EDL540 Human Resource Leadership

EDL540 M8P1 PQS

In this Principal Quality Standards Reflection e-portfolio document, I will address the six Elements identified in the eight modules of assignments in EDL540. Since many assignments have multiple Standards or Elements attributed to them I will simply list the Standard and Element verbatim followed by a link to or excerpt of the assignment(s) with a description of its importance, and how it represents, demonstrates, or provides evidence of competence related to the Element (in italics). References to course and supplemental sources will be provided throughout.

 

Principal Quality Standards Covered

QUALITY STANDARD I

Principals demonstrate organizational leadership by strategically developing a vision and mission, leading change, enhancing the capacity of personnel, distributing resources, and aligning systems of communication for continuous school improvement.

ELEMENT C: Principals establish and effectively manage systems that ensure high-quality staff.

In the EDL540 M2 Critical Thinking Assignment, I was asked to create a teacher induction program based on the 11 aspects of induction outlined in the Teacher Induction Rubric, Part one: www.cde.state.co.us/educatortalent/teacherinductionrubric. This assignment aligns to QS I.C and several others. It is important because new staff induction is the initial experience a new teacher encounters at a school, and then is ongoing through their first year. Additionally, it is important because it is an area the Crestone Charter School (CCS) has not historically had formalized. While some of these 11 CDE aspects were already in place to bring on a new Middle School Teacher for the 24/25 SY, several more will be implemented for another new MS teacher for the 25/26 SY. This demonstrates my growth as a leader and the growth of a system for new teacher induction. According to the Colorado Department of Education (2018), “Every new educator, leader and special service provider ]should] participates in high-quality induction that supports their transition into the profession and their development as a professional educator committed to student success.” THis can refer to both the CDE formal induction program and those at an individual school.

A second assignment EDL 540 M4 Critical Thinking Slides and Video also addresses QS I.C. This assignment documents a mentoring model within CCS including the limitations of such a program. It is important because it formalizes the onboarding and mentoring process that has run informally for years, with only mixed success. In this assignment I have detailed this list of 8 goals taken from CSU Global EDL540 M4.2 https://csuglobal.instructure.com/courses/102367/pages/4-dot-2-mentor-programs?module_item_id=5270830 with source material from INcompassing Education (2020) and Heubeck (2023). By outlining this process, CCS will be better able to handle the 25/26 SY turn-over of 3 out of seven lead teachers, and I, as the school leader, feel better prepared to do so because of these two assignments. 

 

QUALITY STANDARD II

Principals demonstrate inclusive leadership practices that foster a positive school culture and promote safety and equity for all students, staff, and community.

ELEMENT D: Principals create and utilize systems to share leadership and support collaborative efforts throughout the school.

Throughout EDL540, there are multiple assignments that address QS II Element D, including the two listed above: EDL540 M2 Critical Thinking Assignment, and EDL 540 M4 Critical Thinking Slides and Video. Both utilize Student Support Staff, the Instructional, Curricular, and MTSS Coach (ICMC), and fellow teachers in the induction and mentoring of new teachers. These assignments document systems and provide evidence of the shared leadership and collaborative efforts I will more completely institute next school year.

A third artifact I have chosen to demonstrate my competence in QS II, Element D is the EDL 540 M5 Critical Thinking Assignment. This artifact takes a Priority Performance Challenge from the 24/25-25/26 UIP dealing with curricular implementation and expands upon three target goals by enumerating three action steps for each. The majority of the action steps involve collaborative measures between teachers of grade-adjacent classrooms and the ICMC working with them to refine instructional practices often through coaching and modelling; this is happening currently and demonstrated proficiency in QS II Element D. As stated by the Colorado Department of Education (2020), “Providing models and modeling of instruction [for] a clear vision of what best practices look like. .. [leads to] significantly greater learning gains.”

 

QUALITY STANDARD III

Principals demonstrate instructional leadership by aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment, supporting professional learning, conducting observations, providing actionable feedback, and holding staff accountable for student outcomes.

