John Parkers Self-Assessment

Year 2

1


Standard Sub-element

When leaders demonstrate leadership along
this standard they are able to:


Rating

How would you rate
the extent to which
your ability to exercise
leadership is consistent
with this standard?
Claims and Evidence

What are two or three specific claims you would
make about your leadership related to this
standard? What are two or three pieces of evidence
you would cite to support each claim?
1. Equity and
Excellence
(a) Identify how practices, policies, and
systems, both presently and historically,
have created disparities in the quality of
learning environments and student
success, particularly for traditionally
marginalized students.


November 2013
1 2 3 4
Low High


Claim: I continue to identify practices,
policies, and systems, both presently and in
the previous school years which have
created disparities in the quality of learning
environments and student success,
particularly for traditionally marginalized
students.
Evidence: I have helped modify grading
and student record policies that created
disparities in the quality of learning
environments, graduation and career
planning, student success and acted to
change those policies. I have also partnered
with another director to improve master
scheduling and change its focus toward
being student selection driven.

(b) Build policies and systems that support
every student in success and learning to
high standards.
1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I build policies and systems that
support every student in success and
learning to high standards

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Evidence: I worked collaboratively with
administrators and teachers to review the
elementary student report card to reflect
changed instructional practices and
research as well as the new Common Core
State Standards in ELA in every
elementary report card. I lead a team which
helped training teacher on the use of our
electronic grade book system and
performance plus-our assessment data
system.
(c) Foster the collective responsibility,
growth and capacity of others to reflect on
and enact equitable practice.





1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I foster the collective
responsibility, growth, and capacity of
others to reflect on and enact equitable
practice.
Evidence: Through the revisions (stated
above) of the elementary report card, and
the new observation tool my department
created in Excel to capture teacher
observations by administrators.
(d) Engage and empower multiple voices
both professional and community in key
deliberations and decision-making.

1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I engage and empower multiple
voices, professionally and within the
community, in key deliberations and
decision-making.
Evidence: Through the District
Technology Committee, we make
technology decisions with staff, parental,
and student input; especially, those
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decisions related to proposition 2 of our
levy.
(e) Facilitate explicit discussions about race,
class, language, ability, and other group-
based disparities in the service of collective
action to decrease them.





1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I continue to grow and be involved
with opportunities to facilitate explicit
discussions about race, class, language,
ability, and other group-based disparities in
the service of collective action to decrease
them
Evidence: District Leadership Team
meetings discussing learning and
outcomes, Regional principal meetings
which cultural competency and issues of
diversity arise; Work with the principal at
Walker High School to address student
learning issues of all students by providing
those students with a laptop for the work
they do
2. Inquiry-
focused
Practice
(a) Engage in cycles-of-inquiry processes in
the moment and over time, including:

(i) Using evidence to understand
problems of practice, and
specifically the student,
teaching/other adult, and leadership
dimensions of those problems.

(ii) Constructing theories of action that:
Rest on a solid evidence-based
rationale for how pursuing those
actions may shift adult practice and

1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I am able to engage in the cycle of
inquiry process using evidence to
understand a problem of practice and
specifically the student, teaching, and
leadership dimensions of those problems.
Evidence: Two Cycles of Inquiry
embedded in the work of my school district
and L4L; Planning with Data, Formative
assessment practices used to change
teacher instruction, provide multiple
sources for evidence to support CIA
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ultimately student learning and
show a clear through-line from
changes in adult practice and other
conditions to improvements in
student learning.

(iii) Acting in ways that reflect
engagement with the theory of
action or strategic deviations from
it.

(iv) Continuously assessing progress.


claims; Creating a district improvement
plan provided me an opportunity to engage
in inquiry to identify specific steps to
improve in instructional effectiveness, and
using qualitative data in addition to
quantitative data to inform problem of
practices and monitor/assess results for my
TOA
(v) Support the learning of other adults
to continuously strengthen their
practice in ways that promise to
improve results for all students.


1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I support the learning of other
adults to continuously strengthen their
leadership practice in ways that promise to
improve results for all students.
Evidence: I engaged in an assistance
relationship with one of our building
principals primarily around supporting the
implementation of a 1:1 initiative and my
cycle of inquiry. Primarily, I wanted to
support the leadership moves with the
principals staff to support learning for
students within that building
(vi) Communicate from a teaching and
learning stance-- in ways that help
other adults deepen the extent to
which they are engaged with and
1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I communicate from a teaching and
learning stance in ways that help other
adults deepen the extent to which they are
engaged with and value strengthening their
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value strengthening their practice.


practice.
Evidence: I support parents, teachers, and
administrators about communicating their
teaching and (students) learning targets
and work through our new Edline website;
and also provide ways for teachers to
communicate their students performance
through our online gradebook system,
Home Access Center.
3. The
Improvement
of Teaching
& Learning

(a) Articulate a theory-based vision of
deeply-engaging, culturally-responsive,
and intellectually-challenging
instruction and adult professional
learning.




