Substantial Field and Clinical Internship Experience
(K-12 Administrative Standard #7)
I had the privilege of completing 220 hours for my Administrative Internship at Hinoki International School, Japanese-English bilingual immersion charter school, in Livonia, Michigan, USA, in 2012-2013.
For my internship, I initially identified two major projects, and ended up working on several more, which were important and served pressing needs in this Japanese-English bilingual immersion charter school, but which limited my ability to make as much progress as I would have liked on the original two projects.
Project #1 was to help develop and disseminate clear, internally-consistent "Administrative Guidelines" to support the 400-page Board Policy Manual (including over 100 individual policies) drafted by the Hinoki International School Board in 2011-2012. I had hoped that, in around 100 clock hours, I would be able to create English-language drafts of Administrative Guidelines for at least 20 “key” policies, including forms for staff members and/or parents, language to be included in Staff Handbook and Student Handbook, and so on, ready to be translated into Japanese as well (ideally, before the new staff arrive for orientation activities the week of August 13, 2012).
However, given the many pressing needs of a start-up organization, and the ongoing education-reform changes in legislation and regulations in Michigan right now, I achieved perhaps half of this number, along with a recommendation regarding prioritization of policies with the greatest need for clarification for day-to-day school operations. Hinoki now has an English version of a Staff Handbook, and an English and Japanese version of a Parent/Student Handbook, as well as bilingual student-enrollment application forms, but there are many more forms, procedures, and Administrative Guidelines to be developed.
Project #2, prompted by recent education-form legislation, was to help develop and educator evaluation system for Hinoki International School to use. The goal was to help facilitate the use, by teaching faculty and administration, of a rigorous, comprehensive, continuous-improvement-focused teacher performance evaluation model, such as Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching. I originally thought around 120 clock hours would be sufficient for identification of an outside consultant to assist with, and creation of a schedule for, administrator/teacher training about the Danielson model approved by the Michigan Council on Educator Effectiveness, and facilitation of classroom observations and feedback sessions by Hinoki administrators, lead teachers, or other designees of the Lead Administrator.
As it turned out, I was able to identify a consultant and procure materials for initial training of our teachers and Lead Administrator about the Danielson system, and even held two brief introductory orientations to the new state regulations and the Framework for Teaching--one in June 2012 to a staff of four, and one in November 2013 to a staff of eight. The Lead Administrator and I also participated in a webinar intended to train administrators in effective teacher evaluation, and one of our lead teachers began conducting classroom observations. However, the adaptation of the Danielson framework to our bilingual school's needs, and the timeline for implementation of this evaluation system, have yet to be finalized. Similarly, I have identified two possible instruments for use in annual administrator evaluations stipulated by Hinoki's Board Policy, but the selection and implementation timeline have yet to be determined.
REFERENCES
Hinoki International School Board. (2012). Board policy manual. Retrieved from http://bpp.charterinstitute.org/hinokiinternationalschool/
Michigan Compiled Laws. (2013). Michigan Revised School Code. Section 380.1249.
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2011). Educational leadership program standards: 2011 ELCC district level.
Retrieved from http://npbea.org/
O'Toole, J. (1995). Leading change: The argument for values-based leadership. New York: Ballatine Books.
Reeves, D.B. (2009). Leading change in your school: How to conquer myths, build commitment, and get results. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
For my internship, I initially identified two major projects, and ended up working on several more, which were important and served pressing needs in this Japanese-English bilingual immersion charter school, but which limited my ability to make as much progress as I would have liked on the original two projects.
Project #1 was to help develop and disseminate clear, internally-consistent "Administrative Guidelines" to support the 400-page Board Policy Manual (including over 100 individual policies) drafted by the Hinoki International School Board in 2011-2012. I had hoped that, in around 100 clock hours, I would be able to create English-language drafts of Administrative Guidelines for at least 20 “key” policies, including forms for staff members and/or parents, language to be included in Staff Handbook and Student Handbook, and so on, ready to be translated into Japanese as well (ideally, before the new staff arrive for orientation activities the week of August 13, 2012).
However, given the many pressing needs of a start-up organization, and the ongoing education-reform changes in legislation and regulations in Michigan right now, I achieved perhaps half of this number, along with a recommendation regarding prioritization of policies with the greatest need for clarification for day-to-day school operations. Hinoki now has an English version of a Staff Handbook, and an English and Japanese version of a Parent/Student Handbook, as well as bilingual student-enrollment application forms, but there are many more forms, procedures, and Administrative Guidelines to be developed.
Project #2, prompted by recent education-form legislation, was to help develop and educator evaluation system for Hinoki International School to use. The goal was to help facilitate the use, by teaching faculty and administration, of a rigorous, comprehensive, continuous-improvement-focused teacher performance evaluation model, such as Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching. I originally thought around 120 clock hours would be sufficient for identification of an outside consultant to assist with, and creation of a schedule for, administrator/teacher training about the Danielson model approved by the Michigan Council on Educator Effectiveness, and facilitation of classroom observations and feedback sessions by Hinoki administrators, lead teachers, or other designees of the Lead Administrator.
As it turned out, I was able to identify a consultant and procure materials for initial training of our teachers and Lead Administrator about the Danielson system, and even held two brief introductory orientations to the new state regulations and the Framework for Teaching--one in June 2012 to a staff of four, and one in November 2013 to a staff of eight. The Lead Administrator and I also participated in a webinar intended to train administrators in effective teacher evaluation, and one of our lead teachers began conducting classroom observations. However, the adaptation of the Danielson framework to our bilingual school's needs, and the timeline for implementation of this evaluation system, have yet to be finalized. Similarly, I have identified two possible instruments for use in annual administrator evaluations stipulated by Hinoki's Board Policy, but the selection and implementation timeline have yet to be determined.
REFERENCES
Hinoki International School Board. (2012). Board policy manual. Retrieved from http://bpp.charterinstitute.org/hinokiinternationalschool/
Michigan Compiled Laws. (2013). Michigan Revised School Code. Section 380.1249.
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2011). Educational leadership program standards: 2011 ELCC district level.
Retrieved from http://npbea.org/
O'Toole, J. (1995). Leading change: The argument for values-based leadership. New York: Ballatine Books.
Reeves, D.B. (2009). Leading change in your school: How to conquer myths, build commitment, and get results. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.