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What originally made this resource
appealing to my district was that, unlike a lot of video material on the web,
these films do not stand alone. They
are coupled with content meant to
support the ISTE Standards and designed for use by groups of educators
to drive instructional improvement
and build leadership capacity through
collaboration.
Success at the Core features seven
leadership development modules
designed for school-based leadership
teams. Each module includes a multimedia presentation, video of leadership teams in action, a facilitator’s
guide, and handouts.
My team used the activities in the
Leadership Teams and Quality Instruction module to develop a shared
vision of educational technology.
Videos within this module illustrate
how five schools use a leadership team
structure to improve instruction.
“I work in a small rural district that
has very limited funds for professional
development and not a lot of access
to role models for our veteran teach-
ers or for those just coming into the
system,” says Kenny Renner-Singer,
principal of Osborne Elementary and
an original pilot tester for Success at
the Core. “I wanted to focus build-
ing leadership teams on teaching and
learning rather than on administrative
issues, and Success at the Core helped
us move forward in that work.”
At my school, the program gave our
staff a common language and expecta-
tions for talking about practice that
allowed for continued, collaborative
growth. Several years ago, when my as-
sistant principal and I first introduced
the program to our faculty, we began
by watching the module Analyzing
Data in Small Groups. As a follow-up,
teacher leaders planned and presented
professional learning for colleagues
from the Using Data Effectively and
Common Formative Assessments
modules. In their regular team meet-
ings, teachers centered their work on
developing common formative as-
sessments as well as the routines and
protocols for discussing student work
against defined standards. As a result,
teachers were better able to modify
and adapt instruction with greater in-
tention and specificity.
With a solid foundation using Success at the Core, we evolved our professional learning into a lesson study
process in which teachers partnered
with colleagues to explore a strategy
of their choice from the provided
professional development materials.
They collaboratively incorporated
that strategy into a specific lesson,
observed one another delivering the
lesson, and then provided feedback to
each other. Because reflection and dialogue are important to adult learning,
they followed the lesson study process
with a written reflection, and we then
debriefed as an entire staff.
Our ongoing use of Success at the
Core enabled my staff and me to:
• More effectively implement and sustain our professional learning agenda
• Authentically increase and deepen teacher collaboration across
disciplines and grade levels
• Increase student participation
and engagement in worthy
learning tasks
Success at the Core features seven leadership development modules
designed for school-based leadership teams.
