0.4 Morrison, m., gosmire, d., & Van osdel, j. (july 2009).  (Page 4/9)

Input from 14 professional organizations contributed to the ultimate development of the ELCC standards. As noted by Murphy (2005), “The history of the early work of ISLCC and the leadership of a handful of dedicated state leaders is a narrative that has never been fully told…” (p.154). Professional organizations primarily representing teachers have not been part of the process and yet, as noted by the NBPCEA, there are new expectations and conditions to be considered when training school administrators. One strategy to meet increased expectations of administrators is to increase collaboration with teachers to provide much needed leadership for school improvement. Shared values provide a solid foundation for collaboration.

The ELCC standards have evolved over the last 14 years to the point of focusing the outcomes of programs of educational administration and the work of professors and students in the programs. This emphasis has led to a portion of the school community placing high value on standards, but their value to another critically important population, the teachers, is not known.

Methodology

Survey and data collection

A three-part survey was developed by the researchers to investigate perceptions of the ELCC standards’ merit and implementation. The survey was critiqued by practicing school administrators, teachers, and college faculty. During the fall of 2007, the survey was administered at seven school sites to 138 educators. A total of 131 responded, resulting in a 95% respond rate. Administrators and teachers completed separate versions of the survey. Participants rank ordered six of the seven ELCC professional standards for school administrators. The seventh standard regarding the administrative internship experience was not included because teachers lack knowledge of the administrators’ internship experience.

There were three sections to the survey. Part I asked participants to rank the six professional standards in order of importance with one (1) being the most important and six (6) being the least important. The second section of survey focused on the implementation of the standards. Teachers completing the second reflected on the practice of their current supervisor and ranked the six professional standards in order of implementation by their supervisor with one (1) being the standard most present in their supervisor’s practice and six (6) being the standard that was least present. In Part II of the survey administrators ranked the six professional standards in the order they perceived they implemented the standards with one (1) being the standard most present in their practice and six (6) being the standard that was least present in their practice. In Part III, participants identified their gender, years of experience, and educational level. Years of experience were reported as one of three groups: (a) 9 years or less, (b) 10-19 years, and (c) 20 years or more. Educational levels were reported as (a) BA/BS, (b) MA/MS/MEd, (c) Ed.S/EdD.