PD Plan

Week Five Assignment, Part 1 & Part E of the Three Year Professional Development Plan

Please review and examine a variety of assessments (e.g., Post SBEC Assessment, Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation), intern plan progress, and develop a comprehensive three year professional development plan that includes each of the following for Year One, Year Two and Year Three:

Goals – at least two for each year 2 points for each goal times 3 years = 12 Points possible);

Identification of TExES Superintendent Domain and Competency addressed in each goal (1 point for each identified Competency – 6 goals with at least 6 Competencies);

Objectives – describe at least one objective for each goal (at least 6 points);

Resources such as Courses/books/workshops/webinars that will help achieve each goal;

Identification of mentor(s) and other professional support staff to help achieve each goal (1 points for each identified resource = at least 6 points for resources)

Timeline(s) for each goal (6 points possible – 1 point for each timeline);

Evaluations – identify at least one evaluation recommendation for each goal (at least 6 points possible)

Name: Christopher Granger

Goal	TExES Competency and Domain	Objective (What do you want to improve?)	Course Work/Book/ Workshops (How do you want to improve?)	Mentor Professional Support (Who will help you improve?)	Date of Completion	Evaluations (How will you know you have improved?)
1	All Domains and Competencies	I want to become familiar with the day-to-day responsibilities of a Superintendent	I will serve as a resource to the Superintendent in my school district.	Alan Oakley	June 2014	When I secure an Asst Superintendent or Superintendent  position, how do I perform my job?
2	Domain III Administrative Leadership   Competency 8/9	I will become familiar with issues facing administrators in Texas	I will join TASSP and review journal articles of issues administrators face in Texas schools.	Chris Granger	Ongoing (June 2016)	Am I a resource for colleagues when issues come up? Are my decisions aligned with legally acceptable policies.
3	Domain II Instructional Leadership   Competency 3	I will become more familiar with school media/ public relations programs	I will study legal issues regarding the release of information, and serve on the district bond preparation committee.	Dona Smith	June 2015	When developing the materials to release to the community, are they factual and unbiased?
4	Domain II  Instructional Leadership   Competency 6	I will become more familiar with special programs and ensure we are providing adequate  resources and services for all students.	I will serve on the committee to review our identification, selection and placement of students in our special programs.	Rina Ramos   Rita Condron	June 2014	Independent review of our student classifications in special programs to ensure students are correctly identified.  Does our budget provide adequate funding to meet the needs of our students in special populations.
5	Domain III Administrative Leadership   Competency 8	I will become more aware of district level issues involving the audit and funding and staffing patterns to project enrollment and district needs.	I will serve on the district leadership council and committee.	Ray Jaksa	June 2016	As we grow as a district we are working to develop plans to meet the needs of our students.  We need to develop staffing and budgetary policies to ensure we are financially responsible and have the resources needed to adequately educate all students.
6	Domain II Instructional Leadership   Competency 4	I will access and analyze political, social, economic and cultural factors affecting education.	I will attend city council meetings, as well as Johnson County tax hearings, and review legislations on the docket that impact education.	Ray Jaksa	June 2015	Is my district prepared in budgeting to meet the needs of our students based on the funding and demographic challenges we face in our district?

 

RELFECTION:

