Standard 2: Instructional Leadership An educational leader promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school

culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional development. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k) Provides leadership for Assessing/Developing/Improving Climate and Culture Systematically/Fairly Recognizing/Celebrating Staff/Student Accomplishment Encourages design of more effective learning experiences for students Monitors/Evaluates Effective Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment Evaluates Staff and Provides ongoing coaching for improvement Ensures professional development that enhances teaching/learning Uses research/theory to develop/revise professional growth plan Promotes collaboration with all stakeholders Accessible and approachable to all stakeholders Visible and engaged in the community Articulates and reinforces desired school culture, showing evidence

Before becoming an educational leader, administrators were once teachers, leading classrooms and students to success. Educational leaders look to their teachers to be the strongest asset in a school; they teach and motivate students. Teachers are also the people responsible for creating positive relationships with students. Strong and talented teachers often have the great support of an administrator, and I know that I would not be successful in the classroom without the support and encouragement of my administrators. Outside of the classroom, professional development is extremely important to keep teachers current with best practices. Professional development is very multi-faceted in todays schools. As a teacher, I have had several experiences using technology in my classroom, something that is in demand by schools and the students we serve. In addition to technology seminars, I have been in several professional developments concerning assessment and utilizing instructional strategies. During my leadership with the Item Analysis training for Iowa Assessments for the 2013 test, we decided to implement our own focus practice questions based on our students needs. As teachers, we were able to analyze our students deficiencies on the tests. In small groups with a teacher from each content area, we created several days worth of practice questions for teachers and students to use. However, these werent just tests with a question and four answers. These tests provided explanations of why each answer was correct versus the wrong answers. We asked that each teacher carefully go through the questions and help the students understand the procedure at arriving to the correct answer. My artifacts would be the teacher-generated focus lessons from the Kimberly Alternative High School for 2013. The entire school used the focus lessons for a week before the test during the second period. This took about ten to fifteen minutes each day, and instructional time was not compromised during at all. Additionally, I am including the forms we used to identify some of

the bubble kids as we call those kids in the time of testing who are almost proficient on the tests. As a staff, we had discussions about each student and teachers were able to offer insight as to whether these students who be able to reach proficiency on the tests this year.