Competency Reflections

Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4

Competency 1 Area:

The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.

My pre-assessment indicated that the ethics competency was one of my initial strengths. Components included the following:

1. Serve as an advocate for all children.
2. Model and promote the highest standard of conduct, ethical principles, and integrity in decision making, actions, and behaviors.
3. Exhibit understanding and implement policies and procedures that promote district personnel compliance with The Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators.
4. Monitor and address ethical issues impacting education.
5. Apply laws, policies, and procedures in a fair and reasonable manner.
6. Interact with district staff, students, school board, and community in a professional and ethical manner.

I included three different activities that fall solely under this competency area. They included meeting with the English department to discuss gender stereotyping in literature, a self-monitored activity of providing proof that I actually do what I say I am going to do, and acknowledging accomplishments of others.

I have yet to meet with the English department on this matter. It is one of the few activities I have left. We have had an interesting year in battling attempts at censorship from members of the community in regard to our AP English program.  At this point, gender stereotyping isn’t even on the radar. I am curious as to what the response will be from our virtually all female department.

The other tasks have made me much more conscientious of both praise and follow-through. Follow-through is a major component of integrity. Unfortunately, many times in my position, follow-through is of a negative nature. Many times it is a result of issuing a teacher a directive, then following through in the event that they do not.

Additionally, it is imperative that we as educators follow though when we give students directives that have consequences either positive or negative. From time to time I get complaints from students of teachers who issued homework, but never picked it up or graded it. This lack of follow-through breaks down the educational process at its most basic level.

I feel that it is imperative that we advocate for ALL children.  Sadly, sometimes we may be their only advocate. We have the training, the understanding, and the know-how to help ensure that all students reach their potential while under our charge. I constantly remind teachers and students alike that the free education they are currently receiving is time-sensitive and has a shelf-life. In the blink of an eye four years will fly past. It is important that we grab hold of each and every moment.

A major part of advocating for all students is to ensure that we are cognizant of all policies and laws involved in educating children. Not only is it essential in maximizing their learning opportunities, but not being both aware and compliant opens both us and our district to the wide world of litigation. We have an ethical obligation to do everything we can to help ensure student success.

This program has helped open my eyes to the vast ethical responsibilities of the superintendent position. We have ethical obligations to our students, their parents, our teachers and staff, our district, and our communities. We have a huge charge and responsibility.

Competency 2 Area:

The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.

Not having or being able to develop a shared vision is much like taking a trip somewhere you’ve never been without a map or GPS. It doesn’t matter how effective we are or how strong our ability is to lead. It is all for not if we don’t know where we are going.  Working collaboratively with the board and my administrative team, I believe I can help foster a sense of collaboration amongst team members. In empowering others, we can help develop a shared vision that has a multitude of stake holders, all working towards common goals.

This program has helped me tremendously in envisioning what it takes to develop a team with a focused vision for learning. Perhaps one of the best exercises was actually interviewing our Associate Superintendent. He provided great insight as to how to develop board relations. The first step was simply by setting guidelines and expectations. One of the things that really stands out to me is something some simple, but it never occurred to me that it could be an issue: communication methods. He had indicated that rather than speak or email board members individually, that it was agreed by both sides that all communication would travel through and fro through the board president. It is such a simple concept, but one that certainly could help smooth and align communication processes and helps avert conflict and miscommunications.

I serve on our CEIC committee at the high school. It is actually one of my internship tasks related to this competency area. The CEIC helps facilitate a shared vision on campus, much in the way that the DEIC helps this vision district-wide. Developing a group of stakeholders to help with planning and facilitating processes in order to develop this vision is a sure step towards developing buy-in district-wide. People want to be represented and feel as though their voices are heard.

One of the things I pride myself on in this particular competency is encouraging risk-taking. Some of the greatest advances in the classroom stem from teachers stepping outside the box (sometimes even failing at first). With that being said, it is important that we provide that support, encourage, and put them in a position to be successful.

