L4L Cohort 5

May 2015
Capstone Year 3
Statement

INTRODUCTION
My third year in the Leadership for Learning program turned out to be my most
transformative year. I took on a new position in a new district. This gave me lots of new
challenges all by itself, but experiencing these challenges through the frame of my L4L
work made it a year of intense, practical learning.
Through all three years of my coursework, including readings, projects, and written
assignments, as well as my interactions with colleagues, I have learned an enormous
amount about who I am as a leader and how far I have come. This portfolio describes, and
uses artifacts to illustrate, the growth I attained over the course of the past three years,
and sets forth a plan for continued growth in coming years.
This has been a landmark year for me, with more growth in the course of this year than
probably the last five years of my career. Although the Director of Special Programs has
always held a place in the Cabinet, I dont think the rest of the cabinet members expected
that I would take such a comprehensive leadership role, especially in my first year in the
district.
MY GROWTH IN THE STANDA RDS
1. Equity & Excellence
When leaders demonstrate leadership along this standard they are able to:
a) Identify how practices, policies, and systems, both presently and historically,
have created disparities in the quality of learning environments and student
success, particularly for traditionally marginalized students
b) Build policies and systems that support every student in success and learning to
high standards
c) Foster the collective responsibility, growth and capacity of others to reflect on
and enact equitable practice
d) Engage and empower multiple voicesboth professional and communityin
key deliberations and decision-making
e) Facilitate explicit discussions about race, class, language, ability, and other
group-based disparities in the service of collective action to decrease them
With respect to Standard 1a, I have grown in m y ability to identify how
practices, policies, and systems both presently and historically, have created
disparities in the quality of learning environments and student success,
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particularly for traditionally marginalized students.

Although Ive always noticed disparities in education, my new learning has
allowed me to see the intentionality that has always existed, resulting in inequity
for some. In my position as principal, I tried to make things more equitable at my
own building, but I struggled to do so within a system that not only accepted
inequity, but also seemed to be designed purposefully that way. In my new
position, I have the authority to make some significant changes at the district level.
But even more than that, in my role in the central office, I can now look back at the
power of the principal position from a different perspective.
Part of my new job is to supervise the ELL program. The program is actually
coordinated by an ELL teacher, who manages the ELL budgets and assigns ELL
paraeducators to different buildings. Almost immediately upon starting my new job, I
could see that my new districts ELL program was woefully inadequate for our
students needs. My predecessor in this position had not taken the time or shown the
interest in the ELL program to investigate its effectiveness or to make necessary
changes.
I soon learned that the problem was much bigger than I first thought. Classroom
teachers and paraeducators hadnt been trained in ELL strategies, and for the most
part, staff (including administrators) viewed the ELL programs flaws as the fault of
the ELL coordinator. In a most notable example of inequity, at the middle school
there was a classroom of 31 ELLs crammed together for two periods a day with an
unqualified instructor. Behavior was completely out of control and lessons were
unfocused and irrelevant. A couple of people even described it to me in horror as all
the brown children thrown together in one room.
This type of thing goes on in schools all across America, but before I came to my new
job, Id never actually seen it. People in the district say theyre unhappy with the
situation, but it still goes on.
Because of the position Im in, I am able to make changes in the ELL program, and
have already begun. I have plans for more significant changes for next year and
beyond.
However, because my new role gives me a new perspective on the role of principal, I
find myself feeling frustrated when principals dont act when they have the power to
do so. This will be a new leadership challenge for me: Using my position to
influence principals to address inequity.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Cycle of Inquiry Year 3, Capstone
presentation (Board meeting presentation), Subgroups in Greatest Need (along with

job proposal for instructional coach to address this)

