Week 4 Peer Review Template
EDD/724 v11
Peer Review Template
EDD/724 v11
Page 2 of 8
Instructions:
Complete the Peer Review Template.
Prepare an overview document that includes the following:
· The 3 to 5 critical areas or priorities you previously identified in the Wk 3 – Signature Assignment: Evaluating Implications to Quality and Capacity
· An explanation of the relevance of each area in your educational setting
· A cogent summary of the research that substantiates the relevance of each area in the
oader educational context
Peer Review Template
Your Name:Click or tap here to enter text.
Partner’s Name:Click or tap here to enter text.
Critical Areas or Priorities
1. Summarize the critical areas or priorities presented in the assessment and evaluation overview.
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2. Evaluate the critical areas or priorities. Consider the following:
· Are the critical areas or priorities clear and contextually appropriate?
· Are each of the critical areas or priorities sufficiently distinct or is there commonality between some or all?
· What are the strengths and opportunities of the critical areas or priorities?
Click or tap here to enter text.
Relevance
1. Discuss the author’s assertions pertaining to the relevance of each critical area or priority in his or her educational setting.Consider whether or not the author’s assertions of relevance are clear, thorough, practical, contextually appropriate, and justified.
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2. Discuss the strengths and opportunities in the author’s assertions.
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Summary of Research
1. Evaluate the summary of research. Consider the following:
· Does the summary of research clearly substantiate the relevance of the critical areas or priorities identified by the author?
· Does the summary of research situate the critical areas or priorities in the
oader educational context?
· Does the summary of research provide an adequate foundation for developing an argument to support the critical areas or priorities?
· Is the research used to substantiate the critical areas or priorities cu
ent (published within the last 5 years) and properly cited?
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2. Discuss the strengths and opportunities in the summary of research.
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Signature Assignment: Evaluating Implications to Quality and Capacity Pape
Gracelia R. Trinamez
University of Phoenix
EDD/724: Instructional Leadership
Dr. Efthimia Christie
June 21, 2021
Introduction
The past three years have been a big challenge in this writer's organization. The first area that had had significant challenges is in the leadership position. The last three years have been marked by a fast turnover of school leaders, ranging from those at the top administration levels down to school principals.
The second critical area was the teacher and staff assignments that do not match with the principals' knowledge of the students and their needs. Unfortunately, the reassignment of school principals resulted in school principals not having a clear idea of the student population served by our school district. Thus, school leaders seem to lack the capacity to support teachers' and students' needs.
The final critical area was that of the instructional cu
iculum being used. The school district where this writer belongs has a significant population of students with special needs with a wide a
ay of needs. Though accommodations and modifications are in place for the students to access the cu
iculum and be successful in the classroom, it is difficult for many teachers to work on several areas of need of the students while being expected to follow one standard cu
iculum.
Opportunities Discovered from a Leadership and System Perspective
This writer has the opportunity to lead the Summer Camp, a one-week enrichment program. Though it is just for a week, this writer has seen areas in the organization that is working well and other areas that need to be improved. This Summer Camp experience shows this writer that a school is not a team of one, but it has to be a group of committed people who are willing to work collaboratively toward common goals (Le Fevre& Robinson, XXXXXXXXXXMore importantly, the leadership experiences this writer has had, show that being a leader also means being a learner. As someone new to this short-term position, there are many unknown areas for this writer, and she has found that being honest and truthful to the staff is an excellent approach to building trust.
From the areas stated above, this writer thinks that working on the continuity of leadership is the first area that needs to be radically improved. Teachers and staff are looking for stability and guidance from leaders. Relational skills are required to build the trust needed to improve teaching and learning (Le Fevre& Robinson, 2015), and if leaders keep leaving every year and these teachers are getting new leadership each year, this can be detrimental in any organization. Additionally, building trust and rapport is critical, so everyone involved will be willing to work as a team and be part of a small community where everyone is comfortable sharing their perspective without the fear of being penalized. Finally, there must be more emphasis on allowing staff to have more independence in their instruction, and leaders should provide an orderly and supportive environment to teachers and staff (Wise et al., XXXXXXXXXXThis writer believes that if teachers and staff are afraid to make mistakes, then a leader will not see their best work. As a leader, one needs to make the team members feel safe, and stability creates a high trust environment where all team members get rewarded for the proper behavior and not punished for the wrong behaviors. Implications to Quality and Capacity of Instructional Staff for Each Critical Area
One of the things that caught this writer's attention is the lack of quality and appropriateness of the training offered to staff during Professional Development. For this writer, this is both a leadership issue and a staffing issue. Leaders must know precisely what the needs of the teachers are. This writer is aware that it is impossible to accommodate all the teachers’ needs, but, in her opinion, more effort should be made to ensure that the topics given during trainingare relevant and support teachers’ ability to be responsive to students (Rigby et al., XXXXXXXXXXIf teachers are not provided with adequate training, the chance of providing quality instructions is questionable. Additionally, if teachers are not getting the right training, we are not setting them up for success, but we are also making it less likely that they will enjoy their job. Thus, this will result in mediocre teaching performances, which then affects the students' learning.
