LEADERSHIP KEY QUESTION: How do you develop leadership in schools to promote a healthy school culture and influence student engagement and achievement ?

CONTRIBUTING QUESTIONS  Who: How do you encourage the right people to take on leadership roles and lead teams ?  How are professional development plans organized ?  When: How do you roll it out ?  How do you package it ?  How do you monitor it and how to keep teachers interested ?  What: What does the data tells us ?

METHODOLOGY:  Discussion with Principal, Deputy Principal and staff ;  Classroom and school visits ;  Education Quality And Accountability Office - Student Data ; Collection for Heritage Glen Elementary School and their school plan.

FINDINGS  Halton district schools have the same complexities and ask the same questions as our own counterparts in NSW ;  They use student achievement data to inform instruction;  They use the data from their Educational Quality and Accountability office to set aspirational goals to improve student learning and to develop a school plan for school improvement.

FINDINGS  As with NSW schools and their community of schools, Halton District School board has a network of 5 schools. They work together on a project from December to May and have a learning fair in May or June to celebrate their joint achievement and partnership.

FINDINGS  One difference between two our systems is their Principal's Qualification Program and the leadership process; Admission Requirements for PQP Part 1 include having the following:  Undergraduate degree, teachers certificate, 5 years of teaching experience certified by a superintendent, qualification in three divisions (one must be intermediate), completed a masters degree or two specialist qualifications or one specialist plus half a masters.

FINDINGS Admission requirements for PQP Part 2:  Successful completion of PQP Part 1;  Successful completion of the practicum proposal;  The Principal's Qualification Program is organized into 12 modules of equal length.

FINDINGS  They are employed from a pool of administrators and it is up to the Superintendent to choose the school or district they are appointed;  Once appointed as administrators they do not belong to a union and therefore cannot be assigned a class whereas in our system a D.P. may be assigned a teaching load.

FINDINGS  There are no Assistant Principal positions in the Canadian Education System.  Teachers are encouraged to be "Lead Teachers". In the Halton Board teachers receive no additional payment for taking on added roles. This can cause a challenge when teachers are not interested in becoming administrators and have no financial incentive to take on lead roles.

FINDINGS “ Real and lasting Improvement ”  “ Ontario schools are required to have a culture of collaborative professionalism, in which educators work together to use evidence to improve practice and students learning. The creation of thousands of such schools is a call for high quality leadership throughout the system. In addition, development of school and district leadership can improve the ability of leaders to act together within and across districts to implement the three core priorities and provide the supporting conditions for learning.”  B. Pervin, M.J. Gallagher, G. Clarke, J Grieve, A. Davis and R. Theberge Assistant Deputy Ministers, Ministry's Leadership Implementation Team.

FINDINGS  The primary purpose of the Board Leadership Development Strategy is to encourage a systematic approach to fostering high quality leadership throughout the organization. In doing so, the system encourages staff to further build leadership skills in their current role and supports their preparation should they wish to consider other leadership positions.

FINDINGS 'There is considerable evidence indicating that:  School leaders are second only to teachers classroom instruction as an influence on student learning;  There is not a single documented case of a school successfully turning around its student achievement trajectory in the absence of talented leadership ;

FINDINGS 'There is considerable evidence indicating that:  Widely distributed school leadership has a greater influence on schools and students;  System leaders can positively influence student achievement;  Effective system practices are necessary to sustain successful schools.

FINDINGS  An organizations most effective leaders are not just acquired, they are grown - in fact an organization has more potential leaders, than it often realizes. Great leaders have a tremendous capacity to learn and need to be challenged in order to continuously grow.

FINDINGS  Leaders are powerful levers for improvement at the school system level. The presence of strong leaders throughout the system results in an improvement and achievement driven culture, supporting staff to ensure the success of all students ;  “ The best way to increase student learning is to invest in adult learning.” Board Leadership Strategy

FINDINGS  I visited Pineview a small elementary school in Georgetown;  The Principal used 'Growing Success' with her staff and asked the following questions:  'What's new in this document for us ?  'I don't want you to miss out’.

FINDINGS Using the above document the staff brainstormed  'Where are we ?  'Where do we want to move to ?  'How do we know ?  'How will we get there ?  'What will it look like ?

FINDINGS  After answering the above questions the whole staff collaboratively planned their Professional Development Days.

FINDINGS  The Principal had introduced the books ‘ The Daily 5 ’ & ‘ The Cafe Book ’  The question was proposed ‘ How do the above literature connect to Teaching and Learning Critical Pathways (T.L.C.P)’ ?  T.L.C.P. and the E.Q.A.O. (Education Quality And Accountability Office);  The Principal chose one or two teachers to trial it in their classrooms with the hope that other teachers would come on board at a later date.

FINDINGS  At Heritage Glen a larger elementary school in a middle class suburb uses a different approach;  Here they use team leaders to help plan, lead and foster professional development;  In literacy the Vice Principal has the team leaders for each division give teachers a book around the literacy block (see literature review). The teachers read, share and trial ideas in their classroom and then analyse their findings in monthly meetings.

FINDINGS  The Principal and vice Principal look at their data from E.Q.A.O and collaboratively set aspirational goals to improve student learning. This plan is then taken to divisional meetings and teachers examine their data with a grade buddy and generate their own questions ;  They look at pre data and implement a six week program. They then examine post data with their partner to see what progress has been made in literacy and/or math.

FINDINGS  A cycle is in place for all schools to have a visit from the district review team. This team spends an entire day talking to teachers, students and parents to view evidence of the plan in action. They return two weeks later with their recommendations which are discussed with both the Principal and Vice Principal. The plan is modified accordingly after feedback for strengths and weaknesses.

FINDINGS  During my fortnight in The Halton District School Board I realized the incredible similarities between our systems;  the day to day challenges of managing student behaviour;  handling parenting concerns ;  implementing state wide board initiatives ;  in order to accomplish these initiatives we need to encourage the right people and sustain the right people to leadership positions.

 I return as Acting Principal at Dapto Public School energized and ready to continue to build a healthy culture through distributed leadership drawing on my positive experiences in Canada. FINDINGS

LITERATURE REVIEW

Transforming School Culture. How to overcome Staff Division Anthony Muhammad

Growing Success Assessment, Evaluation And Reporting In Ontario Schools First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to Ministry of Education

What’s worth fighting for in the Principleship Michael Fullen

The Cafe Book Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment & Instruction Gail Boushey & Joan Moser “ The Sisters ” Stenhouse Publishers Portland Maine 2006

The Daily 5 Fostering Literacy Independence In The Elementary Grades Gail Boushey & Joan Moser “The Sisters” Stenhouse Publishers Portland Maine 2006

Differentiated Assessment Strategies One Tool Doesn't Fit All Carolyn Chapman & Rita King Corwin Press, Inc. 2005

I Read It, But I Don’t Get It Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers Cris Tovani Stenhouse Publishers Portland Maine 2000

Data Driven Dialogue A Facilitator's Guide to Collaborative Inquiry Bruce Wellman &Lauren Lipton New Horizons for Learning 2003

Y In The Work Place Managing The "Me First" Generation Nicole A Lipkin & April J Perrymore Career Press 2009