Running Head: LEADERSHIP PLATFORM PAPER

Leadership Platform Paper

Melissa J. Barry

EDAD 620

November 23, 2017

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Introduction

When I first made the decision to become an administrator, I remembered what a wise

administrator once told me. If you want to help students on a larger scale, then you owe it to

yourself to become a leader at your school. That is exactly what I wanted to do, and that is

exactly what I did. I wanted to help students beyond my classroom walls. My journey at Cal

State Marcos University has not only led me to my first administrative position, but led me to

gain valuable insights into educational leadership. I believe a good leader creates strong working

relationships with all stakeholders to promote student achievement. By using a shared leadership

model, all stakeholders come together to improve and enhance the school community.

Throughout my coursework, discussions and opportunities to complete administrative field work,

I was able to understand and demonstrate the important qualities of an educational leader.

Visionary Leadership

Creating a culture of trust is an important aspect of my leadership beliefs and values. I

firmly believe that if you create a culture of trust on your campus that all stakeholder will reach

their goals because they feel inspired and supported. Good leaders create a culture of trust among

staff, students and parents. In EDAD 614, various leadership styles were discussed. I found my

leadership style to mostly align with shared leadership because I want those who work with me

to feel like they can do more and have a voice in the decisions that we make as a school

community. I believe that relationships must be built on trust in order to work together. These

core values are very similar to those of Nadia Lopez who wrote The Bridge to Brilliance How

One Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the World. One passage that really correlates
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with the passion I bring to leadership is when Lopez talks about working with her teachers. If I

was asking my teachers at Mott Hall to carry the heavy burden of giving our children a choice, I

had to be in it right with them. Yet, we were a school, and fundamentally the scholars were there

to become proficient academically, so it was my job to make sure that was happening, no matter

the obstacles (Lopez, 2016, p. 30). This drive and passion to ensure student success is

definitely something I personally strive for. In The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner,

2013, point out, Titles dont make you a leader. Its how you behave that makes a differences.

Exemplary leaders know that if they want to gain commitment and achieve the highest standards,

they must be models of the behavior they expect of others (p. 16). This highlights the effective

quality of modeling leadership that can lead to a shared vision and a culture of trust. I want to

use my shared vision to encourage forward-looking educators.. People dont really want to

picture only the leaders vision. They want to see how their own visions and aspirations will

come true, how their hopes and dreams will be fulfilled (Kouzes and Posner, 2012, pg. 116).

Instructional Leadership

Another important quality to being a good leader is to be able to demonstrate the

understanding of the school community and culture. This was a topic that was of great

importance in EDAD 610. Perhaps to truly understand what it means to be culturally proficient,

one must address and understand the populations that they working with. This is something I am

personally working on as an administrator in a primarily Latino populated area. It is important to

support our growing Latino population and involve parents to be apart of the school community.

For many of us, this will force us to be uncomfortable, force us to learn about a culture that goes
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beyond music, clothing and food, and force us to find solutions that work best for all our

students. According to Lindsey, Robins & Terrell, Failure to recognize, acknowledge, and

commit to overcoming the barriers is the result of a deficit model worldview (2009, p. 69). If

we, the leaders, fail to recognize our own sense of entitlement, we will continue to oppress the

students who need us the most. By coaching and encouraging staff to examine their own

practices, they can reflect in the roles they play in the classroom and in society.

One of my fieldwork experience was to connect to families and focus on family

engagement on our campus. I ran two successful parent programs. The first program was a

summer enrichment camp that allowed parents to work with their students over the summer

building important reading and math skills grades 5-8. The second program was called the Latino

Family Literacy Project which was designed to build early college awareness for Latino families.

Leaders need to create awareness, value and adapt to diversity, create a cultural proficiency

continuum and focus on professional development that promotes commitment to lifelong

learning.

School Improvement Leadership

A good administrator makes decisions that always puts students first. The

California Administrator Performance Expectations states that it is important to work together to

identify the needs of the students and school and develop a data-based school growth plan. When

it comes to making decisions as an educational leader, data plays a vital role. Educators must

examine assessment data to identify students strengths and weaknesses. Administrators must also

focus on student growth and understand that assessment data is just one part of the picture. In
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618A and 618B, I learned to examine a problem at my site and use data to look at best

instructional practices and overall student achievement. I focused on our student groups

performance on 2017 Smarter Balanced Assessment. I examined the achievement gap between

our English Language Learners and our white non Latino population. In addition to identifying

the problem, I looked into the various action plans and instructional practices that would help

support our English Language Learners. School leaders must evaluate school effectiveness by

looking at all various areas of their school and their school effectiveness factors. In EDAD 618A

and EDAD 618B, we read Marzanos What works in schools: Translating research into action.

Taking into account all areas of school reliability and and effectiveness, knowing your school

communitys strengths and weakness will help assist in important decisions when it comes to

strategic planning.

Conclusion

In order to encourage and motivate others, you must be willing to share your vision and

create a culture of trust. A good leader is a leader who has a clear vision and a path to

communicate that vision. In order to inspire and motivate others, we must take actions as

administrators. Kouzes and Posner (2012) instruct leaders to, take actions that make people feel

powerful and in control of their circumstances (p. 268). Because you need teacher support and

buy in when it comes to making tough administrative decisions, it is crucial to allow others to

have a voice in those decisions and let them take action to how they would like to implement

those changes. Better buy in will mean success for all students. My leadership vision is not just

my personal vision but a shared vision created by all stakeholders. I not only value the voices of
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the educators I work with, but I value the voice of the students and parents as well. Every

decision I make is always about the kids. When you put kids first, you will move any educational

organization.

References

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2014). California Professional Standards for

Educational Leaders (CPSEL). Retrieved from: https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs

default-source/educator-prep/standards/cpsel-booklet-2014.pdf?sfvrsn=71b5d555_0

Lindsey, R. B., Robins, K. N., & Terrell, R. D. (2009). Cultural proficiency: a manual for school

leaders. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Lopez, N. The Bridge to Brilliance How One Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the

World. (2017). Penguin Group USA.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2013). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA:

Jossey-Bass.

Marzano, R. J. (2003). What works in schools: translating research into action. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

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