The first year as a school administrator requires preparation, clear communication, and an understanding of the role. A focus of instructional leaders is to ensure curriculum, instruction, and assessments are in alignment and effectively implemented. Instructional leaders must identify measurable areas of need and develop corresponding professional development to guide and support teachers to improve learner outcomes. In this Module 1 assignment, you will begin to conduct a needs assessment in your school context and analyze data related to a selected content area and the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
Working with your mentor, you will examine the vertical alignment across grade levels related to teaching key content and skills in the selected content area to determine where gaps exist in the curriculum.
You will identify and define 2-3 goals and accompanying objectives for a professional development presentation you will develop in Module 4.
Step 1. Select and Define
Select and define one content area within your school context for which state or benchmark data are collected.
Step 2. Identify and Collect
Identify and collect three years of state and/or benchmark data and the timeframe in which they were collected (for example, 2019, 2020, 2021) relevant to the content area identified in Step 1. In addition to these data, identify data from 2 or more local sources and the three-year timeframe in which they were collected from the following:
Student assessment data
Student work samples
Observations of 3 teachers and lesson plans (formal and walkthroughs) Note – if these are not available, use of edited formal observations and lesson plans from the student can be used and modified as needed.
Teacher self-assessment
