Case Study 1

• ISLLC Standard 1: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.
• Case Study: Leadership Retreat: One Team, One Voice, One Heartbeat
• Key Knowledge:
  • a. learning goals in a pluralistic society
  • d. information sources, data collection, and data analysis strategies
  • e. effective communication f. effective consensus-building and negotiation skills
• Key Dispositions:
  • a. the educability of all
  • b. a school vision of high standards of learning
  • c. continuous school improvement f. a willingness to continuously examine one's own assumptions beliefs and practices
• Key Performances:
  • f. progress towards the vision and mission is communicated to all stakeholders
  • i. an implementation plan is developed in which objectives and strategies to achieve the vision and goals are clearly articulated.
  • j. assessment data related to student learning are used to develop the school vision and goals
  • k. relevant demographic data pertaining to students and their families are used in developing the school mission and goals
  • l. barriers to achieving the vision are identified, clarified, and addressed
• Questions:
  1. How can school data be used within a cluster of schools to promote improved student achievement in all cluster schools?
  2. How can the cluster achieve consensus on the goals of the cluster and each school?
• Introduction:
  • Schools in our school's cluster showed a significant achievement gap compared to schools in other clusters in the county. In order to identify the barriers to achievement that existed within the cluster, the area superintendent and the principal at our school arranged a leadership retreat after post-planning. Each school, all elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, prepared a data board for the retreat. The data boards included the mission statement of the school, the school's history, and all relevant data including, but not limited to, CRCT scores, EOCT scores, GHSGT passing rates, graduation rates, Hope Scholarships, AP exam passing and participation rates, SAT scores and participation rates, student body demographics, transience rates, attendance, percentage of highly qualified teachers, and enrollment. In addition to the data boards, each school completed a Correlates of Effective Schools Self Assessment that had been introduced at an earlier cluster wide training.
  • The boards were brought to the retreat and displayed throughout the three day retreat. The participants included the area superintendent, school board members, principals, assistant principals, curriculum support specialists, and teachers. The retreat's theme was One team, One voice, One heartbeat. Todd Whitaker, Dr. Belinda Williams, Dr. Crystal Kuykendall, and Lauren Gundrum were all speakers at the retreat. There were also breakout sessions during which local and nationally recognized consultants, teachers, principals, and superintendents shared there knowledge on specific needs within the cluster as determined by the data. In addition to the keynote speakers and the breakout sessions, each school was charged with the task of presenting an example of an exemplary practice currently in use at their school.
  • One the final day of the retreat, all schools met in small groups with a former superintendent to review their Effective Schools rubrics and to develop the framework necessary to move through mandated school reform toward collaborative sustainable transformation of schools into effective/excellent learning organizations. The former superintendent also addressed the issue of transformational and shared leadership. To close the retreat, each school worked to complete a vision mapping activity with a national consultant. Using their data boards and effective schools rubrics as guides each school created a step by step plan to achieve their goals for the 2006-2007 school year. Each principal was given seven current leadership related books to add to their professional library.
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• Analysis:
  • The leadership retreat was the first of its kind in the cluster. It was truly an awakening for many of the leaders in the cluster. The retreat highlighted the issues that should be under constant consideration for all school leaders but are often forgotten. The retreat encouraged the principals to look at the clusters as a whole and to see the big picture within their schools. The retreat organizers modeled the use of data by bringing in experts that addressed specific areas of weakness for the cluster as a whole. The schools were forced to carefully analyze their data in order to create the data boards. This was a step that had never been taken at several of the schools. The result was a much clearer view of what was important and what specific things need to improve. The retreat helped to answer the question of what to do to improve specific areas, and the stage was set for mapping the vision of the school and determining the steps necessary to reach that goal. As all of the schools, sat together, listened together, talked together, and relaxed together, consensus began to be built as to the direction in which the cluster needed to move and the direction in which each school must move in order for the entire cluster to move forward.
• Evaluation:
  • The leadership in this case is proficient moving strongly towards accomplished. The leader, not only worked to develop vision within her own school, but went beyond to encourage the development of vision within the other schools in the cluster and within the cluster as a whole. The leader changed the expectation for the breadth of a principal's influence and brought the standard of excellence held within her school to the wider learning community. This shows her determination that progress in nonnegotiable, whatever it takes.