SREB LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE SREB s Leadership Curriculum Modules Engage Leaders in Solving Real School Problems Every school has leadership that results in improved student performance and leadership begins with an effective school principal. Challenge to Lead The SREB Leadership Initiative and its partners have developed a cutting-edge school leadership curriculum. The 14 modules are intended to help guide the redesign of state academies and university preparation programs to focus on what principals and school leadership teams need to know and be able to do to improve a school s instructional program and raise student achievement. The framework for the Leadership Curriculum Modules is the set of 13 critical success factors identified in studies of principals recognized for leading changes in school and classroom practices that raised student achievement. (See Preparing a New Breed of School Principals: It s Time for Action, SREB, 2001.) The modules make explicit the knowledge and skills principals must learn and apply as they put the critical success factors into practice. Each module provides activities that engage aspiring leaders and school leadership teams in solving real school problems by applying researchbased strategies. The SREB Critical Success Factors for Principals September 2006 Southern Regional Education Board 592 10th St. N.W. Atlanta, GA 30318 (404) 875-9211 www.sreb.org 1. Create a focused mission to improve student achievement and a vision of the elements of school, curriculum and instructional practices that make higher achievement possible. 2. Set high expectations for all students to learn high-level content. 3. Recognize and encourage implementation of good instructional practices that motivate and increase student achievement. 4. Create a school organization where faculty and staff understand that every student counts and where every student has the support of a caring adult. 5. Use data to initiate and continue improvement in school and classroom practices and student achievement. 6. Keep everyone informed and focused on student achievement. 7. Make parents partners in their student s education and create a structure for parent and educator collaboration. 8. Understand the change process and have the leadership and facilitation skills to manage it effectively. 9. Understand how adults learn and know how to advance meaningful change through quality sustained professional development that benefits students. 10. Organize and use time in innovative ways to meet the goals and objectives of school improvement. 11. Acquire and use resources wisely. 12. Obtain support from the central office and from community and parent leaders for the improvement agenda. 13. Continuously learn and seek out colleagues who keep them abreast of new research and proven practices.
State academies, universities and others who prepare and develop school leaders can use the modules as a starting point to design courses that emphasize the responsibilities of instructional leadership and problembased learning. The modules promote the involvement of university faculty, academy consultants and district-level staff in school-based learning experiences with aspiring principals, practitioners and school leadership teams. Across the 16-state SREB region (and outside as well), SREB Leadership Curriculum Modules are changing the way school leaders are being trained at universities, state academies and at the district level. Western Kentucky University, University of Rhode Island, East Tennessee State University and other universities have used the modules to redesign their leadership preparation programs. Many states, including Alabama, Florida and Louisiana are using the modules statewide, while a number of school districts, such as Charleston, South Carolina and Ringgold and Macon, Georgia, are turning around their lowperforming schools by using strategies recommended in the modules. Why Develop a New Leadership Curriculum? Most states have adopted new standards for preparation and certification of principals. However, the traditional models of training provided to school principals are still out of sync with the challenges faced by today s leaders. Everyone now agrees that concern for curriculum, instruction and student achievement should be at the center of the principal s role. SREB s decision to develop school leadership training modules grew out of a clear need to fill this void. HOW THE SREB MODULES ARE STRUCTURED The nine core modules address using data to lead change; standards-based curriculum development; assessment and instruction; standards-driven student work; creating a school culture of high expectations; results-based professional development; literacy leadership; numeracy leadership; and leading change. Districts and schools using the modules to train school leadership teams to lead school improvement efforts are encouraged to begin with the nine core modules