Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

Woodland Middle School - Fulton County Schools

Second Presenter's Institution

Woodland Middle School - Fulton County Schools

Third Presenter's Institution

NA

Fourth Presenter's Institution

NA

Fifth Presenter's Institution

NA

Location

Session 3 (Ballroom D)

Strand #1

Academic Achievement & School Leadership

Relevance

Our proposal focuses on the strand, “Head”: Academic Achievement and Leadership. It relates to this strand because of the emphasis on effective and purposeful Instructional Leadership Teams that drive student academic growth and achievement within historically low performing, high poverty schools. The focus of our proposal also outlines a process and an initiative that helps to turn around historically low performing, high poverty schools into high performing schools.

Brief Program Description

Are you a K-12 educational leader and have been searching for that high leverage initiative that will thrust your student growth and achievement to the next level? After attending this session, you will leave with a clear blueprint for establishing and maintaining a strong Instructional Leadership Team focused on the right work and equipped for unprecedented student growth and achievement.

Summary

Participants will share in a workshop style presentation intended to establish and maintain high-impact Instructional Leadership Teams. These Instructional Leadership Teams are designed to lead small groups of teachers in a Professional Learning Community setting to establish a data driven instruction environment, improve instructional practices, and support sound classroom management. Each participant will receive a resource workbook that will be completed systematically as we progress through the session. The resource workbook consists of materials to assist participants with identifying the ideal format for their leadership teams and how it will impact instruction and ultimately student achievement. The session is designed for small or large staffs; schools may choose to employ only their administrative team in their ILT or expand it to instructional coaches and teacher leaders.

First, participants will explore the current state of their school in terms of academics, data and culture. Academics, data and culture go hand in hand and a well-designed Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) supports teachers with all three facets in mind. We will then walk participants through a protocol for assigning single ILT members to small groups of teachers, grade levels and/or contents to focus their support. This focused support will establish a strong partnership between the ILT member and the specific group of teachers. Because of the focused support and partnership, ILT members can model and support with overall instruction, data driven instruction and classroom management by providing more frequent observations and purposeful feedback. Participants have access to exemplar leadership team structures from the elementary, middle and high school levels to guide their work.

Using real-world, researched based case studies and activities, participants will explore the role of Instructional Leadership Teams in improving instructional practices through observation and high leveraged feedback, data driven instruction and a strong academic climate. The session workbook will provide participants with various takeaways and resources for continued support after the session. These resources include various observation feedback forms, observation trackers, data protocols and Professional Learning Community structures, guiding documents and audit forms to measure effectiveness.

Evidence

Based on the research and field-tested success of nationally recognized organizations in educational leadership like Uncommon Schools, the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership and New Leaders for New Schools, academic growth and achievement is directly correlated with a strong, functional Instructional Leadership Team. Benjamin Fenton, co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools proclaimed, “principals cannot lead schools to make breakthrough achievement gains on their own: the support of an aligned instructional leadership team is crucial.” Based on the aforementioned, we launched a very structured and purpose-driven Instructional Leadership Team.

We officially began using this structured model for our Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) in the 2016 – 2017 school year. Since that time, we have realized substantial academic and social growth with our scholars. During the 2016 – 2017 school year we realized a 7.5-point increase on our state score. We also had one of the highest growth percentages in our district for 8th grade mathematics and was designated a 2016-2017 Beating the Odds School. Performance of Beating the Odds schools are statistically compared with the performance of schools with similar characteristics across the state. Schools that perform higher than similar schools are designated as Beating the Odds schools. Our success is directly attributed the structure and work of our ILT. Finally, as a result of our ILT working directly with our teachers on classroom culture and management, our suspension rate decreased by over 25%, keeping our students in front of their teachers. We correspondingly increased our school climate rating by 1 star in the 2016-2017 school year.

Biographical Sketch

Jason Stamper, Ed.D. is the principal of Woodland Middle School and has been for the past 4 years. Woodland Middle School is an urban school with poverty rate exceeding 95%, a 65% transient rate and over 100 homeless students. He has been an administrator and teacher in urban settings similar to this for the past 17 years and has been able to garner community support to change narratives through building boundless relationships with students, teachers, families and all stakeholders alike. He is extremely serious about and dedicated to quality student instruction and achievement with a mission to grow every child socially and academically each day.

Shatavia Elder is in her second year as the Literacy Coach at Woodland Middle School. She is a passionate international educator that bridges connections between standards-based curriculums and practical real-world solutions so that every student is afforded the opportunity to experience unprecedented growth and achievement. Shatavia Elder has received several accolades during her 13-year tenure as an educator including Middle School Teacher of the Year for the DeKalb County School District, the 3rd largest school district in the state of Georgia.

Keyword Descriptors

instructional, leadership, teams, ILT, growth, achievement, data, PLC, observation, feedback

Presentation Year

2019

Start Date

3-4-2019 3:00 PM

End Date

3-4-2019 4:15 PM

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Mar 4th, 3:00 PM Mar 4th, 4:15 PM

Building Impactful Instructional Leadership Teams that Bolster Student Growth and Achievement

Session 3 (Ballroom D)

Are you a K-12 educational leader and have been searching for that high leverage initiative that will thrust your student growth and achievement to the next level? After attending this session, you will leave with a clear blueprint for establishing and maintaining a strong Instructional Leadership Team focused on the right work and equipped for unprecedented student growth and achievement.