Visionary Leadership Platform

Joseph Painter
ELP 570
Visionary Leadership Platform
The obstacles that educational leaders will face in the coming decades seem
insurmountable. Reduced funding, higher expectations, and a paradigm shift of the purpose and
culture of schools all pose quite daunting challenges. Each of these challenges will be overcome
though; because, as educators, we feel called to make a necessary positive impact on our future by
developing today’s students into tomorrow’s future. Having seen three different principals with
three different visions and ideals for leadership over the last 6 years has led me to realize the
importance of developing and strengthening teacher leadership in a school to ensure both
continuity and growth. A field where the tenure of teachers often outlasts that of principals
emphasizes the importance of leading and guiding an empowered staff, dedicated to the success
of all students, as a necessity for continued educational improvement in a school.
My experience with these leaders has shown me that strong leaders understand and can
harness teacher passion to ensure success for all students. Formulating a mission and vision for
teachers centered on the ideal of success for all has to be
the starting point, though. This vision must guide all
decisions, professional development, teaching,
initiatives, and most importantly, student effort and
expectations. In implementing this work, as a leader, I
must be critical of all that we do. I should continually
look for opportunities to improve and introduce
initiatives to meet the needs of our most at-risk students.

I also need to make sure that teacher, student, and school successes are celebrated and build upon
for further growth.
In extending this school-wide leadership to teacher development, it will be pivotal to build
ownership around teachers’ passions to make a difference for all. This means providing the
opportunity to build and implement teacher created solutions and goals, whose focus is increasing
student achievement through evolving instructional practices. The same inquiry and design that
drive my decisions and initiatives as a leader can then be modeled to help teachers choose and
implement goals that will transform teachers’ instruction. Beyond teacher collaboration in
developing solutions, peer observation must play a critical role in helping teachers gain
perspective and insight around their goals and innovations in instructional improvement. As an
administrator, I will use evaluations to provide necessary interventions to develop and support the
teachers who most need the help. It will also remain my job to continue to remind teachers about
the school’s mission and vision; ensuring that goals and work align to it; and providing the
supports and accountability that push teachers towards further improvement.
Finally, to lead a successful school, I must focus in on the most important piece of the
school, the students. Ensuring the success of all students is a high expectation of staff, but even
higher expectation for students. This means that our students are not allowed to fail. This is very
much a culture piece for a school; and must focus on knowing and meeting our students’ needs.
Our students’ success must be a collaboration of community members, families, teachers, and
students. We must develop a guaranteed curriculum and hold our students accountable for
learning it. We must utilize assessment data to target academic interventions for our students. We
must partner with families and the community to ensure that our students have access to academic
and social supports both inside and outside of school. If we truly believe that today’s students are
tomorrow’s future, we need to ensure that they are receiving the proper training and education
that will ensure their and our future’s success.

References
Deal, T, Peterson, K. (2009). Shaping School Culture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass A Wiley
Imprint.
Schmoker, M. (2011). Focus: Elevating the essential to radically improve student achievement.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. New York, NY: Basic Books Perseus
Publishing.

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Joseph Painter

importance of developing and strengthening teacher leadership in a school to ensure both

of all students, as a necessity for continued educational improvement in a school.

teachers centered on the ideal of success for all has to be

the starting point, though. This vision must guide all

decisions, professional development, teaching,

initiatives, and most importantly, student effort and

expectations. In implementing this work, as a leader, I

must be critical of all that we do. I should continually

look for opportunities to improve and introduce

initiatives to meet the needs of our most at-risk students.

for further growth.

In extending this school-wide leadership to teacher development, it will be pivotal to build

supports and accountability that push teachers towards further improvement.

that will ensure their and our future’s success.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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