            In order for a professional development plan to be truly effective it must be clearly thought out and address areas of deficiency.  I am hoping that over the next three years of this professional development plan that I can address my areas of need in an effort to turn these areas of weakness into areas of strength.  First, there is the issue of not having experience as a Superintendent.  Often when we have not done a specific job before we do not know all the things a job entails.  Therefore, I want to be a resource to my Superintendent and continue to have regular conversations and interactions with him in an effort to gain a better understanding of the day to day responsibilities of a Superintendent.  This will provide a small glimpse into what I have ahead of me.  Next, I want to investigate the issue facing Superintendents across the state by studying cases causing problems using resources from organizations such as TASSP.  This will help me become more familiar with common issues that come up so I can avoid some common pitfalls of new Superintendents.  The next area of my professional development plan involves dealing with the media as in today’s society news travels face and if I am in fact a Superintendent for a lengthy time I will need to be competent in addressing the media.  In addition to these items I wanted to learn more about special population students.  These students have unique needs and there are specific legal requirements in dealing with them.  As the leader of a district I want to ensure that we are in compliance with all requirements to protect the district from dropping the ball on implementing programs addressed at meeting the needs of these students.  Another item I am deficient in involves the audit, funding and staffing patterns required to efficiently run a district.  Having these items in place allow for honest and transparent leadership.  I feel having these items adequately addressed and presented to the community helps build trust that is needed in bringing about meaningful change.  The final thing I would like to learn about in my three year professional development plan are the political, social, economic and cultural factors impacting education.  The one certainty about all of these factors and that is that there are in a constant state of flux and can vary from district to district.  By beginning to study trends in this area I will increase my knowledge base when making decisions as a district leader.  Overall these experiences over the next three years are all aimed at helping prepare me to lead a school district effectively and efficiently.

 

Reflections - Part D

Part D: Reflections on Reflective Leadership

             Reflection is what allows us to look back on the decision we made and treat them as learning experiences good and bad and is critical to personal improvement.  As a person and a leader I want to be an individual who strives for continual improvement, and honest reflection provides me the information needed to do this.  Throughout this program I have been able to work closely with my Superintendent in helping improve our district.  I have been fortunate to work in a small district that has provided me an opportunity to attend meetings and participate in leadership activities.  As often is the case sometimes we learn as much about what not to do as we do about what to do when we are leading a district.

            In relation to course assignments I feel as though I have grown a lot in this program.  One of the most interesting courses where I gained the most knowledge was EDLD 5342 school finance.  It was in this course that I became more familiar with the state funding formula.  One of the primary components of the formula is the average daily attendance (ADA) which is how schools get a large amount of their money.  What I learned is that simply funding based on attendance can be “unfair.”  There are schools where the students have a supportive home environment with two parents working, home for dinner every night that value education and the student doesn’t have to work and parents who ensure they are at school every day. This is different from a community where one parent is working several jobs to make ends meet, students work to help as well and there is no one to ensure they are going to school.  Therefore, it is critical as educational leaders to know the demographics of the community and what factors affect the student’s ability to attend school on a regular basis.  Doing this allows us to develop interventions aimed at meeting the needs of our students and ensuring we receive the funding needed to meet the needs of our students.  This is why I believe the weighted ADA and its impact on finance needs to be evaluated.  This is additional money given based on the number of students serviced in special programs. 

            A second thing I learned that I feel will serve me well also came in the school finance class regarding the state budgetary timelines:

1.Budget Preparation Deadline (August 20)- The reason this is important is because in order to have a budget reviewed by the school board and discussed in order to answer any questions.  They must be in compliance with the law requiring 10 days of notice for a public hearing on the budget. 

2. Budget Adoption (August 31) –  The reason I feel this is important because you want a budget that adequately meets the needs of the students in your district.  In addition, TEA records the adopted budget to track amendments.  

3. Tax Rate Adoption –This is important because this figure will work in conjunction with the money received from the state as the primary sources of funding for a school district.

 

4. Comptroller Values Released (End of January)-The county provides the school district with their accountable taxes they are responsible for.  For our district this occurs a year behind the school budget so it is difficult to make changes to the budget at that time. 

5. Campus Improvement Plans and Budgets Dues (April – May)-We need to have a checks and balances system to ensure campus plans and goals are aligned with district goals. 

The reason I feel this was such an important lesson is that money is one of the leading causes of educators being fired.  As a Superintendent I need to be able to lead the school board in an adequate, data based budget development process.  I want to be sure we are a financial responsible and transparent district and this begins with a timely developed budget.

