1. DPAS II for Administrators: Principal Supervisor Training
Summer 2015

2. Session Outcomes
As a result of active participation, principal supervisors will:
Be prepared to implement the DPAS II for administrators appraisal cycle for principals in SY15-16
Increase their understanding of Delaware’s definition of effective principal leadership
Increase their skills in key areas of evaluation, including:
assessing the quality of student performance targets
helping principals establish leadership practice priorities
providing accurate and actionable feedback to individual principals
“These are our outcomes for today… Is everyone ok with these outcomes?”

3. Today’s Agenda Welcome and overview of the day
Review of Purpose of Principal Evaluation
Overview of the Principal Supervisor Guide for Evaluating Principals
Goal Setting
Assessing the quality of student performance targets
Helping principals establish leadership practice priorities
Assessing Leadership Practice
Implementation: Early Adopters Sharing Practices
Close the day
“This is how we will proceed through the day… Is everyone ok with this agenda?”
(Timings in parentheses for facilitators only)
Welcome and overview of the day (10)
Review of Purpose of Principal Evaluation (15)
Overview of the Principal Supervisor Guide for Evaluating Principals (35)
Goal Setting (60)
Assessing the Quality of Student Performance Targets
Helping principals establish leadership practice priorities
Assessing Leadership Practice (120)
Implementation: Early Adopters Sharing Practices (60)
Close the day

4. Review of Purpose of Principal Evaluation

5. Warm-up
Think about your own experience as a principal. Think about how you were evaluated. Write down your reflections on these questions:
What was the process?
How did your supervisor know how you were doing in your job?
What aspects of being a principal were the focus of your evaluation?
In what ways was your evaluation helpful? In what ways was it unhelpful?
Turn to a partner and share your reflections with a neighbor.
“We want to start by having you think about your own experience being evaluated as a principal. Reflect on the questions on the screen and take some notes to yourself.”
After 4 minutes…
“Turn to a partner and share reflections”
After 7 minutes…
“Any reflections that you want to share?”
Take questions for 4 minutes.
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6. Amplify Learning Outcomes Attract Great Teachers
Leadership Matters
Amplify Learning Outcomes
Attract Great Teachers
“Principals are important.
Research has taught us at New Leaders a great deal about what makes an effective school leader and what their impact is. We know that one highly effective principal amplifies the impact of effective teachers – leaders can have a stronger effect on all students in a school than teachers do because teachers affect only their particular students.
We also know that high-quality principals will hire, develop and support talented teachers. High quality principals create working conditions that support teachers to stay longer at their jobs.”

7. Key Ideas in DPAS II for Administrators
Provides space for professional judgment
Supports professional growth
Assures continuous improvement of student outcomes
Facilitates quality talent management
“The DPAS II model has four big ideas embedded in its design.
Provides space for judgment: DPAS II requires evaluators to observe the practice of administrators enough to make informed judgments about the quality and efficacy of practice.
Supports professional growth: evaluators and administrators identify areas for growth and opportunities to enhance administrators’ skills and knowledge.
Assures continuous improvement of student outcomes: supports continuous improvement of instructional practice and student outcomes by helping evaluators and administrators monitor professional growth and student improvement.
Facilitates quality talent management by having quality administrators in every school building. Evaluation systems are part of a managing talent through clear criteria for performance and credible evidence about administrator performance. Evaluators use this evidence to make important talent management decisions.

8. Overview of Principal Supervisor Guide for Evaluating Principals

9. The Guide
“We want to be sure you are familiar with all the steps and forms associated with the DPAS II system for administrators. We will walk through the guide and take questions of understanding along the way.”

10. Timing and Steps
“Turn to page 6 in your guide. Here you will see a recommended timeline of the required steps…
Needs, schedules, and procedures vary among school districts and charter schools, so the dates represent a flexible range.”

