4. Recruits a strong leadership team and develops its skills and commitment to a high level.

3. Recruits and develops a leadership team with a balance of skills.

2. Enlists one or two like-minded colleagues to provide advice and support.

1. Works solo with little or no support from colleagues.

N/A

4. Involves stakeholders in a comprehensive diagnosis of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.

3. Carefully assesses the school’s strengths and areas for development.

2. Makes a quick assessment of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.

1. Is unable to gather much information on the school’s strong and weak points.

N/A

4. Challenges colleagues by presenting the gap between current student data and a vision for college success.

3. Motivates colleagues by comparing students’ current achievement with rigorous expectations.

2. Presents data without a vision or a vision without data.

1. Bemoans students’ low achievement and shows fatalism about bringing about significant change.

N/A

4. Wins staff and student buy-in for a succinct, inspiring, results-oriented mission statement.

3. Produces a memorable, succinct, results-oriented mission statement that's known by all staff.

2. Distributes a boiler-plate mission statement that few colleagues remember.

1. Does not share a mission statement.

N/A

4. Gets strong staff commitment on a bold, ambitious 3-4-year student achievement target.

3. Builds staff support for a 3-4- year student achievement target.

2. Expresses confidence that student achievement will improve each year through hard work.

1. Takes one year at a time and does not provide an achievement target.

N/A

4. Wins staff ownership for a robust, research-based theory of action for improving achievement.

3. Researches and writes a convincing theory of action for improving achievement.

2. Accepts colleagues' current notions of how student achievement is improved.

1. Says that hard work improves achievement – but shows doubts that progress can be made.

N/A

4. Collaboratively crafts a lean, comprehensive, results- oriented strategic plan with annual goals.

3. Gets input and writes a comprehensive, measurable strategic plan for the current year.

2. Writes a cumbersome, non- accountable strategic plan.

1. Recyles the previous year’s cumbersome, non-accountable strategic plan.

N/A

4. Fosters a sense of urgency and responsibility among all stakeholders for achieving annual goals.

3. Builds ownership and support among stakeholders for achieving annual goals.

2. Presents the annual plan to stakeholders and asks them to support it.

1. Gets the necessary signatures for the annual plan, but there is little ownership or support.

N/A

4. Masterfully wins over resistant staff members who feared change and/or harbored low expectations.

3. Manages resistance, low expectations, and fear of change.

2. Works on persuading resistant staff members to get on board with the plan.

1. Is discouraged and immobilized by staff resistance, fear of change, and low expectations.

N/A

4. Regularly tracks progress, gives and takes feedback, and continuously improves performance.

3. Periodically measures progress, listens to feedback, and revises the strategic plan.

2. Occasionally focuses on key data points and prods colleagues to improve.

1. Is too caught up in daily crises to focus on emerging data.

N/A

4. Plans for the year, month, week, and day, relentlessly getting the highest-leverage activities done.

3. Plans for the year, month, week, and day, keeping the highest-leverage activities front and center.

2. Comes to work with a list of tasks that need to be accomplished that day but is often distracted from them.

1. Has a list in his or her head of tasks to be accomplished each day, but often loses track.

N/A

4. Successfully communicates goals to all constituencies by skillfully using a variety of channels.

3. Uses a variety of means (e.g., face-to-face, newsletters, websites) to communicate goals to others.

2. Has a limited communication repertoire and some key stakeholders are not aware of school goals.

1. Is not an effective communicator, and others are often left guessing about policies and direction.

N/A

4. Frequently solicits and uses feedback and help from staff, students, parents, and external partners.

3. Regularly reaches out to staff, students, parents, and external partners for feedback and help.

2. Occasionally asks staff, students, parents, or external partners for feedback.

1. Rarely or never reaches out to others for feedback or help.

N/A

4. Has a foolproof system for capturing key information, remembering, prioritizing, and following up.

3. Writes down important information, remembers, prioritizes, and almost always follows up.

2. Writes things down but is swamped by events and sometimes doesn’t follow up.

1. Trusts his or her memory to retain important information, but often forgets and fails to follow up.

N/A

4. Has total staff buy-in on exactly what is expected for management procedures and discipline.

3. Makes sure staff know what is expected for management procedures and discipline.

2. Periodically reminds teachers of policies on management procedures and discipline.

1. Is constantly reminding staff what they should be doing in management and discipline.

N/A

4. Has highly competent people in all key roles and is able to entrust them with maximum responsibility.

3. Delegates appropriate tasks to competent staff members and checks on progress.

