Competency 1

Charlie Sanchez has been the principal of East Elementary for four years. During this time, the faculty has had a large turnover. Approximately 95% of the faculty was not involved in developing the school's vision and mission. Mr. Sanchez wants to revisit and revise these documents so that all of the current stakeholders will be involved in the development. Which of the following actions by Mr. Sanchez would most effectively involve the teachers to share their ideas about this vision?

• Hold a town hall with faculty members to discuss the important topics included in the vision.

• Provide the teachers who are most vocal in their thoughts about the vision.

• Delegate committee assignments to the most experienced teachers with the understanding that they will report to the whole group for discussion.

• Create an environment of trust by ensuring that all comments are valued.

The Texas Education Agency uses the Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) as a platform for student data and calculates school and district performance statistics. Four indexes and graduation rates are used to create school accountability ratings; these four indices are:

• Student achievement, student progress, closing performance gaps, and postsecondary readiness.

• Level I standard, Level II standard, Improvement Required, and Distinction Designations.

• Met, Near I, Met II, and Advanced.

• Student Ethnic Distribution, Teacher by Years of Experience, and Total Graduates by Ethnicity, and Attendance Rate.

Ms. Palmer is the principal of North School. Ms. Sanders is working with stakeholders to develop a campus vision and plan to implement the vision. They have reviewed demographic data, survey results from parents and community members, and current accountability guidelines, and the results of the campus needs assessment. What other critical information should Ms. Sanders and stakeholders review to complete the campus vision?

• Minutes from PTA meetings.

• Education articles from local newspapers.

• Student achievement data.

• Teacher retention data.

Ms. Winters is the principal of an elementary school. She wants to ensure the teachers are making the most of instructional time with students. She has constructed a master schedule and the teachers have established classroom procedures to maximize learning time. Ms. Winters wants to deepen engagement during classroom discussions to make sure students are engaged in learning activities as much as possible. Which of the following questions should Ms. Winters ask her teachers to help them think broadly about ways to increase student engagement?

• What will students gain from every class?

• What if students who do not have core materials on their desks?

• What is the focus of the lesson?

• How can wait time be reduced to less than three seconds during classroom discussions?

Michelle Tsudzuki is the principal of Oakwood Elementary. Improving the relationship between the school and the community is one of Ms. Tsudzuki's priorities. She establishes a committee of community leaders to make recommendations for improving communication. During committee meetings, which role would be most appropriate for Ms. Tsudzuki to play?

• Researcher

• Advocate

• Convener

• Facilitator

Ms. Crown is the principal of a large middle school serving grades six through eight. She has helped her campus transition to an inclusion model for implementing special education services. Ms. Crown makes it a point to attend all Admission Review and Dismissal (ARD) meetings to ensure the development of effective Individualized Education Programs (IEP) for students with special needs. When she is unable to make it to the ARD meetings and keep the diversity goals in mind, which action should the assistant principal because they know on administration must be present to:

• Share the results of current evaluations.

• Approve accommodations included in the student's IEP.

• Introduce all members of the ARD committee.

• Commit resources for the implementation of the student's IEP.

Alan Madison is the new principal of Main Street Middle School. He finds that there appears to be negative feelings about the school and its instructional activities. Mr. Madison has decided to launch a public relations campaign before the beginning of school. What would be the best first step to take in this campaign?

• Develop a mailing list of all media so that information can be disseminated in an efficient manner.

• Identify all the financial resources that can be used for a media campaign.

• Provide a written brochure for the media.

• Survey the community and other stakeholders to gather data on the perceptions about the school.

Mary Monroe is the new principal at Oak Hills Middle School. As she begins to look through the school records, she notes that while there is ample student achievement data, there is little perception data available about the campus. In an effort to learn more about school and community relationships, which of the following is most likely to provide an accurate picture of the community perception of the school?

• Interview school community and business leaders to ask questions and gain information about their perception of the school.

• Look at school records to see which students and community members have visited the school in the previous year.

• Ask the superintendent to send a district office staff to conduct yearly evaluations.

• Collect data by observing and surveying faculty about their and community members' views within the school and reference zone.

Joan Meadows is the principal of Irving High School. She has been working with a group of stakeholders to continue the development of school culture. She has noticed that when the group is meeting, Ms. Meadows and Mr. Johnson are not able to participate in the conversation. However, Meadows is aware that they both download podcasts and listen much more to share. Which of the following would be the most appropriate first step for Ms. Meadows to take to ensure that all stakeholders have input?

• Hold a forum with all faculty members to discuss the important topics for the week.

• Ask all members of the committee to contribute all local news videos verbally to the group.

• Invite the committee members to meet with the principal individually.

• Provide a safe environment for all stakeholders by finding members of the committee to send in writing views or concerns to the committee before the actual meeting.

Marilyn is the new principal of Monroe Elementary. Monroe Elementary has the largest bilingual population in the school district. With new events on hold for the current year such as incoming night or math night, there is little involvement from the bilingual parents. Hoping to improve the parent participation for all groups of parents, Ms. De Bruin works to hold a bilingual parent night that will address some specific concerns the parents of bilingual students might have. Which of the following steps is likely to take first in planning this event?

• Ask the faculty and staff for input on the area of bilingual parent night focusing on the needs they see and how it should be carried out.

• Send home flyers in both English and Spanish that invite parents to the special event.

• Set up translation to be available for the event and make sure that all parents are aware of this service.

• Determine if the Bilingual Education function can be used for this purpose before setting the budget for the event.