11. Five Components of Principal Evaluation
1. VISION AND GOALS
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING
3. PEOPLE, SYSTEMS, AND OPERATIONS
4. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
5. STUDENT IMPROVEMENT
“Turn to page 7. Here is where you see a substantive description of the 5 components that factor into a principal’s evaluation…”

12. Leadership Practice Components and Criteria
1. VISION AND GOALS
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING
Develops a vision for high student achievement
Establishes school goals and an aligned school plan using data
Establishes and reinforces school values and behaviors that align to the vision
Develops cultural competence and a commitment to equity
Implements rigorous curriculum and assessments aligned to Delaware State Standards
Implements high-quality instructional practices
Increases teacher effectiveness through support and evaluation
Monitors student data to drive instructional practices
3. PEOPLE, SYSTEMS, AND OPERATIONS
4. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Manages resources in alignment with the school plan
Organizes school time to support all student learning and staff development priorities
Ensures school operations align with mandated policies
Hires and retains high-performing staff members
Develops a high-performing leadership team
Builds professional relationships and constructively manages change
Engages in self-reflection and on-going professional development
Demonstrates relentless focus, proactive problem solving and advocacy for students
Engages families and the community in student learning
“For each of the first four components – which together are the leadership practice components – this slide shows the more detailed criteria for evaluation.”

13. Assessing Leadership Practice (Components 1-4)
Highly Effective
Expert level of performance across components + build the capacity of others to lead
Effective
Effective leadership practices across components
Needs Improvement
Knowledge and awareness of effective leadership practices, but not consistent execution
Ineffective
Unacceptable levels of performance on one or more components
“Page 8 describes the levels of performance for assessing leadership practice. These four levels are articulated in a rubric, which we will discuss later.
* Expected performance for principals is described at the effective level.
* What differentiates highly effective performers is the demonstrated ability to build the capacity of others.
* Novice principals may be rated at the needs improvement level”

14. Assessing Student Improvement (Component V)
“Pages 9 and 10 describe the process for assessing student improvement. This is the same as last year, with Part A on hold.”

15. Key Steps: Goal-Setting
Two goals (ELA/Math + Other)
Measure, baseline data, and target
Student Improvement (Required)
Leadership actions connected to criteria
Indicators of success
Leadership Priority Areas (Recommended)
“The first step in the process is goal-setting, which is described on page 11 (and forms on pages 36 and 37)…
“Two parts:
* Student improvement goals: Here the principal chooses specific student performance measures and sets targets for improvement on those measures. These form the basis for assessing the principal in Component V . This is required.
* Priority Leadership Areas: Here the principal identifies areas of his/her practice where improvement would contribute both to his/her overall growth as a leader and to the accomplishment of the student performance goals. The priorities should focus on specific criteria in the DPAS II for Administrators Principal Rubric. This is strongly recommended.

16. Key Steps: Evidence Collection
Direct Observation
The evaluator is physically present in the school or venue where the administrator is present and leading
Indirect Observation
The evaluator is observing systems that but operate without the leader present
Artifacts
Materials that document principal practice
School Data
Concrete results of a leader’s work
“Page 13 describes the next step, which is evidence collection..
Brief reminder that the guide outlines four types of evidence. All are relevant. Direct and indirect observation tend to be underdeveloped and underutilized.
Direct observation of administrator practice
The evaluator is physically present in the school or venue where the administrator is present and leading
Indirect observation of administrator practice
The evaluator is observing, reviewing, or speaking with stakeholders about systems or processes that have been developed and implemented by the administrator but operate without the leader present
Artifacts
Materials that document principal practice
School data
Concrete results of a leader’s work

17. Key Steps: Evidence Collection
“There are two resources for evidence collection: On page 38 is a form for observations.
Starting on page 25 is the rubric of practice:
You can see here how the rubric is structured…”

18. Key Steps: Mid-Year Conference
Critical Questions: • What actions has the principal taken to accomplish goals? • What positive accomplishments would the principal share? • What evidence exists of progress toward goals? • What resources/supports does the principal need to help accomplish their goals?
“Page 15 describes the next step – required this year – which is the mid-year conference.
This is a chance to check in on progress and ask critical questions.
See pages 39 and 40 for the forms to use.”