            The third thing I chose to discuss that reflected on from the courses came in the course regarding school facilities when I had to rate my districts facilities on the design and environment of the school.  First, our campuses are located 2-3 miles from one of the largest cement plants in the state.  Due to our close proximity to this plant there the air quality is often bad.  This becomes more evident on days when it rains and the air is thicker.   The air quality inside the building is a 4 or adequate. We have spent a great deal of money over the last two years replacing the HVAC systems.  This has improved the energy efficiency in our district as well as our air quality.  The lighting in our school is outstanding, rating a 5 on the scale. We have no issues with lighting in our outside of the school.  As a part of the district improvement plan outdated light bulbs were replaced over the summer with energy efficient bulbs.  The outside lighting was also upgraded to provide improved lighting so we could install video cameras in an effort to enhance school safety.  The acoustics in the school are outdated and thus I rate them at a 3.  When this building was originally constructed it exceeded the needs of the district.  However, we have seen a steady increase in the student enrollment it has become abundantly clear that we need to make a change.  This information was critical as we are preparing for a bond issue.  As a Superintendent we are responsible for ensuring we provide adequate resources, including buildings, to educate the children in our district.  I learned from this that it is critical to be on campus on a regular basis to observe issues that need immediate attention so that we can share this information with the school board in an attempt to address these issues in a timely manner.

            In regards to the blog activities I welcomed the opportunity to use this forum to interact with classmates and see what has been working in their districts and how I can use their lessons in my development as an educational leader.  I was able to post my lessons from school funding and school facilities on my blog.  This reinforced my learning and the value these lessons have in needing to be learned before taking over a school district and being forced with these funding and facility issues.

            Next, I would like to discuss reflections I learned from my course and campus activity logs beginning with a campus activity when I reviewed the AVID implementation in my district.  This was an opportunity to show my leadership of the program could begin with a reflection on where it had been to determine where we should go.  Over the past three years we have had campuses on the state required growth plan to include a TEA monitor.  Most recently we have been dealing with this as the high school beginning in August 2013.  As part of the improvement plan we have implemented the AVID program and we are trying to take these things campus wide.  To assist in this endeavor I have been chosen to be the district director for AVID.  Part of this job is to ensure we are implementing with fidelity.  I wanted to make sure the goals and vision for AVID were aligned with the campus and district mission and vision for the future.  I believe AVID will help us address our areas of need if implemented correctly, in alignment with goals and supported by the administration.   As a district leader it is important I do not just find the “next great program” but rather implement on like AVID that supports the direction for the future of my district.

            Secondly, I wanted to use my internship as an opportunity to learn about the grievance process as I feel I will encounter a situation where I need to deal with this in what I hope is a long career in educational leadership.  As a Superintendent and leader of the school district we are ultimately responsible for overseeing the actions and behavior of all employees of the school district.  Although we would like to believe that all educators are good people it is often good people who make poor decisions that begin the grievance process.  This is an especially difficult situation for the Superintendent to be in as we would like to believe the best about our people, but we must always consider the best interests of the school district and the students we serve.  All incidents must first be reported to the campus supervisor and then to the director of human resources.  This all requires the notification of the Superintendent and district lawyer in the event that it progresses further.  I found it critical in these situations to contact the school attorney as early as possible to ensure you are always acting the in the proper manner as well as within the scope of your job. 

            Next, I chose to reflect on a campus activity involving our professional development plan.  As educational leaders we must be lifelong learners and model that behavior for our staff.  It is important that we take what we have learned and share it with others in an effort to continually improve our district. As we model this sharing of information we can also lead others to do the same.  This was truly an eye opening experience for me in that I learned it is more difficult to get adults to listen and pay attention than students.  As an administrator I want to create a culture of continual improvement and lifelong learning.  For us to truly accomplish this we are going to need a commitment from the adults on campus to share their knowledge with others.  In addition, I feel we need to establish the expectation that faculty members see these opportunities to improve themselves and respect their colleagues who are presenting to them, which begins and ends with the leadership.

