E. Instructional Leadership

The District has a rich history of providing intensive and varied professional learning opportunities which complement the overarching Succession Management Plan for school-site and District administrators. The offerings fall into two categories: locally delivered and national offerings.

Many of the offerings have been planned with the goal of expanding the horizon of administrators beyond the boundary of the local community in order to broaden their exposure to national conversations around the complex issues of principled and accountable leadership. To this end, since 2007 over 200 school and District administrators have attended national seminars at The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Principals’ Leadership Institute at Fordham University, to name a few. Despite current financial conditions, professional development continues to be a District priority and is ensured through an aggressive grant funding approach.

Attached is a menu listing all of the professional development offered from 2007-2011. The listing demonstrates a differentiated approach to administrator training with offerings for aspiring administrators, new principals, and current principals. For example, the District offered one to two-week Summer Leadership Academies that were required for all current principals from 2007 through 2010. The focus of the academies has been the instructional role of the school principal with sessions ranging from content, instructional practice, data analysis, targeted instruction, and new accountability measures, in addition to a range of teacher-quality issues. By providing capacity-building training in the summer, the amount of time principals are pulled from the school during the regular school year has been greatly reduced and addresses the need for participants to be able to learn collaboratively and share best practices with their peers. Application of new knowledge and research-based practices is built into the academies and monitored by the regions. Academy menus and overviews are included in this section. Also included is an agenda for the 2009 two-week institute for assistant principals aspiring to become principals.

During the school year, principals attend region meetings usually lasting a half day. The regions utilize these meetings to address professional development needs at the regional level and specific to individual feeder patterns. Additionally, individualized assistance is provided to school-based administrators by region staff as appropriate.

In an effort to minimize the time principals are pulled from their schools, quarterly webcasts are held which provide an avenue to deliver time sensitive information without pulling individuals from the school site. Some examples of these webcasts are included in this section as well.

Meetings for School-site Principals: Monthly region meetings with principals and assistant principals take place in each region. The purpose of these meetings is to share instructional/curricular information with school-site administrators as part of the District’s focus on instructional leadership. This ensures that communication and dissemination of information regarding curricular issues between administrators and other key personnel from schools, region offices, and district offices occurs regularly. Additionally, other areas related to school operations are also presented at these meetings. Sample agendas are included in this section. In addition to these face-to-face region meetings, live monthly webcasts with principals are held to share pertinent information. The addition of the webcasts ensures the timely dissemination of information without the added strain of pulling principals from schools.

District Staff Meetings: District staff has regular department meetings to apprise staff of new developments/initiatives. A sample meeting agenda from the Division of Mathematics, Science and Advanced Academic Programs is included.

Coaching Academy Meetings: The Education Transformation Office (ETO) hosts the Instructional Coaching Academy (ICAD) meetings twice per month to build the instructional capacity of the schools’ instructional coaches. Walkthroughs are held during each session to observe classroom instruction and provide feedback to teachers and coaches to improve instruction. The Instructional Supervisors and Curriculum Support Specialists deliver the professional development according to subject area and grade levels.

Curriculum and Instruction Principal Liaison Committee Meetings: Other meetings conducted are held by committees that have a special purpose or function and are formed based on District needs or as required by legislation. The Principal Liaison Committees, under the auspices of Curriculum and Instruction (C & I), meet throughout the year. Principal representatives serve on the four committees, elementary, middle, K-8, and senior high school. They bring concerns and recommendations to District staff from the field for discussion and resolution. Furthermore, District staff offer presentations on relevant topics of current interest and principals share this information with colleagues within their regions. Sample minutes and agendas for Principal Liaison Committee meetings are included.

Observation Tools: Teacher Evaluation Observation Tool

The District recently implemented the Instructional Performance Evaluation and Growth System (IPEGS), the new teacher evaluation system. The observation tool embedded in IPEGS contains nine standards. Inter-rater reliability training for principals and assistant principals featured video tapes of classroom instruction to assist administrators in honing their observation skills. A four-level rubric depicting a continuum of effectiveness is tailored to each of the performance standards. In the four-level system, the levels are highly effective, effective, developing/needs improvement, and unsatisfactory. A copy of the Observation Form with standards is attached.

District Walkthrough Tools

The District currently supports the use of one instructional walkthrough tool. The tool is centered on four distinct areas: Learning Environment; Lesson Delivery; Student Engagement; and Classroom Culture. The focus areas align with the formal observation standards in the teacher evaluation system and as such provide valuable formative information to both the teacher and school administrator.

Through the use of a common language to describe instructional practices, instructional walkthroughs have the potential; to achieve a coherent, self-perpetuating process of reflection, development, and improvement. The use of the tool provides reliable qualitative data, focusing on what students are doing in the classroom and highlighting the effectiveness or lack thereof of teacher instruction. Training on the use and purpose of the walkthrough tool is highlighted in the training on the teacher evaluation system and all data training for administrators. Attached is a Companion Guide for the District Walkthrough Tool which provides indicators or look fors.

Specialized walkthrough or “be on the lookout for” tools are also used in some specialized areas such as in International Baccalaureate programs but the rationale behind their use is the same. Attached is a sample.

The Office of School Improvement (OSI) assists all schools in the development, implementation, and evaluation of their school improvement plan (SIP). Staff from OSI conducts professional development through regional technical assistance trainings in the spring of each year for all schools and mid-year professional development targeting differentiated accountability schools. The meetings center on required reporting updates and information from the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of School Improvement. District staff, including Curriculum and Instruction, Title I, Student Services, and Professional Development participates in training to provide opportunities to share with all schools the resources and strategies which may have the most impact on targeted students. Professional development is also conducted in late summer for SIP peer reviewers in order to provide a standard set of expectations prior to schools posting their SIP to the FLDOE designated website. SIPs are reviewed throughout the year and monitored through EESAC minutes. The ETO office reviews the SIP with the designated schools to refine the final product and the SIPs are monitored and revised by the findings of the Instructional Reviews.

The staffs in Instructional Technology and Assessment work closely with OSI to provide professional development on how to use the data to monitor student progress throughout the year. Beginning in 2010-2011, schools were provided with an individualized “Current and Expected Goals” data sheet in order to target instructional needs of the SIP. Schools are provided resources in developing actionable data to identify appropriate instructional strategies.

Professional development is provided to all Educational Excellence School Advisory Councils (EESACs) to support FSS. 1001.452 (2) “Each school advisory council shall assist in the preparation and evaluation of the SIP”; and Sch. Bd. Policy 2120 (A) “Each EESAC is the sole body responsible for final decision-making at the school relating to implementation of the State system of school improvement and accountability.” The training includes information on posting EESAC meetings on the District’s “Meeting Announcement” website (public access), inclusion of non-district employees on the EESAC, and posting EESAC minutes, which include ongoing data analysis and SIP reviews, on the OSI website.

Samples of the professional development offerings detailed above are included in this section.