5399 week 5 final report

I posted my final report on the discussion board for week 5.

5399 Week 5 part 3 and 4

Week Five Assignment, Part 3 Review and Submission of all Reports

Please review all documents/forms required and show evidence that all have been submitted, including:

District Supervised Summary Report – documenting total number of hours of intern experiences identified by Domain and Competencies;

Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation (see Blog activity regarding the completed SISE);

Revised Intern Plan;

Completion of Comprehensive Final Report – Parts A – E.

Describe below where you have posted each of the above:

I have created an adobe portfolio of all of the above reports and submitted to professor and posted on my blog.  I added the embedded logs to the final report as well as I added hours to my intern plan.

Week Five Assignment, Part 4 Blog Comments following SISE Conference

Reminder - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE

Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor before the end of Week 5 to review the Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation). Following the conference, please do the following:

Post your reflection on lessons learned from the SISE Conference and comment on at least two other students’ reflections on their SISE.

My site supervisor is Dr. Danny Lovett.  I really enjoyed visiting with my site supervisor as he has been able to give me some great advice on things to consider when preparing for a Superintendent’s job.  He also gave me some tips on preparing for an interview with a board.  I feel he has great insight on  how school boards work and great tips on how to handle various situations.

5399- Week 5 Part 1 and 2

Goal 1	TExES Competency and Domain 1 and 2	Objective Effective Communication in order to ensure integrity and to shape the culture of the organization	Course Work/Book/ Workshops Become a more effective communicator/ expand on my crucial conversations training.	Mentor Professional Support Executive Team, Professional Development	Date of Completion 2011-2012. August 2012 evaluation of progress.	Evaluations Surveys to staff, and evidence of staff understanding on issues. Successful implementation of new initiatives.
Goal 2	2 and 6 Culture/professional development	Increase the successful implementation of professional development plan and Supervision of Instruction	Practice PDAS appraisals and attend supervision workshops. Work with team to develop and implement professional development plan(s).	David Hicks and Executive Team of Region 5 ESC	2011-2012 9/1/2011 and 9/1/2012	Successful appraisals of staff.  And successful Staff development days at the beginning of each year.

Goal 3	2-5	To use technology to successfully plan and implement a 5 year strategic plan in order to shape the culture of Region 5 ESC.	Continue professional Development of Technology and strategic planning workshops	Trainers, Mentors, Professional Development, Certification courses	2012-2013	Successful implementation of Technology into the organization
Goal 4	3-8	To increase knowledge  on effective leadership and grow my Professional Library	Various books- completing book studies on leadership topics	Executive Team- Professional Development Trainers	9/1/2013	Create a useful and researched based professional library that others can use.

Goal 5	TExES Competency and Domain  6	Objective To review and improve our internal technology training in order to prepare employees to offer the best possible professional development to our schools	Course Work/Book/ Workshops I will create and submit surveys to employees to find out what they need. Review professional development workshops to prepare the best internal training for our employees.	Mentor Professional Support Surveys, Ex. Team, Admin. Team.	Date of Completion 2013-14	Evaluations Our employees will be able to implement technology into their professional development.
Goal 6	TExES Competency and Domain 8 -9 effective leadership	Objective To revise budget of ESC in order to function within the boundaries of the State Budget.	Course Work/Book/ Workshops Finance workshops, Admin. Team Meetings.	Mentor Professional Support Admin. Team Ex. Team	Date of Completion 2014	Evaluations Budgets are healthy and rev. is higher than expenditures.

Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post a reflection on the lessons learned from developing your Professional Development Plan to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ PDP reflections.

I feel that developing a three year professional development plan was a useful assignment. This made me stop and think about the main things I needed to improve on as well as what my goals are for the next few years.  As issues arise I am sure that goals with change and items will be added to the plan. All leaders need to be lifelong learners as well as set goals for how they can improve their leadership.  Most of this improvement will be by reflecting on how issues were handled. It is a great habit to start and one should ask themselves questions on how the issues was handled, what could have been done better, and how things could be handled differently. This is almost like a strategic plan for an individual. Ask yourself where do you want to be in five years?  Then you plan your goals and professional development plan according to your future goals.

Week Five Assignment, Part 2 Update Vita

Please reviews his or her vita, revises it where appropriate and submits it, and describes the revisions and changes in the Vita since EDLD 5396 in the space below:

There was not much information to update on my vita as not too much has changed.  The few things I have updated are; my Education by adding the Superintendent Certification, Committees I continue to serve on and the Certifications that I have received.