19. Key Steps: Summative Evaluation
Leadership Practice
(Components 1-4)
Student Improvement (Component 5)
Highly Effective
Effective (E) or Highly Effective (HE) on all four
Exceeds
Effective
E or HE on at least three + No Ineffective (I)
Satisfactory (or higher)
Needs Improvement
E or HE on one or two + Fewer than three I
E or HE on three or more
Unsatisfactory
E or HE on three + one I
Ineffective
E or HE on zero, one or two
E or HE on zero
Three or more I
Any rating
“The last step in the process is summative evaluation, which starts on page 16.
Here you can see the ways in which leadership practice and student improvement combine into summative ratings.
See also the form for summative rating, which starts on page 41.

20. Processing
Take 10 minutes to read back through the guide. Then we will take questions to ensure your understanding.
QUESTIONS?
Give reading time. Take questions.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

21. Goal-Setting: Assessing the Quality of Student Improvement Goals
“Now we are going to work on goal setting. Having ambitious, attainable goals is critical to effective performance management…

22. Alignment of Improvement Goals
State of Delaware
accountability system and goals
District
performance targets and multi-year goals
School
Administrator
Student improvement goals
Teacher
Student performance measures
“As a principal supervisor, it is critical to communicate the vision of driving coherence for district priorities all the way through the system. The superintendent’s priorities need to be front and center in the development of student performance measures to increase alignment of major initiatives around the goal of student achievement; by strengthening the linkage between teacher and student improvement goals, administrator student improvement targets, school improvement plans, and district standards and goals, the system gains a focused and aligned effort.

23. Guiding Principles for Goal-Setting
Select the right measures
Set the right targets
Determine how progress to goals will be assessed mid-year and EOY
Identify leadership priority areas connected to goals (Recommended)
“A strong student improvement goal demonstrates a clear through line.
Select the right measures: We recommend that the process for selecting measures occur between an administrator and his/her evaluator and that the evaluator bring a clear point of view to the conversation about the measures that are central to top district priorities.
Set the right targets: Targets should be clear enough so that the administrator and her supervisor know what success looks like. It is important to note the examples we will look at are all single year targets, so that they can support annual administrator evaluation.
Determine how many targets need to be met to reach proficiency: DPAS II for Administrator Evaluation outlines the importance of the administrator and evaluator collecting interim data on the SPMs to inform a mid-year formative conversation (which is an opportunity to assess progress and, as needed, adjust targets) and summative data to inform summative ratings.

24. The Student Improvement Goal “Quality” Test
How does the goal address a critical area of growth, a grade or subject not included in state assessment data, or/and a sub-group that has been underperforming at your school?
Is the target informed and driven by past performance? Describe.
Data Analysis
Explain how the goal demonstrates alignment to district priorities.
Does the goals provide an opportunity for the school to move in a coordinated effort toward increases in student achievement? Provide a rationale.
Alignment
Explain how the assessments help you track progress on the goals and what important benchmarks exist throughout the year.
Explain how the measures allow you to track growth in addition to attainment, particularly if the goal calls for it.
Measures
“A high-quality goal passes the test in the four categories above: Data analysis, alignment, measures, strategies. Transparent, clear thinking must “sit behind” a goal that is rigorous and high quality. These guiding questions support that thinking process.
[use this slide as a handout]
Describe how the principal identified strategies (Components I-IV) will support the target that has been set.
Have teachers in appropriate grades and subjects linked their goals to the school-wide goal? .
Strategies

25. Principal Student Improvement Goal: An example
By June 2016, 85% K-2nd grade students at Breakwater Elementary will grow at least 5 levels in reading comprehension, oral reading, and fluency as measured by DRA2 assessment.
Time bound to June, but set up to track progress on DRA2 benchmark administrations throughout year.
Reading level set up to monitor and measure student growth. This goal also addresses grades not tested in state assessment data.
Reading comprehension is a critical area of growth for all students in all sub-groups at Breakwater.
Use handout to connect “quality test” to the goal. Follow along with the explanation as each appears on the screen.
Assessment measure has three administrations which allows for monitoring benchmark growth toward goal. Grade level goals are clearly outlined.
Setting ambitious goals for students early on is instrumental in moving toward district goal of all students reading at or above grade level by 3rd grade, The Breakwater Promise.

