Standard+1

= Standard One: Strategic Leadership  = //School executives will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school’s vision, mission, and goals in the 21st century. Understanding that schools ideally prepare students for an unseen but not altogether unpredictable future, the leader creates a climate of inquiry that challenges the school community to continually re-purpose itself by building on its core values and beliefs about its preferred future and then developing a pathway to reach it. //

Related Coursework & Trainings

 * Community Schools Learning Lab conference, Seattle, WA
 * Distinguished Leadership in Practice assignment: "Strategic Leadership for High Performing Schools"
 * Facilitative Leadership
 * High school turnaround case study
 * Internship project / "Problem of Practice"
 * Internship site assets video
 * Personal vision statement & [|letter of introduction]
 * School visits to A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School, KIPP: Gaston College Preparatory, Bertie Middle School, and Franklinton High School
 * Understanding By Design workshop

**1A. School Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals**
//The school’s identity, in part, is derived from the vision, mission, values, beliefs and goals of the school, the processes used to establish these attributes, and the ways they are embodied in the life of the school community. //

Selected Experiences & Artifacts
// Camp PACK: // Set the vision and goals for the Camp PACK mentoring program, a collaborative effort between the NCSU Athletic Department and A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School designed to help students build their leadership skills. Visit the **Camp PACK Wiki** for more detailed information: http://camppack.wikispaces.com/.

// Combs Achievers: // Combs Achievers is an after-school program at A.B. Combs where students receive an hour of additional math and reading instruction from high-performing certified staff, as well as thirty minutes of character education from the YMCA. These 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders were selected for the program using End-of-Grade assessment data from 2010-2011, as well as formative assessments from the 2011-2012 school year; all were performing below grade-level. At mid-year, I collaborated with our assistant principal, who manages the program, to use data from our Fountas and Pinnell reading assessment, as well as math unit assessments, to develop individualized goals for each student. 

// School Improvement Team // : On March 26, 2012, I co-facilitated a School Improvement Team meeting. Our objectives were to revise our vision and draft our SMART goals, key processes, and action steps for the 2012-2014 School Improvement Plan. The meeting was attended by a teacher representative from each grade level and our specialist team, parents, our magnet coordinator, and the administrative team. At the conclusion of the meeting, we had strong drafts of our vision and our goals in the areas of academics, leadership, school climate, and teacher retention. In the days that followed, we revised the vision and goals and created the School Improvement Plan Summary you will find below.

// Student Interventions: // At mid-year, I collaborated with our assistant principal and our grade-level teams to use a variety of data points to identify all students at-risk of not meeting our end-of-year goals. We ensured that each student was receiving at least one high-quality, research-based intervention that is aligned with his/her academic needs. 

**1B. Leading Change** // The school executive articulates a vision, and implementation strategies, for improvements and changes, which result in improved achievement for all students. //

Selected Experiences & Artifacts
// Student Interventions: // At mid-year, I collaborated with our assistant principal and our grade-level teams to use a variety of data points to identify all students at-risk of not meeting our end-of-year goals. We ensured that each student was receiving at least one high-quality, research-based intervention that is aligned with his/her academic needs. 

// School Improvement Team: // On March 26, 2012, I co-facilitated a School Improvement Team meeting. Our objectives were to revise our vision and draft our SMART goals, key processes, and action steps for the 2012-2014 School Improvement Plan. The meeting was attended by a teacher representative from each grade level and our specialist team, parents, our magnet coordinator, and the administrative team. At the conclusion of the meeting, we had strong drafts of our vision and our goals in the areas of academics, leadership, school climate, and teacher retention. The new goals we drafted are rooted in data from the 2010-2011 school year, as well as current student achievement and leadership data. See draft vision and an example of a draft SMART goal in Standard 1A.

// Advisory Team: // This year, our administrative team convened a group of local leaders in the field of education to assist us in reviewing a variety of student data sources and identifying our strengths and areas for growth, as well as possible causes and solutions.

// Intervention Specialist Scheduling: // After the winter break, we hired two new intervention specialists – one to focus on math, and one on reading. I had the opportunity to work with the intervention specialists and our grade-level teams to create schedules for each specialist that would maximize their time with the students who needed it most. We used formative student achievement data, as well as the teachers’ qualitative observations of their students, to form flexible student groups for the specialists to either pull out or push in to support on a daily basis. 

1C. School Improvement Plan
// The school improvement plan provides the structure for the vision, values, goals and changes necessary for improved achievement for all students. //

Selected Experiences & Artifacts
// School Improvement Team: // On March 26, 2012, I co-facilitated a School Improvement Team meeting. Our objectives were to revise our vision and draft our SMART goals, key processes, and action steps for the 2012-2014 School Improvement Plan. The meeting was attended by a teacher representative from each grade level and our specialist team, parents, our magnet coordinator, and the administrative team. At the conclusion of the meeting, we had strong drafts of our vision and our goals in the areas of academics, leadership, school climate, and teacher retention. The new goals we drafted are rooted in data from the 2010-2011 school year, as well as current student achievement and leadership data. Our leadership goal, in particular, incorporates 21st century content, as does our vision. See draft vision and an example of a draft SMART goal in Standard 1A.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Dropbox Data Sharing // : This year, our administrative team created Excel spreadsheets for each grade level, enabling them to capture formative and summative student achievement data in one place. We used Dropbox, a web-based file hosting service, to make the spreadsheets and all data updates available in “real-time” to members of each grade-level team. The objective of the spreadsheets was two-fold: to ensure teachers had easy access to current student achievement data for use in their Professional Learning Community discussions and individual planning, and to provide administrators with an ongoing overview of student performance within each grade level and the school as a whole. We used this data throughout the year to make a variety of resource-allocation decisions, such as which should participate in Combs Achievers, how to best utilize our new intervention specialists, and which interventions we should prioritize, and which students should receive them. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

1D. Distributive Leadership
// The school executive creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership and decision-making throughout the school. //

Selected Experiences & Artifacts
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Camp PACK: // In preparation for Camp PACK, I met with each grade-level team to identify students who would benefit from having a mentor who would serve as a positive role model and help students develop their leadership and interpersonal skills.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">// Walk to School Day: // I planned and executed the annual A.B. Combs Walk to School Day event, which promotes student health and safety by engaging students and community members in walking a mile to school. Nearly every staff member was involved in the planning of this event, with several taking on significant leadership roles. For instance, our physical education teacher served as the emcee, each of our teachers led their classes in creating a class pennant, and our music teacher led our students in song during the post-walk assembly. <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">