Competency Reflections

Felipa Briceno
EDUC 6331
Fall 2015

Competency 1: The principal knows how to shape school culture by

facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and
stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by
the educational community.

During this internship semester, I was able to experience this competency at

its fullest. As an Assistant principal, I had to work with the administrative
team to develop, articulate, implement and be a steward of the campus
vision. As an appraiser, I was able to identify teaching practices that were
supporting the vision and those that were not. I provided the teachers with
feedback and reminded them what our vision is. I encouraged them to apply
teaching strategies that will help achieve the vision of the school.

The next step I need to take to show growth in this competency is to be able
to articulate the school vision to all major stakeholders, not just the
teachers. I need to gain experience on how to ensure that all stakeholders
know what we are doing, how we developed the vision, why the vision is
important, how we will assess if the vision is effectively being achieved, and
explaining what the role of each stakeholder is in this process.

Competency 2: The principal knows how to communicate and

collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to
diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote
students success.

Communication and collaboration is important to the success of the school.

As an Assistant Principal, I had the opportunity to communicate with all the
members of our school (teachers, parents, community members, volunteers).
I had to learn strategies to respond to the diverse needs of the students,
parents, and teachers. I had to manage and resolve conflicts at different
levels. I had to have meetings to settle disagreements with teachers, as well
as, meet with upset parents to listen to their concerns and find a common
ground.

My next step will be to seek opportunities to gain experience with mobilizing

resources to promote student success. In order to grow further in this
competency, I will work on getting together resources to increase parental
involvement in the school. I will work on implementing and facilitating
programs, such as the Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT), to increase
parental involvement.

Competency 3: The principal knows how to act with integrity,

fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner.

I would say that I am strongest in Competency 3. I conduct myself both

ethically and with integrity both in my personal and professional life. I
ensure that I apply laws, policies, and procedures in a fair and reasonable
manner. I am consistent with the way I treat my teachers and show no
favoritism. This has allowed me to gain the trust of the teachers, parents,
and students. In my role as an assistant principal, I am able work with the
teachers to ensure the continuous and appropriate development of the
students.

In order to grow in this competency, I need to work on articulating the

importance of education in a free democratic society. I need to work on
standing up for the students that do not speak English, the disabled, the poor,
and the ones that have been abused and neglected. Many times we allow
these children to fall through the cracks. As an administrator, I will work on
advocating for programs that will give them more chances at success.

Competency 4: The principal knows how to facilitate the design and

implementation of curricula and strategic plans that enhance teaching and
learning; ensure alignment of curriculum, instruction, resources, and
assessment; and promote the use of varied assessments to measure student
performance.

As an Assistant Principal, I was given the opportunity to be able to supply

teachers with needed resources to ensure that appropriate curricula and
strategic planning occur. I developed an ELL committee that worked
collaboratively to develop a plan to improve the academic achievement of our
ELL population. The committee decided to use REACH as the basal for teaching
ESL. Once that was decided, I ensured that the teachers got all the REACH
resources they needed, as well as, obtained the necessary training to
implement the program. I also advocated for the implementation of Imagine
Learning and Rosetta Stone on our campus.

My next step to grow in this competency is to facilitate the use of appropriate

assessments to measure student learning and ensure educational accountability.
Since we are spending so much money on program to improve instruction, I
want to develop a system to monitor the success of these programs.

Competency 5: The principal knows how to advocate, nurture, and

sustain an instructional program and a campus culture that are
conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

As an instructional leader on my campus, I have gotten the opportunity to

advocate for reading and math programs that lead to students academic
success. I have gotten the opportunity to conduct walkthroughs and give
feedback on ESL lessons and reading lessons incorporating the Literacy by 3
model. I have advocated for the use of guided reading in all classrooms and
have ensured that the bilingual teachers have a guided reading library in
Spanish. The books were purchased from Santillana. This allowed the
bilingual teachers to have the necessary resources to implement an effective
guided reading program in their classrooms.

In order to grow further in this competency, I will work on facilitating the use
of technology, telecommunications, and information systems to enhance
learning. I will work on attending trainings that will better prepare me to
facilitate and integrate the use of technology in all our classrooms.

Competency 6: The principal knows how to implement a staff evaluation and

development system to improve the performance of all staff members, select
and implement appropriate models for supervision and staff development,
and apply the legal requirements for personnel management.

As an Assistant Principal, I got the opportunity to evaluate all the bilingual

teachers on campus. I got trained and certified in the districts Teacher
Appraisal Development System (TADS). This system ensures that we follow up
with teachers on the development part of the appraisal system. I have to
meet with teachers to discuss their evaluation and provide feedback on how
to better their teaching practices. I develop plans for teachers that are
struggling and ensure that they obtain the necessary professional
development to improve their teaching practice. I worked with the
administrative team to develop a comprehensive professional development
plan for the teachers in our campus. I provided sessions of training on the
Math Daily 3 to the teachers.

The next step I will take to grow in this competency is to use formative and
summative evaluation procedures to enhance the knowledge and skills of
campus staff. I will do this by always looking for ways to enhance curriculum,
instruction, programs, facilities, and the learning environment.

Competency 7: The principal knows how to

apply organizational, decision-making, and
problem-solving skills to ensure an effective
learning environment.

I got the opportunity to promote Professional Learning Community Meeting

(PLCs) to promote collaboration among grade levels. This has helped develop
strong grade level teams that work collaboratively to ensure the success of
our students. At the grade level PLCs and administrative meetings, we
analyze data to make informed decisions. We use snapshot and state level
assessment data to make sound instructional decision.

In order to be more effective on this competency, I have to work on gaining

experience on implementing systems that will monitor and evaluate change
and allow us to make needed adjustments to achieve our goals. Presently, we
do not have a system in place to monitor all the changes we have made to the
ESL instruction. I have to get engaged in action research that will be
formative and summative. This can only be done with a plan.

Competency 8: The principal knows how to apply principles of

effective leadership and management in relation to campus
budgeting, personnel, resource utilization, financial management,
and technology use.

The only experience I have obtained in this competency is through the Site
Base Decision-Making Committee (SDMC). As a member of the SDMC, I have
been able to collaborate with the principal, teachers, and other stakeholders
to develop goals and priorities for expenditures that will be aligned with the
campus vision. I have gotten the opportunity to allocate resources to
programs that will help us achieve the goals of the School Improvement Plan.

I think that the area in which I am most deficient is competency 8. I need to

gain experience in working collaboratively with stakeholders to develop a
campus budget. Furthermore, I need to learn on how to plan for appropriate
personnel recruitment, retention, and development. I need to obtain
experience in these areas before stepping into a principal position.

Competency 9: The principal knows how to apply principles of leadership

and management to the campus physical plant and support systems to
ensure a safe and effective learning environment.

Even though I have been a Teacher Specialist and an Assistant Principal for
one semester, I have not gotten the opportunity to apply management and
leadership principles to campus physical plant and support system to ensure a
safe and effective learning environment. I have been trained on
implementing safety procedures on campus, but have not had an opportunity
to develop a plan for the campus.

In order to obtain experience in developing and implementing procedures for

crisis planning and responding to crisis, I will take on the duty of campus
safety coordinator for the next academic year. In order to be well-prepared
to do it, I will meet with the other assistant principal to go over the current
campus safety plan and ask her how she developed it.