For Standard 1b, I am proficient in building policies and systems that support every student
in success and learning to high standards. In addition to my work with our ELL program, I
have worked with my districts Highly Capable (HiCap) program. Highly capable students
are often an overlooked segment of a districts population.
In my district, we have a fairly robust Advanced Placement program in place for highly
capable high school students. And for middle school, we have some advanced math and
humanities classes. However, the elementary school program is a very traditional one-daya-week pullout class. The parents of students in this class are very satisfied with the
program. However, just as with the ELL program, principals and district administrators
believe the Highly Capable program is not as effective as it could be.
Although I supervise the program, I am not the Highly Capable teachers evaluator.
However, I have managed to get this changed for next year, when she will be on her first
year of the new Focused evaluation. As her evaluator, I will be able to work more closely
with her on her instruction. Meanwhile, I have used my leadership moves to influence her
program in several ways, particularly with how we select students for the program, and how
students are assessed. Ive also used my position to advocate for her students with building
principals when teachers sometimes undermine the program, such as scheduling special
events on the one day of the week students would be pulled out for HiCap.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: HiCap Draft Handbook, classroom feedback to
the HiCap teacher (not posted due to confidentiality)
Regarding Standard 1c, I have been proud of my ability to foster the collective
responsibility, growth and capacity of others to reflect on and enact equitable practice. In
addition to my work with ELL and HiCap, I have been able to influence my Cabinet. I am
fortunate enough to work with people who already value equity as a core belief. However, I
believe I have been an important asset in the way I have continually brought up issues of
equity, thereby keeping these issues in the forefront of our decision-making.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: ELL evaluation memo, Equitable Leadership
principles paper, WERA presentation
As for Standard 1d, I have grown significantly in my ability to engage and empower
multiple voicesboth professional and communityin key deliberations and decisionmaking, although I expect to be able to do even more of this in the near future.
In my role as Director of Special programs, I have lots of opportunities to include others in
decision-making. Here are some examples:

I always include principals in decisions about our categorical budgets

I led an ad-hoc committee for purchasing technology for state testing
I formed a HiCap committee to amend our HiCap procedures and re-write our HiCap
Handbook
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I invited our school counselors to meet with me twice to decide how we wanted to
spend a grant I had obtained from the county for homeless students. They told me
this was the first time they had been consulted for this
I have written three Board policies (for Response to Intervention, LAP, and homeless
students). I conducted a series of meetings with the Instructional Facilitators (one
for each building) and with principals to get input on these policies
I have been newly appointed to facilitate a team of twin district administrators and
special education teachers to make curriculum decisions that affect our twin district
cooperative
I am forming a committee of administrators, teachers, paraeducators, and parents to
design a new program for ELL. This committee will meet over the course of the
school year next year to design and implement a comprehensive ELL program

Although as principal I always had plenty of opportunities to include my building staff in

decision-making, I had not reached out much to the community. However, in my current
role I have more opportunities to do this. For example, as the Director of Special Programs,
I am required to reach out to private schools to offer them services. This year, I contacted
the two private schools within my districts boundaries. One of them expressed interest in
participation with Title II A, so I asked her for a meeting. During my meeting with the
principal, I toured the school and made a real connection with her. We came up with some
ideas for helping her school with professional development opportunities, and I expect we
will be able to maintain a relationship over the long term.
As part of my internship, I participated in a meeting with the operator of the swimming pool
that our district owns and has a partnership with. I also collaborated with school counselors
and a local mental health counseling center to write a proposal for a Lewis County tax grant
for mental health counseling for students at our middle school and high school. I presented
the proposal before the tax board, but there were some historical political issues that I had
nothing to do with, and we did not get the grant. Navigating these political issues will be a
new challenge for me as I amend my proposal and submit it again when they open up the
grants again in a few months.
Even more importantly, I am getting more involved with the parents in my own district. In
the fall I conducted a Provider Fair for Supplemental Educational Services, which had never
been done in my district before. In addition, I worked with the ELL coordinator on ideas for
addressing some issues that she had heard about when she attended a forum of Hispanic
parents.
Finally, I am in the process of planning a District Title I meeting that will take place May
21st. These meetings are an annual requirement for Title I, but I am planning to provide
transportation to the event along with dinner and childcare. These are important steps
toward eliminating barriers to parent participation that have never been taken in my district
before.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Title I parent meeting invitation, ELL memo,
Proposal to hire district translator, proposal for mental health grant
In reference to Standard 1e, I have increased my ability to facilitate explicit discussions
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about race, class, language, ability, and other group-based disparities in the collective action
to decrease them. I have worked all year to lay the groundwork for making significant
changes to our ELL program over the course of next year, and I have already hired two ELL
certificated teachers who can help me in this effort.
Making this happen has required me to engage district and building administrators,
principals, teachers and paraeducators in discussions about these topics. From these
discussions, I have surmised that many teachers, while expressing concern that ELL and
Hispanic students are not achieving as they should be, nonetheless do not take ownership of
their achievement. I have also been told that some teachers dont respect the Hispanic
culture of English Language Learners in general.
As part of my work with the ELL program, I have prepared a presentation for the
school board, which outlines next steps for improving our program. One of the
topics I will cover in this presentation is our need to follow our districts
Strategic Plan, which contains two sections that address the need to attend to
ELL students, Hispanic students, and the achievement gap, as well as the need to
develop cultural competency.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Cycle of Inquiry Year 3, Capstone
project (board meeting presentation), numerous conversations with district
educators (unable to document)

