Final 12.3.09
EDA 505 Instructors Guidelines
The following information is provided to assist you in designing coursework that supplements and enhances the EDA 505 syllabus and which aligns consistently with the ELLC standards and the NYSTCE assessments that your students must successfully pass for the SBL and SDL certification.
The Challenge
Our challenge is to prepare our students for success as leaders of the future and insuring that their aspirations are achievable. We must teach our future leaders the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that will enable them to successfully lead in an increasingly complex educational environment where every child has the academic, social, and emotional capacity to master the life and work related challenges of the twenty-first century. However, before they get the opportunity to lead, we must insure that our future leaders successfully complete the required NYSTCE, the first and perhaps the most important step in achieving certification as a building or district leader.
Our goal is to insure that every student in our program is well prepared to meet success on the NYSTCE assessments. Another important factor in achieving this goal is the relationship between our students success in passing these exams and the continued NCATE accreditation of the St. Rose downstate leadership programs facilitated by CITE. A college must maintain an 80% passing rate to maintain good standing under the rigorous NCATE certification process. Failure to maintain this standard can result in loss of accreditation.
We strongly believe that strong instruction provided by highly qualified instructors, using a strong curriculum and materials that provide our students with the necessary theories, methods, and tools to lead successful schools is the best guarantee of our students’ success on the NYSCTE. By further aligning our work with the ELLC standards and the NYSCTE frameworks, success on the assessments will be a foregone conclusion and we will be providing the educational community with highly qualified, committed leaders that can truly impact student success.
What You Need to Know About the NYSTCE Frameworks:
Overall, the NYSTCE assessments measure student’s theoretical and practical knowledge and dispositions on the ELLC and ISLLC leadership standards. You can review the test prep materials at http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/NY_SLA_Preparation.asp. Generally, the themes pertinent to success on the assessments focus on data informed decision-making, visionary leadership, student-centered decision-making, collaboration among all stakeholders, and the tenets of authentic “learning communities” and organizational behavior and learning. Put another way, the assessments measure the students knowledge and abilities to be successful future leaders and to avoid top-down, hierarchal leadership.
Our challenge, and therefore the emphasis of our instruction, is to provide our students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions about how successful leadership should work; not the way it has worked in the past. In a fast-paced, high-stakes testing environment, creating an environment where all stakeholders participate in and support the shared vision, everyone shares in the responsibility of making every child successful. Therefore, the leaders of the 21st century need different skills and dispositions.
Many of our students have not experienced many truly collaborative and effective leadership environments. In our experience, if students answer test questions based upon their current reality, they may very well fail the test. The test focuses on what leaders should know and be able to do to move schools successfully into the 21st century.
Below are several applicable facts about the NYSTCE assessments that all instructors should know:
· The NYSTCE’s are based on the concepts, skills, and dispositions outlined in the ELLC standards on which all our coursework should be based. All readings and class work should align with the concepts, skills, and dispositions outlined in the ELLC standards, particularly as identified in the course specific guidelines below.
· The minimum passing score on each section of the test is 220. We believe that students have the capacity to successfully challenge the SBL assessment after the first four (4) classes (EDA 505, 590, 510, and 503). Beginning with Cohort 28, coursework will be realigned and we feel that students should be able to successfully challenge the exam after the first three (3) classes (EDA 505, 590, and 503). EDA 510 will be their fourth class.
· Broadly stated, the NYSTCE’s are based upon the tenets of leading authentic Learning Communities where collaboration, transparency, and high expectations for student achievement are the norm. This paradigm shift causes the assessment to emphasize leadership as it should be, and by implication, condemns top-down leadership that is predominant in our present national school culture.
· Students taking the assessments who embrace the top-down, authoritarian leadership and who respond according to their beliefs on the test will fail the assessment.
· The SBL and SDL frameworks are virtually identical but responses shift from the building perspective to the district perspective. For example, on the SDL exam there is more about school boards, fiscal accountability, broader view of stakeholders, etc.
· Student success on the assessments is predicated on application of conceptual content knowledge rather than factual recall.
· The NYSTCE assessments are divided into two sections and several sub sections. There are both multiple choice and extended response questions of varying values on the assessment. Even the multiple-choice questions may require reading lengthy passages and data charts.
· The assessments are now given at testing cites throughout the State and the exam is completely on a computer. Students who are not familiar with technology will find the time limits on each assessment challenging.
· Students can sit for both sections of the test on the same day or they may take one section in each of two test administrations dates. CITE data indicates that students who take both sections of the test on the same date do less well on the afternoon part of the test. We strongly recommend taking Part One on one day and Part Two on another day.
· If students pass one out of two sections of the assessment, they only need to re-take the section they failed.
· Student competence in written expression of content knowledge is particularly important to their success. Parts 1 and 2 of the assessments require 2 Short (150-300 word) and 2 long (300-600 word) extended responses. The long responses are weighted double the short and represent 1/3 of their total score on each part of the assessment. Please immediately refer any student demonstrating weakness in this skill specific to “on demand” or other course work to Ilene or Lydia to participate in our free writing tutorial.
Given this fact, instructors should attempt to model assignments where practicable in this format.
· At the beginning of each course, please review the SBL and SDL Preparation Guide frameworks, particularly those sections that specifically apply and which are emphasized in the class you are teaching. The frameworks, based upon the ELLC standards, apply to every course in our catalog. Please familiarize yourself with the frameworks and how your course content directly connects within the frameworks. Explicitly reference those concepts within your course instruction, in-class assignments and projects. http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/NY_SLA_Preparation.asp
· As prescribed by the NYSED, students are recommended to NYSED and considered SBL program completers when they have completed the program as prescribed by the College. However, the students do not receive SBL certification until they pass Parts 1 and 2 of the NYSTCE assessment.
o In contrast, as prescribed by NYSED, SDL students are not considered program completers until such time as they pass Parts 1 and 2 of the SDL assessment.
