Carter Oliver Skills

Introduction
Dr. Candice Carter-Oliver, Chief Executive Officer of Confluence Charter Schools, has recently been defined as a top leader in Education in St. Louis County and St. Louis City, MO. Much of her experience has come by way of teaching and leading in inner city, high poverty areas. Dr. Carter-Oliver is an educational leader committed to success and increasing student achievement. She has much experience working in urban areas, understanding the importance of equity and equality in schools.
Most recently, Dr. Carter-Oliver was recognized as a top leader in the Normandy Schools Collaborative and is credited with moving the low performing, unaccredited district forward, earning more than fifty percent of school improvement points;
The three-skill approach identifies technical, human, and conceptual skills as being critical to effective leadership. “Technical skills deal with things and human skills deal with people, conceptual skills involve the ability to work with ideas” (Northouse, 2016, p. 45). Dr. Carter-Oliver has a sound understanding of human skill, however when asked, she explained the technical and conceptual skills were developed and refined throughout her time as a leader (personal communication, January 29, 2017).
Identifying critical problems in the Normandy Schools Collaborative was necessary and important to Carter-Oliver. Problem-solving skills, one competency listed in the skills based model of leadership presented in the Northouse (2016) text, is a skill seen in this leader. Before securing a position as a top leader, Normandy had many organizational problems, there was a dilemma surrounding the proper way to raise student achievement, and difficulties in the overall function of individual schools surrounding discipline were present. Her approach to problem solving involves rational and unique solutions that reach beyond ones normal thinking