|
Instructional Leadership
for Data-Based School Improvement |
| A new LEAD Center program
designed to help school leaders to better understand and use data is in
development and will be unveiled during the coming year. “The major aim
of the program is to promote data-based decision-making as a function of
instructional leadership,” said Dr. Marv Erhardt, LEAD Center Director.
The program will build on existing knowledge and skills about assessing
student achievement and include elements such as using existing data
more effectively, discovering new data needed and how to get it,
analyzing data and making sense out of it, aligning instruction and
teacher evaluation with school improvement efforts, aligning staff
development with school improvement goals, and coaching teachers to use
data more effectively to make decisions about instruction. |
| During the coming year a
group of educational leaders will be selected as mentors for the
program. These people will participate in the Instructional Leadership
for Data-Based School Improvement course and will pilot the training in
their schools. They also will receive additional training in mentoring
and coaching in order to serve as mentors for new educational leaders
who participate when the program is offered state wide the following
year. The program is funded through a special grant that will cover
training fees and travel expenses for the mentors. More details will be
announced as the program is put into place. |
|
Gates Foundation Awards
Grant |
| The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation recently awarded $885,000 to the ND LEAD Center to fund a ND
Technology Academy for School Leaders (TASL) over the next three years.
The academy will provide technology related professional development for
superintendents and principals of public and private schools in the
state. LEAD joins seven other organizations for this project including
the Governor’s Office, the ND Council of Educational Leaders (NDCEL),
the Center for Innovation in Instruction (CII), DPI, SENDIT Technology
Services, the ND Teaching with Technology Initiative (TWT), and the
State Association of Non-Public Schools. The Academy will consist of
four phases of training to be repeated each year of the three-year
period. A substantial incentives program is planned for those who
complete the Academy. Details of the program will be announced through a
statewide mailing in late September and during the NDCEL Fall Conference
in October. Read about TASL on LEAD’s website in the Programs section. |
|
Multi-Hazard School Safety
Project Update |
| Schools in eleven counties
took advantage of the School Safety Planning program sponsored by the ND
LEAD Center and the ND Division of Emergency Management during the past
year. Participating schools receiving free training aimed at helping
them analyze safety issues and update their emergency response plans. |
|
Instructional Leadership |
| The Instructional
Leadership course was revised and reformatted during the past year to
include the most current information about effective instruction,
effective learning, and effective school leadership. A new advanced
course for instructional leaders, Instructional Leadership for
Standards, also was developed and will be offered this fall. See the
registration forms inside for more details. |