ELEMENT A: Principals establish, align, and ensure implementation of a district/BOCES plan of instruction, instructional practice, assessments, and use of student data that result in academic growth and achievement for all students.

ELEMENT B: Principals foster a collaborative culture of job-embedded professional learning.

QS III A is only listed for one assignment on the Syllabus, the EDL 540 M6 Critical Thinking Assignment. This assignment describes an observation of my grade 4/5 teacher and the professional feedback he receives as a result. It relates to QS III A because it is a lesson taught from the established and adopted curriculum, and his instructional practices. The feedback he receives is mostly about the effective use of time and rigor; these are aspects of instructional practice that leads to student academic growth and achievement. This assignment perhaps better illustrated QS III B, in that the observation and feedback cycle is fully job-embedded professional learning opportunity. This observation was non-evaluative, was led by the ICMC who regularly spends time in the classrooms providing supports and modeling of instructional practices, and also leads the MTSS meeting to problem-solve classroom practices for teachers working with students on the developmental edges (high and low) based on student data. For these reasons, this assignment provides evidence of QS III A and B.

Another assignment that illustrates aspects of these two elements is the EDL 540 M5 Critical Thinking Assignment. On the syllabus, this assignment is not correlated with QS III A but it meets Elements A and B very well. This assignment, described above as elaborating on a current UIP priority performance challenge with goals and action steps. The priority focus concerns the implementation of the district-adopted CKLA curriculum. CCS will use coaching on instructional practice and interpretation of data generated from standards-aligned assessments and anecdotal classroom behavior to guide job-embedded professional development for all K-5 teachers. This was an initiative begun in the spring of 2024, but this assignment has helped enumerate the details. As noted in the M5 assignment, “Students of teachers receiving coaching feedback and online content training ha[ve] greater gains” Colorado Department of Education, (2020).

 

ELEMENT C: Principals demonstrate knowledge of effective instructional practice and provide feedback to promote continuous improvement of teaching and learning.

ELEMENT D: Principals hold all staff accountable for setting and achieving measurable student outcomes.

I have grouped these two elements of QS III due to their feedback-based evaluative nature. The EDL 540 M6 Critical Thinking Assignment most clearly demonstrates my knowledge of instructional practices, as this document details a teacher observation. Having experienced 19 years as a classroom teacher, primarily grades 4-12 but also as a science specialist in early elementary, I am qualified to provide feedback on instructional practices and to support improved teaching and learning. In both or formal and informal observation cycles, teachers are provided feedback and then these growth areas are looked for in our next walkthrough cycle. This is facilitated by the small (seven lead teachers, <100 students) setting of CCS. 

The SMART goals and action steps described in the detailing of the UIP in the EDL 540 M5 Critical Thinking Assignment also has accountability measures built into the plan, tied to standardized test results. These help to hold us a individual instructional staff, as well as us as a school, accountable. Several parts of the improvement challenge are tied to CMAS scores, the ultimate measure of accountability, and demonstrates QS III A and B.

 

References

Colorado Department of Education. (2023, Dec 18). Induction Handbook. New Induction Programs. Retrieved Nov 24, 2024, from https://www.cde.state.co.us/educatortalent/newinduction 

Colorado Department of Education. (2020). Focused Professional Development. Retrieved 12 12, 2024, from https://www.cde.state.co.us/uip/focused_pd 

Heubeck, E. (2023, Aug 23). New Teachers Need Strong Mentors. Two Pros Offer Tips. Retrieved Dec 8, 2024, from https://www.edweek.org/leadership/new-teachers-need-strong-mentors-two-pros-offer-tips/2023/08 

INcompassing Education. (2020, Nov 4). Professional Development – Mentoring Teachers in Schools. Retrieved Dec 8, 2024, from https://www.incompassinged.com/post/professional-development-mentoring-teachers-in-school