            All these things are great examples of how this program required me to reflect on the activities I have completed, but it is virtually worthless unless I do something with this lesson when I become a practicing Superintendent.  As I have noticed in my career educators often get comfortable in the walls of our classroom and or office and often don’t reflect on what we have done and whether it was successful or not.  When I begin to transition into a leadership role as a Superintendent I want to make frequent and meaningful reflection a part of my plan to be successful.  The first portion of this plan is to set aside team each day to review what tasks I have completed that day and how I handled them as well as how I would have handled them differently.  Another portion of this will require me to utilize these reflections to determine a plan of improvement.  I would hope that part of the expectation of the school board is that I would need to identify yearly goals for myself to improve in the job I am doing for the school district and the students within it.  Once these goals have been established I can schedule some professional learning activities aimed at addressing my areas of weakness and improving my performance.  These professional learning activities much like my daily activities need my reflection as well.  I want to avoid attend conferences and presentations and not implementing what I learned to benefit the stakeholders in my district.  I believe these activities when carried out in unison and on a regular basis create a cycle of improvement efforts, reflection, improvement efforts, and reflection.  I have a desire to be successful and serve the students and community as a whole by attempting to make it better than it was when I arrived.  I have been successful at this in my other educational careers and I attribute this in part to the fact that I have made a habit on reflecting upon my actions as a means for improving myself.  With the benefits of reflection I have seen in my life and in this program by reflecting on the past as a way to prepare for the future I know this will continue to be a part of my routine as I move up the educational leadership ladder.    

 

 

     

 

 

 

Week 3 Reflections

Week Three Assignment, Part 1 – CARE Model Analysis of District/Campus Improvement Initiatives or Action Research Plans

Please review your intern plan. In the first course, students were encouraged to engage in some action research, or participate in district or campus improvement initiatives. Each of you has had some experiences with such initiatives or action plans. Please review those experiences and complete the following analysis:

Concerns – Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and list at least three concerns that you have identified from these experiences – a concern may be any matter that engages your attention or interest.

 

1. What are some things that encourage student participation in extracurricular activities.

2. What can we do to increase student enrollment in the AVID program.

3. What can be done to build more teacher/leaders on campus.

 

Affirmations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and affirm or identify at least 3 actions that must be sustained and supported to achieve the District/Campus improvement initiatives.

 

1. One of our initiatives was to work on increasing our student participation in extracurricular activities.  This requires a commitment from the sponsors to encourage students to participate and the budget to support additional participants.

2. The AVID Program has become a large part of our campus improvement plans.  Since almost 80% of our student population qualifies for this program if we build it we can expose a lot of our students to the benefits of exposure to the best practices reinforced by AVID.  

3. As a small district we do not have the budget for a large number of administrators on campus and thus I feel we would benefit from building leadership from within.  In order to achieve this we needed to determine which teachers had a desire to be educational leaders and provide them the training and support needed to develop their leadership skills.

 

Recommendations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and describe at least 3 recommendations you would make regarding the District/Campus Improvement plans or action research plans.

 

1. In the area of extracurricular participation I think we need to continue working to survey our students to ensure the programs we offer meet the interests of our students.  It is possible we could increase participation in extracurricular programs by expanding our offerings with programs more to our students liking.

2. In regards to the AVID program I think we need to visit schools our size and with similar demographics to ours to see what they have done to successful implement AVID school wide.  Using this information we can develop a 3 to 5 year plan aimed at improving AVID to the point where we can be a national demonstration school.

3. For the development of teacher leaders I think we should reward those individuals seeking personal improvement by paying for portions of their training in such areas as PDAS and allow them to assist with the evaluation processes on our district.  In addition, we can begin a list of “homegrown” leaders who would make great candidates for administrative leadership positions as they open.  They would be familiar with the district and operating procedures allowing them to step in and be effective leaders.

 

Evaluate - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and identify at least 3 strategies for evaluating the improvement plans or recommendations.

 

1. In the realm of extracurricular participation we can track the participation from year to year.  Along with documenting what efforts we have made to encourage participation we can see if the increased participation was a result of a particular approach.

2. For the AVID program we need to judge our progress on how we are rated on the certification instrument provided by AVID.  There are 11 essentials that are measured yearly with ratings between 0 and 3.  By monitoring the progress towards national demonstration school status we can see how we are progressing.

3.  Building leaders for the future is often a difficult task as it requires you to know your people and which ones have the traits of effective leadership.  To measure this success I would recommend determining how many teachers have successful completed the state requirements to attain a principal’s certificate.