Additionally, I pride myself on praising in public, and condemning in private. It is important that we celebrate our successes together. Teambuilding is an important attribute of the whole shared vision concept and stakeholder experience. It is important to sometimes be able to agree to disagree while recognizing that members of a team draw from many different experiences and many times have varying ideas and opinions. It is important to make people feel their opinions are important, even if a different course of action is selected. I feel that I do a tremendous job of fostering trust in team members.

This program (both intern plan and course curriculum) has helped me recognize just how important these concepts truly are.

Competency 3 Area:

The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.

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Proper, professional communication is essential in rallying support for education. Being able to identify influential community members and enlist them in advancing your efforts is imperative as well. Many times superintendents are new to the districts they take over. Rather than be viewed as an outsider, it is important to become part of a community so that members feel you have an investment in it.

It is important to have a say in how information flows within your district. Developing guidelines can aid in the process. No one likes to be surprised, and it is important that district employees follow a clearly defined chain of command.

Outside of the district, being able to communicate with the community is essential.  Perception is reality and if your community views you as pretentious or in any way negative, you will be facing an uphill battle.

I believe one of my greatest strengths is conflict-resolution. One of my exercises was to oversee a situation where there was a conflict. In reality, I do this nearly each and every day.  It is a skill that must be developed and honed in order to be effective. 

A major ally (or enemy if one is not careful) is the media. It is imperative that procedures are developed outlining who speaks with the media. Without exception, that is your job unless otherwise relinquished to a representative. Nothing can give a district a black eye quicker that the media. And it sometimes takes years and years to undo negative press that is released in a matter of minutes.

Having an understanding of cultural diversity is essential as the complexion of America is changing. With it comes a demographic change in our school systems (especially Texas). This program has reminded me how important it is to be culturally sensitive in order to reach all students.

One of my activities was to interview a retired administrator. I chose Mary Kitchel, a principal I worked with for several years. Mary is pushing seventy years of age and has been with our district for 25 years. She has seen vast changes in both public education, and in our district. I believe it is important to know where we came from in order to understand where we are heading.

From the experiences I have documented, I feel that I can keep the communication and collaboration between the community and the school district one where we remain focused on improving instruction and creating a common vision for our school district. Having strong input from parents and community members creates an environment where students are held responsible for their learning and community leaders hold students responsible for meeting the expectations set for them at school. Although we can always strive for greater participation, I am extremely proud of the parent involvement we experience.

Competency 4 Area:

The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.

This course provided me with a ton of information in this area. I had no experience whatsoever in dealing with board issues. I had a basic understanding of the concept of nepotism having seen situations where board members stepped down so a family member could be hired, etc. But that was the extent of it. I learned more from my coursework in this area than I did in my internship plan. 

The reality is that board relations are imperative to both moving a district forward, and in keeping a job.  I had little or no working knowledge of the laws outlining board behavior prior to my involvement with this certification. Needless to say, it was enlightening. 

A major component of this area is defining expectations from each side. In an interview with our associate superintendent, the topic of communication between the superintendent and board members was brought up. It was mentioned in an above area but bears mentioning here as well. The scenario was one in which various board members felt compelled to pick up the phone at leisure to contact the superintendent concerning issues. It turned into a “bull in the ring” scenario where the superintendent was constantly responding to multiple calls and emails. It created an unhealthy situation where information was often repeated multiple times inconsistently. It was then decided that all future correspondence would move from board members, to the board president. He/she would in turn refer the info or question to the superintendent, who would respond back to the board president for dissemination.  Had this expectation been clearly articulated initially, the issue could have been avoided altogether.

Another component of this area I learned about deals with understanding and utilizing political systems and educational organizations. As a district-level administrator, it is important to be “plugged in” in terms of networking and being involved in professional educational organizations. A few our associate superintendent recommended were Phi Delta Kappa, TASA, TASSP, and the local chamber of commerce.

