EDUC 6331-Administrative Internship Spring 2017

Amy Carpentier
Honestly, even though I have had hands-on experience with each of the competencies,
there are still several competencies that I could grow in. Competency eight and nine especially.
My mentor and principal were great assets these past two semesters. They both allowed me
man opportunities to learn and gain experience from.

Competency 1: The principal knows how to shape campus culture by facilitating the
development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared
and supported by the school community.
During the spring I was able to implement the Latino Literacy Project which is targeted
for individuals who are learning English as their second language. The books are written in both
English and Spanish. The program is designed so that the parents read the book and practice
reading strategies after school with the trainer (me) and then the parents take the books home and
read them with their children. Many of the parents had some sort of established reading routine
but these book allowed for parents to practice reading the books before reading them with their
children. This program fits the mission and goals of High Point elementary since we strive to
provide opportunities for students to become independent and confident lifelong learners. The
relationships that we build through this program allow parents to help us to reach our goals with
our students and the positive relationships are extremely special. Recently, our district sent out
the CASE surveys to the community. I have not had much experience with these surveys,
therefore as a future administrator I hope to have opportunities to analyze the CASE data and
look for trends in how members of the community responded to certain issues or concerns.

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 student success.
During the spring semester I was given the opportunity to lead the Latino Literacy
Project at High Point Elementary. This program targeted English as a Second Language
parents and invited them to come into the school to learn reading routines and collaborate with
teachers and administrators about becoming more active in their childs education. This
provided me with experience with welcoming members of the community and ensuring their
needs were met. It also allowed for undocumented parents to feel that the school is a safe
place and allowed me the opportunity to thank them for supporting their child's education along
with the vision of the campus.

Competency 3: The principal knows how to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and
legal manner.
This spring I was able to have a student teacher, this provided me with the opportunity to
work even closer with my mentor during my student teachers full responsibility times. Helping
with discipline allowed for me to act with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical and legal manner.
In some discipline cases the students are special education students. Assigning consequences
for the students actions needed to be done fairly and in an ethical and legal manner. In the
future I would like to sit in on interview committees to see a different aspect of the principal
acting with integrity and fairness. In the past I have served on interview committees, however
as a principal it is essential to act ethically and legally in these situations.

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.
In the fall of this school year, Navasota Independent School District changed the roles
teachers had in creating the common assessments given to students for different subject units.
Teachers communicated that they wanted more input in regards to the types of questions that are
selected for the assessments, so the district allowed teachers to come together four times a year
to create the assessments and also enter them into the data system, Eduphoria Aware. The data
system was not utilized by teachers in the past. Teachers were unsure of how to properly create
the assessments so that teachers on each elementary campus and access to the assessments.
Therefore I had the opportunity to provided teachers on High Points campus with training and
explaining the steps on how to create an assessments within Aware. The teachers were then
surveyed about the effectiveness of the training. I then had the opportunity to attend the Region
6 Eduphoria conference where I learned more about other features in Eduphoria such as data
analysis and Lead4ward. Each campus designated a few individuals to represent them on the
district level for meetings about keeping the Eduphoria system or changing to the DMAC
system. The district decided to keep the Eduphoria system and to put in place district
instructions for employees to create assessments and quick answer keys in Aware. I would still
like to learn more about the curriculum Navasota ISD has chose. In the past we have had TEKS
Resource System, and the past two years the district moved away from TEKS Resource and let
teachers design the scope and sequence. The new superintendent is looking into moving back to
the TEKS Resource scope and sequence, which may change the assessments that were
previously created. I would like to be a part of this conversation and learn more about how to
facilitate and implement curricula and strategic plans to enhance teaching and learning.

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.
This year I have been fortunate to work with administrators and teachers on how to
utilize Eduphoria and Aware in order to create assessments that matched the rigor of the state
assessment and the instruction that takes place in the classroom. I learned that working with
different levels of knowledge in technology can be challenging when working with teachers.
While the teachers on High Point were not resistant to the change and learning how to create
the assessments, there could have been teachers that were not willing to learn. This past year I
worked closely with teachers on the assessments, in the future, I could still use more hand-on
experience working on an instructional program that will advocate, nurture, and sustain a
campus culture that is conducive to learning.

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.
I worked with campus administration to develop a plan of professional development for a
creating assessments in aware as well as TELPAS and STAAR preparation and ensured
adequate resources existed to carry out the plan. During the spring semester I directly
participated in campus interviews and gave input as to teachers that would be great additions to
High Point Elementary. In the future, I would like to attend the three-day administrator TTESS
training.

Competency 7: The principal knows how to apply organizational, decision-making, and

problem-solving skills to ensure an effective learning environment.
As an intern this past year I had the opportunity to work closely with the TELPAS testing
coordinator and well as the STAAR testing coordinator. One challenge that arose this year was
finding an adequate amount of computers for online STAAR testing. I was able to help organize
the preparation for the STAAR tests as well as the TELPAS writing collections and reading
assessment. In the future, I would like to work more with data and applying decision-making
and problem-solving skills to drive the conversations that take place during PLCs.

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.
Competency 8 is one of the areas, along with Competency 9, where I hope to gain the
most immediate and practical experience as an administrator. My background and experience
with computers and technology allows me to provide support and guidance for both children and
adults alike. During the spring I was fortunate to attend the Eduphoria Conference at the Region
6 Center. I was able to see a sneak peak at the new feature Eduphoria will introduce in the fall.
The Appraise tab will no longer exist, instead the creators of Eduphoria have updated the
Appraise section to match the expectations of TTESS. Teachers will be able to attach artifacts
they used to read their goals as well as a timeline of their progress on their goals, and other
features that are useful for teachers. I would like to learn more about TTESS through attending
the training, how to introduce the new section to the campus and teachers for the appraisal
system, and also learn more about campus budgeting.
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.
During my spring and fall internships there were not many opportunities to experience
elements of competency 9 as these are directly handled and facilitated by campus
administrations. Our district utilizes CHAMPS and has a Campus Foundations Committee which
oversees general building procedures, many of which are directly linked to safety and daily
campus operations. This committee conducts needs assessments and determines if changes
need to be made to existing building procedures. It is also the responsibility of the Foundations
Committee to ensure the campus is in compliance with all District, State, and Federal
regulations regarding Safe and Secure Schools. One of my goals natural as an administrator is
to immerse myself in becoming an efficient and productive manager of both people and physical
elements of the campus environment and community.