I.

Assessment Centered
Gannons Principal Certification Program

Natalie Torti Teacher Effectiveness at ECS Gap Analysis

GEDU 720 & 725 Quality Teaching/Professional Responsibility - Erie, PA

I. KNOWLEDGE CENTERED

A. Link to Leadership Standard: How did this project address the ELCC Standard (s)?

ELCC Standard 1.1-1.5 ask that educational leaders be able to articulate, develop,
implement, and steward the vision of an organization. This Gap Analysis activity was the
perfect example of a project that allowed us to identify the vision of the school, analyze
where deficits (or gaps) might exist. It asked us to prioritize the greatest needs and greatest
impacts of different plan models. Create an action plan to remedy those gaps. Then
implement the action plan by engaging stakeholders and other leaders.

In my gap analysis, I found the greatest deficits around teacher effectiveness lied in
identification of teacher deficits and differentiation in supporting novice or struggling teachers.
To get a better look at the systems we have in place at Environmental Charter School, I broke
the idea of teacher effectiveness into three parts: evaluation, compensation, and professional
development.

I believe teacher effectiveness can be improved and made consistent at ECS through some
strategic shifts, so I enlisted the Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment team to implement
these changes. I asked that teacher evaluation needs to be closely tied to compensation and to
professional development. I asked that our merit based pay to be more heavily used to reward
excellence in teaching. We also need well documented, clear, and consistent communication
about teacher effectiveness. We need leadership to truly embrace their role as instructional
leaders and to share that responsibility with expert teachers in their buildings.

I also engaged with the instructional coaching team to develop a Professional Learning
Community PD model, which allows teachers to work on different goals with different starting
points. I believe this shift in PD which allows teachers to receive supports and training rather
than punishment, will make a huge difference in the growth of our faculty.

B. What knowledge (from research studies, journal articles, books, state or district reports
or documents, instructor provided resources, etc.) provided the rationale for or guided
this project?

I used the ASCDs Snapshot Survey of School Effectiveness Factors gap analysis tool
to help me rethink and renew my vision of our school community. In my analysis, a
pattern emerged when answering questions of consistency across the school or for
checklist items that asked about if someone checks to ensure practices are consistently
in place. With this in mind, I researched evaluation and compensation models through
The New Teacher project, Pittsburgh Publics RISE system, and The Bill and Melinda
Gates work. I also accessed many internal ECS documents including our Employee
Handbook, emails, meeting notes, and compensations model documents.

C. Link to National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A)

Reflective Commentary--(If applicable)

Data collection, communication dissemination, and collaboration are greatly impacted by

proper and efficient technology use. This project would not have been possible without the
online resources from various sources, the documentation of data and information I was able
to access through technology, and the ability to collaborate via online routes with my school
organization. Using technology to analyze data, create plans, disseminate information is
essential to this type of school visioning and revision action plans.

D. Link this project to knowledge of students, families, and communities diverse
experiences and cultures. How did this project consider the need to adapt programs
appropriately for all students, including linguistically and culturally diverse students and
students with exceptionality?

One of the major areas of growth in our community is teacher effectiveness with culturally
diverse students and students with exceptionalities. We are seeing an increased need for
teacher support, training, professional development, and personal growth in these fields.
This project identified the deficits in our schools ability to encourage and reward effective
teaching that reaches all of our students. It also identified supports and structures for
teachers whose practices are not currently effective with these populations. The best action
an educational leader can take to affect the lives and learning of their students is to equip
and empower their teachers to be great.

II. LEARNER CENTERED

A. What was the impact on student/system learning?

This project was a direct action plan that addressed gaps in the effectiveness of our
teachers and the system in which supports teacher growth and success. I developed as an
educational leader as I learned new tools to assess and analyze systems in which I am
currently engaged. It can be the hardest task to separate yourself from your organization in
order to fully see the system and its flaws. It allowed me to identify some hard truths about
our organization that definitely will lead to change in the coming years. It will also stay with
me and influence my thinking on systems and structures I help to create in the future. This
will benefit the school and our students because it has taught me to focus on the outcome
for students as the bottom line in my thinking.


