Section ii: culture, leadership, organization, operations
Culture
1. Describe the values that underlie operations.
2. What are the important symbols and rituals?
3. What are the artifacts that are evidence of the culture?
4. What are your feelings and impressions about the site? What are your perceptions of the qualities and characteristics of the site?
Leadership
- Describe the leadership style of your mentor and how it affects the operation of the site.
- Describe the leadership of the superintendent and how it affects the operation of the site.
- Describe the leadership of teachers and how it affects the operation of the site.
- What is your mentor’s highest degree? How many years of experience (classroom and administrative) does he/she have?
- What is your mentor’s vision? How is it communicated to stakeholders? How close, in your mentor’s assessment, is the site to realizing that vision?
- Describe the relationships between the site and other parts of the system. What formal connections are in place? Informal connections?
- Does the site have a formal mechanism in place to foster improvement and ensure accreditation? What is it?
- What are the mission and philosophy of the site? How were these established? How often are they revised? How are they related to the curriculum?
- How are the mission and philosophy communicated to stakeholders?
- How are decisions made about site issues? How are classified staff involved in decision making? How is the professional staff involved in decision making?
Organization
- How long is the school day? How much of it is used for lunches, recess, and other non-instructional activities? How much is devoted to the basic skills? Length of academic periods? How many periods per day?
- How are teachers organized for planning and instruction; e.g., by grade levels, subject matter, inter-disciplinary teams, etc.? Is there cross-grade teaming? How much time is allotted for planning? Is there a duty-free lunch period?
- Describe the governance structure at the site. How are stakeholders (students, professional staff, classified staff, others) involved in the governance of the school? How are the administrative duties distributed among the administrators at the site?
Discipline
- Does the site have a formal discipline policy or any special procedures or programs to maintain discipline? If so, describe them and indicate the number of students served by any programs.
- During the last school year for which data are available, how many of each of the following occurred at the site?
Student suspensions
Assaults on students
Assaults on teachers
Incidents of vandalism
Firearms violations
Substance abuse violations
Discipline referrals (formal)
Other indicators of student behavior
- Have these numbers been consistent over the past three years? If not, what changes have occurred?
2. What procedures are in place to ensure safety of children and adults at the site?
Finance and budgeting
- Describe the development of the budget. What are the sources of revenue? For what are the funds expended? What is the procedure for spending funds? What are the accounting procedures? How are accounts audited?
- Describe the sources of funding and the level of fiscal support provided by the community in the past five years. Have there been any special initiatives (bond issues, non-profit foundation development, etc.) that would indicate support? What are the per-pupil costs? Does the site have sources of discretionary funds? If so, where do the funds come from, and who decides how they are to be spent?
- Get a copy of the budget. Conduct an analysis of how funds are expended. Would you spend the funds differently? Explain.
Curriculum and instruction
- For each of the program categories listed below, indicate whether the site has a program in existence and discuss its strengths and weaknesses. Comment on the use of technology in each of the areas.
Science program
Social studies program
Foreign language program
Math program
Technology (computers) program
Bilingual program
Multicultural education program
Special education program
Gifted and talented program
Basic skills program—math
Basic skills program—reading
Basic skills program—writing
Physical education program
Fine arts program
Career and technical programs
Student government
Tutorial programs
Extra-curricular or co-curricular programs (athletics, band, clubs, etc.)
Extended-day programs (latchkey, enrichment, day care, etc.)
Other (specify) ______________________________________________
- Does the site have regular procedures for internal review of the curriculum, textbooks, and instruction? If so, describe them, indicate when the most recent reviews were completed, and summarize the findings. What actions would you take as principal?
- How is the curriculum articulated between elementary, middle, and secondary schools? What programs or activities exist to prepare students for making the transitions between levels?
- How many books, journals, newspapers, and other resources exist in the library(ies), and what is the breadth of offerings? (Include data like the dates of reference books, technology availability, etc.). Describe access to on-line data sources, including the filters used to block access to selected sites. Who decided on the filters? How did they decide?
- Describe the school’s special education and Section 504 programs. Consider inclusion, evaluation, special services, and resources.
- What are the primary instructional methods used by teachers? How is technology used in instruction?
- Is there a formal student promotion policy? What are the criteria used? How are classroom standards set? What are the grading policies?
- Is there a formal policy on homework? If so, summarize it. Is it enforced? How?
- What is the protocol for evaluating instructional practices?
Section iii: analysis of data, visioning, and recommendations for improvement
Analyze data
Identify the strengths of the site as well as the areas that could be targeted for improvement.
Create a vision and improvement plan
Work up a vision for the school. Make recommendations for improvements at the site. These should be the things you think should be improved immediately. If there are longer range recommendations, list these as such. Include ideas on how the community, students, parents, faculty, and staff, can play a role in the implementation and evaluation of the recommendations. Include an implementation plan with specific suggestions for monitoring and evaluating progress toward achieving the vision and improvements (goals). Include ways in which you would involve constituents throughout the process.
Communicate plan to stakeholders
Make a presentation on your site and your recommendations when asked to do so.
