Leadership for Educational Organizations
Student Learning Outcomes for LEOS-MA and LEOS-EDS with Principal Licensure
Graduates will be able to:
- 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.
- Demonstrate inclusive leadership practices that foster a positive school culture and promote safety and equity for all students, staff, and community.
- Demonstrate instructional leadership by aligning curriculum, instruction and assessment, supporting professional learning, conducting observations, providing actionable feedback, and holding staff accountable for student outcomes.
- Demonstrate professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection, and external leadership.
Descriptions of Key Assessments of Student Learning
PBA 1 Leadership
Performance Based Assessment (PBA 1) has students building leadership capacity in five different PBA areas. The first (PBA 1.1: Leadership) is an up close and personal assessment of the student as a leader through an investigation of core values. The second area (PBA 1.2: School Culture) is an assessment of the school culture in the organization in which we work and the student’s role as leader for inspiring improvements in that culture. The third (PBA 1.3: Family Community Engagement) has students analyzing current family-community engagement (FCE) activities in a school and constructing an action plan to involve school faculty and parents in designing improvements to those FCE activities so they better support student learning and school-community collaboration. The fourth area (PBA 1.4: Distributing Leadership) has students learning how leadership is distributed across time and people. The fifth area, (PBA 1.5: Mission-Vision), requires them to think and plan for a vision-building process for a school that includes developing, articulating, implementing, stewarding, and involving the community in all these steps.
PBA 2 School Improvement Planning
These performance-based assessments are designed to give students the knowledge and skills necessary for developing a school improvement plan. It consists of four components: PBA 2.1 focuses on constructing a quality school designed to launch students on a journey to leading a quality school. School leaders need to know what characterizes a quality school, and they need to know how to develop a vision of learning for a school that promotes the success of all students. Data-Informed Decision Making (PBA 2.2) addresses how school leaders must be able to access, analyze, and use data to ensure that all students and every subgroup of students achieve and learn well. This part of the PBA will strengthen their understanding of the larger context and enhance your ability to apply appropriate research methods to the school context. A Curriculum Audit (PBA 2.3) is conducted to determine if the needs of all students are being addressed. School leaders need to know how to restructure school curricula to address the diverse needs of all students. Leading Change (PBA 2.4) is a critical skill designed to have students create the conditions for change, how you would lead the implementation of the change, and how you would assess if the change had happened and whether or not the change would be been sustained. The School Improvement Planning process (PBA 2.5) provided the needed knowledge and skill necessary for developing a school improvement plan as a requirement of state and school-district accountability requirements.
PBA 3 Instructional Leadership
PBA 3) focuses on three tools that students can use as a leader to improve instructional practices of teachers outside of the evaluation process. The first tool is to construct a supervisory Platform (PBA 3.1) by reflecting on student beliefs, philosophies, and leadership practices regarding education, instruction, students, learning, instructional supervision and evaluation. The second tool involves developing and conducting Instructional Conversations (PBA 3.2) with teachers in a school regarding their knowledge and capacity to use various instructional strategies to achieve teaching-learning goals. Data from developing and using this tool will allow students to prepare for and deliver professional development activities for your faculty. The final tool in this section is the Instructional Leadership Work Sample (PBA 3.3) which is an action research project that students work with three teacher partners to implement instructional interventions determined by talking with those teachers, and collecting data on the effectiveness of your instructional leadership behaviors with these teachers. The second part of PBA 3 (Evaluation) focuses on three additional tools that help students perform the required evaluation process with one or more teacher partners from their school. The first tool is to learn about the Legal underpinnings (PBA 3.4) of the evaluation process as required from both the state and school district levels. The second tool is to conduct three Evaluation Cycles (PBA 3.5) following best practices for evaluation of instruction. The final tool in this part is to construct an Evaluations Calendar Plan and Tools (PBA 3.6) artifact that demonstrates capacity for planning evaluation cycles for faculty in their school.
PBA 4 Law, Finance and policy
The equity module focuses on law, finance and policy. As a new leader, students will be expected to have knowledge of school policy (PBA 4.3), finance (PBA 4.2), and law (PBA 4.1). Students will need to apply this knowledge to daily situations. Expectations of the learning include: knowledge of school-district policies, including handbooks, policy manuals, and negotiated agreements; knowledge of school finance from the state level to the district level to the school level; and knowledge of the Colorado Statutes, common and federal law and policies. Understanding equity (PBA 4.4) and equality is key to the study of law, policy, and finance. The doctrines of equity and equality are the foundation of our constitution and our democratic processes. Students must learn to make important distinctions between equity and equality. Effective leadership demands that we base our understanding, analysis, and interpretations of policy, finance, and law on the foundations of equity and equality. This performance-based assessment is designed to give prospective educational leaders an understanding of the laws, statures, and policies needed in making equitable, sound and legally defensible decisions.