Principal Competencies 1-9

Domain I – School Community Leadership

Competency 001 – The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.

In Competency 001, I completed a total of 20 hours between course-embedded and campus activities. These activities included reviewing school law, covering topics like Special Ed and the NCLB Act, examining the campus STaR chart, interviewing school personnel, comparing and finding the strengths and weaknesses of two different campus vision statements, creating a personal leadership vision statement, and observing the site-based decision making committee. I would rate myself as proficient in the area, but I need to work on the articulation of my vision. I understand the concepts and goals of a vision of learning, but still find it difficult to succinctly articulate, especially in writing, this vision.

For a campus to be successful, the principal needs to first determine what their vision of learning should be. One important aspect in determining this campus vision is to be familiar with the various laws pertaining to education. The School Law class was a great resource for this information. This class gave me the resources and the mindset to ensure that all students are being given the opportunity for a free and appropriate education. I now understand much more about special education law and how, even though the states regulate the schools, the federal government steers the education sector through the use of “purse strings.”

My personal vision for education also includes the integration of technology into the classroom. Technology is a personal passion of mine and I believe that our students will benefit the most through the successful use of technology. I understand that I still have much to learn about school law and articulating a vision to be shared with the campus and community. I will also need to refine my vision and determine what type of leader I want to be.



Competency 002 – The principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success.

Communication and collaboration is a great strength of mine. Throughout this program I have had the opportunity to collaborate with my peers in class on group projects, like creating a public service announcement, and working with my people on campus to create new lessons and share new ideas. I had the opportunity to create and present a staff development over the Instant Challenge portion of Destination Imagination. I have also assisted in designing how the district implements a new career readiness and training module. Throughout the 25+ hours on this competency, I have not had as much experience working with the outside community. I understand working with the local community, including parents, churches, local businesses, is a large portion of a principal’s job. This is also an area that can greatly improve the success rate of the students on campus. Due to my inexperience in this particular area, I would rate myself as proficient overall.

One of the most difficult, yet rewarding, tasks I completed was to create and lead my own staff development. After teaching for six years, I thought this would be easy. But presenting to a group of your peers is much more difficult and nerve wracking. It took 5 hours to create a simple 45 minute presentation. I now have a greater respect for those that present often. I also now understand why our staff meetings are boring. A principal or vice principal does not have the time to make everything fancy. State testing information, AEIS reports, upcoming events are all dry topics. In an effort to respect the staff’s time and improve the delivery of this information, I would like to try “flipping” the staff meeting. This would be similar to the flipped classroom idea, where the information would be sent electronically and the meeting could be spent going over comments and questions.

As I previously stated, my greatest weakness in this competency is working with the outside community. Part of this is due to a language barrier, with most of my parents speaking Spanish. The other part is a general lack of experience in addressing the needs and concerns of the local community. I would love to partner with local civic organizations to get the students more involved in helping the community. I would also be interesting in learning what the local businesses need from my campus, if they need anything at all. My school holds several events throughout the year to incorporate the local community. This could be a great opportunity for me to learn what is involved in working in this area.





Competency 003 – The principal knows how to act with integrity and fairness and in an ethical and legal manner.

Competency 003 is very closely related to Competency 001. A principal’s vision of education should include integrity and fairness for everyone. This is a an area the I excel in, especially after taking the school law, human resources management, and other classes. Most of time in this competency comes from the class work, but I still have over 30 hours of activities and experiences. I have room to grow, especially in the area of school law and teacher contracts, so I would rate myself as proficient, bordering on accomplished.

For a direct campus experience in this competency, I remember my day as a “substitute” Vice Principal. My VP was ill and needed to stay home. She also knew I was working on my master’s degree and asked if I would substitute for her. I put on my suit and played the part for the day. One of the most difficult parts of the day, other than my sheer nervousness, was ensuring that I listened to the students and acknowledged their side of the story. I remembered this from my course-work and I also see it as a valuable part in being fair with the students. As teachers, we become jaded and assume everything a student says is only half-truth’s. As an administrator, I assume this sentiment is also true, but there needs to be more caution. The administrator has the unique position to know all the students, but to be able to work with the most difficult students one-on-one. I believe many difficulties in class stem from legal constraints that the students do not understand and then see as unfair. For example, I have a special education student that is not required to present in front of the class. The other students do not understand the legal requirements and see this as unfair. As a principal, working one-on-one with a student, you are able to find what is fair and legal for each student and each situation.





Domain II – Instructional Leadership

Competency 004 – The principal knows how to facilitate the design and implementation of curricula and strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction, resources, and assessment; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.

I now have a large amount of experience in Competency 004. Through the activities in the course work and the implementation team I am on, I have 30-40 hours. I need more experience with varied assessments and review data to evaluate the success of a program, but I would rate myself as proficient in this category.

To be successful in Competency 004, an administrator needs to think in the big picture, to ensure the programs and curricula being used are meeting the needs of the entire school. In the course work we analyzed various pieces of data, including the AEIS reports, school vision statements, and district budgets. All this information shows an administrator how the pieces fit together and why they all need to be considered before any decisions are made. Another great experience I have is working on a district implementation team. The school district has purchased a new career and college readiness and soft skills program. I am on the committee that is designing how this program will be rolled out next year. I have spent several days working with the team to design how the campuses will structure and teach the program and how we will look at the reporting throughout the year. This committee has reinforced the concept of thinking about the big picture to meet the various and unique needs of each campus.



