THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLABORATIVE DISTRICT LEADERS

1

• THE DEVELOPMENT OF COLLABORATIVE DISTRICT
  LEADERS
• PERFORMANCE ON PA AND NATIONAL LEADERSHIP
  STANDARDS
• Superintendent Certification, Ed.D. Program
  Concentration
• School of Education, Goodwin College
• Drexel University

2
What kind of leader is needed in todays school
districts?

• Leaders who can transform schools
• around a consensus vision for students 21st
  century learning
• and can establish a learning/collaborative
  culture throughout the school and community.

3
Drexels Educational Leadership Program

• How does Drexels School of Education develop
• transformational leaders?

4
With a Leadership Standards Framework

• National Leadership Standards
• Vision
• School Culture
• Management
• School/Community
• Ethics, Integrity
• Wider Contexts
• Internship

5
National and State Standards Framework

• In the Drexel Program, students must perform on
  the national leadership standards (ISLLC, ELCC).
• Aspiring leaders in PA must perform on the PA
  Leadership Standards (PIL)
• What is the alignment of the PA Leadership
  Standards to the National Leadership Standards?

6
The alignment of PA Leadership Standards to
theNational Standards

• Vision
• The leader ..creates an organizational vision
  around personalized student success.
• The leader is the architect of standards-based
  reform in the school.
• The leader uses appropriate data to inform
  decision-making at all levels of the system.
• School Culture
• The leader creates a culture of teaching and
  learning with an emphasis on learning.
• Management
• The leader manage resources for effective
  results.

7
The alignment of PA Leadership Standards to the
National Standards

• School/Community/Parents
• The leader collaborates, communicates, engages
  and empowers others inside and outside of the
  organization - to pursue excellence in learning.
• Ethics, Integrity
• The leader operates in a fair and equitable
  manner with personal and professional dignity.
• Wider Contexts
• The leader advocates for students in the larger
  political, social, economic, legal and cultural
  contexts.
• Internship
• The leader supports professional growth of self
  and others through practice and inquiry.

8
Leadership Standards Framework

• How does using a Leadership Standards Framework
  create
• a transformational school district leader?

9
A Comparison

• The answer to this question can be seen in a
• comparison between a leader who does not use a
• standards framework (traditional) and one who
  does (transformative).

10
Traditional Educator Leadership Model

• A more traditional model that does not use a
• standards framework for leadership
• often uses management as its core organizing
• principle.

11
Results of using a traditional model

• Though it is necessary to manage an organization
  well,
• constant rapid change and external accountability
  requirements (such as NCLB), can result in a
  feeling of being over-whelmed by events outside
  of ones control.

12
Results of using a traditional leadership model

• If one places this traditional leadership model
  within the standards framework, one sees the use
  of the Management Standard as the basis for
  organization and control.
• The other standards of school district culture,
  vision, ethics, parents/community, wider networks
  and lifelong professional growth, are addressed
• through the Management Standard.

13
Traditional Leadership viewed within a Standards
Framework
Management

Vision School Parents/ Ethics
Wider Internship Culture
Community Contexts
14
What happens when the standards framework is
used?

• Two things happen.
• First, the Vision Standard (which describes a
  district and communitys plan for students 21st
  Century learning/performance)
• becomes the organizing and sustaining
  principle through which the schools mission gets
  accomplished and evaluated.

15
What happens when the standards framework is used?

• Secondly, a district culture of learning, is
  established to support the work.

16
Standards Framework

• The school district becomes a
• learning organization.

17
Transformational District Leadership

• Standards Framework

Vision/ Mission
Vision
School Mgt Parents/
Ethics Wider Internship
Culture Community Contexts
18
Constant Change is the Norm

• How will district leaders respond to change?
• In the traditional model, change is incremental
  and often done in a crisis mode as a reaction to
  an outside event.
• In the transformational model, leaders facilitate
  and manage change as they serve the districts
  vision.
• This is called, 2nd order change. It
  transforms the entire organization.

