The UNF Instructional Leadership Program has been designed to build upon the existing strengths, assets and resources of school districts. Instructional leaders that take part in this yearlong professional development receive credit for a 3 hour graduate level course that can be applied towards a masters or doctoral degree from the College of Education and Human Services at UNF. Participants also receive a certificate of achievement after they meet the criteria of the program.  UNF’s goal is to work closely with the school system to develop a strong cadre of instructional leaders that have deep expertise and substantial success in the areas of inquiry, coaching, instructional leadership and cultural competence. These skills and dispositions will allow instructional leaders to advance teaching and learning outcomes at their schools and within their district. 

Three-Day Intensive Summer Institute (June 25-27, 2018):

Participants will engage in a three-day intensive institute in the summer to build background knowledge around instructional leadership, highly effective professional development, building communities of practice, inquiry, and job embedded professional development structures. The goals for these three days are for participants to:

• Understand principles of adult learning and the job-embedded professional development needed to support adult learning.
• Learn the keys for designing and leading effective job-embedded professional development.
• Plan sustained professional development based on teacher/school needs.
• Learn fundamentals of instructional leadership that support collaborative learning, including:
  • Learn how to structure and lead collaborative learning communities.
  • Create a learning culture that has high expectations with scaffolded supports.
  • Develop skills to facilitate job-embedded professional development.
  • Practice strategies for engaging in reflective discourse about issues of equity and access.                 
  • Develop a clear sense of the role of facilitator in engaging colleagues in collaborative conversations about practice.
  • Frame a professional development problem of practice as a guiding question.

Learn about a mini-inquiry cycle and draft an initial mini-inquiry question.

The district's principals participated in this professional learning during school year 2018-19.  Previously, the district identified the need to provide additional specific professional development tailored to meet the needs of the district's principals. The district recognizes that the professional development administrators receive directly impacts their ability to build a school's capacity for improvement.  Therefore it is important that this instructional coaching model be part of assistant principal's practice as well. 

The district's Insight data continues to reveal there is a need to focus on providing quality professional learning to administrators as well as supporting administrator's development in their skill of providing instructional feedback and follow up. 

Please see the attached Satisfaction Ratings for the Lastinger Program provided to principals during school year 2017-18.

The data indicates high satisfaction with the professional learning; the data is indicative that principals are not only learning something new, but committing to implementing new practices in their buildings. 

During the follow up sessions, the assistant principals will engage in a two-day follow-up session in the fall (9:00-3:00). These two days will be focused on coaching as an intensive form of job-embedded professional development. There will be three half-day coaching symposium sessions throughout the remainder of the school year as well as a final celebration. During the half-day sessions, participants meet from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.. These follow-up sessions will allow participants to engage in an instructional leadership learning community where they will try new strategies, reflect on their practice, receive feedback from both their peers and facilitators and begin to master the art of instructional leadership with an intense focus on professional development and coaching.

Dates (September 24-25, 2018): (Three Days)

• Introduce coaching cycle as a form of job-embedded professional development.
• Explore instructional frameworks used across the state and country and perceptions of effective teaching.
• Investigate approaches to collaborative peer coaching.
• Utilize observation and feedback cycles to improve teachers’ practice.
• Assess skills related to conducting professional development sessions based on data.
• Evaluate and refine a guiding question that will be used to explore a professional problem of practice as participants engage in a mini-inquiry cycle.
• Introduce and practice interview/observation/development of data display/ identification of topic for conversation.

Dates (October 23): (one Half Day)

• Reflect on and provide peer feedback on the coaching interview.
• Evaluate and refine skills for creating a data display.
• Practice conducting a coaching conversation using the coaching rubric.
• Examine different types of quantitative and qualitative data and determine which types of data could best inform participant’s mini-inquiry questions.
• Submit and inquiry design to the UNF facilitators. Participants will receive feedback and individual coaching of their inquiry design by the end of October.

Dates January 22, 2019 (Half Day):

• Submit a coaching conversation video and data display.
• Reflect on and provide peer feedback on the coaching conversation and data display.
• Evaluate and refine skills for the coaching cycle using a coaching rubric.
• Identify areas of the instructional leadership coaching process for improvement or additional work.
• Targeted discussions of instructional strategies that scaffold higher order thinking and student success – helping more experienced or successful teachers improve.
• Analyze a piece of data collected for the mini-inquiry. 
• Participants will receive feedback and individual support from the UNF facilitators on their first coaching conversation video. They will receive feedback by the middle of December.

Dates February 25, 2019 (Half Day):

• Peer evaluation of instructional leadership materials to be submitted for certification (The goal here is to provide feedback to improve the quality and comprehensibility of submitted materials).
• Review the certification requirements
• Submit final mini-inquiry write-up and reflective video by________
• Submit Final coaching conversation video and data display by ________

February (no face to face meetings):

• UNF facilitators will be available for virtual support during this month.
• Participants will submit certification videos and mini- inquiry write-ups.
• UNF facilitators will review videos and write-ups and provide feedback as needed.
• Participants will resubmit videos and/or write-ups if they do not meet set criteria.
• Participants will receive a certificate upon the successful completion of their coaching video and mini-inquiry write-up.

Date April 2 (Half Day):

• Final Celebration!

Participants will share their learning and be recognized for their work in the Instructional Leadership program.

Goal 5:

Develop and support great educators, support personnel and leaders. 

Goal 2:

To provide Clay County students with the highest quality teaching and learning processes available. 

That the Clay County School Board approve the University of North Florida's Instructional Leadership and Coaching Program Scope of Work for the Clay County School District's Assistant Principals. This agreement will not exceed $47,300.00. 

That the Clay County School Board authorize the Board Chairwoman, and in the event of her absence, the Vice Chairwoman and Superintendent to execute the contract contigent upon approval as to legal form and sufficiency by the School Board attorney.