1. School Building Leader and School District Leader exam
Some tips to assist you along the way!!

2. Meeting purpose
Information
Preparation
Pass rate

3. Testing Site http://www.nystce.nesinc.com/
meworks_ pdf

4. General requirements Schools Building Leader Exam:
Go to:
mentHelp.do

5. Voices of Experience Student information
Students report Craig Dreeves assistance
treport.pdf

6. School District Leadership
Focus on student learning
High expectations for all students
Supt sets stage and tone for school district improvement
Improve instruction
Involve families and community
Consistently communicate centrality of focus on student learning
Dynamic and Distributed Leadership
Establish and communicate focus, priorities, and expectations
No single stakeholder can tackle district improvement on their own
Include teacher leaders, assistant principals, central office staff, etc.
Publicly acknowledge low student achievement / accept responsibility
Clarify that all stakeholders must participate in improvement
Commit to long term efforts and innovations
Mobilize efforts along one pathway
Help others assume and exercise leadership

7. Sustained improvement efforts over time
Stay the course / persevere and persist
Changing practice, which involves changing people’s minds, requires steady and persistent work
Encourage practitioners to try new ideas and don’t expect immediate results
Sustain it long enough for people to internalize it
Engage in committed problem solving
High expectations and accountability for adults
Apply consistent pressure on schools for improved outcomes
High expectations influence hiring decisions
Keep expectations for principals clear
Supt personally accountable for progress towards district goals
Set targets, establish deadlines and hold schools accountable
Take action to deal with ineffective staff
Coordinated and aligned curriculum and assessment
Use professional development to foster alignment in curriculum
Curriculum alignment is the single greatest factor in improved test results
Teachers collaborate to ensure that each grade level is teaching the same thing

8. Policy and Program coherence
Districts create policy and interpret and implement state policy
Use district vision as a means for establishing policy
Reject initiatives that distract from vision
Strategic planning
Aligned and coherent policies and programs
Unity of purpose and shared values
Align activities with resources and vision
Create structures and incentives for system learning
Clear and Collaborative Relationships
Interpret and manage the external environment by inviting stakeholder participation
Buffer classrooms from distractions
Professional learning communities
Trust between school board and district leaders allows for new programs, key personnel changes, and start new initiatives.
Trust facilitates conversations and instructional reform
Teachers will make a greater commitment if they have authority to make decisions
Horizontal and vertical communities to foster relationships

9. Effective Use of Data
Data driven decision making
Create a data driven culture
Data generates a sense of urgency for change
Identify problem areas
Use data as feedback
Data from multiple assessments
Use data as a tool for seeking solutions not for laying blame
Data must be clear and manageable
Strategic allocation of resources
Resources include time, personnel, facilities and materials
Human capital is commitment, disposition and knowledge of local reforms
Social capital is professional networks and trusting collegial relationships
Teachers provided time and opportunity to meet together, analyze data, plan curriculum, discuss students, and observe other teachers.
Time, space and staff allocated to support programs
Districts must recruit, retain, evaluate and remediate staff

10. Coordinated and Embedded Professional Development
Strategies that reflect researched practices
Building of teachers’ knowledge and skills is crucial
Greatest strides occur where adults also have a chance to learn
Peer mentoring and teacher leaders
Site based resources that reflect best thinking
Move beyond the traditional one time PD approach
Implementation of Continuous Improvement Plans
Use of assessments to monitor effectiveness
Professional learning community
Bring teachers out of isolated classrooms and engage them in learning collaboratively
Create structures and schedules that sustain interaction amongst teachers
Quality Classroom Instruction
Attention focuses on classroom instruction
Communicate ambitious expectations for instruction, support it with professional development
Clear expectations for instruction as well as student learning
Must become more than empty slogans
Infuse a reflective and evidence based approach to teaching
Students learn what they are taught, they will learn more if they are taught well.
Shift central office from managing dollars, programs and people, to one focused on leading and supporting quality instruction.

11. Interpreting and Managing the External Environment
Seek collaborative relationships with community
Buffer from outside pressures
Access and interpret state and federal policies and implement them appropriately
Leaders learn the policy and, in turn, teach it within the district
Decipher what a policy means to decide whether to ignore, adapt, or adopt it
Make efforts to understand community and policy environment
Anticipate resistance and manage conflict

13. Testing Practice Materials
104_PG_opener.asp

14. Questions?
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