and progress to the other five modules as they determine their readiness for further training and development. The remaining five modules address creating a personalized learning environment; organizing the learning environment; building and leading effective teams; communicating effectively in a high-performing school; and coaching for school improvement. SREB s Leadership Curriculum Modules are organized around key learning objectives. The instructional design follows the principles of adult learning theory and the standards for professional learning established by the National Staff Development Council. Each module includes activities that engage participants in: completing prework designed to create anticipatory set; reading and discussing current research and literature on the topic; sharing prior knowledge and experiences; learning from case profiles; reflecting on current beliefs and practices in their own schools; practicing strategies, tools and processes; working in real school-based teams to solve problems that impede student achievement; reinforcing new knowledge and skills by completing take-home assignments between workshop sessions; and building portfolios to demonstrate application, extend learning and track progress. 2
INSIDE THE LEADERSHIP CURRICULUM MODULES Modules for School Teams: Improving the School as a System Using Data to Lead Change. (Four days: 3+1) Prioritizing, Mapping and Monitoring the Curriculum. (Four days: 2+1+1) Creating a High-performance Learning Culture. (Four days: 3+1) Providing Focused and Sustained Professional Development. (Four days: 2+2) Fostering a Culture of High Performance: Changing Practice by Using Data. (Four days: 2+1+1) Organizing Time, Space, Staff and Resources to Improve Student Achievement. (Three days: 2+1) Building and Leading Effective Teams. (Three days: 2+1) Communicating Effectively in a High-performing School. (Three days: 2+1) Leading Change: Building and Maintaining a Focused Drive Toward Student Achievement. (Three days: 2+1) Modules for School Teams: Improving Curriculum and Instruction Leading Assessment and Instruction. (Five days: 2+1+2) Meeting the Standards: Looking at Teacher Assignments and Student Work. (Three days: 2+1) Encouraging Students to Complete a Rigorous Curriculum: Personalizing the Learning Environment. (Three days: 2+1) Literacy Leadership. (Three days: 2+1) Numeracy Leadership. (Four days: 3+1) Modules for Other Audiences Coaching for School Improvement. (Two days) (Audience: School Improvement Coaches) Developing Internship Programs for School Leaders: A How-to Guide for States, Universities and Districts. (Two days) (Audience: University/ District Partners) Mentoring School Leaders in Competencybased Internships. (Two days: 2+1) (Audience: Principal Mentors) Leadership Redesign: A Model for Statewide Improvement in Student Achievement. (Audience: There are separate modules for the State Leadership Group, a state-wide Educational Leadership Commission, and five task forces that work under the Commission s Direction.) 3
SREB LEADERSHIP CURRICULUM MODULES Using Data to Lead Change. (Four days: 3+1) Schools that successfully improve student achievement do so by regularly using data to guide decisions about instruction, student support and professional development. Easy-to-use processes are taught and participants learn how the use of data is a vital part of the school improvement process. Prioritizing, Mapping and Monitoring the Curriculum. (Four days: 2+1+1) In a high-stakes testing world, this module helps schools keep their curriculum on target. Participants will learn the benefits of prioritizing, mapping and monitoring the curriculum and more deeply understand what we want students to learn, which learning is most important, and how to know if the curriculum is being taught. Leading Assessment and Instruction. (Five days: 2+1+2) Participants learn to link curriculum, assessment and instruction; effectively use assessment for learning strategies to improve learning; recognize good instruction; and use effective research-based instructional strategies, tools and processes to observe/study assessment and instruction. Meeting the Standards: Looking at Teacher Assignments and Student Work. (Three days: 2+1) Schools can adopt standards that ask students to learn at high levels, but classroom assignments often do not match the standards. Participants learn a process that schools can use to analyze teacher assignments and student work to determine if assignments really require students to do high-quality work that helps them meet the standards. Creating a High-performance Learning Culture. (Four days: 3+1) Schools cannot improve when the culture does not support school improvement. Often in the push to improve quickly, the school s culture is forgotten. Participants will learn what culture is and why it must be cultivated; what roles leaders play in growing the culture; and what tools and strategies are