5399 Week 4- Reflection - Krin Bryson

·        Describe why reflection is an important skill in leadership.

Reflection is a remark expressing careful consideration. To reflect back on the activities that were completed takes a great amount of time.  This encourages leaders to think about the process that was used in order to achieve various goals.  Reflection is a good practice to be involved in, to take time to reflect back on processes and outcomes as well as how it affected the current situation as a leader.  It allows us to pay attention to our values and theories that we put into practice every day to determine if we have, in fact, learned through our process/project.  Educators should be lifelong learners and it is imperative that we take the time to review and analyze our experiences in order to learn from them and grow in our education.  This self-regulated process assists leaders in making informed decisions.

Provide examples of reflective practices throughout this program citing examples from:

·        Course assignment activities- Throughout this internship there have been assignments that have required us to use our reflective actions to review and think back on the experience we have encountered prior to our internship. Although this was sometimes time consuming to try to “think back” it proved to be a positive experience. For me anyway it allowed me to think about the pros and cons of the situation and to review if I would in fact handle the situation the same way if I had to.  Some examples are reflecting on our 10 competencies, reflection on our Vita, which I think was very helpful, as well as the reflection on my interviews with Superintendents.

·        Blogs- I feel that posting on other interns blogs and reading their post on my blog forced me to reflect on the topic discussed. My peers’ suggestions were helpful and gave me great insight on my projects/discussion topics. The reflections on all the postings and comments were helpful and eye opening. I enjoyed reading about what others are doing around the state. I liked the reflection on the first day, first week, and first month first year assignment. It really made you think things through. I loved reading what others would do as they had great ideas that would help me.

·        Course and campus supervised logs- Course and campus supervised logs again allowed for reflection, but the site supervised reflection allowed me to get my Supervisor involved. He gave me great insight on my progress. I really learned a great deal from listening to his opinion and experiences on some of the topics we have been assigned.

·        Assessments- I gave some reflection to assessments, but I don’t recall ever getting the information in order to go back and really reflect as I am not sure what I missed on the assessments. The assignments however provide many reflections that have increased my awareness of how Superintendents should and could handle many different situations. Just having to reflect on reflection was a positive activity

·        Other intern reflection experiences- The web conference was a nice experience as our professors have the wonderful ability to ask questions that make you think about how various things are handled or how you are doing with the assignments. I enjoyed the web conference in this last class, 5399

   

Describe how you plan to use reflective practice to improve your leadership skills – provide some specific suggestions for applying the skills of reflection.

Using reflective practice has impacted my practice differently at various times.  I try to go back and reflect on decisions and completed projects to examine the “things done right” and the “things that we could improve upon.” I understand the importance of debriefing and it is more common practice to do this as a team.  Reflection as a team allows me to examine the different points of view of my team and to see the situation from their focus area.  I believe that reflective practice takes a great deal of self-discipline to stop the fast-past work regime and jot down reflections.  While this is time consuming it is a very good practice to acquire and make into a habit.  It does allow you to review and re-think your decisions to ensure the right decision was made. Personally I am not a verbose person and my reflections are short and concise. I do not feel that all reflections must be a certain length as long as the thought process is complete. While there are times my reflections are long (depending on the issue) I feel that if someone is made to type/write a certain amount of words, you are not allowing true reflection to take place.  It becomes “watered down” with words in order to meet the requirements of the assignment, which can sometimes defeat the purpose of reflection. 

I will be able to benefit by maintaining this strategy in the future because it will allow me to review practices and decisions that I make as a leader.  In my current position we work in teams a great deal. I can foresee using this practice as a team in order to reflect on our decisions and discussions of meetings and projects.  This will help when developing new products and services for our schools as well.  I believe we will take steps when developing new services to possibly include brainstorming, needs assessments, using our ISO flow chart for developing new services, analysis  of relevance check-sheet, and reflections.  Reflection can be a cathartic process when performed properly and can greatly benefit both the individual and the organization.

Throughout my internship program I have used the reflective practice and it has provided me with insight of projects I was involved in earlier that I had not taken the time to go back and review.  It afforded me with the opportunity to re-think some projects I worked on and develop ways to improve on those projects.  I feel that reflection is a valuable business tool and I will continue to implement the reflective practice throughout my career.

