to overlook. In our hectic administrative world, it is easy to become buried in Administrivia. Often we do not event take a moment to move from one crisis to the next. Reflection is the only way we can halt the inexorable march to the end. I for one, was pleased that we were asked to reflect on each week. I took this as an opportunity to examine the actions of the superintendent and, in a risk free environment, provide my perspective on the positive or negative actions observed or experienced. Hopefully the observations and judgments in those weekly journals remain an academic exercise and not a communique to my superintendent. As I re-read the journal entries and focus them with the lens of the guiding questions, I have some final thoughts about my qualifications and idiosyncrasies that may come into play if ever I was afforded the honor of being a superintendent.

Through the years I have been given several opportunities to advance into administration, but I have realized my passion lies in the classroom developing students and teachers through servant leadership. I believe my realization happened when serving as a Mentor Teacher through TAP. Being part of TAP, I realized that I have much to offer other teachers, and I can serve peers without forfeiting service to my students. This was quite a welcomed relief because servant leadership is what I love, and I just happen to do that through education. Serving as a Mentor Teacher, I welcomed the responsibility of ensuring our teachers were well educated on district and state expectations, as

My mother always told me, "If you never spread your wings, you will never know how far you can fly."

Our teachers should be role models and mentors by providing leadership skills to the students, something that is not currently being done. An improvement opportunity this new school’s administration faces is building an empowerment culture structure that allows the teachers to become leaders in the classrooms. This means that the teachers need to be responsible for their classrooms and students’