Competency 005 – The principal knows how to advocate, nurture, and sustain an instructional program and a campus culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

Competency 005 is an area of need for me. I have not had much experience in this area, other than the course work. I have 15 hours overall and would rate myself as “needs improvement.”

I understand the concepts covered in Competency 005, but I need more practice working with them. I have good experience in nurturing a program through my action research project. With it I was directly responsible for helping the other teachers implement my programs. But, I do not know how to take this full scale to the entire campus. I need more experience delegating responsibilities to trusted members of my team. I believe time is needed to build the experience and the trust in your personnel. This is a big topic for an administrator and it is important to get right the first time. Teachers, parents, and students need an experienced administrator to guide them and help them be successful. For me to do this, I need more opportunities and support from my administrators to model what I have learned. I also need time to find the appropriate research to guide my own learning so that I can make sound decisions.



Competency 006 – The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system to improve the performance of all staff members, select and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development, and apply the legal requirements for personnel management.

This is an area that I have had many short experiences with. I am continually working with other teachers to help them with some piece of technology. The course work taught me the legal side of running a school and my experiences taught me how to model lifelong learning. All of these activities add up to at least 35 hours and I feel comfortable rating myself as proficient.

I definitely need more experience with formal appraisals, contract recommendations, and creating a staff development plan that meets the needs of a campus. But, my personal desire to keep learning new things is a huge factor in leading a campus towards the vision of learning. The most impressionable teachers that I remember are the ones that lived what they taught and were excited to share it with you. I believe this is a necessity in this competency. The administrator needs to lead by example and share their excitement about learning. This will guide teachers and inspire students.





Competency 007 – The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment.

Competency 007 is an area of personal strength. The course work and internship experience has only strength this area too. I have 20 hours in this area and pride myself in being knowledgeable and thinking globally when making decisions and solving problems. By reflecting over each course and experience in this program I have honed my skills to be a good leader that is organized, makes good decisions, and finds solutions to issues that affect the learning environment.

One of the best experiences I had in my internship was working as the Vice Principal for the day. During the day I was able to really use my problem solving skills. One specific example happened at the end of the day. There was a large group of students in the cafeteria at the end of the day. There was an ongoing argument between the students and the security guard on duty. The problems arose from too many people talking at once and nobody listening, but I was able to calm everyone down and figure out that the students had planned a dance club practice, but the chaperone was not there to supervise. The easy solution was to simply supervise the students until the chaperone showed up. This is a small example of the decisions an administrator needs to make. I was able to listen to all the parties and come up with a solution that worked for everyone. The Security Guard had other duties and could not stay to monitor, but the kids also needed to practice. There are obviously more difficult problems to overcome, but it all comes down to being able to calmly listen to and acknowledge all stakeholders, research the solutions and deciding what is in the best interest of the students.






DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP

Competency 008 – The principal knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to campus budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology use.

Competency 008 covers the business side of running a school. This is also an area that I did not get much practical experience with my internship. My undergraduate degree is a Bachelor’s of Business Administration and along with my graduate course work I have a solid foundation to build off of. In total, I have 30 hours of experience and I would rate myself as “needs improvement.”

The business side of schools is a big area in running a successful campus and I know I need more mentorship and guidance. I have been able to maintain a budget for my classroom and a student organization, which has given me the basic understanding of school finances. I have also been able to observe the school board meetings to better understand the budgeting process for the district. But, I still need more experience with running the various tasks of a school. I need to learn the process for determining how many teaching units to allocate to the different subjects and how the budgets affect these decisions. I also need to better understand the process for requesting bids on different aspects of the school. From observing the board meetings, I know many of these tasks are run through the main offices in the school district and there are various supports and procedures in place to help an administrator maintain fiscal and legal responsibility. A large part of this competency is to ensure that the tax payers’ money is being appropriately spent. I have the conceptual knowledge to ensure this happens, but I need more practical experience to feel comfortable translating the concepts to reality.



Competency 009 – The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the campus physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

I believe that Competency 009 is the core purpose of a school. Student success should be the main focus and ensuring a safe and effective learning environment is a top priority. I have gained much experience in running a safe and effective classroom and I have also had experience with running a safe campus while working with security personnel. I do need more experience working with the physical plant of a campus, maintaining the HVAC system, and the custodial staff. I would rate myself as proficient in this area, with a total of 20 hours during my internship.

Safety and security are hot topics with the recent tragedies across the country. Safety and security covers a large group of duties, not just campus security officers. It is also important that the physical building of a campus is taken care of. Students will have difficulty staying focused if they are constantly tripping over wires or cracked floor tiles. There are also security problems if students can gain access to unapproved or unmonitored areas of the campus. I had the opportunity to address several safety and security issues when I was the substitute Vice Principal for the day. I was able to discuss with students why their actions affected the safety of the classroom and how their actions impacted the other students around them. I was also able to interact with other campus personnel to ensure the students were being appropriately monitored after school. I have had minimal exposure to and need more experience working with food, health and transportation services.