Week 3- Final Report: District Improvement and Recommendations- 5399

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:

In reviewing my organization improvement initiative I have reflected on the following initiatives. Region 5 Education Service Center is in the business of providing professional development and professional services to our schools.  Therefore it is my job to be highly qualified so that I can provide highly qualified training to my staff and to our schools.  Throughout the course of these classes I have attended several Texas Education Agency and other required meetings and trainings outlining mandates our schools must follow and in turn as an ESC we must disseminated this information to our staff and to our schools.  This resulted in improvement not only in our organization, but directly resulted in improvement to our schools simply due to the fact that they are now more cognizant of legal and educational mandates required of them.  When we attend these meetings and updates and send the information and resources to our staff they can then be available to answer questions, help troubleshoot, and serve our schools more effectively.  This also helps our schools because they know that we are the “subject matter experts” in the situation and are readily available to them.

I have also worked on the Executive Team to examine job descriptions and duties of those within our organization.   This has directly resulted in organizational improvement in the area of job effectiveness and productivity.  We no longer have two or three staff members working on the same project individually, instead we have one staff member directly in charge of the program and various other duties within the project guidelines are directly assigned to the staff.  This way everyone knows exactly what he or she is supposed to be doing and no two people are performing the same job at the same time while overlapping and sometimes negating the others efforts. The Executive Team also implemented a new employee evaluation process. This process ensures that all employees update job descriptions prior to their annual evaluations.  This ensures they are evaluated on the job duties they actually preform and keeps the job descriptions current.

Throughout this internship I have also had the opportunity to work closely on changing the processes and organizational flow of Region 5 ESC so that it is much more streamlined and efficient.  The ISO process, while cumbersome at times, is an effective tool to use to make sure that the organizational hierarchy is effective and utilized to its maximum potential.  As with the examination of job descriptions and duties, the examination of the organizational flow of Region 5 is an enlightening experience.  Throughout this process we determined that some of our organizational practices and processes were redundant and resulted in counter-productivity among the staff.  By closely examining these problem areas and re-organizing the workflow processes we have freed up staff time and allowed our consultants and staff members to more effectively achieve their goal of providing quality professional development and service to our schools. 

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. I have concerns that in our streamline of job duties to be more efficient and in light of the funding issue that our employees are overloaded in their job duties.  While I feel we have eliminate many unnecessary obstacles I fear we have cut and not replace vital roles that could hinder our performance at times. 
2. The ISO process while a great tool to ensure our effectiveness is costly and I am concerned that we will not have the funds to sustain the rigor, which in turn will affect the moral of our employees.. we will be asked “did we do this for nothing?”
3. I have a concern that our Directors do not have enough budget training in order to “ride herd” on their budget to ensure that expenditures are relevant

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. I feel we must sustain the ISO process or a similar process to ensure that the ESC is running as efficiently as possible.
2. The new employee evaluation process is successful and we must sustain that process.
3. The Executive Team must continually work on our SQSP Strategic Quality Service Plan as it is a great tool to ensure the effectiveness of the Service of Region 5 ESC employees.  

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. Provide our staff more in-house professional development regarding business procedures and etiquette.
2. Work closely with each Director on budget management and how to further the ESC
3. Ensure that all consultants provide their own workshops instead of hiring an outside consultant.

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. Executive should consistently review the ISO process and the ESC policies and procedures to identify areas that need to be changed in order to serve our schools effectively
2. Executive Team should maintain and review the SQSP standards, employee promise and hold their employees to their Service Values for accountably.
3. Review our structure and employee work load to verify we are utilizing employee effectively and hopefully realize when an overload happens.  Our employees are considered “experts” in their field but if a person has too much on their plate something will get dropped and we may lose focus on important projects.

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.

My experiences working with improvement initiatives here at the ESC and in working with ISDs in this manner have led me to find that it is important to begin developing improvement initiatives as a team, and not a one person agenda. It is important that changes/improvements are made for a reason and for true improvement and not to change for the sake of change. Region 5 ESC has experienced both types of improvement initiatives. In our experience If a leader goes about making change to enforce their power or to change just because it can devastate the organization, not to mention this leadership style damages the leaders influence with his/her employees.   I have found that it is also crucial that a leader and their team review and completely think through all changes. It is difficult for employees to embrace change if the same process/policy is changed too many times because the entire process is not thought through the first time. This is exhausting for employees and staff and can deflate the moral and eagerness of employees to give 100% to the organization.

A true leader must embrace the gifts of employees and put the right people on the right committees to make sure the flow of information and development of policies are a true benefit to the organization and not just one or two people.  A successful organization has many employees with varied talents and skills. A great leader is a person who recognizes this and embraces the opportunity to work with these “experts” to improve the function of the organization.  This may mean at times that the leader or expert is not the Superintendent. Ultimately the Superintendent is responsible and can make final decisions, but I have witnessed that it behooves them to listen to the influencers of the organization. 

