0.15 Stewart, s., & Tareilo, j. (october 2011). principal leadership  (Page 2/5)

Increased state testing and school accountability measures are forcing campus administrators to use distributive leadership skills to accomplish managerial responsibilities so they can focus on the instruction and learning taking place on the campus. The principal can no longer be an observer in the educational process. For high school principals, this immediate involvement is centered on incorporating the College and Career Readiness Standards to impact their graduates as they enter post-secondary educational experiences.

College and career readiness standards

Texas has long promoted the tradition of school accountability in the form of mandating test for students in grades 3 through 8, and end-of-course tests for high school students in every core subject. A positive result of this constant testing includes an increased awareness of curriculum measures, improved instructional efforts, and an intense acceptance of the fact that all children, regardless of their demographic or economic status, must be taught to a level of mastery learning.

While gains have been very evident at the elementary and middle school levels, the results at the high schools leave Texas schools far behind other states in student achievements (Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC), 2009). What is more concerning than the low performance on mandated tests is the fact that the educational community (students, teachers, parents, and administrators) are “uncertain about what students must know and what intellectual skills they must possess to be successful beyond high school” (EPIC, 2009, p. iii).

To address this serious concern, the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) were adopted and approved in 2008 and specified the expected skills and competencies high school graduates would need to be successful in post-secondary institutions (EPIC, 2009). The adoption of these standards focused on the core subject (English/language arts, math, science, and social studies), provided detailed educational expectations and objectives, and called for teachers to use higher level thinking and questioning skills. The CCRS simply address basic skills to assist a student succeed not only in high school but also prepare them for the rigors and demands of entry-level college courses.

Impact of teachers

The 2009 MetLife Survey of the American Teacher: Preparing Students for College and Careers found that 36% of the teachers interviewed believed their students had the necessary abilities to be academically successful and 64% of the teachers voiced the opinion that their students should have one or more years in a post-secondary institution (MetLife, 2009). The data revealed that only about one third of the responding teachers thought their students could go to college. The next logical question should be what teachers were doing in their classrooms to increase the number of students that not only went to college but were successful during their first year.

As commonly known, instructional strategies and methodological practices undertaken by classroom teachers play a definitive role in the success of a child and the amount of learning they acquire. While CCRS do not detail the “how” or the “what” is involved in the instructional process, these standards do serve as a blueprint for what each subject area should include; thereby, giving teachers a plan with which to build their lesson plans, differentiate delivery methods to meet the needs of all students, incorporate the use of technologies, and include higher order thinking skills.