26. Work Session: Write Student Improvement Goals
Think about the school you led as a principal. Consider if you were going to led the school again this year.
Step 1: Diagnose and understand the current state of the school as best you can.
Student data — identify key areas of need
School wide data — priority areas for improved student achievement
Self-assessment from your prior year’s evaluation
District/superintendent priorities
Look back at the “quality test” questions
Step 2: Complete the Goal-Setting Form as if you were principal.
Step 3: Complete the Leadership Priority Areas as if you were the principal.
Give directions and provide context for what will happen by walking through the steps. The steps are previewed on the slide.
[Make page 36 and 37 of the guide a handout]

27. Give Feedback | Get Feedback
Take your Goal Setting Form and…
Find a partner from a different table who you do not know or have not worked with today
Each partner will get 3 minutes to read the completed form and describe the intentional through line from measure to target
After the measures/targets are shared the partner will ask clarifying questions, apply the “quality test”, and identify strengths
We will do this cycle twice so each partner gives feedback and gets feedback
The cycle ends when you return to your seat to refine your measure after the “quality test”
Describe the process, then have people pair. Keep close attention to time and switch partners after three minutes.

28. Sharing Best Practices: Goal Setting
Some principal supervisors who have already implemented the new system of principal evaluation are here to share their perspectives on setting goals.
When do you do your goal-setting process with principals?
What prep work do you and your principals do in advance?
How do you structure your conversations?
How do you make the links between student improvement goals and leadership performance areas?
Walk through your own process for assessing the quality of student improvement goals.
Additional questions?
Introduce principal supervisors in attendance. Invite them to share their perspective. Open the floor to questions.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

29. Checking for Understanding
What strikes you as critical when carrying out this process in your own district? What needs to be in place to get a robust goal-setting process ready to go for ?
What questions, concerns, ideas do you have about goal setting?
Ask participants to quick write answers to these questions and then talk with a partner, with facilitators floating.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

30. Assessing Leadership Practice

31. Effective Leadership Brainstorm
Take 5 minutes on your own to list what it takes – skills, knowledge, habits, mindsets – to be an effective principal in your school district
Share and compare with your table group. Where are there similarities? Differences?
Together as a team, prioritize the top ten from the lists and put them up on chart paper. Post the paper when you are finished.
Take a gallery walk.
Read directions. Monitor time.
Do a brief gallery walk so that participants get a sense of the similarities and differences in defining effective leadership across the training participants. We will come back to these as we do a close read of the rubric.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

32. Toward a Shared Vision of Principal Effectiveness
Practice based on each district’s definition of effectiveness
Practice supported
by a common definition
Practice supported by a common definition and shared practice
“Each of you has a definition of principal effectiveness that you’ve honed. The rubric is designed to help you collectively build a more shared definition of practice, and working together will increase the likelihood of that happening.

33. Standards and Rubric Connection
DPAS II Component
Delaware Administrator Standards
(Six ISLLC)
1. Vision and Goals
A vision of Learning
2. Teaching and Learning
School Culture
3. People, Systems and Operations
The Management of Learning
4. Professional Responsibilities
Family and Community Collaboration Ethics
Societal Context
“We also want you to know that the rubric is anchored by Delaware Administrative Standards, which align with the Interstate School Leaders’ Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards, aligning the evaluation of school and district administrators with student learning and school improvement. DPAS II for administrators is grounded in research and an understanding of leader performance in high-achieving schools.
In 1998, the State Board of Education approved the Delaware Administrator Standards. In 2002, the Professional Standards Board and the State Board, recognizing the close correlation between the two sets of standards, adopted the standards for educational leaders developed by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) as the Delaware Administrator Standards. The ISLLC standards were revised in 2008 and in 2009; the Professional Standards Board adopted the revised ISLLC standards.
Take a look at this table and see how each ISLLC standard is represented in the DPAS II component and rubric. The DPAS II system provides a strong focus on teaching and learning.

34. Rubric Design Directly linked to ISLLC standards.
Reference rubric starting on page 25 and observation form on page 38
Walk through annotated components.
Directly linked to ISLLC standards.
Each component has four criteria and are the basis upon which the performance of an administrator is evaluated.
Each criterion has four performance levels described in the rubric.