I have had the opportunity to become certified in the training classes “Influencer and Crucial Conversations.” These two trainings provide leaders with skills to find and empower influencers within their organization. It also teaches communication skills in order to have the crucial conversations when issues arise.  These skills come into play when emotions and stakes are high.  I high recommend leaders of any kind seek out and attend these types of leadership training.  No matter how great of a leader you think you are there are all types of personalities working in an organization and the more a leader can learn about those personalities the better they will be at working with them and having them on the same page as the organization. It is all about building relationships with the staff.

I have also found that Superintendents need to have the ability to develop and implement Strategic Plans. I have attended some wonderful training on how to implement a successful strategic plan. What I found out and I was a bit shocked about is that not all current employee will be on board with the necessary changes in an organization. This is where the Crucial Conversation comes into play. This conversation will have to be had and a decision will need to be made in order for the relationship to continue in a successful manner.  The group that was providing the training said the not all the employees stayed “on the ship.” Many of them had to get off and they did so willingly because the crucial conversation was had. This organization is successful and had made some quality changes that have improved their services to their clients.

Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post your above reflection on your Recommendations and Lessons Learned to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.

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 –

I sent an email to Dr. Danny Lovett to request a meeting for September 8, 2011. He confirmed the appointment.

Krin- 10 Competencies and job plan

Domain I—Leadership of the Educational Community – Competencies 1 - 4

Competency 1 Area:

The superintendent knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner in order to promote the success of all students.

My experiences in this area have varied and there have been many valuable lessons learned. My role as an Associate Executive Director at Region 5 ESC allows me to review and serve as an advocate for all children. I regularly attend meetings that promote student success and how to implement programs effectively.  We also plan and offer various professional development activities to promote the highest standard of conduct, and ethical principles. By devoting time and promoting these types of trainings I feel it proves that I work extremely hard to show integrity in decision making by my actions of striving for what is best for students and their success.

My experience in understanding and implement policies and procedures that promote district personnel compliance with The Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators has been by attending TASA meetings as well as other venues that assist me with continuing education in the area of Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators.  As Associate Executive Director of Region 5 I am also very involved in updating and enforcing our Code of Ethics at the ESC.  Because of my involvement in the afford mentioned procedures I have had experience in monitoring and addressing ethical issues that impact not only the ESC but our ISDs as well.

It is extremely important that Superintendents apply laws, policies and procedures in a fair and reasonable manner.  I have had experience in attending meetings from the Texas Education Association, TASB, and other organizations that help me stay abreast of educational laws and policies. AS a Manager I also have to ensure that I in-turn practice these laws and policies to our employees. I have also had the opportunity to review and revise hiring practices at the ESC. This practice assists me in understanding laws and policies regarding to employment in an educational organization.  There are many rules and regulations in regards to posting jobs, hiring employees, and notifying the public.

I feel that most of my experience has been with the interaction with ESC employees and ISD staff, students, ESC and school boards and community in a professional and ethical manner.  I organize, present, and attend many meetings with all of these people.  In my profession I strive to ensure my interactions with this diverse group of people is as professional as it can be.  I feel that the feedback and opinions of these people help to make our ISDs as well as the ESC better in our ability to serve our students. I have also had the opportunity to work with the media in order to communicate effectively to the community about educations issues.  The information that flows to media must be current and accurate in order to ensure our community in informed in the most effective manner. 

 Student success is our first priority and it is the reason behind our goal as educators. As a Superintendent it is critical that we all ensure that we act in a fair and ethical manner. If we are successful with these actions we are moving in a positive manner towards our goal of student success.

Competency 2 Area:

The superintendent knows how to shape district culture by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.

It is important that a Superintendent or any Administrator in education to be able to shape the culture of their district and/or campus.  We must be able to work as an administrative team to create and articulate the vision of the ISD.  I feel that I have had some experience in this area as I work on an Administrative Team that was responsible in assisting the ESC to achieve ISO certification.  ISO is the International Standard of Operations is an international certification that all ESC were charged to obtain. This Certificate ensures that our ESC…” says what we do… and do what we say.” It ensures that we adhere to our policy and procedures that have been set and to implement our vision among our employees, ISDs and communities. I am the ISO Management Representative that must review and maintain records to ensure we are following our ISO policies.

