0.4 O'hern, b., schaming mcniff, s., brogan, b., & D’onofrio-de  (Page 9/11)

Core competency project

The Core Competency Project is administered during and at the conclusion of Special Issues in School Administration I&II. This two-semester course serves as a capstone for students seeking their superintendent certificate and their doctorate in educational leadership. Consistent with the Center’s Conceptual Framework, students are required to complete a self-reflection of their level of competence in standard 1-3 of the ISLLC standards in the first semester and standards 4-6 the second semester. Students work in learning teams to discuss their personal assessments and to coach each other on ways they may demonstrate or enhance themselves in the components of the standards. After self-reflection and group collaboration, students identify one standard area they need to strengthen and complete a project to reinforce their knowledge, skills, and dispositions in that area. These courses are sequential and intended to be taken at the end of their certificate and degree program.

The learner outcomes for the core competency project are as follows: students will demonstrate their ability to research a topic in educational administration as evidenced by the quality and synthesis of sources used to complete the project; students will demonstrate their ability to verbally communicate a topic in educational administration as evidenced by the their class presentation; students will demonstrate their ability to use effective instructional practices as evidenced by their time management and the materials they provide their classmates.

The Core Competency Project provides students with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge in an area related to school administration that they believe is important to their own leadership development and share that knowledge with their classmates. Their task is to search the available resources (internet, journals, experts in the field, etc.) that will enable them to build their level of competence in the core skill area select. An important component of the project is the presentation of their findings to their class in the form of a mini-workshop, thus enhancing their classmates’ knowledge as well.

The following are required components of the project: (1) A statement of the problem being studied, (2) purpose of the project (3) review of the literature, (4) recommendations, and (5) an annotated bibliography of the major resources used to inform the recommendations and conclusions of the project.

The five required components of the project and the quality of presentation are evaluated using a scoring guide (insufficient, developing, proficient, accomplished) similar to the one recommended by Hessel and Holloway (2002) in A framework for school leaders: Linking the ISLLC standards to practice.

In addition to assessing individual student strengths and areas for growth, the data derived from this assessment will be used to strengthen district level leadership programs as well as provide important longitudinal data. Faculty will be able to modify program offerings and requirements based on observed areas that could be strengthened.