1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I articulate a theory-based vision of
deeply-engaging, culturally-responsive,
and intellectually-challenging instruction
and adult professional learning by..
Evidence: Creating and helping implement
a model of job-embedded professional
learning for administrators and teachers
around math studio classrooms at the
secondary level. I was also proficient with
Teachscape assessments and training for
administrators on how to observe, identify,
and code instructional components in the
classroom according to the Danielson
instructional framework. This has allowed
me to be more purposeful in my attempts
to incorporate professional learning within
my trainings with others focused on quality
instruction.
(b) Construct/adapt/select and use
instructional frameworks and other
1 2 3 4
Low High
Claim: My district has selected an
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leadership tools to optimize student and
adult professional learning.




instructional framework and developed
leadership tools to optimize student and
adult professional learning
Evidence: I completed my Teachscape
training which was tied to being proficient
at observing and rating instructional
practices of teachers using the Danielson
framework. I also created an observation
tool for our administrators to use during
their observations to help them with their
learning of the instructional framework,
the AWSP evaluation process, teacher
evaluations.
(c) Engage relevant players collaboratively
and draw from school-based and
community expertise and resources in
instructional improvement work.




1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I engage relevant players
collaboratively and draw from school-
based and community expertise and
resources in instructional improvement
work.
Evidence: I worked alongside other
directors in developing the District Student
and School Success Plan aimed at
improving instruction, learning and
achievement using the Indistar
Improvement Tool. During that time, I
collaborated over the year with our
Director of Assessment and Accountability
to create a plan to use our Assessment Data
repository as the primary data tool to
inform instruction and decision-making in
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the district. Another opportunity
supporting this work presented itself as a
district-wide professional development
training on Response to Intervention.
During this collaborative opportunity with
Directors from Title, SpEd, and LAP to
define resources within Tier three for
district-wide intervention support to
schools.
(d) Fashion and enact systems to support
and sustain instructional leadership,
inside and outside of schools.



1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I have created systems to support
and sustain instructional leadership of our
principals, teacher leaders, and educators,
inside and outside the district.
Evidence: I developed a plan to enact
Studio Classroom Cycles in math and
science for teacher/administrator teams to
model and establish instructionally focused
learning events which promoted
collaboration in a job-embedded
professional development opportunity. I
also helped construct a OneNote tool for
administrators to assist them in the
efficient way to conduct observations using
technology.
(e) Craft/adapt instructional visions,
practices, and other supports
appropriately for meeting specialized
learning needs (e.g., of ELLs, students
1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I craft and/or adapt instructional
visions, practices, and other supports
appropriately for meeting specialized
learning needs.
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with identified disabilities).




Evidence: I collaborated with the
Assessment department to construct an
assessment data repository which can be
utilized to analyze data for program
placement, intervention next-steps, and to
inform instructional actions for all
students, including those with diverse
needs.
(f) Analyze assessment practices and use
assessment data of various kinds to
improve instruction.



1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I analyze assessment practices and
use assessment data of various kinds to
improve instruction.
Evidence: I have identified three data
protocols for building administrators to use
to analyze data for achievement of various
student groups as part of aligning to
instructional framework language and
evaluation criteria for teachers and
administrators. I also created multiple
surveys during the year which informed
my next-step actions with technology
purchases, CIA work, organizational
restructuring within the technology
department.
4. Strategic,
Collaborative
Governance
& Decision-
making
(a) Understand and develop coherent
organizational structures and policies
that improve the equity and overall
performance of the educational system.
1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I can understand and develop
coherent organizational structures and
policies that improve the equity and overall
performance of the educational system.
Evidence: I reviewed and amended
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policies related to retention of school
records and developed internal changes to
a system that was out-of-date. This process
streamlined processes for students to
acquire their official transcripts more
quickly through our 4 high schools. I also
reviewed transcript entries for high school
students who left early, and facilitated
discussions with our Assistant
Superintendents around the use of W
(withdraw) and how this can assist students
with credit deficiencies rather than hinder
their acquisition of credits for graduation
and future career plans.
(b) Generate, allocate, and manage
resources in alignment with
improvement and equity goals.




