Competency Reflection

            As I prepare to take the Superintendent exam, I realize that I have grown significantly in all domains and have noticed my growth not only in my coursework, but also in my personal school leadership.  I feel more confident in my decisions on my campus and it allows me to explore new options that I have learned about and figure out the connections between how my school fits into the bigger picture.

            Domain I is Leadership of the Educational Community, which I felt was one of my stronger areas in the beginning, however; I have been extremely pleased with the areas that I now feel are a Strength that were formally an area that I was competent in.  Competency 1, which deals with integrity and fairness in an ethical manner, was something that I was comfortable with, however; I didn't have as many resources to feel it was strength.  I feel that my competent areas are still addressing ethical issues on a more global level.  I believe that my ability to do this well will grow as I am put in situations where I am dealing with more personnel.  Competency 2 discusses the culture and facilitating the development, articulation, implementation and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the educational community.    Being in a district that has a single focus goal helps me to build on my level of comfort and expertise in this area as well as gain momentum in community and staff support.  I feel comfortable leading committees and conversations regarding our goal and our vision.  Clear communication is key and I feel comfortable not only with the conversations but also in finding ways to implement and support a districts vision.  Implementation of strategies and techniques to monitor the vision over time are things that I would like to learn more about, however; I do feel comfortable with where I am in this domain.

            Competency 3 addresses the superintendent's knowledge of communicating and collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources to ensure educational success for all students.  Although this is a large competency, communication is something that I have always enjoyed and felt was extremely important in building and supporting a culture and strong educational system.  I believe that technology is a valuable asset in this competency and I feel that my comfort in using a variety of methods such as social media, email, phone callouts, and letters help me to cover all avenues to ensure that everyone in the system is informed.  As a school leader, messaging is key, and I have had the opportunity to experience a variety of different media and communication situations that have allowed me to see things from multiple perspectives and gain insight and knowledge into understanding this Competency further.  Competency 4 addresses the superintendent's knowledge of how to respond to and influence the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context, including working with the board of trustees, to achieve the district's educational vision.  Of the four competencies within this domain, I feel that this is the one where I have comfort, yet would like to continue learn more about the political and social aspect of working the with board and other community leaders.  I have had the opportunity to testify in Austin with my superintendent on House Bill 5, and that experience allowed me to address the House of Representative and the Board in my district in a new way; which gave me insight into working on difficult educational issues with a variety of stakeholders towards a common vision.  Overall, this Domain I am very comfortable in and yet, as a lifelong learner, will continue to investigate, research and learn to strengthen my knowledge as an administrator.

            Domain II discusses Instructional Leadership, and by nature of the work that we do, I feel that it is of upmost importance that this area is an area of continuous improvement and growth as times and practices change.  Competency 5 within this domain is a crucial one within the district as the alignment of curriculum and allocation of resources are something that building principals are faced with every day.  In addition, measuring data points and having discussions about accountability and improvement are important conversations regardless of the position that you hold within a system.  The question is do you know what you responsibility should be within the conversation and what you can bring to show improvement over time.  My coursework has provided me with different ideas and the opportunity to network and build my comfort in this area.  I have also been able to experience new situations due to my internship to afford me with new perspectives and ideas of how to facilitate and implement protocols for data review.  As a Texas Superintendent, I believe that one of the areas that I must work on is ensuring that my staff members and community understand the accountability system and have a working knowledge of how to improve student performance.  I although I understand looking at data and making instructional decisions to improve student performance; I have only had to do this at a school in which has very specific demographics and a student population that I am familiar with.  I have never had to make these types of decisions on a global level with multiple schools and varying needs.  I feel this is an area I need to improve and learn more about. 

            Competency 6 addresses the superintendent's knowledge of how to advocate, promote, and sustain an instructional program and a district culture that are conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.  This was an easier competency for me to digest because this is something that I feel that in my various roles and opportunities that have been afforded to me both before the program and during my internship, that I clearly understand how to implement, monitor.  As an instructional leader, modeling life long learning is crucial.  Dr. Creel and Dr. Nicks have both discussed the importance of remembering that we act as a role model and that the importance of being an instructional leader and holding instruction and kids at the center of what we do daily.  To be an instructional leader, you have to know the resources that you have, the programs available, the best teachers in the system, the research that is coming out, the technology that is available, and the needs of those within the system.  This competency could be the most important to the students and teachers in order to ensure that they are successful and that the culture promotes teacher growth and development and student success.

            Competency 7 has been one that my internship has allowed me to grow and develop in a very powerful and meaningful way by sitting on a steering committee that is developing the new teacher development and assessment plan with the upcoming discontinuation of PDAS.  My district is choosing to write a new evaluation tool along with a long term professional development plan in order to adequately train and support teachers as they grow in their learning and move through the changing times and needs of students and schools.  In addition, I have been blessed to attend many job fairs which has allowed me to have the time necessary to probe those closest to the work carefully to find out what they believe are important in the recruitment, selection, induction, development and promotion of staff.  I fell that the area of growth here for me would be assessing the overall organizational health and climate by implementing necessary strategies to improve the performance of all staff members.  Finding an appropriate tool to measure climate and school health has been a challenge that I am currently tackling in my doctoral program, and I look forward to growing and sharing my knowledge with others upon the completion of my program.

            The final domain is in administrative leadership which coursework definitely helped to develop my understanding being that budgeting and personnel on a global level were involved.   Competency 8 deals with allocation of a variety of resources such as budget and technology.  The coursework and internship provided me with opportunity to work with my district superintendent of finance as well as the superintendent of HR in order to observe and question various practices such as personnel management and allocation of staff. In addition, I have learned a great deal about funding, compliance, allocation of resources, accounting, auditing, and effective budget planning and management.  Although I have had the luxury of learning how to manage and effectively run a campus budget, the various components and aspects of a district budget are much more complex and the process has strengthened my own personal growth on my campus.  Technology integration has been an interesting puzzle to unfold due to the fact that we just went through a competitive bidding process to roll out and distribute new laptops to all of our district employees.  Watching this process from the beginning has taught me ta great deal about computers, technology and information systems, and legal concepts and code required.  Although I have grown tremendously in this area, the one area that I would like to continue to research and grow is in the area of revenue forecasting to address personnel and budgetary needs accurately for the district.  This process moved very quickly and I spent most of my time in observations taking notes to research and wasn't as familiar with the terminology as I needed in order to adequately follow the conversation.

            Competency 9 regarding facilities was one that I really understood and enjoyed learning in more detail through coursework and experience.  During my time in education, I have had the pleasure of always being in a building under major construction.  Although this at the time seemed inconvenient, I have learned a great deal about bond programs and managing physical plans.  This knowledge has proven useful in a variety of capacities as well as in my own mission to grow an understanding of the inner workings of appropriately running, maintaining, and managing an educational facility.  The final competency, Competency 10 deals with decision making and problem solving skills, which we all know are crucial in the work that we do in the classrooms, schools and the administration building.  I believe that this particular competency is one that tests our leadership skills in action, and our ability to prioritize and deal with situations exposes what we are capable of to the world.  In addition, the strategies that we use to work and guide others are some of the most important skills that we will sharpen over time and my internship allowed me the opportunity to learn from some of the mentors that I have had that have helped me to grow and develop over time.  

            Overall, this course has forced me to grow in specific areas and really sharpen my skills as a leader and learning the competencies was incredible and really pushed me as a leader.