2. Inquiry-focused Practice
When leaders demonstrate leadership along this standard they are able to:
a) Engage in cycles of inquiry processes in the moment and over time, including:
i.
Using evidence to understand problems of practice and specifically the
student, teaching/other adult, and leadership dimensions of those problems
ii.
Constructing theories of action that: Rest on a solid evidence-based
rationale for how pursuing those actions may shift adult practice and
ultimately student learning and show a clear through-ine from changes in
adult practice and other conditions to improvements in student learning
iii.
Acting in ways that reflect engagement with the theory of action or
strategic deviations from it
iv. Continuously assessing progress
b) Support the learning of other adults to continuously strengthen their practice in
ways that promise to improve results for all students
c) Communicate from a teaching and learning stancein ways that help other adults
deepen the extent to which they are engaged with and value strengthening their
practice
Regarding Standard 2a, I am able to engage in cycles-of-inquiry processes in the
moment and over time; construct theories of action that rest on solid evidence, and
show a clear through- line from changes in adult practice and other conditions to
improvements in student learning; act in ways that reflect engagement with the
theory of action; and continuously assess progress.
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This is my third year working with cycles of inquiry. For this year, I worked on the
ELL issue in my district. In the past I have had difficulty figuring out what kind of data
I needed. This time I was able to decide very quickly what kinds of data I should
analyze.
Sometimes I wasnt able to acquire the data I needed, due to some systems problems
that I discovered. For example, an important piece of data that I needed in order to
determine the problem of teacher practice was a record of which students had been
taught by which teachers over the years. However, this data is not tracked in my
district. This makes no sense to me and is something I will need to pursue as I continue
working on improving ELL. Besides, this teacher data would be important for any
investigation about student learning.
An interesting aspect to my cycle of inquiry this year was just how much I actually
uncovered in terms of problems of professional practice, especially in terms of
leadership practice. Here are some examples of other systems problems that I
discovered:

The ELL coordinator and the HiCap coordinator both operate without oversight
from an administrator

There is no systematic looking at data for ELL or HiCap

There is not a culture of looking at data from a systems perspective. Individual

schools analyze their data but there is no systems way of looking at this. For
example, teachers from one school do not meet with teachers from the other
schools to analyze the data from the whole district. (I have heard members of
the Cabinet bemoan that this never comes up in meetings with the teachers
union)

There is no assessment of HiCap students progress within the HiCap program,

other than students making goals for themselves for any topic they choose

The three primary schools (K-3) have 30 minutes of instruction per day LESS
than the other schools in the district, including the intermediate schools. This
only became known to the district office folks just a month ago

All principals do their own thing in terms of virtually everything, except for a
district-mandated reading curriculum. There is no sense of everyone pulling
together

These issues have been in place for a long time; in fact longer than the current
administrators (all but two principals) have been working there. However, now that
theyve been uncovered, there is plenty of work to do! Im looking forward to tackling
them as I continue in my role.
With so many issues popping up during my Cycle of Inquiry, it was challenging to
remember to keep the focus on a clear through-line. In the end, I decided to keep my
focus (for now) on the theory that we need to provide good instruction for our ELLs by
changing the culture to one of high achievement for ELL, teacher training on ELL
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strategies, and monitoring data.

