Leadership

Leadership Beliefs

Below you will find a brief summary of my leadership beliefs related to some some of the key ideas that are present in education today.

Great leaders are never concerned with titles, but rather their ability to influence and create change. As a leader in education, I am always looking to increase my circle of influence.

As a classroom teacher I worked to positively influence the students in my classroom, my colleagues, and the families within our community. As a school principal I broadened that circle of influence so that I was able to support all staff, all students, all families, and our community.

As a system leader I was given the opportunity to widen that circle of influence yet again. I currently have the privilege of influencing policies and procedures, developing principal capacity, building systems that support our multi-year strategic plan, and inspiring the future leaders of our system. My style of leadership is a collaborative one: I live with an open to learning stance and utilize active listening and compassionate communication to share ideas and learn alongside all stakeholders. I think deeply about my interactions with all aspects of our system, both internally and externally in the communities that we serve.

I am proud to represent the Near North District School Board and I do so in my professional capacity and in my personal interactions. I lead with integrity and passion, extending support and expecting high standards from myself, my staff and my colleagues. Integrity is integral to being an effective leader. By conducting myself with the highest degree of professionalism and by maintaining high expectations for my professional conduct and productivity, I model leadership that not only reflects our standards of practice but also motivates others to conduct themselves in a manner that is reflective of their best abilities, too.

Equity and Human Rights

Creating equitable and inclusive working and learning environments that are grounded in the protection and furthering of Human Rights is of paramount priority.

As a system leader I've been working diligently to update administrative guidelines to ensure compliancy with the Ontario Human Rights Code and promote the tenets of equity for all. This work is imperative; without the policies and procedures that clearly prioritize equity and inclusion, our school leaders will not have the solid foundation they require to create the safe, welcoming cultures so needed within our schools and departments.

As a system leader I recognize that equity is a journey and not a destination, which means understanding the work of equity is never over. I have taken conscious steps to increase my knowledge of equitable practices and to understand my positionality and its impact on my work.

I continue to actively seek experts that can increase my own knowledge and capacity, as well as that of my colleagues. By prioritizing equity learning within our system, I am sending the message that an effective leader not only sets high expectations for themselves, but also support others in obtaining higher knowledge and the ability to apply it. We need school and system leaders who live with an open to learning stance that honors the notion that you do not have to be an expert to create positive change, but simply a person willing to try to be better each day.

Collective Efficacy

The best way that I have found to build collective efficacy as both a school and system leader is through iterative cycles of collaborative inquiry. Inquiry is a powerful approach because it not only helps to identify a problem, but also opens space to explore possible solutions that are measurable. When staff are able to see their ability to affect positive change, their desire to continue further refining their practice is unparalleled.

Effective leaders select leading indicators when working within these cycles so that staff to easily see their progress. When staff are able to see their progress, it builds self-efficacy. Empowered with the knowledge that they can create change in their practice and therefore better outcomes for their students, they become further motivated and engaged in the process. Collective efficacy, in turn, is built when these individuals come together to examine the positive change brought about by their individual contributions. It's amazing to see the level of professional motivation that is built when staff share these high yield practices with one another. The leading indicators are extremely important because they help the team to identify whether they're on track to meet their outcomes and goals. Too many times in education legging indicators are used to measure student progress (such as report cards or EQAO results). By embedding leading indicators into the collaborative inquiry cycle, educators can see the results almost immediately.

We have no shortage of data in the education sector, however we sometimes struggle to use that data in a way that creates motivation in educators and better outcomes for students. Collective efficacy is so powerful because it allows educators the opportunity to confirm that what they are doing is in fact working, or that it could be working better, thereby creating changes in practice which ultimately serves our collective goal of greater student achievement and well-being.

Mentorship

Mentorship is about cultivating leadership through an asset-based perspective while implementing critical questioning and reflective thinking. Mentorship must begin with an asset-based perspective because an effective leader is able to see the strengths in everyone. A strong mentor uses those identified strengths to encourage self-awareness and critical reflection so that the mentee can grow both professionally and personally.

