Examining The Perceptions Of Principals To Improve Professional Development Opportunities And Support From Central Office: A Program Evaluation

ABSTRACT The work of Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom, and Anderson, (2010), Manna (2015), Leithwood and Azah (2016) validates that principals can have a powerful influence on instruction and learning in schools. Supporting principals’ growth with professional development, therefore, is critical to building principals’ competencies as instructional leaders. Although school districts are unique in internal and external conditions (e.g., educational, political, and financial); which may influence their approach to supporting principals, a useful place for all school districts to start is with an appraisal of principals’ perceptions of current support and professional development from central office; regardless of district internal and external influences. This program evaluation examined how three case study principals in one suburban high school district in Illinois described the professional development content, and school district support they were receiving to improve their ability to influence instruction and student learning in their schools. It further offers guidance in the form of recommendations for school districts who may want to increase their effectiveness in supporting and growing principals as instructional leaders. An online survey questionnaire for principals, semi-structured one-on-one interviews with principals, and various district artifacts were used to collect data; which was then subsequently examined and analyzed through the lens of professional development and support system frameworks offered by a sample of high-performing districts; informed by a robust literature review

23 Illinois Administrative Code 50: Redefining The Formal School Site Observation In Principal Evaluation (A Policy Advocacy Document)

ABSTRACT This document explores how the establishment of a Principal Evaluation Steering Committee (PESC) to implement and monitor U.S. District X’s Illinois Principal Evaluation Plan (IPEP) may ensure the effectiveness of its principals as capacity builders who facilitate meaningful and productive systems change. The PESC intervention helps ensure principals and their staff is engaging in purposeful reflective practice and collegial inquiry activities and exercises designed to increase their cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal capacities (Drago-Severson, Blum-DeStefano, & Asghar, 2013). This document outlines the positive and effective impacts in the contexts of educational, economic, social, political and, moral and ethical disciplinary areas; and advocates that the establishment of a PESC becomes policy in the district. By igniting, through policy, the potential principals can bring to the table individually and collectively through reflective practice and collegial inquiry—rather than using evaluation rating as a means of weeding out ineffective leadership provides a hopeful alternative to a more sanctions-oriented approach to leadership and school improvement (Drago-Severson et al., 2013; Superville, 2015)

Creating Conditions For A Collaborative Relationship Between Principals And Their Supervisors: A Change Initiative

ABSTRACT Studies by Kelley and Peterson (2002), Drago-Severson, Blum-DeStefano & Asghar (2013) and other researchers, have shown that in order for principals and other building leaders to be able to demonstrate the required expectations of “new” principal standards, they must engage in ongoing supervision, evaluation, coaching, and continuous career-long professional development. These studies also suggest that school districts, in their support and development of principals’ growth in competency capacity building, are more effective when the principal supervisor works in collaboration with principals they supervise/evaluate in a trusting, mutually respectful relationship of shared accountability for improving instruction and learning. This change plan initiative explores a mentor-coach model as an effective means of increasing principals’ ability to influence instruction and learning in their schools

"We already been purged": violence against black transgender women in Allegheny County

Transgender people across the nation are unnecessarily burdened by harassment and violence, ranging from verbal harassment, physical and sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and systemic violence. Some of the most brutally and frequently victimized within the population are transgender women, particularly black transgender women, and are at great risk for downstream health outcomes. Both the Institute of Medicine and Healthy People 2020 have prioritized improving health equity for transgender people and acknowledge the influence of violence on health outcomes. Given this public health significance, this cultural shift in Public Health has given researchers the opportunity to build a foundation of evidence about violence against transgender people. A localized study was proposed to investigate the context in which black transgender women experience violence, related health outcomes, protective factors, and resources utilized as a result of violence. Analysis of focus group data conducted in Allegheny County demonstrated locally: common context and motivations for violence, the impact of violence on personal mental health, as well as protective measures used to prevent violence. Within both groups, a complex definition of violence evolved which include micro-aggressions like mis-naming and mis-gendering, to verbal, physical, and sexual assault. Violent experiences were common in many social spheres such as: on the streets, on public transit, with family, in sex work, by law enforcement, in jail or prison, with intimate partners, and within sexual and gender minority communities. Outing via mis-gendering and mis-naming were frequent pre-cursors to physical violence as well as a component of physical violence itself. Stigma against transgender women was underlying many experiences of violence, and occasionally intertwined with racism. Women in the groups relied on a number of individual level factors to protect themselves from violence like: hypervigilance, avoidance, educating, ignoring, self-defense, and retaliation. Some of these tactics such as avoidance and ignoring resulted in social isolation and loneliness and may also contribute to downstream mental health issues discussed like: depression, anxiety, and suicidality. This study concluded that structural level changes to reduce stigma locally and broadly are necessary to ameliorate the impact of violence against black transgender women

Junior Recital, November 6, 2021

Kemp Recital Hall November 6, 2021 Saturday Afternoon 12:30 p.m

Senior Jazz Recital: Riley Erskine, Saxophone; Noah Berkshier, Vibraphone; Alyssa Trebat, Bass; Jameel Stephens, Drums; April 22, 2022

Kemp Recital Hall April 22, 2022 Friday Evening 8:30 p.m

Reforming Test Standards to Expand Student Opportunities

A poster presented by Riley Ground, Katie Lester, Ali Owen, Matthew Maines, Noah Thacker and Rico Walker for the class Design of Everyday Things.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/gsp_projects_2019/1014/thumbnail.jp

Senior Recital, October 29, 2021

Kemp Recital Hall October 29, 2021 Friday Evening 6:00 p.m