Legal issues are common pitfalls in relation to board activities. I learned a lot about the laws that are set in place to guide board activities in everything from hiring practices to conflict of interest involving business ventures. I now understand how imperative it is to have a clear understanding of the legalities of this particular area. It is one area I was unfamiliar with prior to this coursework.

DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7

Competency 5 Area:

The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.

I sort of killed two birds with one stone in my intern plan by interviewing one of our curriculum directors in terms of implementing major change. The major change was shifting from a grab-bag curriculum (which, interestingly enough, was good enough to get us exemplary in the good old TAAS days) to full implementation of C-Scope. From a curriculum standpoint, this was an exceptional move- one that is happening around the state as we speak. As of last fall, 750 of the 1050 or so districts were implementing it. We got on board in a hurry.

One of the ways it was accomplished was but allowing access in the spring prior to full implementation. Teachers were able to log in, play around, and pull information, resources, and entire units with little or no pressure. This was done in lieu of shoving it down everyones throat coming back from the summer break in August. It was well-received. In the interview Jim talked about thirds. One third would be early implementers, a third would be one target, and another third would drag heels. Four years later we are rocking and rolling with it.

There was a huge revamp of our curriculum based assessments. We are in a big debate right now as to whether they are formative or summative in nature. In my estimation, it simply is a matter of how we use the information that determines which.

It has been a slow process in evaluating our CBA data. Initially, we simply had benchmarks on a given subject on a given day regardless of where teachers were in the course of their content delivery. If they were behind, they were behind and content that was not covered was still tested. –Made no sense as it simply made the test results invalid. We have since refined the process. Spiraling previously-covered concepts now plays a major role in our CBA development. We have learned a lot in four years.

One of my assignments dealt with working with extracurricular/co-curricular activities. One important component of this area is paying attention to ensure that as many students as possible are “plugged in.” There is little or no question that student success is tied to being involved in organizations. For many, it is their main motivation for coming to school. Being able to coordinate both curricular and extracurricular programs is crucial in our administrative positions if we want to achieve balanced.

I have a much better understanding of implementation of technology simply from being part of this cohort. Prior to my involvement I had never created a single wiki or blogged anything. I have since come to realize what a powerful tool both can be.

Competency 6 Area:

The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

In my mind, this is still one of my major “need” areas. I completely understand the mechanisms we have in place for measuring student achievement. We have multiple testing formats (some formative, others summative). We do a great deal of disaggregation of data in order to identify and address our needs areas. Along with the norms for our district (traditionally math and science), we work hard to gain insight into specific sub-population needs.

There are things we do district-wide in order to reach these sub-pops from a cultural standpoint. Next year, there is talk that we will have some diversity training that will be implemented district-wide. I am curious to see what that entails. 

My biggest issue is that I have yet to ultimately implement a staff development program. I would like to further involve myself in this particular area (perhaps in my three year plan). Our teachers understand the need for training and usually are highly interactive. Our most recent full-scale implementation has been Capturing Kids Hearts. Due to expense, we have ran staff members through in shifts. We have completed the entire district, and now simply train new hires each year. We believe it is money well spent.

One of my tasks is to analyze our discipline policy and procedures. This is something that I actually deal with every day. With that being said, it is still good to sit down and look specifically at what is, and is not documented. In reality, there are times when I simply “assume” that specific things are spelled out. In reality, due to handbook format changes, little is included that is specific. There are expected clarifications such as mandatory placements, etc. Beyond that, very little is listed in the model.  When looking at our policy, we have a “suggested” flowchart for discipline. It obviously doesn’t include everything, but does address common discipline issues: truancy, tardies, fights, disruptions, etc.  Even so, it doesn’t address students that are somewhere down your discipline ladder. For some students a write up for being tardy might just be the last straw.  In short, the majority of our policy is subjective. For some, this would be an issue. For me, I enjoy having the discretion to subjectively evaluate a situation and deal with it as I see fit.