Effective mentorship requires critical questioning and reflective thinking because we must constantly be aware of our own biases, perspectives, opinions and lived experiences which influence our determinations, outlooks and idea regarding what skills or qualities we believe staff need to become effective leaders themselves. The reality is that we require people with diverse lived experiences, perspectives, opinions and knowledge in order to bring new ideas and approaches to our school systems.

An effective mentor has a high degree of self-awareness and a strong understanding of the gaps that exist in their school or system culture. Through their work, mentors support mentees in cultivating their ability to address the gaps that exist within their own circle of influence, thereby creating continuous school and system improvements, informed by diverse experiences that in turn represent the students and communities we serve.

Mentorship is a reciprocal relationship; when we build culture of mentorship, we create both formal and informal relationships that increase the opportunities for professional reflection, feedback, and dialogue. Mentorship therefore supports not only aspiring leaders, but also creates the conditions for continuous improvement and the development of collective efficacy within its established leaders.

Multi Year Strategic Plans

The Multi Year Strategic Plan ensures that all employees are moving in the same direction; all employees understand the identified priorities and how to support them within their specific duties. Without a strategic plan, we devolve into random acts of improvement without any assurance that those acts will result in the desired outcomes. A strategic plan ensures that all actions, resources, and projects are in service of achieving the plan’s goals.

Multi year strategic plans are important for all employee groups as it anchors them to the same system priorities. Without common system priorities, employee groups, departments, or schools will determine their areas of need without consideration or consultation for how those needs impact the greater system or how they mirror greater areas of needed improvement and growth. It's important that the multi year strategic plan have both leading and lagging indicators embedded throughout the process so that we can consistently measure our progress towards the end goal.

A multi year strategic plan also builds public trust because it clearly articulates why and how we are allocating our resources. Multi year strategic plans build public confidence when they clearly lay out a road map of improvement that contains regular checks and balances to ensure continues improvement in all identified priorities, which in turn should all support greater student achievement and well-being.

Board Improvement Plans

With the introduction of Student Achievement Plans for all school boards across the province, the Ministry of Education aims to develop comparable data points related to their articulated priorities of . These priorities are reflected not only in our Student Achievement Plan, but also our Board’s Multi-Year Strategic Plan. Excellence in teaching and learning, excellence in communication, excellence and innovation and excellence in relationships are all visible within the data targets identified by the Ministry. Our Multi-Year strategic plan has positioned NNDSB well; not only are we able to report on the target areas, but we’ve also taken actions that support greater student achievement in well-being.

The Student Achievement Plan brings accountability to every employee within our board to engage in actions that support the directions laid forth in our multi year strategic plan in service of increasing our percentage of targeted outcomes. This greater level of accountability is well served through collaborative inquiry, mentorship and cultivating leadership at all levels of our organization. As such, the student achievement plan is not only about better outcomes for our students, it's also about prioritizing professional, critical analysis to determine whether our decisions and actions are positively impacting our greatest goals.

The School Effectiveness Framework

The indicators found in the School Effectiveness Framework support an approach of collaborative inquiry. These indicators support all staff in understanding the pertinent areas of focus and conditions that must be in place in order to achieve the highest levels of student achievement and well-being. The SEF also supports the development of school improvement plans and student achievement plans. By identifying which aspects of the school improvement plan exists or are lacking, it allows us to determine our problem of practice. The SEF focuses our attention and work on one specific area that -when successfully achieved - will directly impact our system, culture and outcomes.

An effective Supervisory Officer must refer to the school effectiveness framework well speaking with principals and other system leaders so that everyone is engaged in a conversation that uses the same language and is defining the factors that create these changes the same way. Through this common language we are able to determine which indicators require our immediate attention. It also provides staff with concrete examples of what they are striving for. Once all staff understand the desired outcome, an effective leader will cultivate cycles of inquiry to determine what actions are most effective in influencing that indicator. This in turn builds collective efficacy among staff as they witness the change unfolding before them. It also builds mentorship opportunities between leaders and aspiring leaders, as well as between colleagues as we open space to examine best practices and celebrate our collective impact.