Questions from participants on webinar:
Key Strategies for Effective Educational Leadership Policy
Question for Hilda Rosselli
Director of College & Career Readiness
Oregon Education Investment Board
Q. Can you share what the "equity report" card looks like (what data is included)? Is it posted by
district?
A. If you would like to see the draft equity report card, please request it from Mary Canole
(mary.canole@consultant.ccsso.org) .
Questions for Katy Anthes
Executive Director of Educator Effectiveness
Colorado Department of Education
Q. How are National Board Certified Teachers utilized, and /or reflected in the evaluation system?
A. Katy Anthes: There are no special ways that NBCT teachers are used in our state system--- at least we
don’t specify that from the State level. I know several of our districts that use the NBCT teachers as
peer coaches, evaluators or mentors. There is no requirement here. We have reached out to our
NBCT teacher to be “master coders” for our Inter-rater agreement system. Some of our Master
coders are Nationally Board Certified, but not all.
Q. Do your principals and teacher leaders have roles for shared and differentiated responsibilities.. any
examples.. your state is doing amazing work.
A. Katy Anthes: There is nothing spelled out on differentiated roles and responsibilities. Different
districts do different things (Using multiple observers (principals and teachers), Peer coaches, Multidistrict evaluators, etc). Our State Model system does allow principals to “designate” other
evaluators or coaches to support teacher evaluations. Those “designees” must have appropriate
training that CDE approves.
Questions for all Speakers and Panelists
Q. Since much of the success in school improvement occurs through efforts at the local level - school
districts and principals within their schools - what do you see as possible obstacles within state
policies that legislatures may want to address?
Answers:
NASBE (Francis Eberle)
This is a great question. Depending on the state, the state board of education, legislature or
state chief has the authority to revise or adopt new policies for standards for a principal and
their evaluation. These two policies can influence the preparation that new principals have and
how they are evaluated. Hence, if not reviewed or revised so that they align with your state’s
current standards a principal may be held accountable for practices that are not necessarily
recognized as effective. This misalignment would be an obstacle for principals. It would be
worth checking your state to see who has the authority.
Hilda Rosselli
Adding mandates without resources
CCSSO (Mary Canole)
Ideally, the State Chief, district, and school leaders are working with state legislatures in the
collaborative development of strong education policy. If this is not the case, legislatures may
take action to ensure that the State chief and state superintendent and principal associations
weigh in on legislative packages pertaining to education before they are voted on and become
law so obstacles can be avoided.
Possible obstacles that legislatures may want to address pertain to the reasonableness of
implementation timelines and state mandates without the necessary resources that districts and
schools need to implement.
NGA (Cortney Rowland)
We often hear from states and districts we talk and work with that school and district leaders,
particularly school principals, need more autonomy and flexibility over their work in order to be
successful – autonomy over schedules, budgets, staffing, etc.
Q. Principals tell me one of the hardest parts of their job is managing so many priorities and initiatives.
How can state policy leaders help relieve the problem of fragmentation, too many initiatives, lack of
focus.
Answers:
NASBE (Francis Eberle):
This is a state by state issue. There are a number of current federal policies that allow for
flexibility in the use and reporting of federal programs. Some examples include Transferability
Authority, Local Flex or Ed-Flex. Each of these programs, as well as the others, have specific
requirements and stipulations. It would be worth checking with the department of education to
provide a list of what federal flexibility is available, for what programs and whether the district
or school qualifies for participation in these programs.
Hilda Roselli:
This is a hard one...some initiatives cannot be postponed, e.g. CCSS and SBAC implementation,
Ed Effectiveness (Federal Waiver) and some we believe are so critical that they have to be
ongoing, e.g. equity, closing the achievement gap, 3rd grade literacy, early learning supports,
chronic absenteeism, Grade 11-14 transitions.
CCSSO (Mary Canole):
Educational policy should focus on the overall vision and expectations (results desired) for the
state educational system but provide plenty of flexibility to districts and schools (especially
principals) to determine how to get there in ways that fit their unique context.
NGA (Cortney Rowland):
It is possible for states to provide schools and districts with resources and support while at the
same time allowing them the autonomy and flexibility to do their jobs. For example, New York’s
EngageNY website is a great example of a one-stop shop for school and district leaders to find
resources related to ongoing reform efforts, such as new evaluation systems and standards
reform. Taking the time to wade through and vet materials, curriculum options, rubrics, etc. is a
challenging task for school leaders to fit into their schedules. Having guidance from the state,
whether they decide to use it or not, can be very helpful.
Q. Are states seeing any interest in the use of Instructional Rounds for Principals?
Answers:
Hilda Roselli:
Used in some areas but not statewide attention to it yet. Being used more for teachers.
CCSSO (Mary Canole):
Connecticut, Iowa, and Arizona have done some work with Instructional Rounds.
Q. What platform or organizations are you using for your video components... storing, documenting,
interactions, all data reports?
Answers:
Hilda Roselli:
State is developing an Oregon Educator Network that will launch in early 2015. Some districts
are using district specific systems or purchases systems like PD 360 as part of mentoring efforts,
educator effectiveness and/or CCSS Professional Learning Team initiatives.