Aligning School's Vision Statement Quiz

A school's leadership team determines that the school's vision, which was developed 20

years ago, is no longer adequate. The demographics of the school have changed

significantly, and only two current staff members have worked at the school since the vision statement was adopted. The principal and the leadership team set aligning the vision statement and the school improvement plan to the current conditions as goals for the coming year. The principal's FIRST step in the process should be to:

• Enlist teacher leaders to submit draft vision statements to be voted on by the faculty.

• Engage faculty and staff in identifying priorities and goals for the new vision statement.

• Prepare a draft vision statement for staff to review and recommend changes.

• Assemble a list of focal points that the new vision statement will need to address.

A school principal has worked with teachers, parents/guardians, and district curriculum

specialists to develop a vision statement for a schoolwide character education initiative.

Which of the following strategies will be most effective to ensure continued stakeholder

engagement and commitment to attaining the vision?

• Referencing the vision statement in all communications from the school to stakeholders, including print and digital formats.

• Using an online survey to gauge levels of stakeholder support for the interest in the initiative across the school community.

• Collaborating with stakeholders to identify measurable short- and long-term implementation goals for the initiative.

• Posting the vision statement on the school's website and social media page and inviting stakeholders to provide feedback.

A principal is hired to fill a sudden vacancy caused when the school's previous principal takes a leave of absence due to a health issue. The new principal discovers that the school's teaching staff are uncertain of how to make the newly adopted vision, focused on ensuring academic success for all students across all grade levels, a reality. The new principal can best use which of the following strategies to inspire confidence in the school's teaching staff?

• establishing student achievement goals for each grade level that are measurable and have manageable learning expectations.

• engaging faculty in interactive training on providing students multiple ways to demonstrate mastery of learning objectives.

• providing teachers with broadly defined student learning outcomes and requiring the use of a standard lesson planning template.

• engaging the community in a series of large and small meetings in order to demonstrate understanding of the vision statement.

From the outset of a strategic school improvement planning process, a principal prioritizes including a broad range of stakeholders in every stage of the process. The most significant impact of this practice is that:

• maintaining a cohort of engaged community and staff members builds a pool of volunteers for the school.

• soliciting multiple perspectives results in deeper understanding of the challenges facing the school.

• including representatives from the school community results in streamlined decision making and approvals.

• developing relationships throughout the school community builds support for other school initiatives.

A high school is in the second year of a multiyear implementation of a new schoolwide

instructional system. The new system requires teachers to significantly change the way they

deliver instruction and interact with students, and the principal has noticed that a subset of

teachers is resistant to making the required changes in their classrooms. Several of these

teachers have expressed discontent with the new system during department meetings.

Which of the following strategies should the principal utilize to address the teachers'

resistance?

• Allowing the teachers to discuss their concerns regarding the new system only when they submit specific agenda items in advance of faculty meetings.

• Comparing formative assessment data from the classrooms of teachers who are not implementing the new system with data from other classrooms.

• Increasing the number and length of classroom observations and coaching sessions for the teachers who are not implementing the new system.

• Encouraging the teachers to share their concerns about the new system so that the faculty can collaboratively access the concerns and develop solutions.

A principal is beginning her second year of leadership at a high school that has historically

performed below statewide averages on state standardized assessments. The principal is

preparing to meet with the advisory council made up of representatives from the faculty,

student body, parents/guardians, and the community to begin developing a school

turnaround plan. The principal is aware that students and teachers have expressed

frustration over learning environments in which students are not challenged with high

expectations. At the meeting, the principal can best frame her expectations for the group's

work by presenting which of the following questions?

• What new materials and equipment do we need to improve the environment in our classrooms?

• What will our classrooms look like when instruction is strengthened and all students are engaged?

• How will the school address the need for safe, orderly classrooms so that students can focus on learning?

• How should teachers' instructional competence be evaluated throughout our grade levels and classrooms?

A principal collaborates with a representative team of stakeholders to develop a new school

vision that includes changes in instructional practices to improve student learning. The

principal and stakeholder team are planning to communicate the new vision to the larger

school community in a series of meetings at which they will advocate for the changes in

instructional practice. Which of the following strategies will be most effective in gaining

support for the new vision of and changes in practice?

• Making sample lessons and classroom instructional materials aligned to the vision available to the school community

• Outlining the vision and comparing formative assessment data from the current year with data from the previous year

• Presenting illustrative examples of new classroom teaching practices and linking the practices to gains in assessment data

• Collecting and sharing anecdotal evidence from teachers who have tried the new instructional practices and their students

A school principal has formed a diverse stakeholder committee to draft a new school vision and improvement goals to attain that vision. The goals are broad and address not only academic achievement but also school culture and ways to create a safe, inclusive, and motivating learning environment. Which of the following actions, if taken by the principal,

would best support the successful attainment of these goals?

• Submitting the draft vision statement and goals to district leadership for review, feedback, and approval

• Revising the goals so that they are narrower and easier to evaluate with data during implementation

• Identifying qualitative and quantitative data that can be collected to measure progress toward achieving each goal

• Publishing the draft vision statement and goals to encourage input from all stakeholders in the school community

The principal of an elementary school is reviewing data from state assessments and

schoolwide benchmark assessments from the previous two years with a team of teacher

leaders. While the formative assessment data generally indicate improvements in student

learning, performance on state assessments is declining in some areas. The team

recognizes the need for an improvement plan. Which of the following approaches by the

principal will best strengthen faculty ownership of an accountability for improvement

efforts?

• Expanding the role of teachers in analyzing assessment data and identifying instructional practices to review possibly change

• Increasing the capacity of teacher leaders to manage the review and adjustment of curriculum based on the achievement trends

• Collaborating with teacher leaders to modify academic growth and achievement expectations for students

• Identifying exemplary teachers at each grade level based on the assessment data and arranging for other teachers to observe in their classrooms

A principal has guided the development of a new school vision statement after a lengthy

process of engaging stakeholders. The principal and the school's leadership team must now

turn to planning the budget for the coming school year and determining how school

resources can be allocated to support the implementation of the new vision. Which of the

following actions by the principal will best support effective planning and decision making?

• Restricting funding levels in all areas of the budget that do not directly relate to the identified goals or the school vision

• Developing a list of desired student outcomes in the school vision and determining the priority level of each outcome

• Dedicating funding and resources to areas of the budget that cannot be revised during implementation of the school vision

• Facilitating the setting of short- and long-term goals with measurable outcomes that are aligned with the school vision