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Leaders

Set expectations that lead to high performance and results.
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School leadership has an enormous impact on the quality of our schools–second only to classroom instruction. While there are many sources of leadership in schools, principal leadership remains at the core. Effective principal leadership is essential for cultivating high-performing schools, attracting and retaining high-quality teachers, and building community support. Distributed leadership can also have a positive impact on the quality of our schools when teachers, school staff, and district office staff work together to help students learn and thrive.

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Tools

These tools are provided as a resource to support implementation of the Quality Schooling Framework (QSF). Their use is not intended as a requirement for schools and districts.

  • Executive Summary: English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) Framework External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
    The executive summary provides a glimpse into the ELA/ELD Framework and the guidance it provides for educators, including descriptive snapshots and vignettes of grade-level instruction to support education in English language arts and in literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. It is a starting point for professional learning, a concise but still deep overview of student learning and expectations under the California State Standards and a resource for understanding the instructional shifts in English language arts/English language development learning.
  • Leading by Convening: A Blueprint for Authentic Engagement External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
    This manual provides a guiding framework and useful tools for creating partnerships across a variety of stakeholders to ensure meaningful changes. It includes step-by-step development and learning activities for building partnership for change. Educational leaders may use this resource for their professional learning community to plan and implement organizational changes.
  • Evidence Based Practices (EBP) External link opens in new window or tab.
    The Every Student Succeeds Act requires schools and districts to use EBP and programs to improve students’ learning and achievement. This module is a suite of three professional development videos with discussion questions, guidelines, and resources. This training is designed for busy educators to answer questions, such as how to identify, select and implement an EBP.
  • Effective Meeting Facilitation: the Sine Qua Non of Planning External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
    This article from the National Endowment for the Arts provides step-by-step guidance for facilitators of meetings focused on the planning process. The guidance includes preparation for a meeting, preparing an agenda, planning specific activities to support the planning process, orchestrating the meeting, facilitation techniques and handling conflict. Additional resources are included.
  • Leadership Planning Guide External link opens in new window or tab.
    This guide describes ten key components to implementing the common core state standards in a school district, and offers essential considerations and recommended first steps for each of the key components. This document also provides guidance for districts in each phase of the transition to new standards: awareness, transition, implementation and continuous improvement. Additional resources are cited throughout.
  • Principal Support Framework Action Area Resources and Tools External link opens in new window or tab.
    This collection of conceptual and practical resources and tools is intended to help districts and charter management organizations as they use the Principal Support Framework (PSF) External link opens in new window or tab.. Implement new systems and practices that support principals as instructional leaders. Contributed by the Partnership Sites to Empower Effective Teaching and supplemented with tools from the Center for Educational Leadership and Break the Curve Consulting, these materials represent the current state of practice and were selected for their value in helping sites conceptualize, design, problem solve, and/or align the work of selecting and supporting principals as instructional leaders.
  • Explaining Common Core to Californians: A Communications Toolkit External link opens in new window or tab.
    This toolkit provides research, recommendations, and sample communications California Educators can use to increase public understanding of the shifts and supports needed to implement Common Core State Standard—in accessible, positively-framed language.

Promising Practices

  • Designing, Leading and Managing the Transition to the Common Core: A Strategy Guidebook for Leaders External link opens in new window or tab.
    This publication describes an evidenced-based structured process to implement common core state standards as a whole-system reform that changes not only curriculum, instruction and assessments, but also professional development, technology systems, teacher evaluations, roles and culture. This guide includes a mental model of a leadership cycle for leading the change and a design cycle to plan the reform process. Additional resources are cited throughout.
  • The Support Personnel Accountability Report Card External link opens in new window or tab.
    The Support Personnel Accountability Report Card offers a voluntary, continuous improvement process that provides school site Student Support Teams with an opportunity to publish a document that identifies key student outcomes and to publicize their plans for continued success. For additional career development information and resources, visit the California Career Resource Network External link opens in new window or tab..

Research

  • 2020 Vision: Rethinking Budget Priorities Under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) External link opens in new window or tab. (PDF)
    This research article identifies four critical areas to use LCFF funds which will offer the promise of long-term institutional change. Local educators will make a difference if they learn how to be systematic in their efforts to collect data, evaluate programs and track results. Principals and teachers that are given the authority to innovate, experiment and learn from one another will learn what practices and policies work best for their schools and students.
  • Supporting Continuous Improvement in California’s Education System External link opens in new window or tab.
    This report discusses how “California’s new accountability system is different from the previous system: it is grounded in the concept of reciprocal accountability in which every actor in the system—from the Capitol to the classroom—must be responsible for the aspects of educational quality and performance that it controls.” The report describes three fundamental commitments in California’s new accountability system, as well as three complementary mechanisms to hold schools and districts accountable.

Excerpted from California Department of Education's (CDE’s) External Linking Policy: The CDE is providing these external links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any external link does not imply endorsement by the CDE or any association with the sites' operators.

 

Questions: Quality Schooling Framework | QSF@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0836 
Last Reviewed: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
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