LEAD Fairfax | Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, Va.
Program Summary
Introduction
LEAD Fairfax promotes systemic reform of educational leadership. It is designed to better enable education leaders to impact student achievement, especially for the economically disadvantaged. Critical attributes of LEAD Fairfax include: individual leadership develop plans; cohort learning experiences; partnering with national organizations such as ASCD, Gallup, Linkage, NASSP, and the Center for Creative Leadership; and placement of administrative and pre-service interns in selected school sites with experienced mentor principals.
Theory of Change
Change is a process, not an event, which entails acquiring new knowledge, broadening beliefs, and in turn, demonstrating new behaviors. Before change can occur in a school district, it must first resonate with the people in the district. Our theory of change starts with self, moves to the school site, then impacts the school system for the improved achievement of all students. In the first year, our professional development sessions focus on self; in year 2, the focus is on building leadership capacity at the school site; and in year 3, the focus is on impacting the school system.
Definition of Leadership
Leadership is viewed as "the process of influencing others to achieve mutually agreed upon purposes for the organization" (Patterson, 1999).
Mission Statement
LEAD Fairfax will implement an education leadership program and processes that attract, develop and support education leaders able to impact student achievement.
The project supports the shared organizational objectives of the grantor and Fairfax County Public Schools to demonstrate the effect of improved education leadership on student achievement, especially that of economically disadvantaged students.
Costs
Through a generous 5-year renewable grant from The Wallace Foundation, LEAD Fairfax receives $1 million annually through the duration of the grant.
Also, having been acknowledged as a key problem solver and necessity, the district has provided significant investment in the program. Fiscal resources have been integrated into the district budget. LEAD Fairfax costs include salaries of project staff, administrative interns, hourly employees; professional-development sessions including consultant fees, conference registration costs, train-the-trainer fees, and travel costs; stipends for mentors, and summer per diem; materials such as books, cd-roms, notebooks, videos, computers, laptops, and LCD projectors; and other miscellaneous expenses, i.e., substitute teacher pay.
We are currently unable to determinte cost per participant.
Licensure
Participants receive recertification points, based upon attendance/participation. These points can be applied to VA license renewal.
Members of the Accelerated Certification Cohort, a program held in partnership with George Mason University, participate in a year-long educational program resulting in a certification in administration.
Standards
The standards of performance for school-based administrators in Fairfax County Public Schools directly correlates with the ISLLC standards. LEAD’s program evaluation also follows a leadership development model aligned with the ISLLC standards. LEAD Fairfax gathers a variety of evaluation data such as professional development session feedback forms, surveys, and case studies. The program developed a pre- and post-training survey for participants. Surveys measured the degree of change in participants’ knowledge and experience under five key topics: Developing professionally; Leading People; Leading, Planning, and Assessing Instruction; Managing the Business of Education; and Building Community Relations.
Measuring K-12 Student Success
LEAD Fairfax program developers and project evaluators worked collaboratively to develop 13 evaluations questions focusing on the areas of recruitment and selection, training and development, and support conditions for leadership. The evaluation process determines the quality and relevance of the leadership training and its perceived and actual impacts on student achievement. Objective and independent evaluations are completed through the Office of Program Evaluation. The office provides ongoing analytical reports to the LEAD Fairfax core team and its participants as well as provides annual evaluation reports to the Superintendent, the School Board, and The Wallace Foundation. In addition, annual tracking of school test scores, pre-post and follow-up training surveys of interns and school cohort participants, as well as case studies of selected interns and principals (including interviews and observations) are completed.
Contact
Andrew M. Cole, Director
Office of Employee Performance and Development
Fairfax County Public Schools
6815 Edsall Road
Springfield VA, 22151
Phone: 703.750.8475 | Fax: 703.813.5349
More Information
View all links for LEAD Fairfax
Disclaimer
e-Lead provides information on professional-development programs for school leaders that have submitted detailed information and that also meet certain standards-based criteria. Programs listed at the e-Lead website are not endorsed by either the Institute for Educational Leadership or Temple University's Laboratory for Student Success.