19
PIL Standards

• Standard 1 VISION
• The leader ..creates an organizational vision
  around personalized student success.
• The leader is the architect of standards-based
  reform in the school.
• The leader focuses on school improvement and acts
  as an agent of school reform.

20
Example of a district leader facilitating a
consensus vision/mission

• Arne Duncan, former Superintendent of Chicago
  Public Schools, now Secretary of Education
• Mr. Duncan testifies at an Education and Labor
  Committee hearing concerning mayor and
  superintendent partnerships in education on July
  17, 2008 about his districts vision for 21st
  Century learning
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1Y1mlSGUaRENR1
• A vision of 21st Century Learning
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v_A-ZVCjfWf8feature
  fvw

21
Standard 2 School Culture and Student Learning

• The School Culture Standard has two parts
• Establishing a learning culture to support the
  schools vision of students 21st Century
  learning goals --

22
Standard 2 School Culture and Student Learning

• And secondly,
• Providing needed resources, commitment and time
  for learning, collaborative work and building
  leadership capacity throughout the system.

23
Standard 2 School Culture and Student Learning

• New York Chancellor, Joel Klein, explains how
  important school cultures are in shaping high
  expectations for both staff and students. This
  happens through staff-wide instructional
  leadership.
• http//www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/instru
  ctional.html
• Click on A Culture of Success

24
Additional views on building a culture of
learning and support and the Instructional Core

• Superintendent Sheldon Berman, leader of
  Jefferson County Public Schools talks about
  building a culture of caring communities
• http//www.edutopia.org/louisville-sel-superintend
  ent-berman-video
•  
• Dr. Richard Elmore , School of Education, Harvard
  University on the instructional Core and Usable
  Knowledge
• http//www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadership/leader
  ship001a.html

25
Standard 3 Management of finances,
facilities and resources to serve the districts
vision

• Management to serve the districts vision is
  described by Katherine Merseth, Senior Lecturer,
  Harvard Graduate School of Education. These
  lessons from a recent study of high-achieving
  charter schools, found that a clear sense of
  purpose resulted in a coherence that made
  management of the school run as smoothly as the
  underlying gears of a watch.
• Go to http//www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/leadersh
  ip/LP333.html
• Video clips 1 and 2 provide more in-depth
  information on the strong connection between a
  clear sense of purpose and effective management
  practices.

26
Standard 4 District Schools, Parents and
Community

• The leader collaborates, communicates, engages
  and empowers others inside and outside of the
  organization to pursue excellence in learning.
  (PIL Standard)
• Community-Built School Working Together to Make
  a Change
• At Capitol Elementary School, educators and
  community members combine their efforts to build
  a new school and revitalize a community.
  Edutopia
• http//www.edutopia.org/capitol-elementary-school

27
Standard 5 Integrity, Fairness and Equitable
Manner

• The leader operates in a fair and equitable
  manner with personal and professional dignity.
  (PIL standard)
• A school or district leader gains respect by
  acting with integrity and in a fair and equitable
  manner. This can often be observed within a
  context of collaboration and shared
  decision-making.
• In this example, a teacher describes how the
  school leaders democratic leadership style
  brings about the staffs respect.
• http//www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/gainin
  g.html
• Click on Democratic Leadership

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Standard 6 A leader is a student advocate within
the larger contexts political,
legal, social, economic and cultural

• A district leader will need to continue learning
  about, deal with and influence others in all the
  wider contexts that affect schools.
• Working across wider contexts can also be applied
  to teacher and student learning.
• The following example from www.edutopia.org
  describes how students learn World Affairs
  through Digital Media.
• http//www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-global-
  kids-video

29
Standard 7 Internship and Lifelong Learning

• PIL standard
• The leader supports professional growth of self
  and others through practice and inquiry.

30
A Mentoring Administrator is a role model for
lifelong learning

• A mentoring administrator provides an invaluable
  learning experience for other aspiring leaders.
• Alexandra talks about her enjoyment of lifelong
  learning within a supportive culture, including
  mentors.
• http//www.thirteen.org/edonline/leadership/profes
  sional.html
• Click on A Culture of learning