Scott Greiner: Reflective Essay

Over the course of the past two and a half years, I have experienced so much in terms of

growth and development in my professional life. The Ed. Specialist program at Oakland

University has prepared me to become a strong leader who knows how to run an effective

school, build an effective school community, and operate all systems of a school at a high

performing level. While looking at the ELCC standards, I can see the growth I have experienced

due to experiences I have completed over the course of the past two and a half years.

Standard One focused on the School Vision. In this standard, I have done some of the

most work to improve my knowledge and expertise. In the beginning of the program, I rated

myself proficient, but since being in the program, I have grown even more. Looking at the

various activities I have completed, I have now ranked myself at exemplary. When I looked at

where I was over two years ago to where I am today, there have been many opportunities that

have developed me to this level.

My collaboration level has greatly improved. I now can explain the why behind why we

do what we do as a school and company. I have completed a research project dealing with

remedial reading programs and their effectiveness on struggling readers. While working on this

project, I collaborated not only with my colleagues to collect data, but I also collaborated with

my colleagues in class. This project allowed me to look at a program our school implemented,

and I was able to investigate the effectiveness of it. While working on this program evaluation, I

was also able to work through other substandards of Standard One, including: collecting data to

identify school goals, promote school improvement goals, help evaluate school progress, and

finally use technology to improve a shared vision.

In Standard Two, School Culture, I feel I had the most growth. In this standard, I went

from developing to proficient. Over the course of this program, I was able to complete various
Scott Greiner: Reflective Essay

tasks and assignments as well. Throughout assignments such as developing a new teacher

induction program and through being the summer school coordinator at Regent Park, I have

expanded my knowledge of school culture.

Being the summer school coordinator has allowed me to create a culture with my staff

that promotes a positive culture, student-achievement mindset, and rigorous curriculum that

helps us meet the needs of all students. During my stint as coordinator over the last three years, I

have been able to sustain a culture conducive to student learning, created and evaluated school

programs, and used technologies to support learning. My biggest development in this standard

came from understanding hiring practices and supervising school staff. These experiences have

helped me further develop my understandings of school culture.

School Management of Organization, Operation, and Resources, Standard Three, has

been a great area of opportunity and growth for me. I had the most developing areas evaluated

here at the beginning. Through my work at Regent Park and assignments in coursework, I was

able to develop my understanding in this area more. I was developing two years ago, and at the

end of the program proficient.

One of the biggest benefits in this standard was a final paper from an outsider’s

perspective about my school’s human resource department and functions of the department.

While completing this paper, I was able to learn about the various aspects of the operations

system, how to efficiently use human resources to manage operations, understand school safety,

development of distributed leadership, and ensure teacher and organizational time on student

learning. This paper reflection allowed me to use all of the information I had gained through

coursework to reflect on human resource aspects in my school. The paper has also been a big

reason for the growth I made in this section.

Scott Greiner: Reflective Essay

Standard Four, School Collaboration with Faculty, Community Members, and Family is

an area I have made improvement with, but it is also one I would like to develop myself further

in the future. While I have made progress, I ranked this as proficient in the beginning of the

program and ranked it as proficient at the end. Throughout the program, the work I have done

have helped me see the importance of a community-wide collaboration that promotes school

improvement.

Some of my work that promoted the most growth in this standard was my work as a lead

on the Parent Engagement Committee at Regent Park. While working on this committee and

leading it, I worked with our Instructional Dean/Coach to develop events that focused on parent

needs but also on informing parents about school improvement items. These nights ranged from

“Help your child Succeed” to “Helping your child make it in High School”. Throughout the

events, parents met with our Instructional Dean for a brief presentation about School

Improvement, completed a brief survey, and then went to the various rooms/centers to gain

information about the night’s topic. By holding these nights and planning the nights for parents

and families, I was able to gain more insight into how to communicate and inform parents and

families.

While working on Standard Five, School Ethics, Integrity, Fairness, and Practice, I was

able to experience huge learning growth. At the start of the program, I ranked myself as

proficient in this category, but now I ranked myself as exemplary. Being able to understand

student achievement and promoting what is best for kids, academically and behaviorally, has

helped me make the progress I have over the past couple of years.

When dealing with this standard, I have completed various tasks including an attendance

analysis paper that tried to boost attendance at our school. As well, I worked on law and legal
Scott Greiner: Reflective Essay

issues as they pertain to Regent Park and surrounding schools. A third item I worked on in this

standard was conducting student data analysis. All of these assignments and work have helped

me develop my understanding of how I understand law and legal issues as well as promoting

social justice and accountability. This work helped me reach the exemplary ranking due to the

extensive time I spent working to develop myself here.

Standard Six, School Success of Every Student, was perhaps my biggest focus area at the

beginning of this program. I was ranked developing in two of the three substandards. I did not

have a lot of experience here, and it was not something I had a lot of exposure to at school.

Throughout my coursework and experience, I have held many leadership roles. However, I had

not dealt directly with items in this standard.

Some of my best work in this standard that took me from developing to proficient was

my work in my leadership program and my roles I have held. The leadership program I attended

through National Heritage Academies granted me the opportunities to experience leadership in

many various aspects. As well, the roles I have held, including Athletic Director, have helped me

with my decisions impacting the learning environment such as implementing a Pay 2 Play fee

with my sports team I oversee. All these experiences have shown me new ways to look at issues

and how to ensure that I am making all the right decisions based around the idea of students first.

While doing all this work in the Ed. Specialist program and work experience at Regent

Park, I have been able to see many growth opportunities in myself. At the beginning of the

program, I had many areas to improve on and was not aware of all the various aspects of being a

building leader. After completing the program, I have now gained new experiences, new

learning, and am ready for the new adventures that await being a building/community leader.