2. Organizational Management
a. Demonstrate an understanding of organizational systems
b. Define process for gathering, analyzing, managing data to plan and make decisions for programs c. Schedule personal and organizational work establishing procedures to regulate, delegate and empower d. Demonstrate the ability to analyze need and allocate personnel and material resources e. Develop and manage budgets and maintaining accurate fiscal records f. Develop an understanding of facilities development, planning and management g. Understand and use technology as a management tool |
Schools operate using a variety of organizational systems including: those that support curriculum and instruction, those that facilitate the examination of data and assessment, those that provide structure for students, and those that manage the evaluation and growth of teachers. As a new administrator, it is important for me to be able to understand, adapt, lead, and manipulate a variety of organizational systems.
Throughout my career in education, I have had the opportunity to participate in the planning and facilitation of multiple efficient and effective organizational systems. I have supported the improvement of systems at the elementary school, middle school, high school and district levels. Some initiatives I have been a part of are: the planning of our new elementary school building, a master schedule re-design at the middle school, Q Comp Plan writing, coordinating, and evaluation, and most recently, an intervention team structure plan for all three building levels.
The system that I have served as primary leader for is our district’s Q Comp initiative. I was the primary writer of the Q Comp Plan, which included a building goal process, the annual writing and approval of individual teacher goals, a peer observation system, a Professional Learning Community (PLC) process, and a mentoring program. I have coordinated the program for four years including two Plan changes at the Minnesota Department of Education level. I am responsible for leading the annual evaluation, core governing committee meetings, on-going problem solving, budget planning, personnel hiring process, and data management (Artifact 1).
Another project that I have been able to support through my field experiences is creating a unified structure for intervention teams (iTeams) in our school district. This summer, the elementary school counselor and I met and planned an intricate structure for the intervention team to integrate with PLC’s to intervene with students. We created a calendar where PLC’s problem solve for Tier 1 students needing support a week before the iTeam discusses students at that grade level. There is a grade level teacher who visits the iTeam for their grade, and there is a core iTeam member on each PLC (intervention teachers). We also designed Google Documents to align with this process including a recording template for each grade level, a variety of intervention templates and examples, a problem solving process document, and an iTeam referral document (Artifact 2). These documents are available to each PLC in their online Google Folder.
At the high school level, I have integrated the recording template and problem solving process document from the elementary into the iTeam process. However, at the high school level it is not as easy for teachers to identify students who have needs across settings due to the fact that they only see students for one period per day. So, I created a spreadsheet for each grade level that includes all students, their two most recent standardized tests, their teacher connection survey self assessment score, their current number of F’s, their attendance, any special services they receive, and their ethnicity. Each column is color coded by its benchmarks for us to easily be able to see students in the danger area in multiple categories. This document has helped us easily determine students who need interventions based on poor performance in multiple areas (Artifact 3).
When planning and monitoring organizational systems, I have found that it is important to include all stakeholders from the beginning and communicate regularly. Overall, the success of organizational systems is dependent on the people who are using them.
Throughout my career in education, I have had the opportunity to participate in the planning and facilitation of multiple efficient and effective organizational systems. I have supported the improvement of systems at the elementary school, middle school, high school and district levels. Some initiatives I have been a part of are: the planning of our new elementary school building, a master schedule re-design at the middle school, Q Comp Plan writing, coordinating, and evaluation, and most recently, an intervention team structure plan for all three building levels.
The system that I have served as primary leader for is our district’s Q Comp initiative. I was the primary writer of the Q Comp Plan, which included a building goal process, the annual writing and approval of individual teacher goals, a peer observation system, a Professional Learning Community (PLC) process, and a mentoring program. I have coordinated the program for four years including two Plan changes at the Minnesota Department of Education level. I am responsible for leading the annual evaluation, core governing committee meetings, on-going problem solving, budget planning, personnel hiring process, and data management (Artifact 1).
Another project that I have been able to support through my field experiences is creating a unified structure for intervention teams (iTeams) in our school district. This summer, the elementary school counselor and I met and planned an intricate structure for the intervention team to integrate with PLC’s to intervene with students. We created a calendar where PLC’s problem solve for Tier 1 students needing support a week before the iTeam discusses students at that grade level. There is a grade level teacher who visits the iTeam for their grade, and there is a core iTeam member on each PLC (intervention teachers). We also designed Google Documents to align with this process including a recording template for each grade level, a variety of intervention templates and examples, a problem solving process document, and an iTeam referral document (Artifact 2). These documents are available to each PLC in their online Google Folder.
At the high school level, I have integrated the recording template and problem solving process document from the elementary into the iTeam process. However, at the high school level it is not as easy for teachers to identify students who have needs across settings due to the fact that they only see students for one period per day. So, I created a spreadsheet for each grade level that includes all students, their two most recent standardized tests, their teacher connection survey self assessment score, their current number of F’s, their attendance, any special services they receive, and their ethnicity. Each column is color coded by its benchmarks for us to easily be able to see students in the danger area in multiple categories. This document has helped us easily determine students who need interventions based on poor performance in multiple areas (Artifact 3).
When planning and monitoring organizational systems, I have found that it is important to include all stakeholders from the beginning and communicate regularly. Overall, the success of organizational systems is dependent on the people who are using them.