The Clay County School District will partner with The New Teacher Project to conduct a three day institute for principals and assistant principals. The purpose of this institute is to meet the professional learning needs of school principals and assistant principals. Through the institute, a vision of excellent instruction will be introduced as well as a more action-oriented model for teacher feedback. This institute launches the 2017-18 school year with an administrative focus on honing administrators' eyes for excellent, standards-aligned instruction, and improving their ability to leverage observation and feedback to drive teacher and student growth. 

The Florida standards require tremendous shifts in educator practice, but many teachers and school leaders lack a deep understanding of how these shifts should play out in their schools' classrooms. The Insight survey given this past winter, revealed that only 20% of Clay County teachers believe they are provided opportunities to pursue leadership roles, and only 37% of the teachers reported having been encouraged to continue teaching at their school next year.  Teacher retention strategies will be discussed and reviewed during the institute as part of learning about talent management.  In our Instructional Culture Top Quartile Schools, 82% of the teachers agreed with the following statement: "the feedback I get from being observed helps me to improve student outcomes."  The Principal Institute is the opportunity for all school administrators to learn about and dive deeper into instructional culture, learning how strong leadership practices drive improved student performance. 

Not applicable - this is the first time Clay County School District has partnered with The New Teacher Project (TNTP). 

The expected outcomes of this Principal Institute include:

• teaching all administrators the high-leverage coaching strategies centered on providing explicit feedback;
• developing deeper understanding of the role and responsibilities of school based administration as an instructional leader; 
• Institutionalizing the importance of providing sufficient feedback on instructional practice to teachers;
• building a district-wide, common understanding of excellent instruction and the instructional shifts demanded by the new Florida Standards. 

Not applicable

That the Clay County School Board approve acceptance of the Clay County Instructional Leadership & Faculty Development Grant funded through the Florida Department of Education and managed by Clay County School District in an amount not to exceed $17,743.00.