Collaboration with Learning Community Stakeholders
(K-12 Administrative Standard #4)
I have served on the board of Hinoki International School, Japanese-English bilingual immersion charter school, in Livonia, Michigan, since 2010. From its inception, Hinoki has been built on a network of collaborative relationships with a variety of organizations, including Livonia Public Schools (LPS), Wayne County RESA, the Japanese School of Detroit (JSD), and Eastern Michigan University (EMU), among other groups. Hinoki's founder, Ted Delphia, has skillfully brought together a diverse collection of stakeholders of different nationalities, language proficiencies, and professional fields, from Wayne, Washtenaw, and Oakland Counties and beyond, to support our unique dual-language-immersion school.
COLLABORATION WITH FACULTY, STAFF, AND BOARD MEMBERS
To support Hinoki's mission--“To provide Japanese and American students with an opportunity to learn from each other, and become bilingual, bicultural, globally-minded individuals”--I have engaged in collaboration with members of the administration, teaching staff, and school board, in many different ways over the past several years. With a very limited budget, and the tremendous needs of a start-up organization, Hinoki has had to create much of its infrastructure from the ground up. The Hinoki school board is more "hands-on" than most, with a Budget Committee, Curriculum Committee, Policy & Procedures Committee, Marketing & Communications Committee, and School Improvement Committee taking active roles in our annual Open House, Welcome Picnic, and Parent Orientation events, and most recently, a board-sponsored Teacher Appreciation Dinner.
I helped create, and continue to help revise and update, the Hinoki Board Policy and Staff Handbook through teamwork with the Lead Administrator and other board members. I helped initiate the creation of the Parent-Student Handbook, a product of collaboration by the Lead Administrator, Dean of Students, board members, and our bilingual/bicultural teaching staff, in Japanese and English.
Since June 2012, I have collaborated with the Curriculum Committee and Hinoki's Lead Administrator, to select and implement an appropriate classroom-observation-based teacher-performance evaluation model endorsed by the Michigan Governor's Council on Educational Effectiveness, per state law MCL380.1249. I plan to continue working with faculty and administration toward effective implementation of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, with customization as needed for our Japanese-English team-teaching immersion model. The ultimate goal would be for the school to be able to support a rigorous yet collegial evaluation process internally.
COLLABORATION WITH PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Now with over 80 sets of student families at Hinoki, our Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) continues to grow and flourish. I continue to collaborate with PTO members to support and improve the Hinoki Library, Open House, Yearbook (by Treering), and bilingual communication with stakeholders. Hinoki continues to draw on community resources through class field trips to such destinations as the Henry Ford Museum (pictured in photo above), Troy's One-Room Schoolhouse, the Livonia Public Library, and even a local Japanese grocery store called Koyama Shoten. In an April 2013 presentation to the Livonia School Board, Hinoki's founder and Lead Administrator, Ted Delphia, noted other local partnerships, including our after-school tutors from Stevenson High School and our fellow school building tenant, the Livonia City Soccer Club, which offers after-school soccer classes for Hinoki and Himawari Preschool students.
REFERENCES
Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Hinoki International School Board. (2012). Board policy manual. Retrieved from http://bpp.charterinstitute.org/hinokiinternationalschool/
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.
COLLABORATION WITH FACULTY, STAFF, AND BOARD MEMBERS
To support Hinoki's mission--“To provide Japanese and American students with an opportunity to learn from each other, and become bilingual, bicultural, globally-minded individuals”--I have engaged in collaboration with members of the administration, teaching staff, and school board, in many different ways over the past several years. With a very limited budget, and the tremendous needs of a start-up organization, Hinoki has had to create much of its infrastructure from the ground up. The Hinoki school board is more "hands-on" than most, with a Budget Committee, Curriculum Committee, Policy & Procedures Committee, Marketing & Communications Committee, and School Improvement Committee taking active roles in our annual Open House, Welcome Picnic, and Parent Orientation events, and most recently, a board-sponsored Teacher Appreciation Dinner.
I helped create, and continue to help revise and update, the Hinoki Board Policy and Staff Handbook through teamwork with the Lead Administrator and other board members. I helped initiate the creation of the Parent-Student Handbook, a product of collaboration by the Lead Administrator, Dean of Students, board members, and our bilingual/bicultural teaching staff, in Japanese and English.
Since June 2012, I have collaborated with the Curriculum Committee and Hinoki's Lead Administrator, to select and implement an appropriate classroom-observation-based teacher-performance evaluation model endorsed by the Michigan Governor's Council on Educational Effectiveness, per state law MCL380.1249. I plan to continue working with faculty and administration toward effective implementation of Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching, with customization as needed for our Japanese-English team-teaching immersion model. The ultimate goal would be for the school to be able to support a rigorous yet collegial evaluation process internally.
COLLABORATION WITH PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS
Now with over 80 sets of student families at Hinoki, our Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) continues to grow and flourish. I continue to collaborate with PTO members to support and improve the Hinoki Library, Open House, Yearbook (by Treering), and bilingual communication with stakeholders. Hinoki continues to draw on community resources through class field trips to such destinations as the Henry Ford Museum (pictured in photo above), Troy's One-Room Schoolhouse, the Livonia Public Library, and even a local Japanese grocery store called Koyama Shoten. In an April 2013 presentation to the Livonia School Board, Hinoki's founder and Lead Administrator, Ted Delphia, noted other local partnerships, including our after-school tutors from Stevenson High School and our fellow school building tenant, the Livonia City Soccer Club, which offers after-school soccer classes for Hinoki and Himawari Preschool students.
REFERENCES
Danielson, C. (2007). Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Hinoki International School Board. (2012). Board policy manual. Retrieved from http://bpp.charterinstitute.org/hinokiinternationalschool/
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.