An administrator’s job must be to first positively shape the culture
and climate of a school so that the institution is a bastion where
children are excited to learn.
istrator must not only address safety concerns, they must attack them with haste to
force rapid change and compliance. Once
reported to the proper authorities, compliance issues were quickly resolved. However,
damage to the reputation and climate of the
school was irreversible.
Element 3B: Plans and Procedures
Today, administrators are expected to
implement a vision for their campus that
will allow students to graduate career ready
or college bound. Both the Common Core
State Standards and the Next Generation
Science Standards are rooted in the idea of
college and career readiness and are said to
offer administrators the starting blocks from
which to push.
A strong and viable curriculum can be
viewed as the most important determinant
of student success. However, a solid curriculum is at first dependent on a positive school
climate that supports and respects each student in a safe and clean learning environment.
The idea of spending countless millions
to overhaul educational standards to focus
on college and career readiness has become
a political hot topic from both sides of the
aisle. It is, in fact, an unnecessary argument.
A successful administrator’s worth has always been measured by the achievements of
their pupils after graduation and/or the total
number of graduates.
CCSS/NGSS are not groundbreaking
standards, rather they’re merely a gratuitous
reminder of a time honored goal.
When John Bliss arrived on campus at
Folsom Middle School, he inherited an IEP
process that was not efficient and worried
about the school’s ability to produce students who were ready for high school and,
indeed, life after graduation. The connection between general education and special
education was all but severed, and parents
and teachers shared the frustration of educational inertia.
According to CPSEL 3B-4, leaders will
“engage stakeholders in using problem
solving and decision making processes and
distributed leadership to develop, monitor,
evaluate, and revise plans and programs.”
Building a relationship first with special
education allowed for a painless implementation of Bliss’ vision and formed the structural backbone of the Leadership Triangle.
Bliss knew what needed to be addressed
and modified what his responsibility was in
making it happen. He describes his role as
change agent in what at first seemed like an
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