1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I generate, allocate, and manage
resources in alignment with improvement
and equity goals.
Evidence: I have helped generate tools for
assessment (OneNote, PerformancePLUS,
evaluation Tool) with administrators; and,
I provided professional training to use
these tools to align with improving
instruction and equity in every school. I
also began a district, one-to-one initiative
with students at our highest need high
school to assist students with using
technology to improve their organization,
21
st
century skills, and engage their
learning in ways that are more
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personalized.
(c) Identify, engage, and influence the
broader policy, legal, and political
environment to strengthen supports that
matter the most for learning
improvement.



1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I can identify, engage, and
influence broader policy, legal, and
political environments to strengthen
supports for learning
Evidence: I collaborated with CAOs and
Assistant Superintendents on a revision of
policy for graduation credits and
transcripts of students. I facilitated the
discussions and we were able to arrive at a
consensus on situations when CR, NC, and
W would be used for students. This
process was communicated out among
secondary building principals and will
begin to be enacted by Data Processors in
buildings. As President of a non-profit
teachers organization, I was able to build
support from a 28-member board to engage
science teachers across the state with
professional learning associated with
NGSS, CCSS, and the Biology COE. This
work included building broad political
support and establishing will of the
organization to move forward on three
strategic initiatives.
(d) Build the capacity of educators and
community members to collaborate in
ongoing systemic improvement to
ensure a high-quality education for
1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I build the capacity of educators
and community members to collaborate in
ongoing improvement systems to ensure
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every student




high quality education for every student
Evidence: Our District Technology
Committee met three times during the year
and is comprised of community members,
teachers, and administrators. We were able
to build the capacity of the group to help us
make informed decisions about the
purchase of technology with levy funds,
and inform our decisions on the purchase
of technology teaching tools to
improve/enhance instruction.
(e) Develop and guide decision processes
that maximize collaborative problem
solving and continuous improvement.



1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I can develop and guide decision
processes that maximize collaborative
problem solving and continuous
improvement.

Evidence: Through our decision-making
and collaborative problem-solving
approach both in ELT and DLT leadership
groups, we were able to move forward on
many big district initiatives including All-
Day Kindergarten, TPEP, Resource
allocation, Technology purchases, and
district improvement planning.
(f) Model transparent and ethical
leadership and address sources of
conflict productively and equitably.


1 2 3 4
Low High

Claim: I modeled transparent and ethical
leadership and addressed some sources of
conflict productively and equitably.
Evidence: I dealt with an HR issue with an
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employee about their job performance,
attendance and punctuality, and adherence
to district procedures. This resulted in a
letter of reprimand; however, I was
transparent about the process with the
employee, was candid and honest about the
evidence, was clear in my delivery of the
consequences. I also worked
collaboratively with union representation
on the frontend of technology issues
associated with report cards, training for
staff, the teacher laptop initiative, and
SmartBoard installation.

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B. Growth Supports
In this section, we ask you to consider the implications of your self-assessment for what supports
you will access over the next year to support your professional growth. Please use the following
questions to reflect on those supports.

1. Based on your self-assessment, what overall (looking across the standards) would you say are
2-3 of your main strengths as a learning-focused leader? Why those?
This year my focus has remained on building assistance relationships with building
principals since building administrators provide the instructional leadership with their
staff to enact improvement measures and foster effective instruction and assessment
techniques. Unlike last year however, I am focusing on the joint work and assistance in
one building where we are piloting the One-to-One initiative with the intent on scaling
this work up with other administrators. My strengths are my ability to listen and provide
the legwork on initiatives for principals so they can focus on the thinking behind the
work they engage with in their staff. I bring a wide swath of knowledge and experience to
leading instruction, assessment, and learning; my desire is to share this with building
administrators. Instruction, assessment and learning are arguably the cornerstone topics
of being a learning-focused leader; and possessing these strengths provides me the
opportunity to build capacity in others.


2. Based on your self-assessment, what overall would you say are 2-3 main areas for your growth
as a learning-focused leader? Why those?
Clearly articulating my mission and vision with others to bring them along as co-leaders
and implementers of a new initiative is one the key areas I want to improve upon. In the
past, I have trudged forward on solo missions, feeling helpless that the work, which I
believe in, is not impacting principals and teachers in the way I feel it should. To
accomplish this, I will need to improve my own capacity to build ownership of teaching
and learning initiatives.

Another area for my growth includes knowing what problem of practice I am addressing
before I leap into the theory of action. This way, I have the rationale for why we are
exploring something and moving forward to change and implement something new.
Given the job of director in a large district, I feel a compulsion to jump into solutions
rather than exploring the problem. Cycles of inquiry sound like a tool to help me address
this leadership need.

