Pennsylvania Special Education Leadership Initiative Mentoring To Mastery

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Pennsylvania Special Education Leadership
InitiativeMentoring To Mastery
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Mentoring to Mastery Intended Outcomes

• Increase knowledge and skills of special
  education leaders
• Promote and provide networking opportunities and
  support to special education leaders
• Improve special education service delivery and
  supports to students with disabilities
• Increase the retention of special education
  administration

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Annual Cycle of Activities
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Partnerships

• Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of
  Special Education
• Pennsylvania Council for Administrators of
  Special Education (PACASE)
• PAIU Special Education Directors
• School Districts

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Mentoring

• Pair novice leaders (protégés) with veteran
  leaders
• Share experiences
• Share knowledge
• Provide support
• Grow the professional network

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Mentors can help new administrators with

• Technical Expertise skills and knowledge
  related to how to do the work
• Socialization skills and knowledge about how to
  get the work done in their setting
• Role Clarification skills and knowledge about
  who they are as leaders

Adapted from J. Daresh, 2004
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Your Important Role

• Ultimately.the director of special education
  influences the quality of education for every
  student with special needs within a school
  district.
• Thompson and OBrien, 2007

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Special Education Administrators as Instructional
Leaders

• As the instructional leader of the special
  education service delivery team, the director is
  responsible for cultivating an organizational
  culture where professional staff are committed to
  teaching students with special needs using the
  best available instructional practices and
  achieving the best possible educational
  outcomes. Thompson and OBrien, 2007

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A Day in the Life Your Many Hats

• Peacemaker?
• Consultant?
• Visionary?
• Troubleshooter?
• Teacher?
• Leader?
• Compliance Monitor?
• Coach?
• Mediator?
• Disciplinarian?
• And others?

• Special education administrators must have a
  high tolerance for ambiguity. CASE

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Special Education at the Crossroads

• Special education administration is located at
  the intersection of the disciplines of special
  education, general education, and educational
  administration.
• Traditional preparation for special educators has
  been dominated by assumptions, practices, and
  knowledge traditions of the disciplines of
  special education. This preparation is now too
  narrow for todays needs. Lashley and
  Boscardin, 2003

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Special Education at the Crossroads

• Accountability for performance results, and high
  standards, along with mandates of IDEA, make
  efforts to educate children with disabilities in
  general education classrooms the focus of
  education.
• Special education administrators must be well
  versed in knowledge and skills from general
  education and educational administration. Lashley
  and Boscardin, 2003

Special education is not an island unto itself.
CASE
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Pause and Reflect

• Have you ever had a situation in which someone
  has guided you through a new skill or experience?
• What was it that that person did to help and
  support you?

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Mentoring

• The mentoring relationship creates a support
  system
• The effective mentor supports and encourages, but
  also challenges the learning of the protégé.
• It's the trusting relationship that mentors have
  with their protégés that make that happen.
• Barry Sweeney, 2004

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Mentoring Instructional Leaders

• Mentoring provides a much better way to learn
  those new skills, because it allows you to build
  on the experience of the administrators who know
  the school system, who know the expectations of
  the community, who've learned all those solutions
  and strategies that are very effective. Tapping
  that experience is really valuable.
• Barry Sweeney, 2003

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Purpose of Mentoring to Mastery

• To ensure that new administrators are effective
  and better prepared to meet the needs of their
  schools. Highly qualified leaders will experience
  greater satisfaction leading to increased
  retention.

The greatest percent of the work is managing
communication between parents and the school.
CASE
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Mentoring Program Outline

• Mentors and protégés paired based on needs and
  proximity.
• Mentoring recommendations
• Up to two-year commitment
• Regular communication by phone or email, but at
  least two in-person contacts (on-site visits,
  meetings at mutually convenient locations, or
  Leadership events)
• Content-specific communication around needs

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Qualities of Effective Mentors

• Willingness to share knowledge and experiences
• Empathetic
• Communication skills
• Reflective
• Maintains confidentiality
• A lifelong learner
• Persistent
• Sense of humor

Never let the format of a form inhibit you
from recording your good deeds. CASE
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More Qualities of Mentors

• Commitment to the role of mentoring and the task
  of helping new supervisors find success and
  gratification in their new work
• Such commitment flows naturally from a resolute
  belief that mentors are capable of making a
  significant and positive impact on the life of
  another.
• James B. Rowley, 1999

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More Qualities of Mentors

• The good mentor models continuous learning
• Good mentors are transparent about their own
  search for better answers and more effective
  solutions to their own problems.
• They model this commitment by their openness to
  learn from colleagues, including beginning
  teachers, and by their willingness to pursue
  professional growth through a variety of means.
• Most important, they share new knowledge and
  perplexing questions with their beginning
  colleagues in a collegial manner. Rowley, 1999

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Benefits to Mentors

• Professional growth and development
• Service to the education profession by sustaining
  and supporting new administrators
• Personal growth and satisfaction

There is an inverse relationship between the
complexity of the question and the simplicity of
the answer. CASE
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Qualities of Protégés

• An expressed desire to improve skills and to
  learn from a colleague
• A willingness to be open about needs
• Communication
• Sense of humor
• Maintains confidentiality
• Reflective
• Lifelong learner

• Special education administrators need to develop
  principles to apply to situations to assist in
  making decisions. CASE

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Benefits to Protégés

• Confidence and competence as educational leaders
• Professional growth and development
• Individualized, interactive, support
• Larger networks and better professional
  relationships

• Start with what you know and venture out from
  there. CASE

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Responsibilities of Mentors

• Assist protégé in framing issues to identify
  goals.
• Know the resources and supports that exist for
  Pennsylvania school leaders.
• Demonstrate willingness to share expertise and
  knowledge and to invest time and energy.

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Responsibilities of Mentors

• Seek additional resources from IU or PaTTAN
  staff, when necessary.
• Commit to the role of mentor.
• Initiate and/or maintain contact a minimum of six
  times per year.

The answer to any administrative question is,
it depends. CASE
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Responsibilities of Protégés

• Identify areas of need/skill development.
• Work with mentor to establish agenda for
  development of areas of need.
• Initiate/maintain contact at least six times per
  year, including, if possible, two in-person
  contacts.

The greatest percent of the work is managing
communication between parents and the school.
CASE
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Responsibilities of PaTTAN

• Help to match potential mentors and protégées
• Explain program expectations
• Provide technical assistance and resources via
  mail, email and phone to individual mentoring
  pairs as-needed Provide opportunities for
  in-person meetings between mentors and protégées
  at IU or PaTTAN events
• Monitor progress of mentoring program with
  periodic contacts

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Getting on Board

• Complete the Mentoring Form and indicate your
  interest in
• Being a mentor
• Being mentored
• Mentors
• Indicate specific areas of expertise or strength
• Protégés
• Indicate areas in which you would benefit from
  mentoring
• Return form to PaTTAN Leadership Consultant

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• Celebrate your contributions and successes each
  day!

• Our own success, to be real, must contribute to
  the success of others. Eleanor Roosevelt
• www.pattan.net

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Additonal References

• Lashley, C., and Boscardin, M.I. (2003). Special
  Education Administration at a Crossroads. Journal
  of Special Education Leadership, 16, 63-75.
• Thompson, James R., and OBrien, Mary. (2007).
  Many Hats and a Delicate Balance The Lives and
  Times of Todays Special Education Directors.
  Journal of Special Education Leadership, 20,
  33-43.