Advanced Supervisory Practices in Education

The effective administrator has many different supervisory roles within the
school. Administrators focus on service to teachers, as well as service to the students in
the school community as a whole. The roles of an effective administrator are vast and
diversified. Every day and every situation brings about a set of different issues and needs
within the local school community. School leaders focus on priorities, needs, and
assistance of both the effective and ineffective educators. Effective administrators are
able to balance the needs of the students, the needs of the teachers, and the needs of the
administration. The administrator maintains effective working professional relationships
with all staff members and administrative personnel, along with maintaining a healthy
and productive environment in which students learn. Effective administrators are able to
balance all of the needs of each of these categories, along with balancing his or her
mental health and stress levels. Not only will the administrator balance the needs within
the school community, they will also focus on building relationships within the local
community with parents, businesses and the media. Peter Senge, as uoted by Sergiovani
!"##$% authors many ideas about systems within the school and systems around the
school. Peter Senge speaks about each system within the classroom, within each of the
departments and within the school as a whole, making up a larger school system. &ithin
Senge's Systems Theory, he states, if there is dysfunction within one system, it creates
dysfunction within the whole system. &hen one system is running ineffectively, it will
cause other systems to be effective or efficient. Systems Thinking is, more than anything
else, a mindset for understanding how things work. (t is a perspective for going beyond
events, to looking for patterns of behavior, to seeking underlying systemic
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interrelationships which are responsible for the patterns of behavior and the events
!)ellinger, $**+%. This is ,ust one of the many variables an administrator deals with
during any given school day.
Supervision is more involved than ,ust evaluation and observation of teachers
practice. Supervision, as perceived by administrators, is a multi-faceted area with many
responsibilities and many variables within any given daily situation. (f we view
supervision as service, it is difficult to see how supervisors can maintain rapport with
teachers if teachers perceive them as people who control their destinies. .or supervision
to be successful, teachers want, or wish for the services of the supervisor and value the
trusting relationship that e/ists between them. Teachers need to feel the supervisor is
there to serve them and to help them become more effective teachers !0livia and Pawlas,
$**+%. Trusting relationships are the key to being an effective administrator, if the
building has a climate of mistrust1 it can take years to rebuild the trust to effectively
change the culture of the school. Teachers and students better respond to uestions and
observations when they trust the person who is sharing their thoughts. (f the relationships
do not have trust then people will not respond appropriately and without feeling harshly
,udged. 0livia and Pawlas !$**+% write, should the supervisor rate teachers and, having
rated them, report to the administrator2 &hat does this do to the trusting relationship2
&hen this happens, what does it do to the teachers' willingness to call on the supervisor
for help and to reveal their inadeuacies2 Administrators must be able to ,uggle the
relationships as well as the goals of the school. This will also apply to student teacher
who is being mentored by a more e/perienced teacher. Steven 3ose, !"##4% wrote don't
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think of student teaching as a drain on your resources. Think of it as a contribution to the
field-and a first hand look at a prospective employee.
Not only will an administrator deal with the administrative duties but will also
deal with curriculum and ineffective teaching. &hen teachers and administrators work
together to outline the scope of the curriculum, giving significant attention not only to
what content will be included in the curriculum but also to the relationship between the
various segments of the curriculum. 0livia and Pawlas !$**+% state they must strive to
implement the principle of balance. )alance implies that no portion of the curriculum
overwhelms another portion. &hen the principal deal with an ineffective teacher,
administrators carefully document all incidents and reasons for impending dismissals.
Aretha Pigford !"#55% wrote, if a principal would like to raise the performance standard
at his or her school, two options can be considered6 the principal can work closely with
the teacher to improve the teacher's skills, or the principal can recommend the teacher's
dismissal. 7espite the fact that the ob,ective !raising the performance standard of the
staff% may be accomplished using either option, certainly the preferred choice is to work
with the teacher to improve. &hen an administrator deals with ineffective teachers or
teacher misconduct, the principal takes the time necessary to gather all of the facts to
cover the procedures forthcoming. )efore coming to the end of the line, effective
administrators e/haust all avenues of assistance to the struggling teacher. 8otivating a
struggling teacher may be difficult but knowing what level the ineffective teacher is
having difficulty is a significant problem. The Situational leadership theory set forth by
9ershey and )lanchard allows for the effective administrator to provide the necessary
service to each educator to make them the best possible. The ma,or difficulty is being
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able to effectively ,udge which of the various levels the educators work within. ;eonard
Schwart< !$**"% states, a principal must take four steps to ensure due process for teachers
accused of serious misconduct. The four steps are6 take time to investigate, suspend
rather than discharge the teacher, give teacher notice of accusation, and finally give a full
board hearing. &hen a student accuses a teacher of serious misconduct, such as se/ual
advances or physical abuse, you act uickly. (f you don't, the teacher could continue to
harm other students. 0n the other hand, if you act too uickly and discipline the teacher
without taking the time to find out whether the accusations are true, you could violate the
teacher's rights and end us with a costly lawsuit, warns Te/as attorney ;eonard =.
Schwart< !$**"%.
The most important aspects of an effective administrator are the trust and
relationships built within the school community. Supervision is one key to providing
feedback to educators while guiding a school toward a desired ob,ective. The observation
schedule or clinical supervision model is an effective tool to assist instructional leaders to
identify and target areas of need. 8ary =o 8c>rath !$***% states would-be school
reformers sometimes forget that the basic issue still comes down to how people get along
and how they work with each other. 8c>rath !$***% continues by saying recogni<ing the
human dynamics of the work and the school environment is at the heart of improving
adult performance and, therefore, student achievement. This phenomenon in human
dynamics e/ists everywhere and is not uniue to teachers and administrators in
education. &e all have a tough time taking and giving criticism. &e all have that very
common fear of failure. School leaders willingly accept personal responsibility for their
own actions, but they often are uncomfortable holding others accountable for
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performance results. They tend to focus on technological and curricular advances to
improve education, while virtually ignoring the willingness of school staff to hold
themselves and others accountable for the results that indicate uality education
!8c>rath, $***%. )y focusing on trusting relationships the educational leader has the
relationship in place in order to constructively guide an inadeuate teacher to the mastery
level. At this point an effective administrator can turn to 9ershey and )lanchard, The
Situational leadership model and determine where the teacher is in terms of ability and
either direct, coach, support or delegate. &herever the teachers' ability may be, it is up to
the administrator to effectively guide the freshman teacher up to a level of confidence and
effectiveness. &ithout the relationship many issues will become much larger than
originally perceived, and only hamper the ob,ective of the school as a whole.
References:
0livia, P., ? Pawlas, >. !$**+%. Supervision for Todays Schools. New =ersey6 &iley
=ossey-)ass Education.
Schwart<, ;. =. !$**"%. Take .ive Steps to Ensure 7ue Process for Teacher Accused of
Serious 8isconduct. School Superintendents Insider, "-+.
3ose, S. &. !"##4%. 9ow to )uild a )etter Teacher. The Executive Educator, $@-$#.
Pigford, A. ). !"#55%. Teacher 7ismissal6 Secrets Principals &on't Share. The School
Administrator, $$@-$$5.
8c>rath, 8. =. !$***%. The 9uman 7ynamics of Personnel Evaluation. The School
Administrator, :+-:5.
)ellinger, >. !$**+%. Systems Thinking6 An 0perational Perspective of the Aniverse.
3etrieved April $*, $**@, from Systems Thinking6 A =ourney in the 3ealm of
Systems. &eb Site6 http6BBwww.systems-thinking.orgBsysthink.htm
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