35. Content and Language of the Rubric
Provides lens for evaluating administrators
Articulates new performance descriptors for highly effective and effective leadership
Provides common language to describe leadership practice
Puts focus on evidence to describe level of performance
Orients feedback toward professional growth with descriptors
Walk through key points on slide.
Note especially that the structure and language of the rubric is intentional in its design to provide clear descriptions of proficient practice and to provide support for administrators striving to improve their practice.

36. Put Component 1 into Practice: Video Case Study
Hyattsville Middle School Observation: Watch and listen to Ms. Washington, Hyattsville Middle School’s principal, as she describes a culture that interfered with student achievement. This short video clip offers a glimpse of the impact of culture
Directions:
Watch and listen for culture impact and its effect on their vision.
“You will have a chance to come back to this video at the end of this activity. This first view is just for the purpose of having a common observation to ground our conversation. Take notes as you watch the video as you would if you were observing live. Pay close attention to what you can see or hear, rather than making judgments, just gather the information from what you see and hear. Before we look at the video, let’s just look at an example of scripted notes (go to next slide).
Provide context for video itself.

37. 2:40 – 4:10

38. Scripting Observation Notes
When note-taking during observations, capture descriptive statements of what you see and hear.
Evidence
Judgment
Principal speaks to all students & teachers as she starts her school day offering positive comments, nods, recognition and engages in quick conversation.
Principal’s friendly comments and attitudes to teachers and students are received in a positive way.
“When note-taking during observations, capture descriptive statements of what you see and hear. These descriptive statements are critical because they give us a common basis for our conversations. Note differences in these two side-by-side examples. Then, project the video example.
Judgment is a conclusion based on what you see. Ultimately you will have to make a judgment, but you need specific, observable evidence first.

39. Read Component 1
Read Component 1: Vision and Goals across the performance levels. Begin at the criterion level. Next read the indicator language across from “highly effective” to “ineffective.”
“Read Component 1: Vision and Goals across the performance levels. Begin at the criterion level. Next read the indicator language across from “highly effective” to “ineffective.”

40. Read the Effective Column of the Rubric
“We will begin to understand the language in the Rubric by studying the effective column down through the vision and goals criteria, then look at the sample observable and documented indicators of quality professional practice. Take some time to read, annotate, really dig into the rubric. You will have 5 minutes to read only vision and goals through and then time to discuss some focus questions in pairs….

41. Discuss in pairs
What features stand out to you as you read down the “effective” column in Component One: Vision and Goals?
Note areas in in Component One: Vision and Goals that aligns to your table’s brainstorm about what it takes to be an effective principal in your district.
What area(s) present challenges to determining effectiveness? Why?
Discussion in pairs then Whole group discussion
Have participants discuss questions in pairs or at tables.
After they have had 5 minutes to discuss in groups, ask for some “key ideas” to report to the whole group.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

42. Put Component 1 into Practice: Video Case Study Part 2
Directions:
Take notes while you view the video clip.
We will only collect evidence for Component One: Vision and Goals.
As you watch the video, only record evidence that you can see or hear. Try to suspend any judgment.
Hyattsville Middle School Observation:
Watch and listen as Ms. Washington, Hyattsville Middle School’s principal, creates a Success Web while working with her Leadership Team focusing on students as they create a vision for all students to succeed.
20 min
Let’s watch this video again. Again, you will capture notes of what you see and hear as if you were observing in person. Keep your “lens” focused on the content in Component one: Vision and Goals. Determine—with the evidence that you have—the principal's level of performance.
Start video at 2:35

44. Put Component 1 into Practice: Video Case Study
Video Debrief :
What evidence of principal practice in Component One:
Vision and Goals were you able to see in this video?
What did you see and hear in this video that aligns to Component One: vision and goals? Come to agreements about WHAT you saw and heard as a table.
Based on the evidence collected, how would you describe the practice on the performance continuum? (Highly Effective, Effective, Needs Improvement, Ineffective?) Why?
Calibrate as a table and be ready to defend your answer with concrete evidence.
Discussion in pairs then Whole group discussion
Have participants discuss questions in pairs or at tables.
After they have had 5 minutes to discuss in groups, ask for some “key ideas” to report to the whole group.
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