The two items above are areas of growth in which I still believe I need to work. Building
the trust and credibility is critical to engaging in assistance relationships (which I want
to work on), and that will happen if I am able to connect with the administrator doing the
work. Supporting tthem in growth towards outcomes the district has identified as
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common will help build this trust and credibility and if I am able to balance between
doing the legwork to help them think more clearly and deeply about the tasks assigned to
them, I can build this trust. I also want to engage in more leadership talk associated
asking pertinent and meaningful questions of administrators while we are engaged in
professional development or even in general meetings. I also want to model more of my
own practices of improvement by being transparent with my colleagues, asking them for
feedback as a data source to show improvement when I engage with them.



3. What are concrete experiences or supports you will have or access in the next year to help you
build on your strengths and grow in the areas you identified?
a. Through your engagement in the L4L curricular strands:
In working with cohort members during the various joint work activities and
projects this year. Also, another cohort member and I plan to present at WERA
this year and connect that presentation to the work we are doing and plan to do
with principals. This will allow us to open our practice to the outside and ask for
feedback while presenting others with an option for using COI work to meet
TPEP design goals.
b. Outside L4L
At both District Leadership Team and Educational Leadership Team meetings
with the other central office leaders in our district. Also, meetings and other
committee work will provide opportunities to practice many L4L strand work;
and Walker High School will be the site of my CIA.
I am also a leader in the science education world in Washington State as I was
elected to the position of president for the Washington State Science Teachers
Association (WSTA). This is another group of passionate educators and science
leaders who provide me support and an opportunity to improve my leadership.
c. Through your Internship?
Our superintendent, Tim Yeomans, has been my mentor for the internship, and is
in his 2
nd
full year as the districts Superintendent. His extensive leadership
knowledge provides me with the scaffold to grow my own leadership potential
while giving me experiential examples to anchor my thinking around school
boards, the green line, policy (design), and Union relationships. He is a good
listener, articulate, and models a shared leadership approach in our district and I
have brought leadership issues to his attention with the intent to learn these pieces
at a deeper level and in such a way as my actions become more automatic. Other
district leaders like our Assistant Superintendents, Directors, and CAOs continue
to provide me with additional mentorship and guidance.


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In years 1-2 when exploring internship possibilities, please reflect on the following when considering
particular internship experiences:

1) To what extent will this internship stretch my thinking and experiences as an educational leader?
2) To what extent will the likely field mentor have the time and other resources to help me build on my
strengths and grow in the areas I have identified?
3) To what extent will this internship help me expand my circle of colleagues and my understanding
about systems leadership?

The internship continues to stretch my thinking from the 60 initial hours logged in year 1 to the hundreds
of hours logged in year 2. School board relationships, governance policies and norms, operating the green
line are all very important and meaningful learning topics for me over this period because of their novelty
and how much I unknowingly took them for granted as a central management director. I learn more and
more of school boards who are not operating in a fully functional manner and cross the green line to take
more managerial charge; and this was not something I ever thought would transpire. My steep learning
curve with this was obvious when a few past instances occurred with our current and former
superintendent and work was required to mend relations or fix a situation that got too far out in front of
the board.. I plan to have more skills and awareness about working with a Board of Directors and plan to
include artifacts of this learning, including Board Norms, agendas, and reports as a way to show my
acknowledgement and understanding of this important leadership skill.

The superintendent and I have scheduled monthly meetings together which range in time from 30 minutes
to 90 minutes. He has rarely canceled these meetings and demonstrated thus far, his engagement and
enthusiasm for meeting with me and sharing what he knows. Experiences as a superintendent are the
primary opportunity that we discuss, and how these scenarios play out and our actions with the Board,
district employees, and the community. So far, all the items on the internship have been discussed (some
multiple times) and Tim provides important and meaningful thoughts, perspectives, and actions steps with
each.

The work I presented at WERA, my exposure as WSTA President, and networking at conferences and the
Tacoma Dome Career Fair are all opportunities I have to expand my circle of colleagues whether through
the internship, my job, or my non-profit work. The hours I plan to log for the work as WSTA President is
of particular interest to me since I have been challenged considerably to lead a non-profit organization
whose volunteer members have been under various leadership, and the organization itself is in need of
considerable change and strategic planning.

Already my superintendent invited me to a lunch session where two state senators and a lobbyist met to
discuss the 1080 hours bill and support needed to make changes to that legislation. To that extent and
others that are scheduled (or unscheduled at this point), my exposure to other leaders through this
internship has increased.