ePortfolio
Becoming a 21st Century Leader
Mrs. Diane K. Burnside
Principal
East Dale Elementary
West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership
“21st Century Learning for All…Whatever It Takes”
West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership
“21st Century Learning for All…Whatever It Takes”
West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership
“21st Century Learning for All…Whatever It Takes”
Introduction
About the Institute
About the ePortfolio
Summer Institute
Powerof Leadership
Rationale for Change
Culture
Correlates of Effective Schools
21st Century Curriculum
21st Century Instruction
Student Support
Fall Institute
Leadership Skills
Leadership Frames
Spring Institute
Forces of Change
Visioning
Professional Learning Communities
Strategic Planning
Tech Time
Area of Focus
Other Learning Activities
Implementation Progress to Date
Legacy Document
West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership
“21st Century Learning for All…Whatever It Takes”
West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership
“21st Century Learning for All…Whatever It Takes”
About the Institute
The West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership is a key component of West Virginia’s systemic approach to developing 21st century schools. Rarely does an organization improve without knowledgeable, capable and visionary leadership. There are no simple recipes for creating 21st century schools. However, there are significant “road markers” that guide the way. Thus, the Institute will provide in-depth professional development and support for West Virginia’s outstanding school leaders. This year long experience promises to expand the principal’s understanding of the Frameworks for High Performing 21st Century Schools and develop the leadership skills necessary to transform schools to engaging and rigorous 21st century learning environments for both students and staff.
The West Virginia Institute is a year long program for practicing principals. The inaugural class of the Institute began in July of 2006. Initial membership for this Institute was 75 principals. The five day July residential session is coupled to two follow-up residential sessions of three days each in December 2006 and March 2007. During the three residential experiences, principals have the opportunity to examine the urgency and rationale for changing the schools of today into 21st century Schools. Using the Frameworks for High Performing Schools, and High Performing Classrooms for each programmatic level, the Principals begin to see the components of what the 21st Century school and classroom look like. These understandings are further supported through keynote speakers and other activities to fully develop their knowledge base of what we must do to prepare our students for the challenging world of this century. Programmatic leaders and critical friends assigned to each programmatic group helped to fully develop and expand the knowledge base of the principals through their experience and understanding. The December residential experience focused on the leadership characteristics needed to transform organizations and to lead change. The March residential experience focused on the systemic continuous improvement process and the components of that process that can be employed in schools.
Between residential experiences, the principals will completeadditional research topics of their choosing. The Area of Focus is an opportunity for the West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership Class of 2006 to enhance their knowledge of 21st century leadership and learning principles. The on-line discussion forum and wiki is facilitated by West Virginia Department of Education staff members and by the staff of the Superintendent’s Center for 21st Century Schools as well as critical friends from higher education and other venues. The experience expands the personalization opportunities and learning of the Institute and connects professional development to the required principal evaluation process of Policy 5310. This process should enhance collegiality among principals and create an on-line professional learning community using 21st century tools.Principals will complete two areas of focus topics in the course of their Institute year.
About the ePortfolio
Institute members complete an ePortfolio to document their learning throughout the Institute experience. This document serves as evidence that supports the learning goals they have mutually set with their immediate supervisor to meet the tenets of Policy 5310. The ePortfolio is a reflective journal of insights into the main ideas of each daily session. The ePortfolio also houses implications for their school, as they reflect upon the curriculum for each session, and will help them complete their strategic vision for their school.
The e-portfolio has the ability to archive the work each principal does between residential sessions to further the 21st century agenda in their school. Digital media developed by the Institute participant can be imported into and/or linked totheir ePortfolio.
Summer Institute
The Summer Session of the West Virginia Institute for 21st Century Leadership was held at Glade Springs Resort and ConferenceCenter on July 16 to 21, 2006. The Institute involved 73 principals from throughout West Virginia, eight programmatic principal discussion leaders, three nationally renowned critical friends, evaluators from West VirginiaUniversity and MarshallUniversity and support staff from the eight RESAs and the West Virginia Department of Education.
The Summer Institute curriculum focused on four main topics: (a) the importance of the principal’s leadership in school improvement, (b) the rationale for creating 21st century schools, (c) the importance of school culture, and (d) high yield strategies for implementing 21st century curriculum, instruction, student support and school effectiveness. Special activities for the Summer Institute included an opening banquet with the WV Board of Education, culture field trips to various area businesses, daily technology time and an evening “Institute at the Movies.”
Power of Leadership
July 16, 2006
Focus Questions:
- How will the Institute develop and support 21st century leaders?
