Master of Arts in Executive Leadership Studies (MELS)

Gardner-Webb University

School of Education

Master of Arts in Executive Leadership Studies (MELS)

Syllabus

Course Number and Title

MELS 605 – 21st Century School Leadership

Instructor

Name: James M. Palermo, Ed.D.

Email:

Telephone: (919)878-9922

Office Hours: By arrangement with instructor.

Student should contact their instructor for any questions regarding this course.

Content Area Faculty (Responsible for syllabus)

Professor: Doug Eury

Office: Craig 100 B

704-406-4402

NOTE: To ensure program consistency, all sections of each course in the Gardner-Webb University School of Education MELS program, regardless of delivery format, follow the same course requirements as listed in this syllabus that is provided by the Program Professor/Lead Faculty. Instructors may modify readings, topics, or assignments in consultation with the content area faculty listed above.

Texts Pearson Custom EDUCATION: 21st Century School Leadership

ISBN 13-978-1-256-01347-1

Hersey, P., Blanchard, K., & Johnson, D. (2008). Management of

Organizational behavior: Leading human resources (10th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson

Ball, J.D., Eury, A. D., King, J. C. (2011). Rethink, rebuild, rebound: A framework for shared responsibility and accountability in Education (2nd ed.) Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This module prepares executives to lead schools as they face the challenges of the 21st century. Candidates will articulate the mission, goals, and values of the school, and work to lead staff through the vehicle of a professional learning team. Provides candidates opportunity to understand and practice the teacher supervision and evaluation process used in their state and district. Candidates will learn to base their judgments on the various levels of teacher development, with attention to cognitive readiness, willingness, and past experiences.

RATIONALE

The educational administrator of the 21st century must fully understand the complexities of the educational environment and the politics influencing that environment. Therefore, it is necessary for educational administrators to understand the theoretical concepts of educational leadership in the 21st century. This will be accomplished through an integration of leadership and supervision principles.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, candidates will:

1.  Understand the historical perspectives of leadership

2.  Understand current leadership theories

3.  Analyze their own leadership qualities and styles

4.  Distinguish between leadership and management

5.  Develop skills in determining effectiveness

6.  Develop skills in diagnosing the environment

7.  Understand the various components of situational leadership

8.  Practice building effective relationships

9.  Practice effective communication skills

10.  Understand team leadership

11.  Practice leadership strategies for organizational transformation

12.  Demonstrate knowledge necessary to develop, implement, and evaluate the instructional program of the school

13.  Demonstrate skills in assessing needs and setting instructional goals and objectives

14.  Demonstrate the ability to coordinate human resources in defining and implementing curriculum

15.  Demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary for improvement of instructional design, techniques, and application of learning theory, ranging from individual to staff development

16.  Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to use community resources to enrich the school program

17.  Demonstrate the skills necessary to carry out effective performance appraisal, the development of individual improvement plans, and formative and summative evaluation of programs

ATTENDANCE AND CLASS INFORMATION

See Graduate School Handbook

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF NEW LEADERSHIP STANDARDS

Candidates through the five semesters will address the following six evidences that must be performance related. Relative to the evaluation rubrics, candidates create evidence of practices that relate to the proficiency level:

1.  POSITIVE IMPACT ON STUDENT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to systemically impact the learning and development of ALL students.

2.  TEACHER EMPOWERMENT AND LEADERSHIP: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to empower faculty and staff and support teacher leadership

3.  COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to involve and engage school and community stakeholders.

4.  ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to effectively and efficiently manage complex organizations.

5.  SCHOOL CULTURE AND SAFETY: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to positively impact school safety and culture.

6.  SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: Evidence that demonstrates the ability to effect school improvement.

NOTE: The assessment rubrics found in the MELS Handbook serve as the assessment criterion for all evidences.

ASSIGNMENTS

There are two major assignments as they relate to the six artifacts. Considerable time will be spent on refining the artifacts. Candidates should attempt to have all components of artifacts including descriptor summary forms submitted for evaluation or at least in the review process by mid-semester. Six weeks before graduation, candidate progress will be assessed to determine eligibility for graduation. Specific dates will be announced through the BlackBoard site and candidate Gardner-Webb email addresses.

Artifact 5 E: Graphical Organization Chart

The candidate will develop an electronic framework to graphically display the progress of the school related to cultural advocacy and safety. This framework will have data that will demonstrate how the framework will display graphically the beginning and ending datasets that measure the progress of the school on the parameters identified in the TWCS, Needs Assessment, School Environmental Analysis, and Cultural Competence Audit. An example of this graphical organization chart could be a PERT Chart that not only demonstrates the timeline of the project, but also identifies the relationships among the elements of the CAAP.

Contingent to approval by the administration, the candidate will implement activities and processes indicated in the Graphic Organization Chart. Assessment of the proficiency of the candidate to lead and facilitate the identified activities will be accomplished by a joint evaluation of the University supervisor and the site supervisor. Results of the implementation will be included in the final portfolio assessment.

Artifact 6 F: Graphical Organizer

The candidate will produce a graphic organizer that illustrates the data collected and analyzed, the major strengths and opportunities for improvement identified by the stakeholders, and the relationships that each of these have with student achievement.

Contingent to administrative approval, the candidate will work with key leadership teams to implement and assess impact of the proposed activities aimed at overall school improvement. The candidate’s proficiency will be judged on the ability to assess the needs of the schools, the ability to communicate those needs to key leadership teams, and the ability to assess impact of the components of the plan.

Letter grades will be assigned to submitted work based on rubrics found in the MELS handbook. Grades will be assigned in this course using these rubrics along the following guidelines:

“Accomplished” work – A

“Accomplished/Proficient” work – A-/B+

“Proficient” work – B

“Proficient/Developing” work – B-

“Developing” work – C

Work that has not yet met criteria for “Developing” – F

MELS 605 – 21st Century School Leadership

Learning Tasks and Activities (Summer 2013)