ISSL Standard # 1 Visionary Leadership

An educational leader promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development,
articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and
supported by the school community.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

Uses data for Establishment of Achievement Goals

Uses best practice in Program Improvement
Articulates/Promotes High Expectations for Teaching/Learning
Aligns educational programs w/ District Vision and Goals
Provides Leadership for Major Initiatives and Change Efforts
Communicates effectively with various stakeholders on progress

Reflection
As a building is critical to know where we want out students to be and how we are going to
go about getting them there. Having a strong understanding of what you want your school to
be is critical in evaluating where you are as a staff and where you need to improve. More
importantly it cannot be the vision of the administrator alone. It is easy to write a vision that
sounds great but the difficulty lies in getting your staff to buy in and not only believe in the
vision but carry it out on a daily basis. There lies the challenge to the educational leader.
At Roosevelt we have a new administrative team this year. As part of our professional
development this year as a staff we have been working on developing We Believe
statements in regards to students, curriculum, instruction and culture and climate. As a staff
we have written statements that we believe on each topic and are using them to develop a
shared and common vision that we as a staff will live by. In working through the process it is
apparent that we as a staff have a collective vision that we want students to achieve at high
levels but there are differing opinions and some staff that focus on areas that are outside of
our control. It demonstrates that we as a building still have progress that has to be made in
terms of getting the true buy in that we need to carry out the vision that we are creating but
we have given staff members a chance to have a voice in the development of that vision.
Two major change initiatives that have occurred in the last year include the implementation
of a new grading policy in Des Moines and a new athletic eligibility policy that we
implemented at Roosevelt this year. I will reference these over several of our ISSL standards
but they both demonstrate a commitment to doing what is best for students based on the
analysis of student achievement data. Both policies that have been adopted and
implemented have been done in a manner where they have been effectively communicated
to all stake holders through a variety of avenues. Both policies are also rooted in the idea of
increasing student achievement. The Standards Referenced Grading initiative as outlined in
the Grading manual that Ive included as an artifact is focused on creating a standard grading
policy used by all teachers that better communicates what students can do and more
importantly communicate areas of needed growth.

The eligibility policy was developed to increase academic effort amongst student athletes and
improve attendance rates. The policy was developed based on attendance data and student
achievement data and the policy was written to encourage students to be in class and to seek
positive contact points with teachers if they are struggling. It was also written to teach
students to be more proactive with their grades and less reactive at the end of the semester
when grades were coming due. While both policies were implemented with some criticism
they have been developing and implemented to hold students to a high expectation and to
increase student achievement.

Artifacts
Building Belief Statements
Standards Referenced Grading
Athletic Eligibility Summary