available to help leaders foster a culture that supports improvement, high expectations and the wellbeing of students. Providing Focused and Sustained Professional Development. (Four days: 2+2) Professional development is a powerful tool for changing schools, yet professional development is frequently done poorly and results in little or no positive change. Participants will examine the characteristics of professional development in high- and low-performing schools, learn how to structure successful learning for the staff, and learn how schools can create professional learning communities. Encouraging Students to Complete a Rigorous Curriculum: Personalizing the Learning Environment. (Three days: 2+1) When standards are raised, safety nets are necessary for students to achieve at higher levels. The components of effective extra help programs, how we help students successfully make transitions from one level of school to the next, and meaningful advisement that includes parents all contribute to a personal learning environment. Participants learn how to make schools customer friendly for learners. Organizing Time, Space, Staff and Resources to Improve Student Achievement. (Three days: 2+1) Participants learn how to use time more effectively for teaching, planning and professional learning, how the school staff can work together to improve learning and achievement, and how to organize space to match instruction. This module adds many practical tools and processes to the leadership tool box. Building and Leading Effective Teams. (Three days: 2+1) The heart of leadership is the willingness to assume responsibility. Schools that improve and sustain improvement use teams to lead school reform. A crying need exists for teachers to lead by taking more formal and explicit roles in the supervision and improvement of instruction. Participants will learn leadership skills and collaboration strategies; the parameters of team work; how to design and organize teams; and how to provide the training their groups will need to be effective. Communicating Effectively in a High-performing School. (Three days: 2+1) Effective communication is the key to an improving school community. Often the best intentions are sidetracked by poor communication. Participants will learn how to communicate effectively, decide who needs to know and why, how to involve people at the right times, and the impact that communication has on schools and quality instruction. Literacy Leadership. (Three days: 2+1) Literacy is a national problem that has become a top education priority for the federal government and for educators across the nation. School leaders must be able to recognize good literacy instruction and observe and conference with teachers about good literacy practices that include a whole set of complex reading, writing and language skills so students can handle a variety of texts they will encounter and produce throughout school and beyond. This module is designed to close the gap between what leaders know about literacy and what they must know to provide literacy leadership in schools. Numeracy Leadership. (Four days: 3+1) Obtaining and succeeding in the good jobs of today s economy require an ever-increasing breadth and depth of mathematical skills and concepts. School leaders must know how to recognize effective instruction in numeracy and encourage numeracy instruction across the curriculum. This module will help leaders close the gap between what they know about numeracy and what they must know to provide numeracy leadership in schools. Leading Change: Building and Maintaining a Focused Drive Toward Student Achievement. (Three days: 2+1) School leaders have gotten used to the idea that the only constant is change. Productive school leaders understand the forces that influence the change process and can direct these forces for continuous school improvement. Learn how to lead change rather than react to it. Coaching for School Improvement. (Two days) Schools undergoing transformational school improvement processes often need external coaches to help them through the process. Participants learn how to add value to various school improvement situations using a variety of strategies and techniques. Developing Internship Programs for School Leaders: A How-to Guide for University and School District Partners. (Two days) Internship programs that provide opportunities for aspiring principals to practice the leadership behaviors that are linked to increasing student achievement are an essential element of a quality principal preparation program. Participants work in university-district partnership teams to create partnership agreements. They are guided through their work by being asked to make a series of decisions. Throughout the module, participants are encouraged to develop high-quality internship programs, based on a review of the literature. Mentoring School Leaders in Competency-based Internships. (Three days: 2+1) Mentors are