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Norman Catalano Curriculum Coordinator/Federal Program Director Woodland Hills School District

I like this definition – goes with the notion of servant leadership: Leadership for the twenty-first century is founded in building relationships with those who make up the many parts of an organization. In building relationships and in gaining increased knowledge of many persons, a leader can rely on first hand knowledge for decision making. In the relationships, the leader finds that commitment to people and the nurturing of people are two very important points of departure for decision making. Establishing a human interaction makes arriving at the best decision an organizational benchmark. Gaining the knowledge through the relationships makes leadership not a destination but a journey. It makes leadership “more than a position. It is a responsibility that is conferred on a person by someone in authority or by those whom he or she leads.” Basically, there are two types of leaders – the instructional leader and the manager. The Wallace Foundation categorizes them as “transformers” or “copers.” The “transformers” had an explicit vision of what their school might be like and brought a “can do” attitude to their job. As one interviewee told them, a high-needs principal has to have “a vision… //It’s not just going in there and managing it all. It’s ‘Where can we take it?’… Vision for the kids. Vision for the staff. Vision for the school.”// Another talked about the need to avoid //“sending a message that the kids can’t do it,” or taking an attitude of ‘Woe is me,’ and ‘Look how difficult this is,’ and ‘This is an impossible task,’— that’s a really bad model. It’s really important [to say] clearly these things can be done, and we’re not going to focus on how bad the central office is, or we can’t get our request covered.”// Transformers focused intently on creating a culture in which each child can learn. Giving up is not an option. The “copers” in contrast were typically struggling to avoid being overwhelmed. They didn’t have the time or freedom, or, for some perhaps, the inclination to do more than try to manage their situation. One described his position this way: //“I find myself wearing so many hats… it’s unbelievable. I just cannot free myself up.”// The circumstances facing some of the copers were daunting to say the least: //“They burned down part of my school in January,”// one told us. //“They destroyed all my textbooks and all mygames equipment and everything. It took five fire engines to put it out. They stole four teachers’ cars, and they set fire to them… If you suspend a child, you have to be careful because they usually bring the father, the mother, the grandmother, and the two brothers to come and sort you out…”// With Instructional Leaders, you find: In the new Preface to his book, //Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership//, Howard Gardner defines leadership in a way that provides an excellent introduction to our collection of articles on leadership in education. He writes, "A leader is an individual (or, rarely, a set of individuals) who significantly affects the thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors of a significant number of individuals. Most acknowledged leaders are "direct." They address their public face-to-face. But I have called attention to an unrecognized phenomenon: indirect leadership. In this variety of leading, individuals exert impact through the works that they create. Whether direct or indirect, leaders fashion stories: principally stories of identity. It is important that a leader be a good storyteller, but equally crucial that the leader embody that story in his or her life. When a leader tells stories to experts, the stories can be quite sophisticated; but when the leader is dealing with a diverse, heterogeneous group, the story must be sufficiently elemental to be understood by the untutored, or 'unschooled,' mind."
 * Define leadership (your definition of leadership).
 * Describe the difference between traditional views of leadership and more current views.
 * Identify and define leadership roles (hats worn as an educational leader).
 * 1) Action, not talk. Think it was easy to build an Academy in such a short time. We just did it.
 * 2) Be present and visible.
 * 3) Don’t drown in the data; use it judiciously.
 * 4) Communication ALWAYS in every way. Fix the breakdowns that are inevitable.
 * 5) Build Consensus.
 * 6) Form a team; build your farm team up – a lesson the Pirates still are learning!!!
 * 7) Understand the fiscal realities.
 * 8) Relevant Training
 * 9) Everyone mentors what he or she can.
 * 10) As little red tape as possible.
 * 11) An unrelenting focus on getting the job done.
 * Provide a rationale for the importance of the leadership roles identified (why are these roles important?).
 * Discuss the leadership skills necessary for the roles that you've identified.

1. Knowledge curriculum development and continuous school improvement.

2. Knowledge of research-based instructional practices.

3. Knowledge of school culture.

4. Knowledge of instructional design and pedagogy.

5. Knowledge of instructional programs for students with special needs.

6. Knowledge of federal and state educational law.

7. Knowledge of financial and accounting practices.

8. Knowledge of buildings and grounds management.

Administrative Leadership implies that the comprehensive implementation of technology is, in itself, a large-scale systemic reform. Therefore, administrators focus on their role as leaders in enhancing learning and school operations through the use of technology. This challenge realizes that the wide range of roles administrators play in the organization of the district and in the individual schools can only be embellished through the deployment of items such as digital standards, technology integration methodologies, tools development, infrastructure improvements, etc. The Technology Specialist serves as part of their school’s leadership team, providing job-embedded and ongoing professional development for teachers, staff, and administration. The Technology Specialist provides support to the principal in data analysis and professional development decision-making. The Technology Specialist provides professional development and guidance for teachers to improve their content knowledge and instructional strategies. Overall, the job of the Technology Specialist is to build the capacity of the school and its teachers to meet the learning needs of all students. The goal is to ensure that school staff acquires the understanding and skills to: 1) Enhance instructional practices at the classroom level and, 2) Raise the level of student achievement. The effective Technology Specialist spends the majority of the time working in classrooms with teachers (e.g. modeling, observing, co-teaching). The Technology Specialist plays a very strong role in the analysis and utilization of student achievement data to impact instructional decision-making. The Technology Specialist should not, however, be responsible for the administration of assessments, collection of assessment data, or management of data systems. The focus of Technology Specialist 's work is to train, support, and assist teachers in meaningful utilized data for instructional planning that positively impacts student achievement. The Technology Specialist may facilitate teacher study groups in which they analyze student work and lesson plans and plan for the enhancement of instructional strategies. The coach’s analysis of student work and teaching and learning data will inform what occurs during coaching sessions with individual teachers and in the teacher study groups. The roles and responsibilities of the Technology Specialist include:
 * Discuss the leadership that is expected of technology specialists in schools today.
 * Participating in all required Technology Specialist professional development. The Technology Specialist is charged with acquiring the knowledge, skills, technology skills, and instructional strategies necessary to effectively impact the instructional practices of the teachers that are coached. The Technology Specialist must remain knowledgeable about current and past research in the specific content area and other pedagogies relevant to the coaching role.
 * Identifying school teaching and learning needs, barriers and weaknesses by analyzing student data, and organizing and implementing problem-solving actions with teachers;
 * Facilitating school-based high quality professional development, working with teachers (in teams or individually) to refine their knowledge and skills. Training vehicles could include, but not be limited to, in-class coaching, observing, modeling of instructional strategies, guiding teachers in looking at student work, developing lesson plans with teachers based on student needs, supporting data analysis, supporting the integration of technology, etc.;
 * Monitoring instructional effectiveness and student progress using tools and strategies gained through professional development;
 * Building and maintaining confidential relationships with teachers. The conversations and interactions that the Technology Specialist has with teachers must always remain confidential so that a high level of trust is created and maintained between the teacher and the Technology Specialist. Exceptions to this include imminent physical or psychological danger to the students.