Principal

Competency
Reflection
GLORIA RENDON

Competency 001: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO SHAPE

CAMPUSCULTURE BY FACILITATING THE DEVELOPMENT, ARTICULATION,
IMPLEMENTATION, AND STEWARDSHIP OF A VISION OF LEARNING THAT IS
SHARED AND SUPPORTED BY THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY.

During my experience during Internship II at Pershing Middle School, I was able to work
with the principal and staff members on the campus improvement plan. The plan and
vision were developed by the principal and included feedback from stakeholders
(parents, teachers, and local business owners) for the campus. I worked to develop
intervention rotations with a focus on at-risk students. The rotation was designed in
correlation with one of the campus improvement plan goals which was to address the
needs of at-risk students. Working with the principal, I was able to gain an understanding
of some of the biggest obstacles that our campus would be facing this school year. One
included the influx of students from a limited English background and special education
students. The principal worked on setting high expectations with staff members on how
issues would be handled during the school year. I hope to gain more experience and
learning how to formulate my own vision for the campus. I want to be able to address all
of the needs that face my stakeholders in a way that not only supports them but
empowers them as well.

Competency 002: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO COMMUNICATE

AND COLLABORATE WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY,
RESPOND TO DIVERSE INTEREST AND NEEDS, AND MOBILIZE
RESOURCES TO PROMOTE STUDENT SUCCESS.

Through my own experience with the internship, I have learned to effectively

communicate with staff members, parents, and students about multiple issues.
Some of the issues that I have dealt with include those that I have needed to keep
calm with including upset parents, discipline issues, and teacher complaints.
Through experience, I have learned to communicate first positive then negative
issues. Principals must know how to effectively deal with and communicate issues
that may arise. One of the things I regret not experiencing was how to best handle
the media with different issues. I want to be able to communicate and not cause
more problems or issues with the school or district.

Competency 003: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO ACT WITH

INTEGRITY, FAIRNESS, AND IN AN ETHICAL AND LEGAL MANNER.

Since I am a science teacher, I tend to educate many special education and limited
English proficient students since science does not have a separate class for those special
education or LEP students. For that reason, during my internship, I was able to attend
many meetings that had to do with the best interests of students and legal guidelines
(LPAC meetings, due process meetings, ARDs, MDRs, etc.). I developed a staff
development that based on improving special education on my campus. The principal
supported this idea by hiring a science teacher strictly to assist the science teachers in
class where there were numerous special education or LEP students. This helped me to
be a better advocate for all students on campus. I also designed an after-school tutorial
program that helped these at-risk students succeed. Teachers made themselves available
to assist students who were required to attend based on many factors including low test
scores and/or low formative assessment grades. As a future principal, it is important that
I am always current on laws, district policies, and state guidelines for schools.

Competency 004: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO 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.

At Pershing Middle School, we use professional learning communities (PLCs) to

effectively plan, communicate, and disaggregate data. During my experience in
internship, I have been able to further develop my skills in working with teachers
on researching student data, planning, and revising plans to better fit the needs
of all students. I have attended professional development on how to better plan
lessons that increase student performance and to close the achievement gaps
between the different sub-groups. Those experiences have taught me the
importance of teachers working collaboratively without the assistance of the
administration. However, I personally need to work on allowing these types of
collaborations to happen organically without involving myself in the process.

Competency 005: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO ADVOCATE,

NURTURE, AND SUSTAIN AN INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAM AND A
CAMPUS CULTURE THAT ARE CONDUCIVE TO STUDENT LEARNING
AND STAFF PROFESSIONAL GROWTH.
While interning at Pershing Middle School, I have had the opportunity to see and help the
campus implement a new program to help further develop the curriculum for students.
The program aims to improve the way departments plan their curriculum for students.
The program was gradually introduced to the staff through staff development trainings
and has worked to improve student performance and move away from lessons that are
not aligned with the objectives. The program was not initially liked by teachers because
it was seen as another check in the box. However, after further training, the teachers
began to see improved common assessment scores. That was the biggest indicator of
the shift in acceptance. Principals must make certain that students are learning through
the most current research best practices. Staying current and having the correct
professional development opportunities for staff is one way to be sure that teachers are
exposed to best teaching methodologies. Pertaining to competency five, I need to have a
better knowledge base about how each students needs can be met. I need to be better
about ensuring that all teachers are educating using latest practices.

Competency 006: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO IMPLEMENT A STAFF

EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM TO IMPROVE THE PEFORMANCE OF
ALL STAFF MEMBERS, SELECT AND IMPLEMENT APPROPRIATE MODELS FOR
SUPERVISION AND STAFF DEVELOPMENT, AND APPLY THE LEGAL
REQUIRMENTS FOR PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.

I had the opportunity to observe teachers and discuss the observations. I gained a better
understanding of what to look for from teachers during the observations and provide
feedback based on what I saw. Administrators need to provide teachers with constructive
feedback so that the teacher is able to improve their teaching style. Upon becoming an
administrator, I will be completing formal observations. I still need to improve in the area
of providing constructive feedback to teachers who may have many things to work on. I
want to ensure that all teachers improve somewhat during my tenure as their appraiser.

Competency 007: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO APPLY ORGANIZATIONAL, DECISIONMAKING, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS TO ENSURE AN EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

I was able to work with all departments during my internship in the capacity of department
meetings, professional learning communities, and campus staff development. During the
duration of these meetings, I was able to assign roles, decipher data, and resolve issues
that arose. One of the main issues I helped to resolve was the conflict of interest between
general education teachers and special education staff. I worked to help develop a
solution, implement the solution, modify the solution, and reflect on what was
accomplished. With the assistance of the heads of the departments, we were able to
collaboratively come up with a solution. Throughout out this experience, I was able to see
that not everyone would be content with the solution. The larger idea is that, as a future
principal, I will not always make everyone happy from parents to other stakeholders.
However, I hope that through enough of the right decisions, everyone will gradually
respect the decisions I make.

Competency 008: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO APPLY PRINCIPLES OF

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT IN RELATION TO CAMPUS
BUDGETING, PERSONNEL, RESOURCE UTILIZATION, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT,
AND TECHNOLOGY USE.

I was fortunate to work with a principal that takes pride in finances and budgeting.
Due to being part of a large district, principals have a lot of authority with many
decisions including but not limited to finance decisions. Campus principals have
allotments that they are to use as they see fit. They receive so many personnel
allotments as well as finances for the different areas it takes to run a school. The
amount of money the school receives is based on many factors including number
of students, Title I eligibility, and test scores. Over 90% of the budget is due to
personnel salaries. The rest of the budget is for the principal to decide. The
clusters each get $300 and departments do not have a set amount. All that is told
to departments is to order what we need as far as supplies or professional
development trainings.

Competency 009: THE PRINCIPAL KNOWS HOWTO APPLY PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT TO THE
CAMPUS PHYSICAL PLANT AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS TO ENSURE A SAFE AND EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.

One of the most important responsibilities of a principal to ensure all students

safety. Throughout my experience with Internship II, I was able to learn some of the
aspects of keeping the campus safe and faculty engaged in teaching. I was able to
observe faculty and work with them pertaining to campus safety. I worked closely
with the school resource officer and was able to better understand her role on
campus. Through shadowing her, I was able to observe and help handle a variety of
safety issues that arose on campus (fights, drugs, etc.). I was also fortunate to be
able to work with the maintenance workers and school custodians around campus. I
was better able to see what their job entails and what strategies they use to keep
the campus safe for all shareholders. I want to continue working with all parties so
that I can respond to a crisis situation in a calm and confident manner.