STANDARD FOUR
Human Resource Leadership
Principals will ensure that the school is a professional learning community. Principals will ensure that process and systems are in place which results in recruitment, induction, support, evaluation, development and retention of high performing staff. The principal must engage and empower accomplished teachers in a distributive manner, including support of teachers in day-to-day decisions such as discipline, communication with parents/guardians, and protecting teachers from duties that interfere with teaching, and must practice fair and consistent evaluations of teachers. The principal must engage teachers and other professional staff in conversations to plan their career paths and support district succession planning.
Principals will ensure that the school is a professional learning community. Principals will ensure that process and systems are in place which results in recruitment, induction, support, evaluation, development and retention of high performing staff. The principal must engage and empower accomplished teachers in a distributive manner, including support of teachers in day-to-day decisions such as discipline, communication with parents/guardians, and protecting teachers from duties that interfere with teaching, and must practice fair and consistent evaluations of teachers. The principal must engage teachers and other professional staff in conversations to plan their career paths and support district succession planning.
Element 4a. Professional Development/Learning Communities:
The principal ensures that the school is a professional learning community.
The principal ensures that the school is a professional learning community.
In order to ensure common planning can occur, I partnered with the administrative team and department chair teachers to developed the master schedule. Members of the administrative team along with the teaching and learning coach attended these meetings to discuss how to continuously improve teaching strategies and increase student achievement.
As the principal resident, I attended the PLT meetings for the Biology, English II, and Math II departments. During these meetings, we discussed student performance data, common assessments, upcoming units, instructional planning, and a number of other professional learning opportunities. I shared instructional resources and strategies with the teams. As a team, we identified trends and commonalities within the data to determine the best instructional practices to implement in order to maximize student learning.
As the principal resident, I attended the PLT meetings for the Biology, English II, and Math II departments. During these meetings, we discussed student performance data, common assessments, upcoming units, instructional planning, and a number of other professional learning opportunities. I shared instructional resources and strategies with the teams. As a team, we identified trends and commonalities within the data to determine the best instructional practices to implement in order to maximize student learning.
Element 4b. Recruiting, Hiring, Placing and Mentoring of Staff:
The school executive establishes processes and systems in order to ensure a high-quality, high-performing staff.
The school executive establishes processes and systems in order to ensure a high-quality, high-performing staff.
I served on the hiring committee both as a teacher and as a principal resident. Both processes used question stems to guide the interview. As a teacher, the questions used were the same. As a principal resident, my mentor principal along with one of the assistant principals modified one set of questions to develop an interview guide for each department.
As a part of our course work, I was tasked with creating a comprehensive review of the processes and procedures of our residency school's Human Resources plan. To develop the plan we were responsible for conducting interviews, collecting data, and review the schools' HR processes. I learned the value of collaborating with school community members to determine best practices for establishing a concrete HR process.
As a part of our course work, I was tasked with creating a comprehensive review of the processes and procedures of our residency school's Human Resources plan. To develop the plan we were responsible for conducting interviews, collecting data, and review the schools' HR processes. I learned the value of collaborating with school community members to determine best practices for establishing a concrete HR process.
Element 4c. Teacher and Staff Evaluation:
The principal evaluates teachers and other staff in a fair and equitable manner with the focus on improving performance and, thus, student achievement.
The principal evaluates teachers and other staff in a fair and equitable manner with the focus on improving performance and, thus, student achievement.
As a resident, I was responsible for conducting peer observations throughout the school year. I began the year by observing the strategies used and feedback the administrative team provided while completing their initial observations. I gained experience with using the evaluation tool and providing effective feedback before conducting my own formal observations. The artifacts included are examples of pre-conference questions, walkthrough feedback, and notes I took during the observation, I later used the rubric to identify areas of proficiency as well as areas of opportunities. This form has streamlined feedback at my school and has improved teacher performance.
As a resident, I was responsible for conducting peer observations throughout the school year. I began the year by observing the strategies used and feedback the administrative team provided while completing their initial observations. I gained experience with using the evaluation tool and providing effective feedback before conducting my own formal observations. The artifacts included are examples of pre-conference questions, walkthrough feedback, and notes I took during the observation, I later used the rubric to identify areas of proficiency as well as areas of opportunities. This form has streamlined feedback at my school and has improved teacher performance.
Student engagement is one of my main focuses as an instructional leader. As the principal resident, I was not as clear as I would like to be on the process of measuring student engagement during observations. While observing one of the assistant principals’ processes of conducting a formal observation and his method of gaging student engagement, I created this tool to share with teachers during our post-conference. During the observation, I observed the participation and on-task behavior, usually one 10 minutes into the observation and during transitions. The purpose of these times is to measure how many students are on task and also teacher placement. During the post-conference, I use this data as a talking point and a place for teacher reflection on their lesson.
Student engagement is one of my main focuses as an instructional leader. As the principal resident, I was not as clear as I would like to be on the process of measuring student engagement during observations. While observing one of the assistant principals’ processes of conducting a formal observation and his method of gaging student engagement, I created this tool to share with teachers during our post-conference. During the observation, I observed the participation and on-task behavior, usually one 10 minutes into the observation and during transitions. The purpose of these times is to measure how many students are on task and also teacher placement. During the post-conference, I use this data as a talking point and a place for teacher reflection on their lesson.