Professional Standards for Educational Leaders

PSEL Standard 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values

PSEL Standard 2 Ethics and Professional Norms

PSEL Standard 3 Equity and Cultural Responsiveness

PSEL Standard 4 Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

PSEL Standard 5 Community of Care and Support for Students

PSEL Standard 6 Professional Capacity of School Personal

PSEL Standard 7 Professional Community for Teachers and Staff

PSEL Standard 8 Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community

PSEL Standard 9 Operations and Management

PSEL Standard 10 School Improvement 

PSEL Standard 8 Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community

PSEL Standard 5 Community of Care and Support for Students

Paper: I chose the paper on the case when a students rights are wronged since it gives a clear example of the importance of the legal aspect of creating an IEP or 504 plan and following through with the accommodations. In this paper a students needs were not initially met. In this case a high school student became paralyzed from the waist down during the high schools football game.  He would need a wheelchair to get around. Upon coming back from school they moved his biology class, which was a college prep course, to another science class that was not a college prep class but fulfilled the graduation requirements. His biology class did not have wheelchair access but the other science class did. The parents got a lawyer and demanded he receive the same education as the other students in the school and remain in his chosen biology class. This is a great example of how the district can be liable if they do not follow the IEP laws. The administration should get a wheelchair lift or ramp to get access to that class, or move the class to another room to accommodate him. The school and district need to work with the family to find an equitable solution. This aligns with PSEL standard 8 where the community and school need to come up with beneficial ways to promote students success and their well-being. The administration needs to collaborate in a productive and positive way to work with families in making sure the IEP process is being followed to promote student learning using the resources needed to accomplish this.

Slides: The importance of IEPs and 504 plans are to ensure a student has equitable access to an equal learning environment if they have a disability. I picked these artifacts on this topic since the administration of a school plays an integral role in these programs. Administrators are responsible for ensuring that the services in the IEP will be provided for that student. They need to have procedures in play to monitor that the IEP requirements are being met and collect the data to show that it is supporting the student. This is an important topic because as a future administrator if failure to carry these out occur, then it puts the district, and themselves potentially at legal risk.  They also need to be knowledgeable of the IEP and 504 process to be able to answer questions that the parents and even personnel might have. I gained an insight on this process, the importance of supporting students with disabilities to make sure they are receiving the same education as the other students. I also learned that although there is a team to assist in the process of IEP's and 504 plans, ultimately the administrator is the main person in charge of this responsibility. These insights and my new knowledge of this is in the visual slide section. This aligns with PSEL standard five since it requires the principal to sustain a school environment that meets the needs providing services and accommodates a wide range of learning needs of each student. 

PSEL Standard 2 Ethics and Professional Norms 

PSEL Standard 9 Operations and Management

School Budget Survey

1. Do you think the PD's using the Lighthouse program has increased student literacy?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

2. Has tutoring, after school intervention, and advisory helped raise scores in ELA, Math,

and ELD?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

3. Have the virtual and in-person study trips increased student academic engagement and

supported the school culture?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

4. Has the introduction of 4 Bilingual Instructional Aides for ELD supported students in

passing the LPAC?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

5. Has the Newsela Pro License school wide program increased students ELA and ELD

academic achievement?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

6. Has the school safety committee and training in CHAMPS has reduced the absent rate

and suspension rate? 

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

7. Has the student store (using academic related prizes), helped with a positive school

climate with higher student engagement?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

8. Has the increase in special education training’s strengthened the support of students

with disabilities?

Strongly Agree

Agree

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Budget Alignment to Vision, Mission, and CIP

The vision and mission use a variety of resources for our students to be academically, socially prepared for college and careers. In the budget some on the items that support this is the study field trips, virtual and in-person. For academic success and for them to be 21 century learners, we have budgeted for tutoring and intervention to raise student success rates. Being a school with 98% Latinos, adding in the extra money for bilingual aids will help bridge the gaps. The budget also focuses on global leadership, leadership and lifelong learning as stated in the vison. Budgeting for teacher professional days and consultants are used currently in our school for us to teach a leadership program to our advisory class. Learning opportunities include the money the Newsela Pro access has, which gives teachers and student a reading and literacy program in our literacy center, and for use on their Chromebooks. The CIP in our budget only has 4 goals with a number of expenditures allocated for what we call strategies. The budget is broken down into a 23-page booklet that details where the funds are going and why. It also includes pages of data to support the reasoning for these expenditures and strategies. Most, if not all the funding does support the vision and mission for our student’s success. 

Principal’s Responsibility

 For student’s success the principal is in charge of dividing the funds appropriately and effectively to support student learning and achievement. They are the ones that manage the budget for the school, with support of the business office at the district level.They also need to have funds allocated for all the school’s expenses, from school maintenance to school supplies. Most of the budget goals I focused on was towards student achievement, supportive materials like school supplies are just as important for that acquirement. For example, we use one to one Chromebooks that need to work since all of the curriculum is online that the students need to have to be successful. We also need to make sure the property is safe from kid’s injuries where money for maintenance would come in. If the money is not allocated and used appropriately, it can affect the entire learning environment.

Survey: I chose the survey on budget needs since it is vital that administrators receives support and collaboration from the school and educational community for the budgets success. School leaders need to conduct assessments and gather data to see how well the students needs are being met, and if the budgets goals are being achieved.  When reviewing a school's budget or preparing one for the following school year, data needs to be acquired to see if future adjustments needs to occur. Programs are oftentimes added to a school's budget that greatly benefit the student and schools achievement plan. Other programs may have large sums of money being spent that may not benefit the school's plan for students success. Administrators use surveys as one way to gather data from the school community to assess if the programs used need to be adjusted or even removed in future budgets. Many of the programs mentioned in the survey are ones that have been acquired by my school. Some programs for example have allocated money for students to achieve literacy goals, if the program is not increasing those skills then there may be a better program for the money to be better spent. Educators often times do not get a say in some of the things implemented for them to use while teaching. By the use of a survey, they have a place to voice what they see first hand in the classrooms that is and is not working, to support adjustments to the budgets goals.

Paper: I learned that the vision and mission of a school is the driving force of the schools plan for student achievement. The vision provides a clear view of what the ideal learning environment is for the students success. Success does not just come with academic achievement, but also social emotional and community support for the student and families. The goal of education is to prepare our youth to be functioning adults in society. Each state, district, and school will face different challenges depending on location, funding, community, and a number of other factors that make each school unique. The school needs to develop a plan, a  mission, which is like a roadmap of how the vision will give students the best chance at success in the learning environment. In the budget the allocations of funding for the schools student achievement, needs a set of goals that are to be established to create a supportive and effective learning environment for all students. The goals will help to determine where the money is to be spent for maximum achievement is various learning areas. The principal has a huge responsibility to oversee the budget process, and requires support from others in the decision making. Teachers, parents, the community, the school board and district are some of the stakeholders that can play a role in the schools goals in the budget plan.