I am taking a closer look at the Educational Administration Standards that I will be tested on when I apply for US state licensure. The Educational Leadership Policy Standards were published in 2008 by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA). They were updated from the 1996 Standards for School Leaders that were written by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). The standards are used by 43 state education departments in their entirety or as a template to developing their own standards.
The big idea with the standards is that the primary responsibility of principals/directors is to improve teaching and learning for all children. The standards are a foundation or a starting point for many areas including professional growth, license requirements, evaluations, job descriptions, etc. They are based on the effective education leadership research of the Wallace Foundation. The research shows that leadership is second only to classroom instruction among school related factors that influence student learning.
Below are the goals put into my own words and summarized to help me remember and understand them.
1) (Vision of Learning) – Promote the mission statement of the school and use it to set goals, and plans for the school.
2) (Professional Learning Community) – Nurture a collaborative, serious, professional culture of teachers that looks at student results and continuously finds ways to improve student progress.
3) (Safe and Effective Learning Environment) – Manage school operations well including time, resources, teacher-learders, etc.
4) (Community) – Get the most out of the local community with positive relations with families (understand culture) and analyze pertinent data
5) (Integrity) –Act and make decisions in an ethical and legal manner, promoting social justice for all.
6) (Politics) Influence local, national, international decisions affecting student learning, advocate for families, anticipate educational trends
Below are the standards in full. In the NPBEA report, Appendix 2 is a good overview page of the standards (1-6).
Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008
as adopted by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) – December 12, 2007
Standard 1: An education leader promotes the success of every student by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by all stakeholders
Functions:
- Collaboratively develop and implement a shared vision and mission.
- Collect and use data to identify goals, assess organizational effectiveness, and promote organizational learning
- Create and implement plans to achieve goals
- Promote continuous and sustainable improvement
- Monitor and evaluate progress and revise plans
Standard 2: An education leader promotes the success of every student by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Functions:
- Nurture and sustain a culture of collaboration, trust, learning, and high expectations
- Create a comprehensive, rigorous, and coherent curricular program
- Create a personalized and motivating learning environment for students
- Supervise instruction
- Develop assessment and accountability systems to monitor student progress.
- Develop the instructional and leadership capacity of staff
- Maximize time spent on quality instruction
- Promote the use of the most effective and appropriate technologies to support teaching and learning
- Monitor and evaluate the impact of the instructional program
Standard 3: An education leader promotes the success of every student by ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Functions
- Monitor and evaluate the management and operational systems
- Obtain, allocate, align, and efficiently utilize human, fiscal, and technological resources
- Promote and protect the welfare and safety of students and staff
- Develop the capacity for distributed leadership
- Ensure teacher and organizational time is focused to support quality instruction and student learning
Standard 4: An education leader promotes the success of every student by collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
Functions
- Collect and analyze data and information pertinent to the educational environment
- Promote understanding, appreciation, and use of the community’s diverse cultural, social, and intellectual resources
- Build and sustain positive relationships with families and caregivers
- Build and sustain productive relationships with community partners
Standard 5: An education leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.
Functions
- Ensure a system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success
- Model principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency, and ethical behavior
- Safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and diversity
- Consider and evaluate the potential moral and legal consequences of decision-making
- Promote social justice and ensure that individual student needs inform all aspects of schooling
Standard 6: An education leader promotes the success of every student by understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.
Functions
- Advocate for children, families, and caregivers
- Act to influence local, district, state, and national decisions affecting student learning
- Assess, analyze, and anticipate emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt leadership strategies
TIS Director's Blog 
Published by