Essay: Texas Administrative Code (TAC) / Wallace Foundations view

While reading the Texas Administrative Code (TAC), there are striking similarities to the Wallace Foundations view. The Wallace Foundation believes that an efficient principal does five things well: “shaping a vision of academic success for all students, creating a climate hospitable to education, cultivating leadership in others, improving instruction, and managing people, data, and processes to foster school improvement. (The Wallace Foundation, 2013, p. 4)” Many of these ideas build on each other.
Every student’s success must be a primary focus of both teachers and administrators. Within the leading learning standards, there is a directive to, “create a campus culture that sets high expectations, promotes learning, and provides intellectual stimulation for…students.” Within the ethics, equity, and diversity standards, there are several directives relating to student success. These include ensuring that all students receive quality instruction as well as “instructional programs and services to meet individual student needs.” We also see directives to “promote awareness and appreciation of diversity,” and to model “continuous and appropriate development of all learners.”  In order to truly cater to the needs of every student, administrators and staff must believe that every student has the potential to succeed and that every child has a right to learn. As stated in The School Principal as Leader by a middle school teacher, “‘as long as you support them [students], there is really nothing [the students] can’t do.’” This is a viewpoint I have found within my own classroom, but unfortunately it is not one that is shared by all teachers.  Creating a climate where this mindset can be fostered and developed should be a priority of mine as an administrator.
At my current campus, I have seen an effort to spread this culture. After receiving STAAR data back this year, we had a high percent of our students pass their eighth-grade math STAAR. My principal’s new mantra has been, “Our students can do it. We just have to help them be successful,” and she believes this applies to every student.
Part of encouraging success for all students includes creating a culture that is “hospitable to education (The Wallace Foundation, 2013, p. 8).” Both the Wallace Foundation and the TAC discuss a culture where students and staff can focus on learning. The standards mention positivity, collaboration, research, data, and plans that are a part of developing the campus culture. Establishing expectations, implementing strategies, and including all members of the learning process (students, parents, teachers, etc.) are also mentioned in the standards. The Wallace Foundation builds on these standards by discussing engaging the community, focusing on learning, and “building a sense of school community (The Wallace Foundation, 2013, p. 9).” My current campus is truly a special place. Howell has a campus culture unlike any other I have seen; one that I hope to emulate as an administrator. In order for this to happen, I would need to focus on providing tools like collaboration between teachers and teachers and teachers and administrators. Each person on a campus brings a different perspective to a situation, and we can learn from each other’s perspectives with respect to different situations. I would also need to focus on involving each member of the learning process with our campus plan.
When I began teaching at Howell, I was still in college, and only had two and a half months’ worth of teaching experience under my belt. After teaching seventh grade for half a year, summer came, went, and I was given a position again in the fall, still as a senior in college. I worked as a permanent substitute until I graduated and was hired as a full-time teacher. During this time, I was given the responsibility of teaching the eighth grade Pre-AP Algebra, working with our seventh grade RTI students, and became a part of reform for how our parking lot worked with parent pick up and drop off. I did not deserve these kinds of responsibilities, especially considering I was not a “real teacher” yet. My principal had faith in me and fostered a sense of leadership through these experiences.
Improving instruction should be at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Improving instruction means that administrators and teachers need to focus on the “quality of instruction” and on promoting “high expectations” with regard to learning (The Wallace Foundation, 2013, pg. 13). The TAC also mentions high expectations, and they discuss having a “rigorous curriculum”, using “student data to inform instruction”, and monitoring instruction. When I first began teaching, walkthroughs were very intimidating, but I now welcome them. Correspondence between teachers and observers helps teachers hone their craft. Encouraging learning will be a large part of my job as an administrator, for both teachers and students. As a teacher, giving my students specific, meaningful feedback is crucial. The same will be true as an administrator giving staff members feedback. Collaboration is a wonderful tool that tends to be underused. The TAC and The Wallace Foundation also focus on research-based practices. While I love Pinterest and the ideas that are found there, the practices to use need to be research-based. Another part of my job as an administrator will be to help encourage the research-based strategies.
The Wallace Foundation’s fifth practice of efficient principals is “managing people, data, and processes to foster school improvement (The Wallace Foundation, 2013, pg. 4).” Throughout the TAC, we see standards that mention using data throughout the year to appraise staff,