Friday, December 18, 2015

Data-Based School Growth Plan

Working on a data-based school growth plan has been a learning process.  Organization, time management, and a reliable team are vital components.   The process begins by creating a shared school vision with input from the school community as part of CAPE 4.  The vision must be in place to guide the school growth plan.  The vision must be communicated and revisited often to help drive decision-making. 
Once the vision is firmly in place, a school growth team is assembled.  This team should be diverse and positive.  The members will share leadership and decision making duties.  Members should be from various segments of the school and community.  The input of this team is vital to the school growth plan and its implementation.  

The team must make decisions based on data.  Analyzing multiple sources of data, the leader shares the data with the team and goals are set.  Needs assessment surveys may be needed if the data is vague.  Goals should be set and research-based interventions implemented.  
This infograph shows data from Bret Harte Elementary School.  This data was used to create the school growth plan for the 2015-2016 school year.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Vision and Leadership

My Vision

Our school is dedicated to providing a positive, nurturing educational foundation in which all students are challenged to achieve their academic goals and are held accountable for their actions. Working together with parents and the community, we will produce motivated, confident students that will meet or exceed academic standards. Our students will become lifelong learners that communicate and use technology effectively as successful members of society.


https://animoto.com/play/MNTJfsY4LL2wwhV5cMrALg


The most important thing that I have learned from this assignment is that effective leaders are very purposeful, reflective and deliberate in their actions.  It takes a great deal of planning and preparation to smoothly and efficiently lead change.  Creating a vision is just the beginning of the process.  Leaders must be the positive example of change for their staff.  They must be prepared to do everything that they ask the staff to do, but at a higher level of proficiency.  In order for a staff to make the personal sacrifices that change requires, the leader must be willing to make those same or more difficult sacrifices.  Leaders must communicate their vision to the staff and then live that vision along with the staff.  If this does not happen, the leader is not respected, trusted or followed.