NJPSA Executive Director Patricia Wright Seeks Input from Members
In the last few weeks, as I began my new role as Executive Director I have had the opportunity to interview every staff member of NJPSA and FEA. In my discussions with staff
and in my reflections on the many issues facing our members in the context of school reform one
thing was very clear - it is imperative that NJPSA maintain a proactive and positive stance on
critical issues that will impact members' positions, duties and responsibilities.
The major goals of NJPSA and FEA for 2011-2015 are to address the critical and emerging issues that impact our members and to support school leaders in their essential role in promoting student achievement and continuous school improvement.
It is clear to me that we cannot achieve these goals without having a common vision of what school leadership needs to be in NJ in the era of school reform.
The most critical and emerging issue in school reform for our members is the new focus on the impact of school-level leadership on student achievement. On Friday the Board of Directors of NJPSA and the Board of Directors of FEA, along with the senior staff of our organization, met to begin to craft a set of Guiding Beliefs about the role of principals as instructional leaders. After reading several research articles and engaging in collaborative dialogue we began to understand just how much our role is shifting from principal as manager in a compliance driven climate to principal as learning leader in an achievement driven climate.
Today I am asking you, our members, to join us in crafting our guiding principles document. This document will ultimately be used to:
- Enable us to be pro-active in our response to new regulations, laws and policies
- Communicate a sense of urgency to all members — reforms are moving quickly and we need to be prepared to deal with them
- Drive conversations and decisions about how both NPSA and FEA can support our members
- Assist us in communicating with the public about the mission of NJPSA/FEA
- Act as a basis for the development of guiding belief documents on the role of assistant principals, supervisors and directors.
It is imperative that our vision be grounded in research and best practices in learning leadership. Please review the research articles that we discussed at the retreat and share with us your response to this essential question — what is the essential role of school leaders in promoting student achievement and continuous school improvement?
Your input is crucial to our main goal: meeting your needs and helping you meet the needs of your students by improving teaching and learning in all of our schools.
In considering your input on these critical issues, please provide your answer to this one crucial question: What is the essential role of school leaders in promoting student achievement and continuous school improvement?
Documents from the Meeting
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