ISLLC Standard 1A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.

As an administrator intern I learned the importance of what a vision can do for a school. Rodney Shaw, principal of Fort Herriman Middle School, shared a vision with his faculty 7 years ago. He envisioned a school where Professional Learning Communities were used to assess data to create more effective teaching techniques. This vision is now a reality.

I need to use data to help me create a vision that steers my school towards success. Visions need to be focused on student learning.

ISLLC Standard 2A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

As a teacher, I have worked at Fort Herriman Middle School for the past 5 years. At Fort Herriman we have been using the Professional Learning Community model for 7 years. PLC’s help school culture and teacher collaboration. Teachers work together and compare data that helps them be more effective in the classroom.

ISLLC Standard 3A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

While interning at Fort Herriman Middle School I created a program called Essential Intervention Time. Fort Herriman Middle School focuses on student learning. Teachers at Fort Herriman work in teams and Professional Learning Communities to promote student learning. In PLC’s, teachers work together to create tests that correlate to state standards. These tests are then given, and data is analyzed, also in PLC’s, to determine where students need extra help. When do we, as teachers, have time to help these students? Many can not come after school because they ride the bus or they play sports.

Each student at Fort Herriman has a T.A. period. This class is like a homeroom for the student. In order to pass T.A. a student must bring a book everyday and they must read. Some teachers let their T.A. do homework or work on assignments they have. Once a student is assigned a T.A. teacher, they will be with them from 7th through 9th grade. The T.A. teacher is in charge of checking their students grades weekly, and if their grades take a dip, then the T.A. teacher refers them for Response to Intervention, or RTI.

Last year, the Math department asked the faculty if it were possible to send a few select students to go to their math class during T.A. time to be re-taught. The math department had a lot of success re-teaching students who were not achieving learning goals.

Seeing the success the math department had with this intervention time, Rodney Shaw, the principal, wanted to have a system where each teacher would have the opportunity to have this “Targeted Intervention Time.” In order for this program to work, there needs to be communication between the subjects being targeted each day, and they T.A. teachers because any given day, there may be 75 students being sent from one room to another.

The purpose Essential Intervention Time is not to re-test students. This time should be used to re-teach students specific learning goals or objectives. The only way to accurately determine what learning goals need to be re-taught, teachers must create assessments that directly correlate with standards. These assessments must include multiple questions about each objective in order to determine if the student simply missed a question or if the student, in fact, does not understand the material.

I interviewed the heads of each department to determine this. I then needed to make a schedule for each subject that fits the needs of each department. Next, I needed to find a way to inform teachers what students need to be sent to Essential Intervention Time. The document needed to be able to track the location of each student, so that all students are accounted for, and not simply being sent and then given the chance to hide until the period is over. I created a Google Doc and shared that with each teacher at Fort Herriman. Each teacher was able to edit this document, making it easy to track which students needed to be sent to Essential Intervention Time.

It was determined that math would have Essential Intervention time every week and every other subject would have the opportunity to have Essential Intervention every other week. The only subject to decline Essential Intervention time was Art. As a department, they determined that this extra time would be more beneficial for other teachers.

ISLLC Standard 4A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

I have been a member of Fort Herriman’s School Community Council for the past year. School Community Council has given me the opportunity to work with key stakeholders to foster a learning environment. I have created strong bonds with parents while part of this council.

ISLLC Standard 5A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.

I have learned the importance of treating all people fairly. One key component of treating others fairly is to be honest, always. It is also important to treat everyone equally and not choose favorites. Although this may be hard to do, it is critical when you are in a leadership position.

When I was the administrator at Alpine School District summer school, I had to make sure that rules were clear, and then I had to enforce those rules. If the rules were not enforced, then students would walk all over me.

ISLLC Standard 6A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

As an administrator I am under the scrutiny of all stakeholders. I need to make sure that I am always focused on student learning. Student learning needs to be at the center of every decision I make. If this remains the focus, then I will always have myself covered.