DIFFERENTIATED/Developmental SUPERVISION A process of supervision whereby the principal strives to meet school objectives by providing staff members a variety of supervisory modes designed to meet their individual needs

Differentiated/Developmental Supervision cont. Differentiated supervision operates on the premise that teaching is a profession; teachers should have a degree of control over their professional development and the power to make choices about the support they need. Zepeda (2007)

Differentiated/Developmental Supervision A supervisor’s style either enhances or diminishes teachers’ abilities to engage in learning that is developmentally appropriate and that will ultimately enhance the educational experience a teachers’ students will receive. The success of differentiated/developmental supervision rests on the supervisor’s ability to match appropriate models or strategies to the specific needs and developmental levels of their teaching staff members. Zepeda(2007)

DIFFERENTIATED SUPERVISION OPTIONS Formal Clinical Supervision: A cycle of pre-conferences, observations, and post-conferences based on school district established teaching competencies. Cooperative Clinical Supervision: A cycle of pre-conferences, observations and post-conferences during which a goal is identified, observed and discussed. Cooperative Professional Development: An effort to develop building-based school improvement through faculty study and practice. The two main types of Cooperative Professional Development are: Collegial Study Peer Coaching

SELF-DIRECTED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT The teacher develops his/her own individual professional improvement plan approved by the principal at the beginning of the school year, worked on during the school year, and reviewed with the principal at the end of the school year.

INTENSIVE ASSISTANCE A plan involving specific goal-setting with a teacher at risk of failure and, therefore, termination. This option usually involves a very intense timeline of observation and conferencing aimed at elimination of unsuccessful teaching strategies and/or teacher behaviors.

Reflective Question Differentiated—Developmental Supervision How does a supervisor consciously approach the wide variety of potential interactions with teachers?

Extended Reflection #1 Reflect on your most recent experience with instructional supervision. How would you classify the administrator’s supervisory style? What behaviors led to this conclusion? What supervisory style/behaviors, if any, in your opinion would have been more appropriate? Why?

Extended Reflection #2 Wiles and Bondi (1996) indicate that “supervisors are administrators. Administrators need a very specialized set of skills.” Is there an inherent conflict in the first part of the statement “supervisors are administrators? What are the “very specialized set(s) of skills” that supervisors (who are often administrators by title) need to work with teachers? What guides a supervisor when deciding which skills, or sets of skills, to employ?