Leadership Training for Ohio K-12 School Administrators

Leadership Training for Administrators.

Ohio has made important curriculum advances in its kindergarten through grade 12 expectations through the rigor of Standards in Math and English/Language Arts as well as Science and Social Studies. To monitor these more rigorous standards, the State Board of Education has launched a new focus on accountability, adopting standards for teachers, principals, superintendents, school business officials and treasurers, and professional development.

In 2009, House Bill 1 directed the Ohio Educator Standards Board to recommend model evaluation systems for teachers and principals. As of March, 2015, The “Ohio Principal Evaluation System” (OPES) is a standards-based integrated model designed to foster the professional growth of principals in knowledge, skills and practice. The framework provides tools for assessing and monitoring leadership performance, including both formative assessment and summative evaluation.

EdFOCUS helps districts establish job descriptions and annual performance review systems that align with the evaluation domains, including [1.0] continuous improvement; [2.0] instruction and the use of data; [3.0] school operations, resources, and learning environment; [4.0] a school culture of collaborative leadership; and [5.0] focus on the parents and community engagement. More importantly, EdFOCUS provides training in each domain consisting of modeling, coaching, and demonstrations of how the behaviors “look” when performed successfully.

EdFOCUS helps administrators sharpen their personal leadership skills, including (a) Goal-Setting and devising one’s own Professional Growth Plan; (b) Communication and Professionalism; (c) Enriching Skills and Knowledge; and (d) monitoring Measures of Student Academic Growth. The Ohio model incorporates a performance rating rubric to determine an overall principal effectiveness rating, based on the above domains and personal leadership competencies.

Among the topics offered by EdFOCUS for Leadership Training are:

• Time studies—how is the Principal’s time spent?
• How to better use high-stakes test data with the school staff
• The rigor of Ohio’s Curriculum Standards:
• Principals don’t teach the curriculum, but they must monitor its implementation
• Ohio’s Learning Standards
• “Best Practices” that work
• typically, the specific topics selected for these workshops correspond to district priorities
• Bloom’s Taxonomy—getting a better handle on higher-order thinking
• Differentiation
• RTI and other Intervention processes
• Teacher supervision and evaluation