Week Three Assignment, Part 2 – Part C of the Comprehensive Final Report

Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

Review the above analysis, and write at least one page thoroughly describing recommendations and lessons learned from experiences with the improvement initiatives or action research plans.

     I feel very fortunate to work in a district that has allowed me to grow as a leader and be actively involved in the improvement of programs in our district.  Since I was in extracurricular activities for the majority of my career I knew the documented benefits to students who participated in these programs and was interested if there were things we could do to increase participation.  Secondly in the AVID program, I have been designated as the District Director I wanted to gain support throughout the district for growing the AVID program with the goal being a national demonstration school.  Finally, as a developing educational leader I know there were a few people along the way who saw something good in me and pushed me to strive for a leadership position.  As leaders I feel we have a responsibility to our students to help build leaders for the future so I wanted to begin looking for ways to encourage teachers to consider pursuing their administrative certificate.

            First, there was the research looking at extracurricular participation. As I mentioned in my reflection I believe it is important that we continue to survey our students to determine what interests hey have that we are not addressing in the extracurricular programs we offer.  If we are going to be a campus and district that practices continual improvement then we can’t settle for one year of increased participation and work towards doing this every year.  A prime example of this is that we have an increasing number of Hispanic students coming to our district and a common question I have seen while working in the athletic department is why we don’t have soccer as an offering.  This is something the school board has heard and with the implementation of UIL soccer in 3A beginning in the 2014 realignment we will be adding this program for girls and boys beginning in the 2014-2015 school year.  Another example of this has been that a student got a group together that was interested in the UIL calculation competition and when they were able to get a sponsor they were allowed to begin participating.  Moving forward I believe we have created a culture where students feel that they are listened to and that their opinion matters and this Spring when we have our elective fair program I think we will continue to get good input from students about programs that would interest them.  In adding these programs we are expanding the number of students who can reap the well documented benefits of participation in extracurricular programs.

            Secondly, there was the issue we addressed in improving our AVID program we need to develop a 3 to 5 year plan for success.  We have bought into this system and are working towards school wide implementation with fidelity.  I believe that by having a goal and vision for the future is critical to us achieving the success we envision for this program and our students.  As the leader of this program I think we should aim for the best and that is to become a national demonstration school.  There is no need for us to reinvent the wheel rather we should visit schools who have achieved this distinction with similar demographics to ours.  This will allow us to take some of the good ideas to improve our implementation of the core principals of AVID.  This compilation of best practices will have an impact on all of our students when we can get these strategies school wide. 

            The third and final action item I investigated for the improvement of my campus and district is to help develop leaders for the future.  I certainly would not be where I am today as an educational leader if it were not for the influence of other leaders who helped me build the skills necessary to be effective.  That being said I also feel that the leaders in my district, myself included, have a responsibility to develop additional leaders.  Therefore, I think we should work to encourage some of our best teachers with skills for leadership to pursue leadership training.  This could include providing funding for them to be trained in ILD and PDAS and send them to additional trainings where they can share the learning with their peers.  We need to be a district that develops some home grown leaders who are familiar with our policies and procedures and the progress we have made in an effort to keep moving them forward.                   

            Overall we are a district that is trying to move forward we need to investigate every opportunity to improve instruction and student achievement.  At this time we have chosen to focus on our extracurricular programs, AVID school wide, and leader development.  These things were strategically chosen to reach our students and teacher where they are and help them improve.  As a leader it is important that I continue to strive for improvement personally as well as for those I lead.                                                                                                                                                       

Week Three Assignment, Part 3 - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE

Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor between now and Week 5 to review the Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation). To confirm this scheduled conference, please describe your efforts below – this may include “sending an email request for a scheduled conference, visiting with the supervisor to schedule a conference, or any other efforts describing your efforts to schedule this conference.”

