LEAD Team Prepares for Wallace Grant Renewal Process, 2006-2007

On February 27, 2006, the LEAD Team of administrators prepared for 2006-2007 Wallace grant renewal process by discussing the questions presented by the Wallace discussion guide: "State and District Leadership Activities and Their Connections." The Wallace Foundation is seeking to learn from all of its state and district partners about activities that they are using to strengthen education leadership. Knowing that it takes more than any one activity to bring about a substantial strengthening of educational leadership, they want to learn more about which activities, taken together, will be most effective.

The LEAD team was asked to describe the different leadership-enhancing activities they are using, and whether and how these activities are connected, intentionally or not. This concept of articulated standards, training, and policies across all levels (schools, district, commmunity, training institutions, state) forms the basis for the Wallace document "Toward a 'Cohesive Leadership System.'" Their dicussion questions were posed within the following flexible categories:

1. Standards for educational leadership

2. Training and development for education leaders

3. Education leadership policies

Program Coordinator Assistant, Larry Brown, downloads copies of the interactive discussion guide on each of the laptops prior to the meeting.	At the end of a long work day, administrators are glad for a quick healthy snack prior to entering into the discussion.	Humor always helps to set the comfort level for discussion - she did it, no it was the other guy....
As Kay Mehas lead the Team through the discussion questions, she refers to the collaborative UO/4J administrator improvement document.	In addition to discussing each item, area administrators can add specific examples supporting conclusions into the program, which will then be collected and added to the final report.	Doing the discussion collaboratively surfaces a wider selection of examples and deepens the collective understanding of the group.
Phil McCullum, LEAD Team representative from the U of O College of Education, shares that our Improvement Tool is aligned with and exceeds state TSCP administrative standards.	Administrators from each Region add insights and examples from their experience.	As the Wallace Grant has continued, closer alignment of standars, training, and policies across district and state have occurred.