In creating and being a steward of our vision at ESC, which is “We are Education Professionals Serving Education Professionals” the ESC works hard in creating and supporting procedures that enhances our Mission and Vision. I have had the great opportunity to be involved in creating and approving these procedures.  I also have the charge to ensure that these procedures are followed. This allows me experience in successful implementation of vision.  Along with the procedures for Region 5 Education Service Center the Executive Team along with the Quality Team created a Strategic Quality Service Plan.  I feel this is one of the best things the Administrators as Region 5 Education Service Center has worked on.

The Region 5 Education Service Center Strategic Quality Service Plan (SQSP) has been developed to assure effective, efficient operations of the ESC in its service to the students, staff, and patrons of schools within the ESC’s service area.  The purpose of the Strategic Quality Service Plan (SQSP) is to address inconsistencies and help Region 5ESC become a more unified organization. The SQSP will enhance communication and the flow of information, increase efficiency, and eliminate redundancy. It will also assist with the implementation of the Quality Management System. The SQSP will be used to improve our overall quality of services which leads to improved student achievement. We expect improvement in professionalism, budgetary efficiency, and services with the implementation of this plan. As an end result, our organization will be strengthened, our reputation with schools and prospective employees will be enhanced, and we will become the provider of choice for education services and solutions. The plan will be implemented in March, 2008 and will be monitored through internal and external analysis in order to ensure successful implementation and review effectiveness. This plan stipulates our Mission and Vision. What our purpose and goals are along with an Employee Promise and Service Values.  Employee Promise is what the ESC promises the employee. Ex: To provide adequate training in order for the employee to do their job successfully.  Service Values are what the employee promises Region 5 ESC. Ex: I strive to always be responsive to the expressed and unexpressed needs of our internal and external customers.

Competency 3 Area:

The superintendent knows how to communicate and collaborate with families and community members, respond to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources to ensure educational success for all students.

This is an area that I have had some experience in, but since I do not work directly for an Independent School District I feel I could gather more experience and learn more strategies in this area. The Region 5 Education Service Center certainly works with a diverse community interest simply because we work with over 30 ISDs.  We do have a program that provides direct services to students in some of our schools.  We offer a Distance Learning IVC (Interactive Video Conferencing) program for Spanish I, II, and III. I have dealt with parents and their interests through this program. This program is successful because ESC 5 has utilized resources to be able to reach students in schools that could not find a Spanish Instructor.  These students would otherwise not have the opportunity to take Spanish and further their education. 

Region 5 Education Service Center also offers a Teacher Certification Program. This is an alternative way for individuals with degrees to obtain a teaching certificate in order to teach in our schools.  There are many individuals that have gone through our program and we have had the opportunity to respond to the diverse needs and use resources to ensure the educational success for all students. I have been able to experience the job of working with Businesses to create partnerships on the behalf of the schools that we serve, which I feel has gained me some experience in communicate and collaboration with various communities. 

Region 5 serves the educational community and by working with Superintendents and communicating effectively with them affords me the training and practice of this competency.  We also communicate by sending out surveys in order to get constructive feedback on our ability to communicate effectively with these various groups.

Competency 4 Area:

The superintendent knows how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.

This is an area that I also feel I have strengths in but one of the areas I need to improve upon.  Of course all of the competency areas have room for improvement. In my opinion no matter how long one holds a seat as a Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent there is always an issue or situation that will arise that will be a new experience.  This is because even though the situation may be similar each individual case if different because all people that are involved are different. 

I have had the benefit of attending many board meetings at Region 5 Education Service Center and have seen the successful way a Superintendent deals with Board Members. This is such a critical piece of the job for a Superintendent. At the quick turn of one vote the dynamics can change and a successful leader should and needs to be able to deal with various personalities and be able to work as a team with Board Members.  I have also been fortunate to be able to do and observe some training with Independent School District Board Members.  This is a great opportunity to see the various interactions between many different Superintendents and their boards.  I know of one Superintendent that when they received a job at a new school the last Superintendent did not sit at the Board table with the elected board members.  This particular Superintendent moved his spot and told them we are a team of 8 and we will sit and work together as a team of 8.  It was at that point I understood how important this team is to ensure the effective and efficient workings of an Independent School District. 

As I have mentioned before I have been able to be a part of policies and procedures that affect the vision of the organization and I have had to assist in explaining and informing certain procedures to our Board Members. Region 5 Education Service Center is fortunate enough to have a cohesive board and they work very well together.  I believe that if we had an issue that my experience as a training in the areas of Crucial Conversations and Influencer would benefit me in dealing with difficult and/or boards that do not see eye to eye on certain situation. I feel that by working at the Education Service Center I have had the good luck to work with many different personalities and I have learned many lessons on how to communicate with various types of people and how to make presentations be effective to certain groups of people.  I have found that when communicating information one must be able to explain in many different ways, have different examples that a variety of people can relate to.  We are not all the same and it is important for a leader to be able to communicate with a vast array of personalities.  This is a key factor I feel of a successful Superintendent. 

