TFA Lead for Delaware Highlights

7/17/2019 TFA Lead for Delaware Highlights

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• The Lead For Delaware program was developed by Teach For America and the other

program partners incorporating best practices for development of leaders for schools

in high‐need environments.

• Most importantly, the program must comply with the specific requirements of

Regulation 1595.

• There are 5 requirements outlined in the regulation.

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• The first requirement is for professional development at the beginning of the

program, prior to the start of any clinical experience.

• With 350 hours of professional development hours prior to the start of the clinical

experiences, Lead For Delaware would exceed the 200‐hour requirement by 75

percent.

• All of these hours focus on competencies in the School Leader Competency

Framework, which outlines what excellent principals in high‐need schools know and

are able to do.

• This framework aligns with the current state administrator standards.

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• To allow for varied practice opportunities and feedback, Lead For Delaware’s 600‐

hour clinical experience would include both a summer administrator role and a year‐

long school‐based experience.

• For consistency, both of these experiences would be under the mentorship of the

same Principal Mentor, who must meet or exceed the state’s minimum

requirements.

• As a supplement, a group of Principal Consultants – experts in one or more particular

school leader competencies – are available to all aspiring leaders for additional 1‐on‐

1 support.

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• As required, Lead For Delaware would have 100 hours of professional development

in Year 2, during and after the clinical experience, in addition to the 350 hours in Year

1.

• These hours include 9 full‐day Saturday sessions and visits to study leadership in

excellent schools in low‐income communities.

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• Lead For Delaware’s proposal incorporates training in Delaware’s current educator

performance evaluation system and approved, alternative evaluation systems if

relevant based on participants’ home districts/schools.

• The program engages each aspiring leader in observation and feedback practice with

other teachers for several hours each month in Year 1 and requires at least one

formal observation with feedback during every week of the clinical experiences in

Year 2.

• Every aspiring leader would be required to earn DPAS certification by the end of Year

1; if they don’t, they cannot continue to Year 2.

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• Lead For Delaware’s application includes rigorous accountability systems.

• To graduate and earn a recommendation for certification, leaders must master 26

school leader competencies, meet program participation requirements, and “pass”

the School Leaders Licensure Assessment.

• Lead For

Delaware

set

the

highest

bar

in

the

country

for

a score

on

the

SLLA

– 170

out of 200.

• The Lead For Delaware program would be evaluated on 15 metrics, answering

questions such as:

• Are graduates getting school leader jobs after completing the program?

• Are partners satisfied with the program and each of its components?

• Do graduates and partners recommend the program?

• How many graduates are rated effective or highly effective with DPAS?

• How does student learning in graduates’ schools compare to student learning

in other

schools?

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• The Lead For Delaware team appreciates the questions and comments shared since

the application’s submission in August.

• This feedback has enabled the Lead For Delaware team to make several

enhancements to the proposed program.

• In September,

a revised

Lead

For

Delaware

application

was

submitted

to

the

Professional Standards Board for consideration.

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• First, the revised application reflects a program with more instruction by principals.

• At least one current or former principal will co‐facilitate every in‐house Lead For

Delaware professional development session. Based on input in the last month, 100%

of in‐house sessions will be facilitated by principals.

• The original

application

had

already

described

the

role

of

Principal

Consultants,

a hybrid role for experienced principals including both instruction and coaching, so this

change took an existing component of the proposed program and expanded it.

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• The revised application includes more information about the program faculty,

including instructors from partner organizations, Principal Consultants, and the

program director.

• The application now specifically identifies the various levels of experience among

Lead For Delaware faculty and includes many resumes from the program’s

organizational and individual partners.

• Borrowing language from the “exemplary” language in the Program Approval Rubric,

“Instructors have experience in school, district, or state leadership positions in a K‐12

setting leading and supervising teachers.”

• The application now also includes an appendix that provides some

recommendations describing the program director’s work with school leaders and

principal development in the past.

• The application now includes more background information on each of the

organizational partners in Section 2. These organizational partners play such an

important role

in

Lead

For

Delaware’s

professional

development

that

it

made

sense

to give more thorough introductions.

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• In Appendix F, there are now examples of clinical experience activities.

• The two clinical experiences included in the two‐year program are extremely

important and Lead For Delaware would ensure that they provide substantive

opportunities for aspiring leaders to practice real‐time leadership as outlined in

individualized leadership development plans.

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• Finally, three other, minor adjustments were made to the application.

• Lead For Delaware adjusted the Year 2 professional development hours and reduced

its anticipated cohort sizes to ensure that the new program is manageable for Lead

For Delaware staff, partners, and aspiring leaders.

• The revised

application

also

reflects

minor

updates

to

the

budget,

given

other

changes outlined above (such as adding more hours for Principal Consultants).

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• Ultimately, if Lead For Delaware receives state approval, Teach For America and its

partners will implement a small program, an open‐to‐all but selective program, a

very rigorous program, and a highly accountable program.

• There is more information below on the last piece – accountability.

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• Each candidate is evaluated by both the program director and the assigned Principal

Mentor. Every competency is rated on a 4‐point scale – unacceptable, developing,

effective, or exemplary.

• The candidate’s overall average rating must be at least “effective” and the rating

must be at least effective in each of the 7 clusters – or areas – of competencies (such

as instructional leadership and managing operations and systems).

• There are two external measures of performance to supplement Lead For Delaware’s

internal measures, including the state’s DPAS credentialing assessment and the

School Leaders Licensure Assessment.

• The application also details how the program would use some of these indicators as

“gateways.” For example, a participant would not be able to go onto Year 2 without a

recommendation from the assigned Principal Mentor.

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• For a program scorecard, Lead For Delaware’s application identifies 15 measures of

success.

• First, Lead For Delaware would look at progress of participants during the program.

• Second, the program would look at the performance of graduates once they are in

school leadership

positions for

three

full

years.

• Finally, there are a number of metrics that speak to the perceptions and impact of

the program itself.

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• Delaware public school stakeholders say that effective school leadership is critical in

order to address existing equity gaps in the state.

• With a variety of partners, Lead For Delaware designed a program that offers a

robust, two‐year pathway as one option for aspiring Delaware school leaders.

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Documents

TFA Lead for Delaware Highlights