Standard Three
School executives will understand and act on the understanding of the important role a school’s culture plays in contributing to the exemplary performance of the school. School executives must support and value the traditions, artifacts, symbols and positive values and norms of the school and community that result in a sense of identity and pride upon which to build a positive future. A school executive must be able to “re-culture” the school if needed to align with school’s goals of improving student and adult learning and to infuse the work of the adults and students with passion, meaning and purpose. Cultural leadership implies understanding the school and the people in it each day, how they came to their current state, and how to connect with their traditions in order to move them forward to support the school’s efforts to achieve individual and collective goals.
3a. Focus on Collaborative Work Environment: The school executive understands and acts on the understanding of the positive role that a collaborative work environment can play in the school’s culture.
As a member of the administrative team at Northern Nash High School, I serve as the administrator for the English Department. Thus, I attend PLC meetings and I am sent all documentation from the meetings. Teachers are required to meet weekly as a department with each meeting having a specific focus. During meetings, I help teachers unpack data and how to use this information to best serve students.
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3b. The school executive develops and uses shared vision, values and goals to define the identity and culture of the school.
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The vision, mission and beliefs for our school is at the front of our student, parent and staff handbooks. I was responsible for revising the handbook and ensuring that this page was in each handbook.
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3c. Acknowledges Failures; Celebrates Accomplishments and Rewards: The school executive acknowledges failures and celebrates accomplishments of the school in order to define the identity, culture and performance of the school.
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During freshman orientation which takes place about two weeks prior to the first day of school, a few upperclassmen asked about having a pep rally to bring in the new school new year. I approached two teachers who I believed could put this together in a short amount of time and the pep rally was a success. This pep rally had a huge impact on the positive start to our school year. Students left the building proud to be a "Knight." As a leader, we must not only listen to our staff but to the students we serve and celebrate them.
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Located in the front office is a board for "Staff Shouts." Using post it notes, anyone can post a positive "shout out" to a staff member to recognize the great work of our staff. I try to post at least once a week. Most recently, I thanked a teacher for having her students re-test on a unit three times because she recognized they did not understand the content recently taught. This teacher retaught the curriculum and gave the students assessments until they could demonstrate they understood the material.
Our district conducts internal reviews of each school and then provides immediate feedback. The administration team, met with the leadership team first and then the entire staff to share the feedback (both positives and negatives) from the internal review and how we will best move forward. We also sought feedback from the leadership team in reference to the areas of concern.
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3d. Efficacy and Empowerment: The school executive develops a sense of efficacy and empowerment among staff which influences the school’s identity, culture and performance.
3d. Efficacy and Empowerment: The school executive develops a sense of efficacy and empowerment among staff which influences the school’s identity, culture and performance.
I am responsible for taking notes during leadership team meetings and sharing this information to the members in a timely manner. Those members are then responsible for sharing this information to staff during department PLCs. The administration team also recognizes success and failures during staff meetings and how we are going to move forward.
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