Evidence of my growth in this standard: Cycle of Inquiry Year 3, ELL evaluation
memo
In terms of Standard 2b , I have shown growth in supporting the learning of other
adults to continuously strengthen their practice in ways that promise to improve
results for all students. Because of the nature of my current role, I conduct
professional development less frequently than I did when I was a principal.
However, I do occasionally lead discussions with the principal group around student
learning, and in one-on-one discussions with principals I often take a teaching and
learning stance. Principals dont know all the rules for Title I and LAP, so I often
interact with them around teaching them these rules. I have enjoyed that in this role
I can take on a coaching role rather than a supervising role. Since Im not their
supervisor, they dont feel like its risky to not know the answers.
I also support principals in their understanding of Response to Intervention,
teaching gifted students, and (soon) ELL strategies. These are topics they havent
had training in themselves, and so they are not able to train their teachers. I plan to
do more of this work over the course of next year.
This winter, I attended the WERA conference, and while there I participated with a
group of colleagues to give a presentation on assistance relationships and taking a
teaching and learning stance. Now after two years of learning about these
principles, I feel I am better equipped to work with principals (and even the other
members of the Cabinet) on improving our systems in the service of improving
instruction for our students.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: WERA conference, Capstone
presentation
With respect to Standard 2c, I am proficient at communicating from a teaching and
learning stance--in ways that help other adults deepen the extent to which they are
engaged with and value strengthening their practice.
This is something that I was proficient at last year as well. Even so, I believe I have gotten
even better at this because I am more mindful of it than ever. While I continue to model
myself as a learner, I am learning to become more explicit to others that this is what I am
doing. When we work with students, we know that modeling is only effective if we explain
our thinking as well. This is true when working with adults too. When I plan a
presentation for principals, for example, I try to take a teaching and learning stance, and to
be mindful not only that I must model for them, but that I also must tell them that I am
modeling and why I am doing it that way.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Capstone presentation (Board presentation),
Assessment Overview presentation to the Board

3. The Improvement of Teaching & Learning

When leaders demonstrate leadership along this standard they are able to:
a) Articulate a theory-based vision of deeply-engaging, culturallyresponsive, and intellectually-challenging instruction and adult
professional learning.
b) Construct/adapt/select and use instructional frameworks and other
leadership tools to optimize student and adult professional learning
c) Engage relevant players collaboratively and draw from school-based and
community expertise and resources in instructional improvement work
d) Fashion and enact systems to support and sustain instructional leadership,
inside and outside of schools
e) Craft/adapt instructional visions, practices, and other supports
appropriately for meeting specialized learning needs (e.g., of ELLs,
students with identified disabilities)
f) Analyze assessment practice and use assessment data of various kinds to
improve instruction
Referencing Standard 3a, I am able to articulate a theory-based vision of deeply
engaging, culturally-responsive, and intellectually-challenging instruction and adult
professional learning.
Throughout these three years we have learned about how adults learn, and what strategies
should be used to bring them along to help them improve. Adults require the same sort of
high-quality learning experiences that we provide for students. They need to see a
model of what we 're asking them to do. Then they need to be able to go back to their
work setting and practice it, and receive feedback from a nonevaluative observer.
They need to come back and revisit the learning frequently until they're able to
synthesize the new learning into their practice. And, just like with students, adults need
to have learning experiences that are rigorous, relevant, and based on relationships.
As I described in the section on Standard 2c, I practice taking a teaching and learning stance
in my daily work with administrators and other staff members. During the WERA
conference, my group did a presentation about the principles of adult learning and assistance
relationships.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: WERA, Capstone presentation
In Standard 3b, I am able to construct/adapt/select and use instructional frameworks
and other leadership tools to optimize student and adult professional learning.
During our first year, we learned how to use instructional frameworks, how to
construct them, and how to adapt them for our needs. I then had all of last year to use
the Danielson framework in my role as principal. This year, I worked with a small
group to observe a high school principal facilitate a challenging staff meeting. Then
our group met to discuss the meeting through the lens of the AWSP principal
evaluation framework. Finally, I did a write-up to describe the experience and what I

learned from the experience.

