School Leadership
Teams
Indistar Summit
March 24, 2014
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What schools are saying about
MS MSOARS
“We believe that MS SOARS has made a lasting
effect upon our achievement in organizational
structure, leadership, professional
development, curriculum and instruction, and
with our support systems.” – West Kemper
Elementary
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What schools are saying about
MS MSOARS
“MS SOARS contains the structure necessary for
leadership teams and administrators to readily
review and evaluate data points and initiatives. The
Principal and the School Transformation Team
acknowledge the value of using the structure
provided by MS SOARS and plan to use it after the
life of our SIG grant. The practice of having in place a
School Leadership Team and the use of MS SOARS
has become a permanent part of our school culture.”
– Sanders Elementary
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What schools are saying about
MS MSOARS
“Throughout this transformation process, data
shows that there is one tool that has
consistently provided the capacity and
structure needed to house and maintain the
information necessary to document our
school improvement progress. MS SOARS is
that tool.” – Simmons High School
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Successful Teams
• Have great leaders and district support
• Meet at least twice a month
• Maintain a history of team work by developing
agendas and minutes
• Regularly look at school performance data and
use that data to make decisions about school
improvement needs
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Challenges
• Compliance vs. Effective Practice
• District Support
• Getting school and district leadership teams to
value the process
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School Leadership
It all starts with strong leadership
• Leadership Characteristics of Turnaround
– Principal functions more as a change agent than
a manager
– Principal sets the climate of high expectations
– Principal is the focus keeper
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Leadership Team Expectations
• Meet a minimum of twice per month
• All team members attend scheduled
leadership team meetings
• Review data indicators on a regular
bases to improve instruction
• Discuss and act on feedback from
coaches
• How much does effort and time cost?
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Implementation
Specialist/Coaches
• A school cannot build capacity alone
• Coaches are a critical partner in the in the process
and in the school’s success
• Coaches are in regular communication with the
school to ensure they have support to move forward
and guidance when they get off track
– Coaches are required to send a minimum of two coaching
comments to their assigned schools per month
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Dr. Laura Jones
Chris Norwood
Office of School Recovery
(601) 359-1003
lauraj@mde.k12.ms.us
crnorwood@mde.k12.ms.us
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