DOMAIN II—INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 5 - 7

Competency 5 Area:

The superintendent knows how to facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment; use the current accountability system; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student performance.

As I have mentioned before I have been directly involved in Region 5 Education Service Center’s Strategic Quality Service Plan. This plan aligns our mission, vision, goals and strategies, which is equivalent to aligning to curriculum, etc. The Region 5 Education Service Center Strategic Quality Service Plan (SQSP) has been developed to assure effective, efficient operations of the ESC in its service to the students, staff, and patrons of schools within the ESC’s service area. 

Region 5 ESC also uses various tools to measure student performance. We work with our ISDs to assist them in disaggregating the data of the assessments to measure students’ performance. Region 5 Education Service Center provides professional development using DMAC and Eduphoria software tools and review district data in order to make decisions on what type of professional development to offer.

Region 5 Education Service Center works very closely with our schools to assist in any way possible to facilitate the planning and implementation of Independent School Districts’ strategic plans. We work with Administrators on their Campus Improvement Plans as well as their District Improvement Plans. While the Education Service Center is not a regulatory agent we are here to offer a quality service to ISDs.  Managing an Independent School District, Charter or Private School is a huge responsibility and Region 5 Education Service Center devotes our time and energy to ensure we have hired experts in various fields that can work with State and Federal employees in order to obtain information that our schools will need and then offer professional development to all educators.

The opportunity to serve on many committees and be involved in many planning meetings has helped me increase my knowledge in facilitate the planning and implementation of strategic plans that enhance teaching and learning; ensure alignment among curriculum, curriculum resources, and assessment. Although I work for the Education Service Center I am able to sit in on ISD meetings and gather a wealth of knowledge on how various schools handle and implement strategic plans. 

As the Executive Team at Region 5 ESC we have also participated in Strategic Planning workshops that allow us to become trained and offer training to our schools on how to develop and implement strategic plans in their ISD.  These workshops are fantastic and I have really enjoyed attend and learing the new skills on Strategic Planning.

Competency 6 Area:

The superintendent knows how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

Region 5 Education Service Center implemented a distance learning interactive video conferencing Spanish program where  4 to 5 Certified Spanish Instructors were hired to teach Spanish I, II, III and IV to students at school districts that were unable to find instructors for these courses. I was able to start the program from scratch which included creating policies that worked for the distant learning environment and the ISD.  We have meetings with Administrators and local Facilitators that assist the Teachers at the ESC with attendance and organizing papers that need to be mailed/emailed back to the ESC. This program started with two instructors and after the first year we increased student participation by 30%. We have touched over 1000 students with our Spanish Program.  This has been a great experience for me as I have had the opportunity to deal with the Spanish Instructors in a Principal’s role as well as I have dealt with the Administrators and Parents in a Superintendent like role with this program.  Region 5 Education Service Center and the employees that work for me in this program have worked together as a team to consistently improve our policies and procedures to create a culture that is conducive to student learning in this medium. 

Many students had not had the opportunity to take classes via Interactive Video Conferencing and there were adjustments to be made and we had to communicate to the community the benefits of the program and what steps the students need to take in order to be successful. This program is still viable and I feel that it will continue in a ebb and flow manner as far as participation based on what the schools are able to manage with their teachers.  Region 5 Education Service Center is again providing service for our schools when they need assistance.  We have also had requests for higher level math classes via IVC, but today have yet to have schools actually need this. They request at the end of the year when they know they are losing a teacher, but by the end of the summer they have all been able to fill that spot so Region 5 ESC has not offered this program although we have policy and procedures for this class and are ready to assist when needed.

The Distance Learning Spanish Program has also increase our offerings to the Elementary level by creating Spanish videos that Elementary teachers can use for Spanish enrichment at the Elementary level. Research shows that by introducing a new language at an early age increases the ability for students to retain and be successful in learning a foreign language.

Competency 7 Area:

The superintendent knows how to implement a staff evaluation and development system and select appropriate models for supervision and staff development to improve the performance of all staff members.