Evidence of my growth in this standard: Principal observation write-up

For Standard 3c, I am growing in my ability to engage relevant players
collaboratively and draw from school-based and community expertise and resources
in instructional improvement work.
When I was a principal, I always engaged others in instructional improvement work, and
established PLCs at my building for this type of collaborative work. As I described in
Standard 1d, in my new role as Director of Special programs, I have lots of opportunities to
include others in decision-making (examples of this given above).
This year I have worked with various groups in what were new experiences for me:
Technology, HiCap, ELL, homeless, and the county tax board. Having a view from the
district office has been an eye-opening experience for me. I have enjoyed engaging with
different groups that have different perspectives.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Homeless budget email, proposal for mental
health grant
As for Standard 3d, I am proficient at fashioning and enacting systems to support and
sustain instructional leadership, inside and outside of schools. By the end of last year, I
felt I was close to proficient at this, but this year I have shown that I am able to enact
these systems at the systems level. Although I have not yet completed the transformation
of my districts ELL or HiCap programs (there is always more to be done!), I have made
huge strides with it and am well on my way to a complete overhaul of ELL.
As part of these transformations, I intend to include systems to support and sustain our
improvements, through work with the leadership of our district and the schools. Having a
comprehensive program that aligns with district and building goals will be critical to
sustained improvement.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: ELL evaluation memo, HiCap handbook
In respect to Standard 3e, I am proficient at crafting/adapting instructional visions,
practices, and other supports appropriately for meeting most specialized learning needs.
I did a lot of this type of work when I was a principal, as it is a huge part of the role. This
year, my job description doesnt really contain language that speaks to this, but I have
taken it upon myself to lead this in several areas. Although the expectation upon hiring
me was that I would supervise ELL and HiCap, the definition of this was more like a
figurehead who signs the grants while the teacher coordinators ran the two programs.
However, I saw two programs that needed to be more effective, and I saw that it ought to
be my job to improve them.
I have used my role to take the lead in these two programs and to begin transformation of
them. In addition, I am beginning to take the lead in implementing Response to
Intervention district-wide. Im also just forming a new workgroup tasked with creating a

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more systematic special education program across the two twin districts.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: ELL menu, discussions with the Cabinet,
principals, teachers and paraeducators
For Standard 3f, I am able to analyze assessment practice and use assessment data of
various kinds to improve instruction. I gathered, analyzed, and used many different types
of data throughout my three years of cycles of inquiry. In addition, as Director of
Assessment for my district, I work with our Director of Teaching and Learning to analyze
our data in order to make recommendations to the administration team and to the School
Board.
I have been surprised this year by my ability to recognize possible sources of data that I
never would have thought of before beginning this program. Before, I tended to think of
data strictly in terms of test data. Now, I quickly think of forms of qualitative data such
as student interviews. In fact, this kind of data is even more interesting to me because I
think it more often gets to the heart of what were looking for when were investigating
student learning and the causes for why they might not be learning.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Cycle of Inquiry Year 3, Subgroups in greatest
need

4. Strategic, Collaborative Governance & Decision-making

When leaders demonstrate leadership along this standard they are able to:
a) Understand and develop coherent organizational structures and policies that
improve the equity and overall performance of the education system
b) Generate, allocate, and manage resources in alignment with improvement and
equity goals
c) Identify, engage, and influence the broader policy, legal, and political environment
to strengthen supports that matter the most for learning improvement
d) Build the capacity of educators and community members to collaborate in
ongoing systemic improvement to ensure a high-quality education for every
student
e) Develop and guide decision processes that maximize collaborative problem
solving and continuous improvement
f) Model transparent and ethical leadership and address sources of conflict
productively and equitably
As to Standard 4a, I have improved in my ability to understand and develop coherent
organizational structures and policies that improve the equity and overall performance of the
educational system.
I spent the first couple months of this year getting to know my new district, and recognizing
several places where the system is siloed and not cohesive. The district has developed a
Strategic Plan, but it does not describe a system that works coherently together. Thus, ELL
is considered to be a program, in which there is a certificated coordinator who doles out