Sometimes having one uniform cu
iculum is not really the best way to go. This writer thinks that in a school district with a highly diverse population with a wide range of diverse students' needs, there should be multiple cu
icula that teachers can choose from in order to fit the students' needs best. If possible, teachers and service providers such as Speech-Language Pathologists and Educational Vision Specialistsshould be a part of the cu
iculum development process.
One of the takeaways from this short-term leadership position is that many staff believe that a leader needs to possess all the leadership characteristics to be an effective leader. There is an expectation that a great leader is transformational, charismatic, authentic, and transactional leaders (Rigby et al., XXXXXXXXXXThis writer thinks it is unrealistic to expect any leader to have all these traits, especially in a setting with such a diverse staff and students. This writer believes that a leader has to decide which leadership style one wants to use, and other traits will follow or develop as one is learning from her team members.
XXXXXXXXXXIn conclusion, teachers are the ones who are the front runners in education. Even though schools have school principals and are the leaders, this writer thinks that teachers are the backbone of the schools. Therefore, teachers should have a voice on what the students should learn and how they would learn. Any effective organization needs competent leadership, but it also needs to be able to use the skills and initiative of the followers. To do this effectively, an organization needs to trust the followers enough and train the followers effectively so that everyone can work toward the common publicized goals (Le Fevre& Robinson, 2015).
References
Le Fevre, D., & Robinson, V XXXXXXXXXXThe interpersonal challenges of instructional leadership:
Principals' effectiveness in conversations about performance issues.Journal of Leadership
for Effective & Equitable Organizations, 51(1), 58-95.
Rigby, J., G., Co
iell, R., &Kuhl, K. J XXXXXXXXXXLeading for instructional improvement in the
context of accountability: Central office leadership. Journal of Cases in Educational
Leadership, 21(1), 28-42.
Wise, C., Cartwright, M., & Bradshaw, P XXXXXXXXXXLeading professional practice in education.
SAGE Publications.
Copyright© 2020 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.
Copyright© 2020 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.
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Signature Assignment: Evaluating Implications to Quality and Capacity Pape
Gracelia R. Trinamez
University of Phoenix
EDD/724: Instructional Leadership
Dr. Efthimia Christie
June 21, 2021
Introduction
The past three years have been a big challenge in this writer's organization. The first area that had had significant challenges is in the leadership position. The last three years have been marked by a fast turnover of school leaders, ranging from those at the top administration levels down to school principals.
The second critical area was the teacher and staff assignments that do not match with the principals' knowledge of the students and their needs. Unfortunately, the reassignment of school principals resulted in school principals not having a clear idea of the student population served by our school district. Thus, school leaders seem to lack the capacity to support teachers' and students' needs.
The final critical area was that of the instructional cu
iculum being used. The school district where this writer belongs has a significant population of students with special needs with a wide a
ay of needs. Though accommodations and modifications are in place for the students to access the cu
iculum and be successful in the classroom, it is difficult for many teachers to work on several areas of need of the students while being expected to follow one standard cu
iculum.
Opportunities Discovered from a Leadership and System Perspective
This writer has the opportunity to lead the Summer Camp, a one-week enrichment program. Though it is just for a week, this writer has seen areas in the organization that is working well and other areas that need to be improved. This Summer Camp experience shows this writer that a school is not a team of one, but it has to be a group of committed people who are willing to work collaboratively toward common goals (Le Fevre& Robinson, XXXXXXXXXXMore importantly