Standards for School Leadership Development
Districts do not have to go it alone in the development of state-of-the-art leadership development plans and programs. Ample help is available-some of it on the e-Lead website. The core of any program should be its standards for what the leader should know and be able to do (see Standards for School Leaders), and its standards for effective staff development programs. An exemplar of the former is the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium's (ISLLC) "Standards for School Leaders." An exemplar of the latter is the National Staff Development Council's (NSDC) "Standards for Staff Development (Revised)." In sum, leadership competencies that are addressed in poorly designed and delivered programs hold little hope of increasing the leadership capacity of its participants.
Standards for Staff Development Programs
The National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development are geared toward "making staff development more responsive to the learning needs of educators and students." NSDC encourages alignment of staff development with these standards as one of several uses for school districts. According to NSDC, their "standards can be used in two primary ways: by individuals seeking to better understand and implement effective staff development practices, and by groups who wish to study and implement the standards to improve the organization's staff development effectiveness."
The standards are organized into three categories: context, process and content. Context addresses the organization, system or culture in which the new learnings will be implemented. Process refers to the "how" of staff development. Content refers to the actual skills that educators need to acquire through staff development. The primary focus here is on the process standards.
National Staff Development Council's Standards for Staff Development (Revised):
- Context Standards
- Learning Communities: Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
- Leadership: Staff development that improves the learning of all students requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement.
- Resources: Staff development that improves the learning of all students requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration.
- Learning Communities: Staff development that improves the learning of all students organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district.
- Process Standards
- Data-Driven: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
- Evaluation: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact.
- Research-Based: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to apply research to decision making.
- Design: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal.
- Learning: Staff development that improves the learning of all students applies knowledge about human learning and change.
- Collaboration: Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate.
- Data-Driven: Staff development that improves the learning of all students uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement.
- Content
- Equity: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
- Quality Teaching: Staff development that improves the learning of all students deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately.
- Family Involvement: Staff development that improves the learning of all students provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately.
- Equity: Staff development that improves the learning of all students prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement.
ISLLC also weighs in on standards for professional development. They find quality professional development to be characterized by 1. being standards-based, 2. being results-driven/performance-based, 3. impacting teaching and learning, 4. providing for continuous improvement of school leaders and organizations, 5. addressing individual needs of leaders, 6. linking research to practice, 7. being embedded in school leaders' day-to-day work, 8. including opportunities to reflect, 9. providing for collaborative learning, and 10. occurring over time and including appropriate follow-up. ISSLC urges those running professional development programs to be "proactive in advocating effective professional development for school leaders." (CCSSO 2000) This includes fighting for needed resources, engaging stakeholders, and assuring alignment of professional development with standards for school leadership.
ISLLC's Propositions of Quality Professional Development:
- Quality professional development validates teaching and learning as the central activities of the school.
- Quality professional development engages all school leaders in planful, integrated, career-long learning to improve student achievement.
- Quality professional development promotes collaboration to achieve organizational goals while meeting individual needs.
- Quality professional development models effective learning.
- Quality professional development incorporates measures of accountability that direct attention to valued learning outcomes.
References
- "Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium: Standards for School Leaders." Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC, 1996.
- "Standards Based Professional Development for School Leaders." Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC, 2000.
- "Standards for Staff Development (Revised)." National Staff Development Council, Oxford, Ohio, 2001.
- Van Meter, Eddy J.; McMinn, Cynthia A. "Measuring a Leader." Journal of Staff Development v. 22 no1 (Winter 2001) p. 32–5.
Additional Suggested Reading
Sparks, Dennis. "Designing Powerful Professional Development for Teachers and Principals." National Staff Development Council, Oxford, Ohio, 2002. This online publication is downloadable for free at www.nsdc.org/library/leaders/sparksbook.cfm.
Related Links
- NSDC Standards for Staff Development www.nsdc.org/standards/about/index.cfm. Click on Standards in the toolbar.