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paraeducator hours and, occasionally, resources. Meanwhile, the principals have very little
communication with the ELL coordinator while they bemoan that the ELLs arent getting
enough support.
My goal is to help everyone in the system to build a culture of educators who take
responsibility for ensuring that every student gets what they need. We need to work together
to develop a school system that considers every program (special education, CTE, Highly
Capable, ELL, etc.) to be aspects of one coordinated school system. Each specialty needs to
be integrated with, and communicate with, every other part of the larger organization, so
that each student has what essentially amounts to a multi-disciplinary team on their side.
This will require some grounding work with teachers, principals, and other administrators
who are accustomed to thinking of themselves as independent units. They are not used to
thinking of themselves as part of a systemic whole with equity as a central focus. We will
need to work together to build a culture that looks at everything through the lens of equity.
The Witherspoon article (1997) describes this process: In the process of culture creation, a
leaders major responsibilities are to embed values and beliefs, much as one would plant a
bulb in winter, anticipating the bloom of a flower in spring. When leaders pay attention to
something, the rest of the organization pays attention to it, too. Until now, my district has
not paid enough attention to issues of equity, and Im working to change that.
In my position as a member of the Cabinet, I have the ability to significantly influence
district initiatives, and so far the Cabinet has been very enthusiastic about my taking the lead
with transforming ELL. I plan to use this influence to help direct our effort (professional
development, resources, and the Strategic Plan) toward forming a cohesive, equity-based
philosophy.s
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Cycle of Inquiry, Capstone presentation, ELL
evaluation memo, Supplementary Educational Services (SES) provider fair,
Data/Instructional Coach proposal
Regarding Standard 4b, I have become proficient in generating, allocating, and managing
resources in alignment with improvement and equity goals.
One approach that I have used this year to build policies and systems that support every
student is through my funding decisions with Title I, LAP, and the bilingual budgets. The
standard practice in previous years has been to evenly allocate Title I and LAP dollars to
each building based on FTE, and to distribute the same number of ELL hours to each
building regardless of population. This felt fair and equal to everyone.
However, in my investigations of how things are done in my district, Ive learned that there
are some schools that although dollars are evenly distributed, the quantity and quality of
staffing at each building is not equitable. For example, each primary school has been
allocated 5 hours of ELL paraeducator time, regardless of how many ELLs there are at the
building or what their needs are. Yet, one primary school in particular has far more ELL
students than one of the others, and more of them have tested at Proficiency Level 1.
Now that I have taken this position, it is my responsibility to ensure that each building has
what its students need. This will mean using a different formula for determining funding
allocations based on the needs of the students in that building. Additionally, I contracted an
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ELL consultant to help me work with my district to decide how ELL personnel will be
assigned to buildings. This will require a shift in staffing allocations. As Marge Plecki, et al.
(2014) explain, What is equal is not always equitable.
I have been looking at student achievement data, classroom observation data, and other data
such as interviews with staff and students, to be able to make informed decisions about
where achievement gaps are and what might be causing them. I plan to bring this data back
to my team, so that we can organize our Title I, LAP, and ELL programs in a way that
enables alignment of resources. From there, we will use professional development to ensure
that all staff are adequately trained and distributed.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: ELL budget planning, ELL evaluation memo,
ELL email to principals
For Standard 4c, I have dramatically improved in my ability to identify, engage, and
influence the broader policy, legal, and political environment to strengthen supports that
matter the most for learning improvement.
I have moved to a whole new city, met new people, and learned a new job. Ive even
worked a little bit with the nearby private Christian school. I have already had
experiences where I was able to influence the School Board, such as writing board
policies, making changes to how we spend our homeless grant, and adding new staffing
(something my board is generally loathe to do). I am also making changes to the ELL
program. None of this can be successful without a recognition that I need to reach out and
include stakeholders.
In addition, partnered with Cascade Mental Health, a local clinic, to write a proposal for a
county tax grant for a part-time mental health counselor to work in our middle school and
high school. I didnt get the grant (this time) due to some political issues that have been
simmering for some time. At this point, I am reaching out to some of those constituents
to develop a relationship with them so that when they think of whether to grant to CSD,
they think of me and not a past bitter relationship.
Aside: Another lesson Ive always heard but am now learning first hand: In a small town,
everyone has a past with everyone!
Evidence of my growth in this standard: PowerPoint presentation for county health grant,
Friday mailer communications with the board, Chronicle article-Hispanic, Chronicle
article--interpreter (Im quoted in these articles)
Regarding Standard 4d, I have grown in my ability to build the capacity of educators
and community members to collaborate in ongoing systemic improvement to ensure a
high-quality education for every student.
I am intentional about frequently broaching the subject of systemic improvement with the
Cabinet and with principals, and sometimes with teachers and paraeducators. An
important element in building capacity is to include them in committees that can educate
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them about important issues (such as ELL) and can give them ownership of our
instructional program.
Another piece of building this capacity is through working with the School Board and
educating them about the urgency of our equity issues. Last year they approved the new
Strategic Plan, which was an important first step. Now it is time to act on the values
professed in the Strategic Plan by making personnel and fiscal decisions that move us
forward in that direction. For my capstone project, I have put together a presentation for
them to educate them about what its like to be an English Language Learner our school
district, and important next steps that need to be taken.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: ELL memo, Capstone presentation, ELL email to
principals
In reference to Standard 4e, I am proficient in developing and guiding decision processes
that maximize collaborative problem solving and continuous improvement.
I had a lot of experience with this as a principal. In my current position, I have had fewer
opportunities to be the leader in charge of decision processes. However, I did guide the
assessment tech purchasing committee, I am leading a new Special Service Workgroup (coop between two twin districts), and I am about to begin program revisions for ELL. In
addition, I have led the principals and instructional facilitators in decisions about whether to
pursue a grant through UW Tacoma, and finalizing three Board policies.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: UW Tacoma grant email to principals, RTI board
policy draft TWO
Finally, regarding Standard 4f, I am proficient in modeling transparent and ethical
leadership and address sources of conflict productively and equitably.
I am a transparent, ethical leader and my staff have always told me they know this about me.
I clarify reasons for why Im thinking the way I do and ask for their input. This year, I have
heard comments from a couple of principals that indicate that they trust me and they can tell
that I have the needs of our students in mind. In addition, my Superintendent described me
(in his evaluation of my internship) thus: Shelley is laser focused on student learning. Her
words and actions clearly convey that student learning is at the heart of our existence.
Evidence of my growth in this standard: Comment from Superintendent (quoted above),
Well done email to me from a principal

