Administrator in Residence Program

Administrator in Residence Program

General Description

The purpose of the Administrator in Residence (AIR) program is to induct and train principals in the following areas:

ð  LA Public Schools philosophy, core values, and education model

ð  Building Culture

ð  Instructional Leadership

ð  People and Resource Management

ð  Community Leadership

ð  Problem Solving

The program provides ongoing support for the administrators in residence as they develop their philosophy of education and leadership and as they develop key foundational elements prior to the opening of a school (mission/vision, professional development protocols and procedures, course offerings, graduation requirements, discipline policies and process).

Structure of the Program

Administrators in Residence will perform the following tasks during their year in residency:

ð  AIRs are on the principal work calendar – 217 work days per year.

ð  Monday – Wednesday: Each AIR will be assigned to a specific school from 7:30 – 4:30 for the purposes of shadowing administrators at the site and assisting with key administrator duties. The AIR will be assigned to a school for two months at a time and then assigned to a different school the following two months. During their two months at the school site, the AIRs will be assigned special projects to complete by the principal.

ð  Thursday and Friday: Work on projects as assigned at the Home Office from 8:00 – 4:00.

ð  Meet with Chief Academic Officer every Friday from 2:30 – 3:30 to discuss progress toward projects and weekly reflections.

ð  Attend focused discussions and trainings on Thursdays/Fridays each month in addition to 95/5 sessions and Key Results Walkthroughs.

ð  Attend quarterly first-year principal focus group session to observe and listen.

ð  Attend each of the following events at a school chosen by the AIR:

Semester 1:

§  ½ day of a staff retreat

§  Observe budget meeting in August

§  Summer parent orientation

§  Back-to-School Night

§  PTA/PTO meeting

§  Discipline Review Board Committee meeting

§  School Advisory Council meeting

§  Student Success Team Meeting

Semester 2:

§  Observe a budget meeting for the 09 – 10 school year

§  Attend an administrator Welligent training.

§  Attend a master scheduling training.

§  Attend a Discipline Review Panel Meeting.

§  Attend an IEP meeting

ð  Assist an assigned school with the following:

o  Planning and implementing PE testing

o  Developing a schedule and teacher training for CST testing

o  Co-plan and co-facilitate a later-start PD session with administrators at a specific site

o  Shadow a formal observation of a teacher

o  Observe a pre-observation and post-observation meeting for a formal observation of a teacher

ð  Assist with the planning and delivery of:

o  New teacher trainings

o  Benchmark collaboration days

o  All Green Dot days

Assignments

ð  Complete Home Office projects as assigned. Upon completion of project:

o  Present completed project to members of the Ed Team.

o  Fill out reflection form.

ð  Complete weekly log/journal of reflections based on work at schools and at the Home Office.

ð  Take leadership assessments from Milestones Inc. in first semester to assess leadership strengths and growth areas.

ð  Develop an action plan for growth based on leadership assessments.

ð  Portfolio to be turned in May includes:

o  All weekly reflections and reflections written after finishing home office projects

o  Rough draft of mission/vision for the PIR’s school along with materials to be used to generate discussions with staff about mission/vision

o  Proposed graduation requirements

o  Proposed courses to be offered including academic interventions

o  Proposed bell schedule

o  Calendar and calculation of instructional minutes

o  Description of professional development protocols and procedures to be used (teacher buddies, buddy observations, videotaping, etc.)

o  Discipline matrix, policies and procedures

o  Summer Bridge plan: courses offered, schedule, purpose, sample letter to parents and students

o  Plan for diagnostic testing prior to or during Summer Bridge

o  Budget for 09 – 10 school year

o  Show evidence of community partnerships built within the community of school site. Plan should include:

ð  Partnerships fostered

ð  Plan for sustaining the partnership over time

o  Interview responses: Interview 3 principals and capture their thoughts about the questions outlined on the interview template.

AIR Training Program:

Key areas of focus:

·  Planning Effective Professional Development

·  Creating a New School Culture

·  Creating Sustainable Systems and Processes

·  Prioritization

Planning Effective Professional Development

Topics to be covered:

·  Using data to drive professional development

·  Using protocols to analyze student work

·  Using the Essential Elements of Effective Instruction to deliver professional development

·  Green Dot’s Recommended Protocols for Professional Development

·  Adult learning theory

Key Readings:

·  Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching And Learning by Kathryn Parker Boudett and Kathryn Parker Boudett; Elizabeth A. City; Richard J. Murnane

·  Coaching : Evoking Excellence in Others by James Flaherty

·  What Great Principals Do Differently by Todd Whitaker

·  Good to Great by Jim Collins

·  Leading Adult Learning by Eleanor Drago-Severson

Outside Trainings:

·  BTSA mentor teacher training

Green Dot Resources/Best Practices Provided:

