Andrea Williams: Instructional Leadership Interview

The following information was gathered in an interview with Andrea Williams, principal of Theresa Bunker Elementary School. In my experience working with Mrs. Williams as a teacher in this school as well as the time spent learning from her during these interviews, I can say with utmost assurance that Mrs. Williams takes her job as instructional leader very seriously. It is her top priority to lead this school in such a way that student learning is the center of all instructional decisions that she and the teachers make. She feels strongly that it is her primary responsibility to ensure the learning of all students. She strives to build a culture where student learning is the highest priority for each member of the staff. Mrs. Williams
encourages teachers to work collaboratively in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) in order to analyze data and improve teaching practices. She sees a huge part of her responsibility as instructional leader to help shift the teachers’ focus from what am I teaching to what are the students learning. this has been done in an innovative way by leading the school to shift from traditional grading into standards based grading. This practice is helping to improve instruction immensely as teachers look more carefully into how they are teaching the standards and meeting the needs of their students. Mrs. Williams describes her role as instructional leader not as someone who is expected to be an expert in each subject, but more as someone who can identify strong teaching practices and help to instill these practices into her teachers. She views her role as instructional leader to be a resource for the teachers and to provide physical resources so the teachers can provide the best learning experiences for the students. Mrs. Williams stays up to date with all of her teachers and makes it her job to know their needs in order to provide meaningful professional development for them to improve their instruction. She also purchases resources to be added to the professional library collection that teachers can use in their classroom. Another part of her role as instructional leader is to work with teachers as they work to intervene when students are struggling to learn. Mrs. Williams joins the grade level PLC meetings periodically to check in and offer support. She also guides the grade level teams through the data board meetings and is there to offer assistance when interventions are being put into place. By being an active participant in all the special education meetings she is helping to ensure that we are being compliant to the law and also providing the best interventions and strategies to help each student be successful.
Leadership Practices
One instructional leadership action Mrs.
Williams has taken to assist in creating gains in student achievement is to institute data board meetings at each grade level. As part of the PLC process, teachers gather data about students’ specific learning needs and meet together weekly to analyze this data together. Initial screening is done early in the year to establish a base line for each student’s level of learning. Teachers record this data on color coded cards and place them into targeted intervention groups and attach the cards to a bi-folding board. They bring this data to a meeting with Mrs. Williams as well as the intervention specialist and special education teachers. During these meetings each student’s needs are discussed and decisions are made as a team about what intervention programs will best meet their needs. After six to eight weeks of working with students with these initial interventions, the team reconvenes with a second round of assessment data to analyze progress that has been made. Then the team discusses what possible changes to make to the interventions being offered and make necessary changes. This process continues until the end of the school year. At the end of the year, all the colored cards are moved around on the board indicating the progress students have made. Teachers can see that the lower achieving students who started the year at the bottom of the board have moved up closer to the top. It is an excellent way to see the
achievements of each individual student. Mrs. Williams is the driving force behind this practice and is with the teachers during each step of the way.
A second instructional leadership practice Mrs. Williams has taken to ensure student achievement is to lead this school in becoming trailblazers in the movement to standards-based grading. Through her study of the most current educational research, Mrs. Williams found immense value in the shift to standards-based grading. She took on the challenge of first getting all the teachers on board by leading a book study to help her staff understand what standards-based grading entailed. Once there was buy-in from all her teachers, she worked with the district to make it possible to provide a stipend to her teachers so that they could work extra days over the summer to prepare to make the shift to standards-based grading in ELA subjects for this current school year. She also made it possible to get training from leaders in this area to train the teachers on how to make this shift efficiently and effectively. Mrs. Williams worked side by side with her teachers during the summer workdays to begin the process. She also negotiated with the district to provide additional professional development during the two teacher workdays in order to keep the momentum going and encourage her teachers to implement this new practice well. Her dedication to this project is evident in the enthusiasm of the teaching staff, the students and parents. Teachers have reported to her that this action has been received positively by all involved. Teachers are more focused on student learning, students are taking more ownership of their own learning, and parents are extremely receptive to the growth model that standards-based grading provides.
Outcomes
By using the data board meetings to target specific needs of the student population, teachers have seen the number of low achievers shrinking each year.
The data board process allows teachers to better diagnose learning gaps and immediately start to fill those gaps by offering targeted intervention strategies. Teachers have become more proficient in pinpointing student needs and thereby are able to refine their teaching practices to meet those needs sooner and more efficiently. The data board meetings also have proven to help all teachers, Title I aids, and special education teachers who may work with the child to know what their needs are. Everyone is on the same page and working together to provide for each individual student in the school. Through these data driven decisions and targeted instruction throughout the day student achievement outcomes are expected to be positive by the end of the year. Mid-Year data collections and data board meetings have already taken place and have shown some significant growth in a good number of students. By using this data board process we are better able to find weaknesses in students and implement needed interventions more quickly so they do not fall behind even
further.
The movement to standards-based grading is still in its beginning stages of implementation. Therefore, outcomes at this time are difficult to determine. This is a vast project that will take several years to implement fully. The initial feeling from comments made during faculty meetings and conversations around the school are overwhelmingly positive. There is not one report of a teacher saying they want to go back to the traditional way of grading. They have taken on this enormous task and are running with it. So far, this project has vastly improved the teachers’ sense of efficacy. They are able to focus on the standards they are teaching and not just getting through the chapters in the teacher’s edition. It has changed the way the students are responsible for their own learning. Students track their own data so they can see themselves growing through the year. They are given rubrics for assignments as well as their school conduct so that they know beforehand exactly what is expected of them. The bar has been raised and they are reaching it. There is a definite trend toward higher student achievement since the beginning of the year because of the shift this school is making and the instructional actions of Mrs. Williams to lead the school in this direction.
Curriculum Development In this district the teachers do not have much participation in selecting or developing curriculum. When it comes time for a new curriculum material to be adopted, the district asks principals for names of teachers to participate on a committee for review and selection. Then the selected curriculum is purchased and delivered to the schools. Teachers are given minimal training on how to use the materials effectively. Mrs. Williams’s philosophy for her teachers in using the adopted curriculum is that it is a good thing to have as a resource and it is to be used with fidelity and efficacy. However, she has confidence in her teachers’ ability to know their students and make instructional decisions that will be best for their students regardless of the curriculum. She has made it clear to the teachers that the curriculum is a valuable resource, but that it is not a script to be followed to the letter. The teachers’ individual strengths and professionalism are valued by Mrs. Williams as well. According to the authors of SuperVision and Instructional Leadership, teachers will implement a curriculum successfully if they have been involved in its development and can adapt it to their specific classroom and school situation (Carl D. Glickman, Stephen P. Gordon, Jovita M. Ross-Gordon, 2010). Mrs. Williams values this in her teachers and wants her teachers to use their professional judgement and plan and prepare lessons that will meet the needs of their students. She stated that it is good to have many