2. Doesn't delegate some tasks that should be done by others.

1. Does almost everything him- or herself.

N/A

4. Successfully gets all key teams meeting regularly and taking responsibility for productive agendas.

3. Ensures that key teams (e.g., leadership, grade-level, student support) meet regularly.

2. Needs to call key team meetings because they are not in people’s calendars.

1. Convenes grade-level, leadership, and other teams only when there is a crisis or an immediate need.

N/A

4. Takes the initiative so that time-wasting activities and crises are almost always prevented or deflected.

3. Is effective at preventing and/or deflecting many time- wasting crises and activities

2. Tries to prevent them, but crises and time-wasters sometimes eat up lots of time.

1. Finds that large portions of each day are consumed by crises and time-wasting activities.

N/A

4. Deals quickly and decisively with the highest-priority e- mail and paperwork, delegating the rest.

3. Has a system for dealing with e-mail, paperwork, and administrative chores.

2. Tries to stay on top of e-mail, paperwork, and administrative chores but is often behind.

1. Is way behind on e-mail, paperwork, and administrative chores, to the detriment of the school's mission.

N/A

4. Remains sharp and fresh by tending to family, friends, fun, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and vacations.

3. Is healthy and focused by balancing work demands with healthy habits.

2. Is sometimes unfocused and inattentive because of fatigue and stress.

1. Is unproductive and irritable because of fatigue and stress.

N/A

4. Gets all teachers to buy into clear, manageable, standards- aligned grade-level goals with exemplars of proficient work.

3. Tells teachers exactly what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade level.

2. Refers teachers to district or national scope-and-sequence documents for curriculum direction.

1. Leaves teachers without clear direction on student learning outcomes for each grade level.

N/A

4. Ensures that all teams use summative data from the previous year and fresh diagnostic data to plan instruction.

3. Provides teacher teams with previous-year test data and asks them to assess students’ current levels.

2. Refers teachers to previous- year test data as a baseline for current-year instruction.

1. Does not provide historical test data to teachers.

N/A

4. Gets each grade-level/subject team invested in reaching measurable, results-oriented year-end goals.

3. Works with grade-level and subject-area teams to set measurable student goals for the current year.

2. Urges grade-level/subject teams to set measurable student learning goals for the current year.

1. Urges teachers to improve student achievement, but without measurable outcome goals.

N/A

4. Ensures that all teachers have high-quality curriculum materials, technology, and training on how to use them.

3. Gets teachers effective literacy, math, science, and social studies materials and technology.

2. Works to procure good curriculum materials in literacy and math.

1. Leaves teachers to fend for themselves with curriculum materials.

N/A

4. Ensures that high-quality, aligned, common interim assessments are given by all teacher teams at least four times each year.

3. Orchestrates common interim assessments to monitor student learning several times a year.

2. Suggests that teacher teams give common interim assessments to check on student learning.

1. Doesn't insist on common interim assessments, allowing teachers to use their own classroom tests.

N/A

4. Orchestrates high-quality data/action team meetings after each round of assessments.

3. Monitors teacher teams as they analyze interim assessment results and formulate action plans.

2. Suggests that teacher teams work together to draw lessons from the tests they give.

1. Does not see the value of analyzing tests given during the year.

N/A

4. Gets data meetings engaged in a no-blame, highly productive search for root causes and hypothesis-testing.

3. Asks that data meetings go beyond what students got wrong and delve into why.

2. Suggests that teachers focus on the areas in which students had the most difficulty.

1. Does not exercise leadership in looking for underlying causes of student difficulties.

N/A

4. Gets teams invested in following up assessments with effective reteaching, tutoring, and other interventions.

3. Asks teams to follow up each interim assessment with reteaching and remediation.

2. Suggests that teachers use interim assessment data to help struggling students.

1. Does not provide time or leadership for follow-up after tests.

N/A

4. Uses data on grades, attendance, behavior, and other variables to monitor and drive continuous improvement toward goals.

3. Monitors data in several key areas and uses them to inform improvement efforts.

2. Monitors attendance and discipline data to inform decisions.

1. Is inattentive to important school data.

N/A

4. Boosts morale and a sense of efficacy by getting colleagues to celebrate and own measurable student gains.

3. Draws attention to student, classroom, and school-wide successes, giving credit where credit is due.

2. Congratulates individuals on successes.

1. Takes credit for improvements in school performance or misses opportunities to celebrate success.

N/A

4. In plenary staff meetings, gets teachers highly invested in discussing results, learning best strategies, and building trust and respect.