- What are the beliefs and premises that undergird 21st century high performing schools?
- Why is strong 21st century leadership essential to developing 21st century learners?
- Why must principals see themselves as leaders of the students?
Activities:
Overview of Core Beliefs and Premises of High Performing 21st Century Schools and Introduction to 21st Century Frameworks
Lydia McCue
Special Assistant to the State Superintendent
Vision for 21st Century Leadership
Dr. Steven L. Paine
State Superintendent of Schools
Development of the “Implications Wall”
Keynote Address:
Leadership for the 21st Century
Dr. Todd Whitaker
Professor, IndianaStateUniversity
Personal insights from the day’s activities:
Any great organization starts with a great leader, and great leaders see the big picture.
Click the Powerpoint for Presentation
Implications for my school:
Dr. Todd Whitaker presented the book, What Great Principals Do Differently. This gave me the opportunity to share his insights on making decisions on our most positive and productive people. I purchased the book, What Great Teachers Do Differently, for a book study at East Dale Elementary. This provided open conversations without pointing fingers at each other.
Rationale for Change
July 17, 2006
Focus Questions:
- What are the global, economic and demographic forces affecting the United States and West Virginia?
- How must education change to adequately prepare students for the 21st century?
Keynote Address:
Rationale for Change: Why We Must Prepare Students forthe 21st Century
Dr. David Thornburg
Director of Global Operations, The ThornburgCenter
Panel Response:
Dr. Steven L. Paine
State Superintendent of Schools
David Lieving
Governor’s Office of Workforce Investment
Dr. Richard Hartnett
Professor, West VirginiaUniversity
Activities:
Development of the “Rationale Wall”
Personal insights from the day’s activities:
Communities often react strongly because there is no common base of understanding among all parties involved. Most community members think of education in terms of their own school experiences, and will consequently question any radical changes to the model of their youth.
The presentation by Dr. Thornburg brought a new awareness for me on the urgency for change. I am looking forward to reading his book and sharing his beliefs with my staff.
My field trip experience today was to a law firm. They demonstrated a successful culture by building on relationships and celebrating each other's court case accomplishments. The importance of studying the culture of other businesses was very beneficial as a leader.
Implications for my school:.
18 year olds spend over six hours a day with
media (multitasked)
●Nearly four hours per day with video
●Almost two hours with audio
●An hour a day on the computer (outside of
schoolwork)
●Fifty minutes a day with videogames/Forty minutes a day reading (outside school)
Culture
July 17-18, 2006
Focus Questions:
- What is culture and how does it affect the effectiveness of an organization?
- How does a leader shape the culture of a school?
- How does culture affect adult behavior and student outcomes?
- How is the culture of a 20th century school different that one of a 21st century?
Keynote Addresses:
Exploring and Understanding Culture
Dr. Jerry Valentine
Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia
Leaders as Culture Shapers
Dr. Roland Barth
Professor, HarvardUniversity (Retired)
Activities:
Culture Field Trips: Identifying the Significant Elements of Culture
Development of the “Culture Wall”
Personal insights from the day’s activities:
The most important job of an instructional leader is to cultivate the culture of their school.
Dr. Roland Barth provided an School Culture Survey I will be using with my staff in August. His discussion on the "non-discussables" opened my eyes to the importance of having conversations about the leadership of the principal.
He also discussed the importance of adult relationship in schools.
Implications for my school:
At the beginning of the school year our faculty/staff discussed our culture at East Dale Elementary. We answered the following questions:
What are our traditions?
What do we value?
What is the history of our school?
Our primary purpose is to promote learning in others and in ourselves.
Correlates of Effective Schools
July 18-19, 2006
Focus Question:
- What are the correlates of effective schools and how do correlates relate to school culture?
Keynote Address:
Seven Correlates of Effective Schools
Muriel Summers
Principal, A.B.CombsElementary School
Activities:
Development of the “Effective Schools Wall”
Personal insights from the day’s activities:
What are the correlates of effective schools and how do the correlates relate to school culture?
Implications for my school:
How does a leader shape the culture of a school? I tried to establish and maintain an atmosphere of teamwork that focused on continuous improvement. This school year I started Teacher Leaders and Student Leaders.
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Correlates of Effective Schools:
The First and Second Generation
by Lawrence W. Lezotte
A number of schools have been relying on effective schools research as the framework
for their school improvement program. After three or four years, many claim that they
have successfully met the criteria described in the research on the correlates of
effective schools. These educators ask if there is anything that comes after, or goes
beyond, these standards.