guides on an intern s journey, and the most effective mentors are those who engage in a process of discovery with their protégés. This program builds skills in administrators who are serving as mentors to aspiring principals. Participants will learn the roles, skills, processes and tools that effective mentors use to help develop school leaders who make a difference in student achievement. Fostering a Culture of High Performance: Changing Practice by Using Data. (Four days: 2+1+1) Improving student learning by changing classroom and school practices both requires and results in changes to a school s culture. Culture also impacts how and what improvements are made to benefit student learning. Data can be a powerful lever to explore inequity, expose systemic biases, and change beliefs and practices needed to improve the achievement of disenfranchised students. Participants will gain analytical tools to uncover the real problems that school leaders need to address to close success gaps in schools. The development of the SREB Leadership Curriculum Modules and this publication are supported by the Wallace Foundation. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the funding entity, and no official endorsement should be inferred. (06V47)
SREB LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE Leadership Curriculum Modules: Module Instructor Certification Guidelines and Application Leadership is the key to systemic improvement. Leaders are the ones who can translate intentions into reality, but they cannot do it alone. The SREB Leadership Curriculum Modules are designed to be taught to school teams of principals, aspiring leaders, teacher leaders and others who are members or potential members of the school s professional development team. University faculty, academy staff and other trainers who would like to teach a Leadership Curriculum Module must complete the application (next page) to be considered for acceptance into an SREB Module Instructor Training Workshop. These workshops are offered on a schedule posted on the SREB Web site (www.sreb.org) that affords interested parties several opportunities each year to complete the required training for each module. Once Module Instructor Training has been successfully completed, aspiring instructors must conduct a three- to five-day module workshop using the full set of materials for the module. The training evaluation form provided by SREB should be completed by all participants at the conclusion of the workshop and submitted to SREB for review for instructor certification. Module instructors should mail evaluations to Kathy O Neill, Director, SREB Leadership Initiative, Southern Regional Education Board, 592 10th St. N.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30318. To ensure quality professional development, state agencies, districts, schools and others planning to have training on the modules delivered to their audiences are encouraged to select an instructor from the list of Certified Module Instructors published by SREB. The names of SREB Certified Module Instructors are posted on the SREB Web site. September 2006 Southern Regional Education Board 592 10th St. N.W. Atlanta, GA 30318 (404) 875-9211 www.sreb.org
SREB LEADERSHIP TRAINING MODULE INSTRUCTOR APPLICATION 1. The module I am applying to teach is 2. I judge my prior knowledge of this topic as (check one): Awareness and interest only Some knowledge and training Advanced knowledge and training Recognized expertise 3. If you have indicated prior training in this topic, please provide evidence of this training: Type of training Place of training Dates of training 4. How do you intend to use this training? SREB trainer University course integration State-sponsored professional development District-sponsored professional development Regional service agency workshops For-profit independent training consultant Other (specify) To ensure the quality and integrity of the SREB Leadership Training Module training program, I understand it is essential that all participants agree to meet performance standards. By signing this application, I agree to Complete all prework and homework before workshop sessions. Attend and actively participate in all sessions of each day of training. Complete all self assessments. Work with other certified trainers to apprentice, if feasible. Submit required evaluation forms following my initial training delivery. Continue learning through independent study of required texts, professional journals and other resources. Provide accurate and timely feedback to SREB, as requested. In addition, I agree that all SREB-developed materials, including Leadership Training Module print and electronic files, will be reserved solely for use in authorized training and leadership program design, and that no materials will be shared, copied or reproduced for other purposes without the written permission of SREB. Signature Date Please provide a letter of recommendation or the following contact information for one person who can attest to your competence as a trainer of adults: Name Daytime telephone E-mail address Accepted Not accepted Date