3. Uses plenary staff meetings to get teachers sharing strategies and becoming more cohesive.

2. Uses staff meetings primarily to announce decisions, clarify policies, and listen to staff concerns.

1. Rarely convenes staff members and/or uses meetings for one-way lectures on policies.

N/A

4. Ensures that the whole staff is current on professional literature and constantly exploring best practices.

3. Reads and shares research and fosters an on-going, schoolwide discussion of best practices.

2. Occasionally passes along interesting articles and ideas to colleagues.

1. Rarely reads professional literature or discusses best practices.

N/A

4. Orchestrates aligned, high- quality coaching, mentoring, workshops, school visits, and other professional learning tuned to staff needs.

3. Organizes aligned, on-going coaching and training that builds classroom proficiency.

2. Provides staff development workshops that rarely engage staff or improve instruction.

1. Provides occasional workshops, leaving teachers mostly on their own in terms of professional development.

N/A

4. Gets teams to take ownership for using data and student work to drive constant refinement of teaching.

3. Orchestrates regular teacher team meetings as the prime locus for professional learning.

2. Suggests that teacher teams work together to address students' learning problems.

1. Does not emphasize teamwork and teachers work mostly in isolation from colleagues.

N/A

4. Gives teacher teams the training, facilitation, and resources they need to make their meetings highly effective.

3. Ensures that teacher teams have facilitators so meetings are focused and substantive.

2. Has teacher teams appoint a leader to chair meetings and file reports.

1. Leaves teacher teams to fend for themselves in terms of leadership and direction.

N/A

4. Ensures that teachers backwards-design high- quality, aligned units and provides feedback on drafts.

3. Asks teacher teams to cooperatively plan curriculum units following a common format.

2. Occasionally reviews teachers' lesson plans but not unit plans.

1. Does not review lesson or unit plans.

N/A

4. Visits 2-4 classrooms a day and gives helpful, face-to-face feedback to each teacher within 24 hours.

3. Makes unannounced visits to a few classrooms almost every day and gives helpful feedback to teachers.

2. Tries to get into classrooms but is often distracted by other events and rarely provides feedback.

1. Only observes teachers in annual or bi-annual formal observation visits.

N/A

4. Courageously engages in difficult conversations with below-proficient teachers, helping them improve.

3. Provides redirection and support to teachers who are less than proficient.

2. Criticizes struggling teachers but does not give them much help improving their performance.

1. Shies away from giving honest feedback and redirection to teachers who are not performing well.

N/A

4. Counsels out or dismisses all ineffective teachers, scrupulously following contractual requirements.

3. Counsels out or dismisses most ineffective teachers, following contractual requirements.

2. Tries to dismiss one or two ineffective teachers, but is stymied by procedural errors.

1. Does not initiate dismissal procedures, despite evidence that some teachers are ineffective.

N/A

4. Recruits, hires, and supports highly effective teachers who share the school’s vision.

3. Recruits and hires effective teachers.

2. Hires teachers who seem to fit his or her philosophy of teaching.

1. Makes last-minute appointments to teaching vacancies based on candidates who are available.

N/A

4. Gets staff buy-in for clear, schoolwide student-behavior standards, routines, and consequences.

3. Sets expectations for student behavior and establishes schoolwide routines and consequences.

2. Urges staff to demand good student behavior, but allows different standards in different classrooms.

1. Often tolerates discipline violations and enforces the rules inconsistently.

N/A

4. Deals effectively with any disruptions to teaching and learning, analyzes patterns, and works on prevention.

3. Deals quickly with disruptions to learning and looks for underlying causes.

2. Deals firmly with students who are disruptive in classrooms, but doesn’t get to the root causes.

1. Tries to deal with disruptive students but is swamped by the number of problems.

N/A

4. Publicly celebrates kindness, effort, and improvement and builds students’ pride in their school.

3. Praises student achievement and works to build school spirit.

2. Praises well-behaved students and good grades.

1. Rarely praises students and fails to build school pride.

N/A

4. Ensures that staff are skilled in positive discipline and sensitive handling of student issues.

3. Organizes workshops and suggests articles and books on classroom management.

2. Urges teachers to get better at classroom management.

1. Does little to build teachers' skills in classroom management.

N/A

4. Is highly effective getting counseling, mentoring, and other supports for high-need students.

3. Identifies struggling students and works to get support services to meet their needs.

2. Tries to get crisis counseling for highly disruptive and troubled students.

1. Focuses mainly on discipline and punishment with highly disruptive and troubled students.

N/A

4. Makes families feel welcome and respected, responds to concerns, and gets a number of them actively involved in the school.

