STANDARD ONE - Strategic Leadership
Principals will create conditions that result in strategically re-imaging the school’s vision, mission, and goals in the 21st century. Understanding that schools ideally prepare students for an unseen but not altogether unpredictable future, the leader creates a climate of inquiry that challenges the school community to continually re-purpose itself by building on its core values and beliefs about its preferred future and then developing a pathway to reach it.
Element 1a. School Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals
The school’s identity, in part, is derived from the vision, mission, values, beliefs and goals of the school, the processes used to establish these attributes, and the ways they are embodied in the life of the school community.
MISSION STATEMENT
J.F. Webb High School, in partnership with families and community, will instill in our students high standards for academic excellence, integrity, leadership and career success. During my principal residency at Webb, I helped students and staff follow the Warrior Way, a guide for pursuing excellence and achievement for all. Before the 2019-2020 school year began, I participated in meetings with Webb's School Leadership team and we decided to put Warrior Way posters in each classroom and throughout the school, as a constant reminder of the Warrior Way expectations for both students and staff. Students "caught" exhibiting the Warrior Way are acknowledged with a Warrior Card that is entered into a monthly drawing for recognition and gift cards. Having common expectations throughout the Webb campus helps Warrior students and staff collectively hold each other accountable and work toward excellence for all.
J.F. Webb High School, in partnership with families and community, will instill in our students high standards for academic excellence, integrity, leadership and career success. During my principal residency at Webb, I helped students and staff follow the Warrior Way, a guide for pursuing excellence and achievement for all. Before the 2019-2020 school year began, I participated in meetings with Webb's School Leadership team and we decided to put Warrior Way posters in each classroom and throughout the school, as a constant reminder of the Warrior Way expectations for both students and staff. Students "caught" exhibiting the Warrior Way are acknowledged with a Warrior Card that is entered into a monthly drawing for recognition and gift cards. Having common expectations throughout the Webb campus helps Warrior students and staff collectively hold each other accountable and work toward excellence for all.
Personal Vision Statement - July 2019
I am a lifelong learner who loves to create opportunities and open doors to help others succeed. My vision is to create a collaborative school culture where we work together to engage students in meaningful and relevant experiences. I will strive to assist staff to create engaging lessons that help students apply their learning to real-world, 21st-century applications to make positive impacts on their lives and the lives of others.
IMPACT:
I am a lifelong learner who loves to create opportunities and open doors to help others succeed. My vision is to create a collaborative school culture where we work together to engage students in meaningful and relevant experiences. I will strive to assist staff to create engaging lessons that help students apply their learning to real-world, 21st-century applications to make positive impacts on their lives and the lives of others.
IMPACT:
- My personal vision statement helped me to craft my daily mantra of being visible, available, and accessible to staff, students, and families
- The WARRIOR Way guided me as I helped create opportunities for students to grow at Webb and to seek opportunities beyond Webb.
- Walkthrough observations and discussions during teacher planning periods allowed me to assist teachers to make their lessons more engaging and meaningful to their students.
Element 1b. Leading Change
The principal articulates a vision, and implementation strategies, for improvements and changes which result in improved achievement for all students. Since 2005, the Webb campus has housed JF Webb High School (JFW) and the JF Webb High School of Health & Life Sciences (SHLS). For the 2020-2021 school year, the two schools will merge back into one school called JF Webb High School. During my principal residency I helped Principal Rice and other administrators create a presentation (below) outlining our Redesign Vision to the Granville County School Board. Throughout this year, I have worked with both JFW and SHLS students and staff to ensure continuity and equity between the two schools. In order for such a significant change to successfully occur at Webb, school administrators must work closely together and with stakeholders (school, district, and community) to promote a consistent common message that a single JF Webb High School provides the best opportunities for current and future Webb students to have successful futures.
IMPACT:
IMPACT:
- Our redesign model sent a clear message that JF Webb High School is strongest when we are one school with common goals.
- The model helped re-assure staff, students, and families who were unsure of Webb's future and helped them to decide that Webb will be an even better school next year with the merger.
- Webb staff were motivated to work together as we have already begun processes of merging the JFW and SHLS.
Element 1c. School Improvement Plan
Throughout my experiences on Webb's SIT, I have learned that school administrators should drive the school improvement process through ensuring regular meetings, providing relevant school data, and seeking input from a diversity of school representatives including staff, students, families, school district, and the community.
As the School Improvement Team (SIT) process manager and team member, I help review Webb school data and other key indicators to engage in continuous school improvement throughout the 2019-2020 school year.
Webb's SIT goals are:
As the School Improvement Team (SIT) process manager and team member, I help review Webb school data and other key indicators to engage in continuous school improvement throughout the 2019-2020 school year.
Webb's SIT goals are:
- Goal 1 - Instructional To implement a tiered instructional system that delivers evidence-based instruction aligned to standards and students' needs so that student proficiency in English II, Math I, and 4-year Graduation Rate increases according to ESSA goals and so that ACT proficiency, ACT work keys proficiency, Biology proficiency increases with a target of 10% decrease in non-proficient students. Expected student growth should be met or exceeded. 85% promotion rate of cohort groups.
- Goal 2 – Cultural Establish a collaborative work environment which promotes cohesion among staff and shared vision, mission and values so that 85% or more of staff feel that J.F. Webb High School is a good place to work and learn, as measured by the Teachers' Working Conditions Survey (or school created survey in the years TWC is not offered).
- Goal 3 – Human Resource To implement processes and systems so that recruitment, induction, support, evaluation, development and retention of high performing staff is embedded in the culture of the school and results in a >90% retention rate of staff.
- Goal 4 – Managerial Collaborate with the School Improvement Team and staff to develop clear expectations, structures, rules and procedures for students and staff so that by the end of the 2019-20 school year 50% of teachers will state that students at the school follow rules of conduct, up from 12.5% on the 2017-18 TWC survey.
- As process manager, I helped take meeting notes and worked with Principal Rice to ensure that the school improvement process continued to move forward
- I worked with the Webb leadership team to develop and lead professional development that improved instruction, especially in core classes.
- I assisted in the hiring process leading to hiring and training of seven new staff members.
- The leadership team continuously promoted the WARRIOR to improve staff and student expectations leading to a improvement in student behavior and a decrease in disciplinary referrals.
- Regularly met with staff individually to provide assistance such that staff felt like their ideas and concerns were heard and that they felt supported by Webb administration. As of now, only one staff is not returning and that is due to his desire to pursue a graduate degree.
Element 1d. Distributive Leadership
I created the above Teacher Leadership Pipeline graphic as part of a paper on Teacher Empowerment for Principles of Educational Leadership and Empowerment (NCSU ELP550 - Dr. Henry Johnson). School administrators place a crucial role in develop and feed the pipeline providing staff training and advancement throughout a school system to improve the quality and opportunities for teachers. I included substitutes in my leadership pipeline as some of the best teachers I have worked with started out as substitutes and fortunately pursued teaching despite not always being guided by school leaders.
I am using the pipeline to...
I am using the pipeline to...
- ensure that teachers have mentors, content leaders, and opportunities for growth through PLCs and professional development
- identify substitutes who have the potential and interest to become teachers and help them pursue the teaching pathway
- I am going to strategically watch for potential vacancies and work with other administrators and human resources to identify potential replacements.