Southern Regional Education Board 592 10th Street, NW Atlanta, Georgia 30318-5776 Phone 404-875-9211 Fax 404-872-1477 www.sreb.org REGISTRATION FOR SREB LEADERSHIP CURRICULUM MODULE INSTRUCTOR TRAINING Training I: Wednesday, October 18 Friday, October 20, 2006 Atlanta Airport Marriott (Atlanta, Georgia) Training II: March, 2007 (Dates and location will be posted on the SREB Web site) Training Schedule: Day 1: 8:00 am 4:00 pm; Day 2: 8:00 am 4:00 pm; Day 3: 8:00 am 2:00 pm All registrations must be accompanied by a check or a purchase order number. REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Register by fax (complete this form and send to (404) 872-1477 Attn: Leadership Initiative) or register by mail (complete this form and mail to SREB at the address listed below). 2. Make checks payable to SREB and mail to Southern Regional Education Board ATTN: Leadership Initiative 592 Tenth St., NW Atlanta, GA 30318 3. One registration form MUST be completed for EACH attendee. 4. EACH registration form MUST have a check number or purchase order number. One check or purchase order may be used for more than one attendee. 5. EACH attendee MUST provide an e-mail address. Registration confirmations will be sent to each attendee by e-mail within five business days. 6. Attendance at all training sessions (Days 1, 2 and 3) is required for certification. 7. No refunds will be honored after Friday, September 15, 2006 for Training I. A $50 processing fee will be charged for each refund check. OCTOBER 18 20, 2006 LEADERSHIP CURRICULUM MODULE INSTRUCTOR TRAINING REGISTRATION deadline deadline is Friday, September 29 for the October 18 20, 2006 module instructor training. Please do not make flight reservations before your session is confirmed as sessions may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Confirmations will be sent to the e-mail address noted on your registration form. HOTEL RESERVATIONS must be made directly with the Atlanta Airport Marriott at (800) 228-9290 or (404) 766-7900. When reserving you room, please refer to the SREB room block to guarantee the SREB rate of $115/night. We encourage you to make room reservations promptly as rooms available at the discounted rate will fill quickly. SREB is not responsible for making these accommodations, or providing reimbursements for these accommodations. Attendees are responsible for making their own hotel reservations and travel arrangements. The Marriott will honor the SREB rate until Wednesday, October 4, 2006. After this date, you may not be able to reserve rooms at the discounted rate. REGISTRATION for the module training will begin at 7:00 am on Wednesday, October 18. Certificates of participation will be issued at the end of training on Friday to those who participate in the entire training.
REGISTRATION FORM SREB Leadership Curriculum Module Instructor Training Attendee: Name Job Title E-mail (required as registration confirmation will be sent electronically) School/Organization Mailing Address City State Zip Phone Fax Send invoice to attention of: Name Billing Address City State Zip Phone Register for one module only. October 18 20, 2006 LM1. Using Data to Lead Change [ ] $350 LM2. Prioritizing, Mapping and Monitoring the Curriculum [ ] $350 LM3. Leading Assessment and Instruction [ ] $350 LM4. Meeting the Standards: Looking at Teacher Assignments and Student Work [ ] $350 LM5. Creating a High-performance Learning Culture [ ] $350 LM6. Providing Focused and Sustained Professional Development [ ] $350 LM7. Encouraging Students to Complete a Rigorous Curriculum: Personalizing the Learning Environment [ ] $350 LM8. Organizing Time, Space, Staff and Resources to Improve Student Achievement [ ] $350 LM9. Building and Leading Effective Teams [ ] $350 LM10. Communicating Effectively in a High-performing School [ ] $350 LM11. Literacy Leadership [ ] $350 LM12. Numeracy Leadership [ ] $350 LM13. Leading Change: Building and Maintaining a Focused Drive Toward Student Achievement [ ] $350 LM14. Coaching for School Improvement [ ] $350 LM15. Mentoring School Leaders in Competency-based Internships [ ] $350 LM16. Developing Internship Programs for School Leaders: A How-to Guide for States, Universities and Districts [ ] $350 LM17. Fostering a Culture of High Performance: Changing Practice by Using Data (by invitation only) [ ] $350 TOTAL Enclosed Check Number Enclosed or Purchase Order PO# PO Date PO/Check Amount You will be notified electronically of the status of your registration. Do not make flight reservations until your session is confirmed as sessions may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Some modules require texts to be purchased and read for pre-work exercises. For modules that require additional reading, pre-work assignments will be e-mailed to you.