1. Safe and Orderly Environment
The First Generation: In the effective school there is an orderly, purposeful,
businesslike atmosphere which is free from the threat of physical harm. The school
climate is not oppressive and is conducive to teaching and learning.
The Second Generation: In the first generation, the safe and orderly environment
correlate was defined in terms of the absence of undesirable student behavior (e.g.,
students fighting). In the second generation, the concept of a school environment
conducive to Learning for All must move beyond the elimination of undesirable
behavior. The second generation will place increased emphasis on the presence of
certain desirable behaviors (e.g., cooperative team learning). These second generation
schools will be places where students actually help one another.
Moving beyond simply the elimination of undesirable behavior will represent a
significant challenge for many schools. For example, it is unlikely that a school’s faculty
could successfully teach its students to work together unless the adults in the school
model collaborative behaviors in their own professional working relationships. Since
schools as workplaces are characterized by their isolation, creating more collaborative/
cooperative environments for both the adults and students will require substantial
commitment and change in most schools.
2. Climate of High Expectations for Success
The First Generation: In the effective school there is a climate of expectation in which
the staff believe and demonstrate that all students can attain mastery of the essential
school skills, and the staff also believe that they have the capability to help all students
achieve that mastery.
The Second Generation: In the second generation, the emphasis placed on high
expectations for success will be broadened significantly. In the first generation,
expectations were described in terms of attitudes and beliefs that suggested how the
teacher should behave in the teaching-learning situation. Those descriptions sought to
tell teachers how they should initially deliver the lesson. High expectations meant, for
example, that the teacher should evenly distribute questions asked among all students
and should provide each student with an equal opportunity to participate in the learning
process. Unfortunately, this “equalization of opportunity,” though beneficial, proved to be
insufficient to assure mastery for many learners. Teachers found themselves in the
difficult position of having had high expectations and having acted upon them—yet
some students still did not learn.
In the second generation, the teachers will anticipate this and they will develop a
broader array of responses. For example, teachers will implement additional strategies,
such as reteaching and regrouping, to assure that all students do achieve mastery.
Implementing this expanded concept of high expectations will require the school as an
organization to reflect high expectations. Most of the useful strategies will require the
cooperation of the school as a whole; teachers cannot implement most of these
strategies working alone in isolated classrooms.
High expectations for success will be judged, not only by the initial staff beliefs and
behaviors, but also by the organization’s response when some students do not learn.
For example, if the teacher plans a lesson, delivers that lesson, assesses learning and
finds that some students did not learn, and still goes on to the next lesson, then that
teacher didn’t expect the students to learn in the first place. If the school condones
through silence that teacher’s behavior, it apparently does not expect the students to
learn, or the teacher to teach these students.
3
Several changes are called for in order to implement this expanded concept of high
expectations successfully. First, teachers will have to come to recognize that high
expectations for student success must be “launched” from a platform of teachers having
high expectations for self. Then the school organization will have to be restructured to
assure that teachers have access to more “tools” to help them achieve successful
Learning for All. Third, schools, as cultural organizations, must recognize that schools
must be transformed from institutions designed for “instruction” to institutions designed
to assure “learning.”
3. Instructional Leadership
The First Generation: In the effective school the principal acts as an instructional
leader and effectively and persistently communicates that mission to the staff, parents,
and students. The principal understands and applies the characteristics of instructional
effectiveness in the management of the instructional program.
The Second Generation: In the first generation, the standards for instructional
leadership focused primarily on the principal and the administrative staff of the school.
In the second generation, instructional leadership will remain important; however, the
concept will be broadened and leadership will be viewed as a dispersed concept that
includes all adults, especially the teachers. This is in keeping with the teacher
empowerment concept; it recognizes that a principal cannot be the only leader in a
complex organization like a school. With the democratization of organizations,
especially schools, the leadership function becomes one of creating a “community of
shared values.” The mission will remain critical because it will serve to give the
community of shared values a shared sense of “magnetic north,” an identification of
what this school community cares most about. The role of the principal will be changed
to that of “a leader of leaders,” rather than a leader of followers. Specifically, the
principal will have to develop his/her skills as coach, partner and cheerleader. The
broader concept of leadership recognizes that leadership is always delegated from the
followership in any organization. It also recognizes what teachers have known for a long
time and what good schools have capitalized on since the beginning of time: namely,
expertise is generally distributed among many, not concentrated in a single person.
4. Clear and Focused Mission
The First Generation: In the effective school there is a clearly articulated school
mission through which the staff shares an understanding of and commitment to the
instructional goals, priorities, assessment procedures and accountability. Staff accept