|
THE SENATE |
S.C.R. NO. |
131 |
|
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002 |
||
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
||
RESOLUTION
requesting the department of education to develop and present for approval to the board of education new standards for school ADMINISTRATORS.
WHEREAS, according to the Institute for Educational Leadership, the nation is facing a serious educational leadership void; and
WHEREAS, strengthening educational leadership must become a national priority if we are serious about making higher standards a reality for the children who depend on us; and
WHEREAS, over the past quarter-century, significant changes have been reshaping our nation and new viewpoints have redefined the struggle to restructure education for the 21st century; and
WHEREAS, from these two foundations, educators and policy makers have launched many helpful initiatives to redefine the roles of formal school leaders; and
WHEREAS, the most visible and perhaps most vital educational leader is the school principal; and
WHEREAS, while studies acknowledge that effective leaders often espouse different patterns of beliefs and some may act differently from the norm in the profession, all effective school leaders are strong educators, anchoring their work in central issues of learning, teaching, and school improvement; and
WHEREAS, effective principals make strong connections with other people, valuing and caring for other members of the educational community and serving as the moral agents and social advocates for the children and communities they serve; and
WHEREAS, recognizing that effective principals are essential to effective schools, many strategies are being used to upgrade the quality of leadership in the educational arena; and
WHEREAS, institutions of higher education have done extensive work on revising preparation programs for prospective school administrators, many states have strengthened licensing requirements, and associations like the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) have developed standards for school leaders; and
WHEREAS, recognizing that the ISLLC standards have been endorsed by the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, aligned with the new National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Curriculum Guidelines, and adopted by the Department of Education; and
WHEREAS, the new standards for school administrators will require the Department to revise the School Administrator Evaluation Report; and
WHEREAS, according to national studies, principals often receive only perfunctory evaluation, leaving them in limbo, and denying them the benefits of a quality evaluation, which includes expanded communication within the organization, mutual goal setting within the administration, enhanced sensitivity to the principal and school needs, consideration of additional resources, and motivation for the principal to improve; and
WHEREAS, in a survey presented at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the American Association of School Administrators, ninety-seven per cent of administrators agreed that the process of evaluation had encouraged communication between principals and superintendents and eighty-eight per cent agreed that they had improved as principals as a result; and
WHEREAS, studies indicate that confusion over evaluation criteria vitiates many evaluation projects; that principals frequently are unsure how assessment criteria are weighted and that only fifty-eight per cent of principals surveyed said that the expectations for their performance had been made clear prior to the year's evaluation; and
WHEREAS, such studies underscore the need for more effective principal evaluation; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education is requested to develop and present to the Board of Education for approval new Standards for School Administrators and a corresponding School Administrator Evaluation Report; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new standards and evaluation report be concise and clearly understandable to all members of the education community; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the new standards and evaluation report be aligned with outcomes and guidelines established as part of Act 238, Hawaii's school accountability laws, and research about skillful stewardship by school administrators; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Education is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the regular session of 2003; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Education and the Superintendent of Education.
|
OFFERED BY: |
_____________________________ |
|
Report Title:
Department of Education develop new standards for school administrators and a corresponding school administrator evaluation report to be presented and approved by the Board of Education