Along with the Spanish Program I have been heavily involved in organizing and providing training on our Staff Development and Staff days. The Executive Team works together to create staff development that truly benefits our staff. We offer surveys and talk to Directors of each department to find out what our staff needs in order to be successful in their job. We have implemented a SQSP Strategic Quality Service Plan that I have mentioned in the competencies above.  This plan has promises that Region 5 Education Service Center offers to all employees in order for them to be as successful as possible in their job at the ESC. This allows them to gain all information and training they need to offer quality services to our school districts.  Our staff offers surveys to their clients in order to find what types of professional development they need.

Region 5 Education Service Center also has created a county-wide professional development model that offers a one to two day professional development conference that assist schools in each county with their back-to school staff development.  We did this for Tyler County in August and it was extremely successful and other counties have expressed interest so we have created this as a service for those counties who want to take the opportunity to offer this to their teachers.

Each Service Center employee is required to attend job specific trainings.  The trainings they choose should ultimately be focused on an area that can benefit our students and educators. One more service we do provide to ISDs is to assist them in developing a successful staff development plan as well as how to monitor this and ensure it is as effective as possible.  We work with Administrators and other Central Office staff members to gather data that help us determine their professional development needs. We then offer them a variety of solutions on how to accomplish and implement this plan successfully.  
DOMAIN III—ADMINISTRATIVE LEADERSHIP – COMPETENCIES 8 – 10

Competency 8 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply principles of effective leadership and management in relation to district budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management, and technology application.

While serving as an Associate Executive Director I have been fortunate enough to be able to work with human resources, Administrator Team, various districts’ leadership and other administrators to consider how to utilize district funds for maximum benefit, the reduction of budgets in all areas, and make recommendations for saving and spending that were very creative.  Region 5 ESC developed a county-wide professional development conference that offered districts in our counties the opportunity to get the maximum number of teachers trained for a fair and reasonable price.  They were all able to share in the fees and all of the registration, certification process, and professional development was handled by Region 5 personnel. 

I have also had the benefit of reviewing many budgets that are a part of Region 5 ESC.  The Service Center budget process is a bit different that the schools, so this is an area that I would need to focus on before I became as Superintendent. I understand the process but I’d need to actually develop more practice budgets before I felt comfortable in managing the “real thing” The ESC offers business assistance to the ISDs in many ways.  We offer TxEIS which is a business and student software tool that manages the schools business processes as well as PEIMS data, gradebook program along with many other tools that assist schools in running effectively.

In my many experiences at ESC 5 I have had the great opportunity to develop a successful way to implement the evaluation process and review job descriptions. The Executive Team implemented a new employee evaluation process.  We created an online form that each employee has to go in and update their job descriptions and enter those job duties into the evaluation instrument and then evaluate themselves on these duties before submitting to Supervisors for their formal evaluation.  This process not only ensures that our employees are keeping their job descriptions up to date it also ensures the employees that they are evaluated based on their true job duties.

As I have stated in all of my experiences the ESC’s goal is to work with schools in order to assist them in being as successful as they can be.  One of the best programs we offer is the Superintendents’ Technology Conference. This conference is a leadership conference that allows Superintendents to gather for training in the area of technology.  We work very closly with our Technology Coordinators and we are in tune with the needs and wants of our districts and we review, train and show the Superintendents the benefits of the technology that will increase learning at their schools.  I firmly believe that the implementation of technology MUST come from the top.  They need to be as up-to-date as possible on the technology that can improve student success so when the experts in their district come to them with suggestions and recommendations they are aware and are able to speak to the topics and know how the tools can benefit their schools.  We have had great feedback from this conference and I think it is most important we keep the leaders knowledge current on the issue of technology.

Competency 9 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply principles of leadership and management to the district's physical plant and support systems to ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

Competency 9 is an area that I think many of new Superintendents don’t think about until they get into the job.  I enjoyed the part of the classes that talked about air quality. This is one part of the competency that I feel I had knowledge about.  I have family that works in this area and our schools have worked very hard to ensure that the air quality for our students is quality. I feel that because of the area our schools are in, Gulf Coast, we have been forced to focus and think about this issue. With Hurricanes Rita and Ike coming through and our schools having so much water damage they have had to ensure that the repairs were done to enforce the air quality for students. I enjoy this part of the competency and I do feel it is important.

My interview with the director of food services also provided insight that I needed. School nutrition is extremely important in our schools. As an ESC she provides support to the district and always helps them understand the business and she helps them utilize their money for the betterment of the student’s health.  There are many regulations that districts must comply with, and her program assists the school so they can add value to the district. We also offer a food show that allows students/parents/educators to come and taste the food from the vendors in our cooperative. The students are able to taste and rate the foods and this information is turned in and evaluated at the district level so that the most healthy and tasty foods are purchased for our students.