Outcomes that have resulted from my leadership

I am very proud of my accomplishments this year. As a result of my leadership, English
Language Learners in my district are about to experience a very different program in the
coming years (and in fact, there have already been important changes). I have not been
given a new budget to make these things happen, so I have had to be resourceful with the
budgets I have to make it happen, and Ive had to be very convincing in order to get the

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Superintendent to agree to the new expense involved in hiring new certificated staff.
As a result of my leadership, the following changes have happened, or are about to happen
in ELL:
Overhaul of a very ineffective classroom
Bimonthly meetings of ELL staff
Hiring two new ESL-certificated teachers for next year, to directly teach students
and train classroom teachers, principals, and paraeducators
Committee for planning comprehensive ELL program next year
New emphasis on the Strategic Plan and its emphasis on equity and cultural
competency
In addition to the many other accomplishments I mentioned in the standards above, I led the
technology committee in purchasing 300 Chromebooks for preparation for the new State
tests. This is something probably any leader could do, but for some reason the committee
seemed hesitant to make decisions and I put myself forward and took the initiative to push it
through so we could get them in time for preparation. This is something that in the past I
would not have done so vehemently, but would probably have stood back when I was first
rebuffed. This is a big growth area for me.
I have been an important force for change in another important way: I am a newcomer from
out of town with a lot of new ideas. While in some systems this is unwelcome, in my
district it has been warmly welcomed. People seemed to want new ideas and new ways to
do things. While these are mostly little things like ways to staff supervision of the
lunchroom or how to put together a budget spreadsheet, they are nonetheless important.
(And sometimes theyre big things like re-designing ELL!). Most important in terms of my
leadership, they are an example of a new voice I have this year: a new confidence in my
ability to lead and to make a difference.

Next goals and learning supports

My goal for next year is to re-design the ELL program so that it is cohesive, aligned with
RTI principles, and coordinated with the general education program. This is a very big
undertaking, not just because we are re-designing the ELL program, but also because it is
critical that it is coordinated with the general education program. This district is not used to
doing things in a systemic, coordinated manner. To do this, I will have to call upon all my
skills as a leader who takes a teaching and learning stance, and who works collaboratively
with others through a frame of equity.
As part of this work, I plan to reach out to the local college to help me bridge the gap
between the district and the Hispanic community in my district. The college is a very
important and highly respected resource to the whole community. Many Hispanic families
are connected to the college because they take ESL classes (or other classes) there and their
preschoolers often attend the ECEAP program there.
I know there are instructors there who have strong ties to the community and who could
help me in my mission. I think bringing in some people from the college could be helpful
for me as I engage with the community in this process.

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Another resource I plan to tap into a free resource that Jenny Parker told me about, the
Equity Resource Center. They have a program that provides training and assistance to
districts that want to engage in issues of equity.
These are important goals for me because they will enable me to act upon my core beliefs
and embody the leadership standards. And most transformative for me, I finally find myself
learning to reach out to community members and resources to improve the system. This has
been my most challenging goal in terms of the standards. Although I still have room to
grow, I have a clear plan for where to go next.

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