3. Makes parents feel welcome, listens to their concerns, and tries to get them involved.

2. Reaches out to parents and tries to understand when they are critical.

1. Makes little effort to reach out to families and is defensive when parents express concerns.

N/A

4. Informs parents of monthly learning expectations and specific ways they can support their children’s learning.

3. Informs parents of the grade- level learning expectations and ways they can help at home.

2. Informs parents of grade-level learning expectations.

1. Does not inform parents of the school's learning expectations.

N/A

4. Orchestrates student-led report card conferences in which parents and students see specific next steps for improvement.

3. Works to maximize the number of face-to-face parent/ teacher report card conferences.

2. Makes sure that report cards are filled out correctly and provided to all parents.

1. Provides little or no monitoring of the report card process.

N/A

4. Sends home a weekly school newsletter, gets all teachers sending substantive updates, and organizes a user-friendly electronic grading program.

3. Sends home a periodic school newsletter and asks teachers to have regular channels of communication of their own.

2. Suggests that teachers communicate regularly with parents.

1. Leaves parent contact and communication up to individual teachers.

N/A

4. Provides effective programs for all students with inadequate home support.

3. Provides programs for most students whose parents do not provide adequate support.

2. Provides ad hoc, occasional support for students who are not adequately supported at home.

1. Does not provide assistance for students with inadequate home support.

N/A

4. Sets a stellar example for colleagues through impeccably ethical and professional behavior.

3. Acts in an ethical and professional manner and conveys the clear expectation that colleagues will do likewise.

2. Cuts corners and is not sufficiently attentive to ethical and professional standards, giving mixed messages to colleagues.

1. Acts unethically or unprofessionally, setting a poor example for colleagues.

N/A

4. Creates an equitable schedule that maximizes learning, teacher collaboration, and smooth transitions.

3. Creates a schedule that provides meeting times for all key teams.

2. Creates a schedule with some flaws and few opportunities for team meetings.

1. Creates a schedule with inequities, technical flaws, and little time for teacher teams to meet.

N/A

4. Ensures efficient, friendly student entry, dismissal, meal times, transitions, and recesses every day.

3. Supervises orderly student entry, dismissal, meals, class transitions, and recesses.

2.Intermittently supervises student entry, dismissal, transitions, and meal times.

1. Rarely supervises student entry, dismissal, and common spaces and there are frequent problems.

N/A

4. Leads staff to ensure effective, creative use of space and a clean, safe, and inviting campus.

3. Supervises staff to keep the campus clean, attractive, and safe.

2. Works with custodial staff to keep the campus clean and safe, but there are occasional lapses.

1. Leaves campus cleanliness and safety to custodial staff and there are frequent lapses.

N/A

4. Is transparent about how and why decisions were made, involving stakeholders whenever possible.

3. Ensures that staff members know how and why key decisions are being made.

2. Tries to be transparent about decision-making, but stakeholders sometimes feel shut out.

1. Makes decisions with little or no consultation, causing frequent resentment and morale problems.

N/A

4. Deftly handles bureaucratic, contractual, and legal issues so they rarely detract from, and sometimes contribute to, teaching and learning.

3. Manages bureaucratic, contractual, and legal issues efficiently and effectively.

2. Sometimes allows bureaucratic, contractual, and legal issues to distract teachers from their work.

1. Frequently mishandles bureaucratic, contractual, and legal issues in ways that disrupt teaching and learning.

N/A

4. Skillfully manages the budget and finances to maximize student achievement and staff growth.

3. Manages the school’s budget and finances to support the strategic plan.

2. Manages budget and finances with few errors, but misses opportunities to support the strategic plan.

1. Makes errors in managing the budget and finances and misses opportunities to further the mission.

N/A

4. Fulfills all compliance and reporting requirements and creates new opportunities to support learning

3. Fulfills compliance and reporting responsibilities to the district and beyond.

2. Meets minimum compliance and reporting responsibilities with occasional lapses.

1. Has difficulty keeping the school in compliance and district and other external requirements.

N/A

4. Builds strong relationships with key district and external personnel and gets them excited about the school’s mission.

3. Builds relationships with district and external staffers so they will be helpful with paperwork and process.

2. Is correct and professional with district and external staff but does not enlist their active support.

1. Neglects relationship-building with district and external staff and doesn't have their support to get things done.

N/A

4. Taps all possible human and financial resources to support the school’s mission and strategic plan.

3. Is effective in bringing additional human and financial resources into the school.

2. Occasionally raises additional funds or finds volunteers to help out.

1. Is resigned to working with the standard school budget, which doesn’t seem adequate.

N/A