45. Read Component 2: Teaching and Learning
Read the full text of component 2. Criteria and Performance levels.
Pay special attention to the distinctions in language between Highly Effective and Effective.
What does your group notice about the distinctions between an effective principal and a highly effective principal?
“Read the full text of component 2. Criteria and Performance levels.
Pay special attention to the distinctions in language between Highly Effective and Effective.
What does your group notice about the distinctions between an effective principal and a highly effective principal?

46. Put Component 2 into Practice: Video Case Study
East Mary Harris “Mother Jones” Elementary School Observation: In this video you are going to see Principal Brown leading her team as she focuses on developing teacher leaders.
Directions:
Take notes while you view two related video clips.
We will only collect evidence for Component Two: Culture of Learning
As you watch the video, only record evidence that you can see or hear. Try to suspend any judgment.
Review directions. Play video.

48. Distinctions Effective Highly Effective
Have groups discuss and capture on PPT.
Wrap this section up and take questions before moving on to next section.

49. Components 3 and 4 Close Read

50. Rubric Study: Components 3-4
Read the practice descriptors across the performance levels from “Highly Effective” to “Ineffective” for the assigned Component.
Each “owner” will be responsible to complete the following:
Study the assigned component first individually, then be ready to discuss key features of the component
Select a particular criterion within the component and summarizes the differences between the levels of performance and how you would assess for a principal on this criterion
Share observations with the a partner(s)
“We will break into two small groups. Read the practice descriptors across the performance levels from “Highly Effective” to “Ineffective” for the assigned Component.
Each group will be responsible to complete the following:
Study the assigned component first individually, then as a table group discuss key features of the component.
Note where the leadership practice outlined in the rubric “lives” in the brainstorms completed earlier in the day.
Team members will do a gallery walk to do this.

51. Sharing Best Practices: Using a Rubric
Some principal supervisors who have already implemented the new system of principal evaluation are here to share their perspectives on using the rubric.
How have you used the rubric as a tool for reflective practice, professional growth?
What has been most helpful about the rubric?
What has been most challenging? Have you devised ways to address the challenges?
What tools and methods are you using to generate evidence?
Additional questions?
Invite early adopters to share their perspectives. Open the floor to questions.
When you think about your role as an administrator evaluator, how might you use the rubric as a tool to support reflective practice, professional growth, and administrator evaluation in your district?
© New Leaders, Inc. All rights reserved. |

52. Bringing it Together Case Study Directions
Make four small groups. Each group will cover one component of the DPAS II rubric.
Read the Breakwater Elementary School Case Study. Discuss the evidence in the case study as it relates to your assigned Component.
Calibrate the evidence and agree across group members the level of performance for the Component.
One group member will share the final rating for the Component and the rationale/evidence for that rating with large group.
See instructions on slide and case study in handouts. Pay close attention to time.

53. Closing the Effective Leadership Loop
Look back at the brainstorm of effective leaders in your district.
Many of the attributes we already use to define effective principals are found in the DPAS II administrator rubric.
We often use different language to describe effective principals; the rubric gives us common language AND focuses primarily on evidence of performance.
Close the loop here on the brainstorm. Participants will see that they define an effective leader similarly – the DPAS II rubric creates a similar description of an effective leader and does it with clear evidence linked to the performance descriptions.

54. Implementation: Consultation with Early Adopters

55. Getting Ready for Implementation
Take 15 minutes to sketch out key actions step for yourself?
What do I need to communicate now to principals I supervise?
What actions do I need to take before the school year starts?
What questions do I still have?
Find a new partner and share your action steps.
Facilitators will float to give feedback and address questions.
Give writing time. Divide the room for early adopters and facilitators to listen in and provide counsel.
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56. Close the Day

57. e Complete evaluation form, please Wrap up
Thank you so much for your contributions today!
9 min
Collect the session feedback form.