· There are test prep meetings that are provided by CITE free of charge that precede each administration of the assessment. Tutorial assistance is available to students who are unsuccessful in their first attempt to pass the assessment.
· Please familiarize yourself and remind students of the assessment Study Guide materials available on line at www.citeeducation-strose.com.
Course Specific Guidance for EDA 505 Instructors
· Overarching Guiding Ideas:
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to view all educational issues and challenges through the lens of servant leadership that focuses on high standards of achievement for ALL students.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to accept the leadership challenges exemplified by creating a “no blame, no shame, no excuses” educational school culture.
§ A students situation in life (poverty, race, ELL, Special Ed., etc) impacts strategy, not our expectations for their success.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to internalize that leaders lead people, not schools and that you are not a leader unless you have followers.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to develop the emotional intelligence required to treat all stakeholders with dignity and respect.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to develop the capacity to understand and decode their schools culture and norms.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to inform their leadership with applicable theories, methods and tools for leading authentic, collaborative learning communities
§ Best practices, research, and data inform all the decisions of effective leaders
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to form their personal, research-informed vision of what their school and every sub-system within it could achieve if all obstacles could be overcome.
§ Effective leaders know that “their vision” is the starting point to creating a “shared vision”.
§ Effective leaders align every aspect of their day with their vision and mission.
§ Effective leaders Design, Teach, Supervise, and Assess success in alignment with the Shared Vision.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to develop the capacity to understand, initiate, and manage change effectively within an ethical, transparent and collaborative educational environment.
o We believe EDA 505 students should begin to adopt the belief that the impossible is always possible when you develop the capacity within yourself and within those you lead to achieve that which others have yet to imagine.
· Course Outcomes: Upon completion of EDA 505, students will be able to:
o Identify, develop and refine an individual vision for leadership and leadership style which embraces the tenets of servant leadership and inquiry.
o Develop the capacity to understand their current systems deeply and initiate high leverage change initiatives.
o Develop the capacity to understand and use systems tools for data mining.
o Develop the capacity to understand and design authentic, sustainable, and high performing learning communities.
o Develop the capacity to understand that “people” are the system and the vehicle for change as well as the IQ and EQ capacity to treat all stakeholders with dignity and respect.
o Use data to influence and inform collaborative decision-making.
o Design assessments that reflect shared vision.
o Utilize knowledge to create a vision that improves the teaching and learning practices and environment by affecting teacher behavior.
· Specific Curriculum and Material Guidance
o Refer to the EDA 505 Curriculum document for specific guidance re: texts, suggested projects, materials, and required NCATE projects. See below.
§ The NCATE assignment is required of all students and is graded with a College of St. Rose devised rubric.
§ All instructors, in addition to submitting grades on line, must also complete a rubric-based assessment for each student. You can log in at: http://its.strose.edu/Applications/Assessment/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fApplications%2fAssessment%2fFaculty%2fDefault.aspx
o Three (3) texts are provided. The Cunningham and Cordiero text will be used throughout several courses in the program. For EDA 505, chapters 1, 6, 8 and 13 will be assigned. It is recommended that you assign readings in this text that match the predominant course objectives only. The Dufour et.al. Professional Learning Communities text is the main text and the goal is to provide students with a “picture” and reference of what a Professional Learning Community looks like and how it functions. The Good to Great in the Social Sectors translates Collins’ original work into the non-profit sector in which our public schools exist.
o EDA 505 coursework and materials focuses predominantly on Part One (Test Code 100) of the NYSTCE SBL Leadership Frameworks:
§ Subarea 1 (0001-0004): Developing, Communication, and Sustaining an Educational Vision, and
§ Subarea 2 (0005-0008): Managing Change, Making Decisions, and Ensuring Accountability
· Points of Emphasis for Subareas 1 and 2
o Data-driven decision-making (analyze and address gaps between disaggregated groups; equity, adequacy and equality; NCLB
o Involving all stakeholders in all facets
o Assessing Current Culture (behavior and performance)
o Creating a Vision and Guiding Ideas to guide change (addressing the gap between current reality and the desired vision)
o Theories and organizational behavior and leadership
§ Student –centered decision-making
§ Servant Leadership
§ Distributed Leadership
§ Collaborative Decision-making
§ Engaging and empowering stakeholders
§ Creating Shared Vision
o Ethical leadership behaviors
o Emotional Intelligence of the leader
o Relationships, Relationships, Relationships
o Consult, Collaborate, Communicate
o Change Processes
o Managing Change Processes (Evidence of success)
o The NYSCTE Prepartion Guide and Assessment Frameworks can be accessed at: http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/PDFs/NYELA_PG_SBL_complete.pdf This gives you information about the design of the assessments and sample test questions (multiple choice and extended responses) upon which you can model class activities or assignments
o Remember the overarching Guiding Ideas, be creative and have fun.
Continued next page
The following pages represent the actual EDA 590 Syllabus framework.
You will note that aspects of the document are in blue or red print.
Text in blue print is NOT to be changed. This text remains constant throughout all instructors in the college.
Text in red print may be changed by the instructor. Instructors are encouraged to be creative and to design lessons and assignments that align with the content and tasks reflected in the NYS Leadership Assessments. http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/PDFs/NYELA_PG_SBL_complete.pdf
To copy and customize the syllabus, select the entire document, copy it, and paste it into a new work document. After you have saved the new document, retain the blue text temporarily, modify the red text if you wish. When finished, click on “Select All” in the Edit menu, then change the font back to black.