B. Understanding of Diverse Learners.

This project allowed me to look at data and analyze it to gage teacher effectiveness for all
students. Using the gap analysis allowed me to break down the areas in which teachers are
not reaching their potential in supporting all students and especially diverse learners- those
who have cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic differences as well as students with
disabilities. The plan we created added support specifically in the area of differentiation
through our PLC professional development which is 3 hours per month.

III. ASSESSMENT CENTERED

A. How has this project demonstrated a commitment to assessment for monitoring and
promoting student learning; and employing assessment practices appropriate for all
students, including linguistically and culturally diverse students and students with
exceptionality.

This project focused around assessing teacher effectiveness through direct

assessment using the Gap Analysis as a tool for finding deficits and areas of concern. This
allowed us to assess where student learning may be better supported and encouraged
through district practices such as merit based pay, professional development, and support of
struggling teachers. The end result of these initiatives would be higher quality teaching for
each child, including and especially those with cultural differences and exceptionalities.

B. What changes would you make to improve the quality of the product, activity, or
outcome?

We did implement many parts of the project in our school. The strength and greatest
impact of this project is that we were able to increase time and focus professional
development on areas with the greatest need. That included differentiation and project
based learning development. The parts of the plan that have not been implemented yet
include changing the nature of our merit based pay to more heavily value effective teaching
and innovation. The changes I would make if I had total control of how this project was
implemented would be more focus on coaching and administrative feedback for teachers. I
believe there are some staffing issues that stand in the way of the coaching and
administrative team being highly effective at ECS.


IV. COMMUNITY CENTERED

A. How has this project enhanced your understanding of the importance of your role in
forming ongoing relationships with colleagues, students, parents, other districts, and the
community to enhance student learning?

I believe this project helped me learn to balance relationships with data analysis. At times
relationships and personal knowledge of a system can stand in the way of properly assessing
and gauging effectiveness of practices. We have a a very small, very close community of
educators and that can lead to bias and preference in our policies, decisions, and
assessments. It also means that at times, the personal relationships get in the way of
decisions that would be best of the students. This cannot happen and using tools for
impartial analysis such as the gap assessment, I can ensure that an objective measurement
and assessment is taken regularly to improve practices across the board.

B. Understanding of cultural diversity and global connections in the local community.

I believe the first step of fully including the community is creating a collaborative plan
with norms in place for the interactions you will have. This allows all parties to communicate
respectfully and give input that represents their ideas and experiences. One of our norms is
being hard on content, but soft on people. This norm allows the community to assess the
issues of our system without tearing each other down. Collaboration allows for equal voice to
be given whether someone is a new employee or old, a parent, student, or a teacher, etc.


V. REFLECTION

A. Professional Growth: (Reflective and Self Assessment Commentary). How did creation
of this project or engagement in this activity enhance your professional growth as an
educational leader?

This project allowed me to grow as a leader because it helped me focus on systematic
ways to assess teacher effectiveness. It also allowed me to create a plan for addressing the
issues and deficits we saw in our teacher effectiveness plan. It enhanced my professional
growth because it was an authentic experience that lead to a current year long PLC pilot at
our school which I helped shaped through this project and additional research in my principal
internship.

VI. CLINICAL EXPERIENCE--EXPERIENTIAL

This project was field based because it used real data from our school through the gap
assessment. Then I took the leading research on best practices and created a plan to impact
the deficits I found in teacher effectiveness. This plan was presented and partially adopted
by our Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment team of which I became a member of during
this internship.

Creating a Professional Learning Community among our staff was a real world authentic
experience in educational leadership. It is an ongoing change that the CIA team and
instructional coaches embraced and we are now having our 7th meeting coming up in
December. I have learned so much from seeing this project from conception to
implementation and will continue to reflect, adjust, and grow the idea throughout the next
few years.

VII. DISPOSITIONS

A. What was learned from the experience of creating this entry and how did this learning
relate to professional dispositions that are consistent with the ideas of fairness and the
belief that all students can learn?

As a professional educational leader, my beliefs, attitudes, and values were enhanced by
this project as it allowed me to use a neutral tool to assess the community and systems I am
part of. This removal of bias through use of assessment is an integral tool we must use as
professionals. As important as it is to build relationships with employees and staff in a school
community, it is also necessary and critical to be able to diagnose deficits, assess where
support is needed, and to create action plans without taking personal feelings into account.