·  Green Dot calendar of recommended professional development foci for first-year schools

·  Green Dot binder of professional development resources for first-year schools

Creating a New School Culture

Topics to be covered:

·  Green Dot 101: mission, vision, core values and history

·  Change theory

o  Deconstructing an old mindset

o  Constructing a new mindset and culture

·  Organizational theory

·  Developing your core values and mission

·  Courageous conversations about the change that needs to occur

Key Readings:

·  High Performance in High Poverty Schools: 90/90/90 and Beyond by Doug Reeves

·  The 90/90/90 Schools: A Case Study

·  The Turnaround Challenge - Gates Study on high-poverty, high-performing schools

·  Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott

·  Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership by Lee Boleman and Terrence Deal

·  Who Moved My Cheese by Johnson and Blanchard

·  The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

·  How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work: Seven Languages for Transformation by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

·  Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

·  Leading Change in Your School by Douglas A. Reeves

Green Dot Resources/Best Practices Provided:

·  Phases of a start-up school: What should you expect and plan for in years 1 – 4 of a school?

Creating Sustainable Systems and Processes

Topics to be covered:

·  ELL compliance and law

·  SPED compliance and law

·  Structures and systems in successful schools

·  Union contract and evaluation process

·  Hiring best practices

·  Building capacity

Key Readings:

·  Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don’t Learn by Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, Gayle Karhanek, and Richard Dufour

·  Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable...About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick M. Lencioni

·  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick M. Lencioni

·  Consensus Through Conversation: How to Achieve High-Commitment Decisions by Larry Dressler

Outside trainings:

·  FRISK training

Green Dot Resources/Best Practices Provided:

·  First-year school structures and systems checklist

·  Green Dot recommended discipline handbook

·  Green Dot recommended graduation requirements

Prioritization

Topics to be covered:

·  Effective delegation processes

·  Time management

·  Aligning actions and decisions with your mission and core values

Key Readings:

·  The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

·  The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard

Evaluation

ð  Formal observation of work at a school

ð  Portfolio

ð  Feedback after the completion of HO projects

ð  Formal evaluation – same template used for administrators

Framework for First-year Principal Training

Areas of focus:

·  Planning Effective Professional Development

·  Creating a New School Culture

·  Creating Sustainable Systems and Processes

·  Prioritization

Planning Effective Professional Development

Topics to be covered in trainings:

Using observation data to inform professional development

·  Holding teachers accountable for implementing strategies covered in professional development

·  Aligning your professional development to your strategic plan

·  Improving teacher instruction in each of the elements of the Essential Elements of Effective Instruction

Coaching focus:

·  Debrief video of face-to-face debrief with a teacher with cluster director at least once a quarter

·  Walkthroughs of classrooms during each coaching session with next steps for professional development discussed based on walkthroughs

·  Co-plan and co-facilitate professional development session with cluster director once a semester

Other supports:

·  Observe professional development session delivered by mentor principal once a semester and debrief with mentor principal and cluster director

Creating a New School Culture

Topics to be covered:

·  Progressive discipline

·  Managing change

·  Courageous conversations

·  Using the four frames of leadership to promote change

·  October and March: How do you revisit your mission/vision?

Coaching focus:

·  How are you using your vision to drive school practice?

·  What are your broken-record statements that illustrate the culture you hope to create?

Creating Sustainable Systems and Processes

Topics to be covered:

·  Building capacity: Best practices in delegation

·  Developing rituals and routines

·  Building capacity: Creating teacher leaders

·  Best practices in teacher coaching, evaluation and support

·  Calibrating feedback to teachers – informal and formal

Coaching focus:

·  November/December and May: Formal evaluation calibration with Cluster Director

Prioritization

Topics to be covered:

·  How can you schedule your priorities?

·  Time Management

·  Applying Maslow’s hierarchy to a first-year school – how do you get out of the daily fires?

·  Are you using your office staff effectively?

Coaching focus:

·  2-hour shadow from cluster director once a semester to discern how time is being used

·  Monthly review of daily activities to determine how to better delegate or allocate time toward priorities

Other supports:

·  Breakthrough Coaching with office manager

Other suggestions for support:

·  Buddy program for 1st-year principals:

o  Each 1st-year principal is assigned to a mentor principal.

o  Mentors and mentees meet once every two months.

o  Quarterly focus group sessions with first-year principals and mentor principals to discuss challenges and successes.

·  Workshop style professional development sessions that are targeted at first-year principal needs and allow choice

·  Monthly cluster meetings with all principals within the conversion focused on calibrating expectations, making joint decisions and celebrating successes

·  New Leader Boot Camp the summer before school is opened:

o  Forms

o  Policies and procedures

o  Parent hours

o  Teacher handbook

o  First year professional development calendar

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