f:\jeri and harris interview.3gp f:\jeri and harris interview.3gp
TRANSCRIPT
Interviewing Administrators
Jeanenne Harris, Burgaw Middle School principalJay Parker West Pender Middle School principal
Bernita Jordan, WPMS assistant principalM.D. Coleman, III, Mattamuskeet Elementary
School Principal l
Jeneanne Harris
F:\JERI and HARRIS interview.3gp
Jay Parker and Bernita JordanPrincipal and Asst. Principal of West Pender Middle School
Question: 1Do you consider your school to be a PLC? Why or Why not?
Jay Parker and Bernita Jordan – Yes and No..We are working on becoming a PLC and are closest to be a PLC than ever! We have a book study, Wikis, PLC committees (Beautification, Hospitality, Technology, Interdisciplinary, and Parent Involvement) that meet once a month
They have interdisciplinary days where all day long, a subject is taught – tied into their core classes, and the specialist teachers even teach that subject that day. Each subject also has a showcase night where projects are on display
Question 2: How do you balance being an instructional leader with all the other responsibilities of being an administrator?
Both responded with “Good question…Tough one though!” They first focus on the greatest need of the school at that
time Both administrators share discipline responsibilities.
Assistant principals deals with bus discipline and truancy. Principal deals mainly with classroom discipline…to free up time for instructional responsibilities.
Many hours are put in before and after school for management issues to help free up time to be in and out of classrooms during the day.
Assistant principal said that there are some days that she spends the entire day working on either bus discipline or getting substitutes for bus drivers.
Question 3: How has the role of an administrator changed since you first became an administrator?
Bernita Jordan – Being an assistant principal for several years and also being a principal, she feels that the administrators have the same role…but ultimately everything falls into the principal’s lap.
The role of the administrator has more of an emphasis on instruction, now more than ever.
Administration used to be only management and they didn’t have any instructional roles.
In previous years, there was never an administration rubric to follow.
Now the state wants to make sure that every school is educationally sound and ready for the 21st century
Question 3: How has the role of an administrator changed since you first became an administrator?
Jay Parker – the role of an administrator depends on every school. Jay did his internship at a high school with 2,000 students and 6 administrators. He was over 600 juniors.
There was no time for instruction! He always wanted to have more of an instructional role, but the school has got to focus on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and focus on the greatest needs first.
Question 4: How do you ensure that your staff utilizes data from assessments to drive instruction
Staff members don’t have a choice! Always begin with the end in mind Teachers have to turn in bi-weekly lesson
plans and units Teachers give not only a quarterly assessment,
but a 4.5 week assessment as well Daily Remediation/Enrichment period AIMS WEB and progress monitoring Pulling objective reports from Class Scapes
Question 5: What are you doing to ensure that your school, and all of your subgroups, make AYP?
Power of “I” Enrichment/Remediation period Analyzing Class Scapes data AIMS WEB Student Data Notebooks Teacher Data Notebooks
M.D. Coleman, III – Principal of Mattamuskeet Elementary School
Do you consider your school to be a PLC? He prefers not to use acronyms so he doesn’t refer to
his school as a PLC, but it does have all the components
Committees are formed based on the needs of students
Met with all the staff members over the summer and used their input to make decisions for the school. One of the biggest issues was discipline, so he developed a school wide discipline policy and created a discipline committee.
Vertical teaming with other grade levels and collaboration
Question 2: How do you balance being an instructional leader along with the other responsibilities of being an administrator?
Getting to school at 6:15 in the morning and staying until 6:30 at night to make sure that all the management work is taken care of before and after school.
Delegating teacher leaders – Guidance Counselor is helping with testing, CTE teacher is running the Class Scapes testing, PE teacher came up with a tutoring schedule and teachers with expertise areas are conducting staff development
Question 3: How has the role of an administrator changed since you first became an administrator?
Due to budget concerns, principals are wearing more and more hats. Principals used to be an overseer, now at times principals have to be social workers because of the lack of mental health resources and curriculum specialists.
Principals also have to be more tactful with parents and teachers now more than ever because of lawsuits.
Question 4: How do you ensure that your staff is utilizing their data from assessments to drive their instruction
They haven’t done it in the past, so it has been a slow process
K-2 uses DIBBELS and running records and progress monitoring through palm pilots
Accelerated Math Class Scapes reports Collaboration and vertical teaming
among 3-5 grade teachers
Question 5 – What is your school doing to make sure that your school and all the subgroups make AYP?
They are in their 4 year of not making AYP
Moved teachers around New discipline policy Hiring tutors to work with at risk
students and specialist teachers are also tutoring
Students are ability grouped for reading and math