                As I have mentioned I am fortunate to have worked for a Superintendent during this time who is approachable and the conclusion of this internship has been no different.  When I knew I was going to need this paperwork completed I contacted him to schedule a meeting.  Since he lives in the community I was able to go by his house and drop the paperwork off to be completed.  When I was on campus again I was able to let him know when I would need it to be completed and we agreed to meet this week after he has had time to complete the evaluation.  I am looking forward to visiting with him and seeing what areas he recommends I focus on as I continue to prepare for a career as a Superintendent.  

Job Entry Plan

First Day:

Goal(s):  1) Establish operating norms in the office

           

Objective(s): Set the foundation for a good working relationship with the administrative assistant based on trust.

 

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  Meet with the administrative assistant to establish policies and procedures for those trying to visit with me or reach me via phone.  This will allow me determine what the stakeholders have expected in the past and assure them that I will be approachable and address their concerns.

 

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  I will need to set aside time to meet with the administrative assistant and make it a priority to establish a good working relationship with the administrative assistant.

 

First Week:

Goal(s): 1) Meet with members of the district office staff

               2) Meet with campus principals

 

Objective(s):  1) Determine who will be in my cabinet

2) Determine the most pressing issues from the perspective of the campus principals

 

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  First of all I would need to meet with all members of the central office staff.  I would like to gather information about what their roles have previously been in the district as well as what experiences they have in education.  This will help me determine how they can help me met the needs of the district as well as get a feel for the people I might be able to lean on and trust when faced with difficult decisions.  Secondly, I need to get a feel for what issues are facing the campuses in the district.  These could be academic or personnel issues that they would like to see addressed and I want to be educated when these issues come up.  Although I would want to support the principals I need to know what we are up against.  They could also give some input on how some of these decisions may be received in the community, as well as establish a foundation of trust between the principals and myself.  

 

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:

 

First Month:

Goal(s): 1) Meet with the school board

               2) Meet with staffs of each campus

               3) Meet with the community

 

Objective(s): 1) Establish a working relationship with the board, and expectations

                      2) Outline my vision for the district to each campus and answer questions

                      3) Begin to interact with the community

 

Activities addressing goals and objectives: I would like to meet a couple times with the school board to include a team of 8 training.  There needs to be a good working relationship and since they will ultimately evaluate me I also need to have a good understanding of their expectations.  Thus when we have board meetings and other interactions they can have a positive and collaborative feel to it.  Next, I think in the first month I need to meet with the faculty and staff on each campus.  Anytime there is a change in leadership there is some apprehension amongst the staff as they question their job security.  I would like to put them at ease that I am not there to make those decisions at this time but rather get a feel for what is or is not working and how we move forward.  I would also want them to be aware of my intention to be on campus on a regular basis so they begin to be comfortable with seeing me frequently.  Finally, I feel like it would be a good step to developing communication with the community to have a town hall type series of meetings to introduce myself to the community. I would like to host these in the churches or community centers close to where the community lives so there is less travel involved.  This would give them an opportunity to get to know me.

 

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  I would need funding and time to host a team of eight training as well as a meeting with the board that would require them to give up time on their night or weekend to have a meeting.  In addition, I feel I would need time form the campus principals to visit with their staff.  Finally, I would need to set aside time to meet with the community and postcards or flyers to notify the community of the meetings as well as funding for snacks I would like to serve at these meetings.

 

First Year:

Goal(s): 1) Meet with all department directors

               2) Meet with campus leaders and community members

 

Objective(s): 1) Develop a vision and mission for the district

                      2) Develop a budget for the next year      

 

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  The first thing I feel I would be able to do after being there is to meet with all department directors to assess their needs.  With their input we can work together to develop a vision and mission for the district.  It is important that there is a unified direction in the district so we are all working to achieve the same goal.  By seeking the input from department directors I feel there can be increased buy in to the course we have set for the district.  Once the vision and mission are established I feel we can build a budget that supports those initiatives. When we attach our expenditures to the goals we established together there is a sense of stability and consistency in our actions pointing to that goal.  

 

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  There will be a need for a time investment for the meetings with the department directors.  In addition, I would like the previous three years budgets to investigate where the expenditures had been and determine if there is room for improvement in the budgetary process.