One of the elements of this competency is to analyze the implications of various organizational factors (e.g., staffing patterns, class scheduling formats, school organizational structures, student discipline practices) for teaching and learning. This is something we do on a regular basis. We constantly monitor class sizes and dynamics to balance class loads in order to maximize academic success. The defining factor is not actually the class size, but rather the academic rigor. However, many factors play roles. Discipline is a major factor and class size many times plays a role in discipline management. Couple sound discipline management practices with realistic class sizes and we can maximize success.

Competency 7 Area:

The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.

Our district utilizes the PDAS instrument (like the majority of the rest of the state).  We still utilize that instrument for observation and summative purposes. This year we added an additional element- a hyper-monitoring system. It is part of the “Fundamental five.” The entire administrative staff is involved hyper-monitoring. I have personally documented over 250 walkthroughs myself. 

Although our hyper-monitoring may be used for evaluation purposes, at this time we are simply using it to measure educational practices. We measure for academic rigor. We check to ensure that objectives are posted and aligned with lesson plans. We check for both numbers and levels of engagement. We look for high yield teacher practices. We look for evidence that learning is happening. We look for technology integration, and we provide feedback and offer reflective questioning opportunities. We do a lot in a short period of time. 

One of the things I practiced through this plan was working to deliver effective presentations for both large and small groups. This is something I believe we can always use practice on.  It takes a tremendous amount of practice for me to be comfortable in front of large groups. I have benefitted from some of the elements associated with this plan as I have led several staff meetings in order to complete assignments.

Additionally, I have worked to support the organizational health and climate of our campus by working with teachers to support discipline management practices.  We have several young teachers who I have been working with on discipline management strategies.  I am a firm believer in helping teachers maintain the integrity of the classroom. By helping give them tools and supporting them, I feel we can empower them in their classrooms. One of my first speeches to new teachers every year is about the power of maintaining their own discipline in the classroom through clear expectations and consistency. I absolutely HATE it when I am called to a classroom to help maintain order. Whether the teacher knows it or not, this completely pulls the rug out from under their feet. It is never my intention to usurp any authority whatsoever in the classroom. From that point forward it generally becomes more difficult for them to maintain a healthy learning environment. We are quick to watch class dynamics.  Sometimes introducing or removing a single student can completely change the dynamics of a learning environment. It is important

, as administrators, for us to be cognizant of these trends.

DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10

Competency 8 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.

I can safely say this area is one of my greatest growth areas, but one that I still need to work on as it was also one which I had little or no clear understand. For most of us in campus administration, we are knowledgeable in rules associated with functions, activity accounts, and the means to move funds around when needed. This coursework (specifically finance) exposed me to a great deal of information in regards to terms that I had been hearing for years, but knew little about. The information centered on interest and sinking funds, state and federal funding, how ADA affects funding, and where and how district level funds are spent. I never realized prior to this coursework and my intern plan how much of the budget is consumed by payroll.

I learned a lot about our accounting procedures and the behind the scenes purchase order procedures from speaking with Tim Brittain, our finance director. I had occasion to interview him several times concerning budgetary issues.

In addition, I had the opportunity to work with Danielle Rankin, our human resources director. She is actively involved in staffing patterns and finding qualified applicants for positions.  A portion of her job is working with campus administrators to recognize need areas and keep an up-to-date database of certified, qualified applicants. Additionally, she works with current employees to ensure that their certifications are current, and that any new certifications ultimately get added. I learned a good amount about how things operate in that half of admin through correspondence with her.

Another of my activities dealt with school attendance reports and procedures. Having a working knowledge of compulsory attendance laws and the way they are applied helps ensure that we are on top of credit situations on campuses, and ADA accounting issues district-wide. As funding is so closely tied to WADA, it is imperative that records be accurate.

One of the things that I have been focusing on through the course of this program has been managing my own time. I have had to re-prioritize things as a result of taking this on. I feel that this has been an important process for me as I have learned to better-balance my time and have managed to get things done. In reality, the added work has been good for me. I’ve actually had to kick some bad habits (sitting in the recliner and watching TV) to the side in order to get this all done. It’s been a great experience. Being able to manage time is a trait that one must master for themselves, in order to be able to help others manage theirs.