Region 5 ESC also ensures that its employees have the opportunities and equipment to effectively do their job. It is an Employee Promise in our SQSP (Strategic Quality Service Plan). We work hard to implement technology that assists our employees to do their jobs.  We do feel that if technology does not make an employee’s job easier, faster and more effective we need to rethink the process.  We try hard to gather feedback before we implement any new technology at the ESC. 

Competency 10 Area:

The superintendent knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.

This final competency culminates the ability that all superintendents should have.   I have had several conversations with Superintendents and former Superintendents and it is extremely important to be able to apply organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills in their district. Superintendents need to be able to do this in a positive manner so those district employees embrace change and policies that must be implemented.  This takes dedication and time to ensure that all federal and state requirements are met and that they facilitate the positive change in the ISD.

As I have stated several times, Educational Professionals are constant learners and to be successful I feel we have to be willing to be involved and participate in all meetings; conferences need to ensure we have the knowledge in order to be able to make quality decisions, and to be able to facilitate the implementation.  The opportunities to not only serve on Region 5 Education Service Center committees but on Independent School District committees provided me the experience of working successfully with other employees and educators as well as develop and implement new policies and procedures. 

While the ESC has suffered a huge budget cut I have been directly involved in how the Service Center can cut funds and continue to offer quality services to our schools. Although a painful process it has been a great learning experience.  I have been able to review all aspects of the ESC and to evaluate programs for effectiveness. It is also important to ensure that as a leader you are able to communicate in a positive manner and to inform employees with news without creating chaos and to keep moral positive. 

Blog Follow-Up: We encourage you to post reflections on your above Competency Review and Description to your blog, and to read the postings of your fellow students. This will be a very valuable experience as you reflect on lessons learned during this internship.

Week One Assignment, Part 2 – Job Entry Plan

In Week One, Part 2, we asked that you identify your career and leadership goals. One of the most important skills in preparing for a career move is developing a job entry plan(s). The job entry plan should describe what goals, objectives, activities, and resources needed for you to accomplish your first day duties.

Please write a job entry plan describing the following for your FIRST DAY, FIRST WEEK, FIRST MONTH, AND FIRST YEAR.

We are not asking for a comprehensive multi-page report. We are asking you to try to identify one or two goals that you hope to address your first day, first week, first month, and first year. Remember to include the following for each first:

Goal(s)

Objective(s)

Activities addressing goals and objectives

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives

First day:

Goal:  My goal for the first day would be to meet with the administrative team.  The administrative team would include all key personnel, Which would include the business manager, Assistant Superintendent, Administrative assistant(s), Human Resources, PR director, and principals.  

Objective:  The purpose of this meeting would be to gather information from them about their expectation and goals for the ISD. I would also share my goals and objective. I would encourage positive feedback and the importance of working together as a team to ensure the success of the ISD. Activities addressing goals and objectives:  Agenda for the meeting, list of questions I can ask team members to gather the information I need.

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives: Information from AIES data, budget data, and current mission, vision and goals of the district.

First Week:

Goal:  I would attempt to begin to meet more in-depth with each board member and meet with each administrative team member individually. The administrative team member and I would review and discuss the first day meeting and review their individual goals for the ISD.

Objective:  Gather personal goals from each board and administrative team member.

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  Gather data and then move forward discussing strengths and weakness each individual perceives the district faces.

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  meeting location, notes, questions, note taker.

First Month:

Goal: My goal for the first month would be to follow up regarding prior meetings with the Administrative team. I would also strive to have communication with the community members. 

Objective:  To increase and ensure the community that open communication is welcome. This increases the trust and begins building the necessary relationships needed to be successful.

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  I would be visible throughout the community and on campuses. I would use these opportunities to let everyone know my vision for the ISD.

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  knowledge of meetings and location to be attend.

First Year:

Goal:  I would like to begin an employee/community forum. That would allow me to host a meeting for interested employees and community members so that I may communicate the positive things going on in the ISD. There would be times the information may be about some negative issue. I feel open communication is the key to stifle rumors and it ensures others that you are and appreciate open and honest feedback. 

Objective:  to establish a positive working relationship with employees, board members and community members.

Activities addressing goals and objectives:  Develop a way for employees and community members to ask questions that I could address in the forum.

Resources needed to achieve goals and objectives:  presentation equipment, location and format for forum.