Educational Management, Part 2

Question 1: Describe how the Supervisor can support innovative thinking and risk taking.

Answer 1: If the Supervisor has already taken steps to foster an environment where staff collaborates effectively and the school’s staff functions harmoniously, then the Principal will be open to new suggestions and ideas. And if the Principal is receptive, the school community is much more likely to be so. It isn’t always easy to come up with new ideas, but it is relatively simple to look back and see what hasn’t worked in the past. You take stock of past mistakes and figure out why they were mistakes – what were their flaws? What were they missing? Two very tired phrases – “brainstorming” and “thinking outside the box” – only became tired because they describe so very well exactly what is needed to spur creative thinking. The Supervisor’s role is to tell campus staff members – think big. Think different. Say out loud what you’ve been thinking for a while might work, but you didn’t want to suggest it for fear of getting funny looks. Funny looks are okay – it means you’ve come up with a new idea.

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Question 2: Detail the overlap between and among use of information gathered from the campus and the educational world at large, and the alignment of campus and district resources necessary in achieving the campus vision of learning.

Answer 2: The Supervisor is expected to know how to use all the sources of information that can be gathered from the campus community: student information (ages, test scores, ethnicity, at-risk factors, etc.), teacher information, information about parents and caregivers (involvement, or lack thereof), community issues (safety, economics) and current trends in public education. With a thorough understanding of these data the Supervisor can then develop (propose) a definable and realistic vision for the campus. Part of realizing the vision is recognizing what is needed to implement (prepare) it – how much money it will cost, how many professional staff and in what capacities they will serve, what will be the physical demands for buildings, equipment, supplies, what specific kind of support is needed from the larger community. This preparation requires a broad, eagle’s eye view of the campus’ current state, which can only be arrived at through collection and evaluation of all the sources of data mentioned above. Armed with this data the Principal can assemble a coherent picture of what he or she will need.

Question 3: Examine what the Supervisor must do to continuously ensure that the campus vision is being realized and remains the vision that the community originally developed together.

Answer 3: All members of the community must be involved in the proposal and preparation of the school’s vision of learning. The Supervisor must foster a healthy working environment for the school’s staff, leading the effort to maintain cordial relationships and professional cooperation. All members of the school community must feel that their needs are being addressed and that they are important participants in the school’s mission. The Supervisor will continuously collect and analyze data produced from the school’s activities and use the data to make adjustments and modifications in programs and processes as needed. She will encourage staff members and others in the community to offer ideas and solutions to solve problems or enlarge upon successes. And she will acknowledge any successes, large or small, that the school community produces.

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