Competency 9 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

Aside from area 1, I believe this to be my strongest competency. I am in charge of working with maintenance and custodial to maintain our facilities.  I operate our work order system and ensure that all requests are vetted prior to input. Our computer database has a history that dates back as much as five years. We are able to track trends and analyze data to determine problem areas. The system is exceptional for tracking expenditures as well in order to help for budgeting purposes.  It is important to have an accurate idea as to where money is spent. Some areas can be improved upon. An example of this would be vandalism. Others are static.

When working with physical plant budgets, one must have an understanding of routine recurring maintenance expenditures versus occasional capital outlay expenditures. One must also have an understanding of energy conservation. Every dollar spent on energy and maintenance is a dollar not spent on academics. 

Several of my activities dealt with emergency operations. I am part of our emergency operations team and work with other campus principals, the maintenance director, and the superintendent to ensure that our emergency responses run smoothly.  I conduct and analyze all our emergency drills including fire, tornado, and lockdown drills.

Many of these tasks certainly seem mundane and very rote. Few stop and realize how important they truly are in the event that an actual emergency occurs. I constantly monitor our response plans to ensure that they are up-to-date and still applicable. They have to be re-evaluated on both a yearly basis, and when any dynamic changes. This could be anything from a new building added to the physical plant, to a new train track or chemical plant put in down the road.

Communication is a key component when it comes to school safety. This includes clearly articulating your needs to students and staff, and communicating with parents.  I utilize an alert-now computer call system which meshes with our student management system to export student names and call numbers. I develop pre-recorded messages and determine if they go out emergency (calling any and all numbers listed redundantly) or simply out for information. Alert-now is a power communication tool. Messages can be pre-set and sent out at times convenient for parents. It is great in emergency situations.

One of my ultimate goals is to eventually be an operations director. My father was a maintenance director for nearly thirty years.  It is a job that is near and dear to my heart.  I look forward to the opportunity to one day work directly with all parties in order to improve our systems.

Competency 10 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.

One of my exercises involved mediating a conflict between organizations. Many times these issues are frustrating as coaches and their sponsors are generally fiercely defensive of their practice and competition times. It is difficult to ask a student to choose. In a perfect world we can share so that kids can participate in everything they choose. In reality, this is difficult to near impossible. Even with the best of intentions it is difficult in team situations to ultimately share students. Conflicts usually eventually arise and more times than not, students ultimately end up choosing one program or another. In reality, it is the nature of competition and the higher the standard of excellence you set the more these conflicts will arise. In the end, in this instance, a solution presented itself.  –for this year anyway. In the end, the student confided that she would choose one over the other next year, and would never again do both.

In a more macro-scenario, I can see the superintendent sitting down and hashing staff issues with his/her principals. I have yet to meet the principal who couldn’t use an extra staff member or two. In our district sharing staff across campuses is commonplace. Is is up to the superintendent to work out staffing issues in a manner in which all can benefit and that, ultimately, principals can live with.

It has always been interesting to me to look at different districts and how they mesh state requirements with the wants and needs of the community and board of trustees. Many of the basic academic desires are the same, but some of the other considerations are vastly different from district to district. A principal and superintendent can many times help meet these needs through elective course offerings.  As an example, districts along the coastline may have a well-developed marine occupations career path. One in central Texas may focus on bovine and equine science. It is in this way that creative superintendents and principals, working in conjunction with the board, can help meet the needs of their individual communities.    We have alleviated raised state credit standards constraints through block scheduling.  In turn, it freed up electives opportunities for students.

Just as a divided board struggles to function, a divided administrative team struggles as well. I have come to realize, through this program, that a major part of a superintendent’s job is to develop a climate which encourages collaboration amongst their team. It is only in this way that our district can ultimately benefit to its full potential.