Final Reflections on This Class

In reflecting on this class and thinking about what we learned from class activities, readings, and speakers, my biggest takeaways are:

1. Principals ARE human resource professionals.
2. As a principal/HR professional, the single most important decision you make for students is the teacher you hire.
3. It is our job to coach for excellence, have crucial conversations, lead with courage, and support the development of the marginal teacher.
4. You never know what HR situations you will deal with, so the best way to be prepared is to lead by your moral imperative, act with integrity, and seek counsel (from peers or legal professionals).

In relation to the standards covered in this class, I learned:

Wisconsin Administrator Standard 3

The administrator manages by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to pupil learning environment.

• Culture is the reason why great organizations have sustained success.
• Change must be a part of every culture and organization. Embracing change and innovating will ensure that your organization thrives when approaching problems related to teaching and learning.
• All organizational action, behavior, and decisions must align to cultural norms and support the vision of the school/District.

Wisconsin Administrator Standard 4

The administrator ensures management of the organization, operations, finances, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

• Investing time in designing and implementing a comprehensive hiring process is critical for student learning.
• It is our responsibility to improve the effectiveness of marginal teachers.
• We must understand how budgeting supports the vision as well as how budget impacts the District compensation model and its ability to recruit and retain a diverse and highly-qualified staff.

Wisconsin Administrator Standard 6

The administrator acts with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.

• You must know what you stand for and lead with your moral imperative.
• Consistency and adhering to laws and policies is critical (no exceptions).  
• We must be knowledgeable of the employee handbook as well as policies related to FMLA, ADA, and worker’s compensation.

Wisconsin Administrator Standard 7

The administrator understands, responds to, and interacts with the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context that affects schooling.

• It is important to stay as current as possible with laws/policies that impact schooling.
• We must be resourceful in seeking counsel as needed from legal professionals, state statutes, policy briefs (pregnancy, hiring, harassment) etc.

Linking Meet and Confer to Student Performance and Vision

Meeting and conferring is a strategy/process all principals should have in place. As a principal, it is important to be transparent, establish trusting relationships through two-way communication, and value feedback to build and sustain credibility to show you value the perspectives, knowledge, expertise, and opinions of the staff within your learning organization. When two-way communication (meet and confer) is strong and is a norm, staff can work collaboratively to meet the diverse needs of students and increase student performance through the collective commitments to the district vision.

When the school community approaches communication and decision-making through the lens of the district vision, action aligns to continuous improvement goals that facilitate achievement of the vision.  The vision provides direction and motivates school staff, students, and community members to work together to advance student performance and learning.  The vision emerges from core values and is the compelling, motivating, and guiding force for all organizational action and behavior to foster high levels of student achievement.  

High levels of student achievement / performance is the number one goal and priority of public education and every learning organization.  The district vision defines what teaching and learning should look like and aspire to be so the vision becomes the reality.  When teaching practices and student performance data is analyzed to celebrate success and identify areas in need of improvement to problem-solve, decisions must be made regarding action that needs to be taken to move the organization forward and increase student achievement.  If a strategy/process for meeting and conferring is an established norm, discussion can focus on mutual interests aligned to vision with a commitment to provide solutions related to student performance that honor the perspectives of staff and administration.  When all stakeholders feel they are heard and their feedback is valued and utilized to inform decision-making, meet and confer can positively impact culture, sustain positive relationships, increase student performance, and work to make the vision reality.

Chapter 118 - General School Operations

           As with all the statutes, Chapter 118 for General School Operations is vast and deep and covers topics from reading instruction to human growth and development to school safety patrols to compulsory attendance to teacher contracts to course options.  As a new principal, there is so much to know about school operations and the layer of knowledge related to the state statutes is important.  As I poured through and skimmed through the very long list, the one topic I found to be most interesting to dig deeper into was 118.33 regarding requirements for high school graduation in relation to Act 55 civics test since my District is working through the implications of the test.
            This is a current political issue impacting all Wisconsin graduating seniors and high schools in the state. The Act 55 Wisconsin Civic Graduation Requirement states that “any student graduating from a Wisconsin high school (starting with the class of 2017) takes a civics test comprised of 100 questions that are identical to the 100 questions that may be asked of an individual during the process of applying for U.S. citizenship by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.” (Section 3266R, 118.33(1m)(a)1.)  Wisconsin is currently one of nine states to have mandated a civics test and twenty-four other states are currently considering implementation.  More specifically, the statute requires students to correctly answer at least 60 of 100 questions identical to the INS citizenship test in order to graduate from a WI public, charter, or private school participating in a parental choice program.  IEP teams will determine if the test is appropriate for each individual student with an IEP (Individualized Education Plan).  Students who are identified as LEP (Limited English Proficient) may take the test in their language of choice.  Each school district can decide what format of the test to use (print or digital) and when to administer the test prior to graduation.  Students’ transcripts will need to indicate that they have “passed” the civics test requirement.  While this is a mandated requirement, there are no state funds provided to administer this test.  Districts are responsible to give the test, score it, and keep records of student scores/passing.  The Department of Public Instruction is not involved in the procurement, grading, or gathering of test scores for this test.
        The Act 55 Wisconsin Civics Graduation Requirement presents many implications for students and schools.  A  major implication of this enactment is that it requires students to take yet another test within their K-12 educational career.  Given the yearly testing currently mandated in our schools with PALS, Forward, and ACT Aspire, this adds another test for students to endure and potentially impacts their ability to graduate due to the “passing” requirement.  For students with IEPs, they will need to take the test, but they do not need to pass the test to graduate.  Because there are no state funds provided to administer the tests, schools / districts will need to absorb any cost related to creating, proctoring, scoring, and documenting results within an already tight budget.  Because DPI is not involved with the procurement, grading, or collection of the test scores, individual schools / districts will need to create administration and proctoring guidelines, create the format of the test (print or digital), determine methods for scoring and providing feedback for students, and define documentation procedures for student transcripts.  Making these decisions and taking action to implement this testing requirement will cost time and money, will create additional tasks and responsibilities for educators and administrators, and will cause a loss in instructional time for preparation and administration of the test.
From a school operations perspective, the lack of involvement of DPI with this mandate provides for a large amount of local control as all schools / districts are able to determine procurement, administration, and scoring guidelines.  Students could take the test at home, individually, in small groups, in print, in digital form, or could have the test read to them or not read to them.  The possibilities and variations are endless to achieve a passing score as well as to administer and score the test.