The REACT Technical High School Project

1. The REACT Technical High School Project Diplomado de Liderazgo y Gestión Educativa Daniel Morales, Ph.D Research Associate

2. How we joined the REACT Project? • ¿Whatis CILGE (Research Center in EducationalManagament)? • Whatwerewedoing? • Empiricaleducationalresearch • Tryingtoidentifyleadership and managementskillsthat are relevant in thecontext of Dominicanpublicschools • Supportingliterature: Grissom and Loeb (2011)

3. Grissom and Loeb (2011) • Grissom and Leob (2011) try toidentifyspecificskillsthatschoolprincipalsneedtopromoteschools’ success • Theyarguethattheliterature has mainlyfocusedontwoviewsthat determine principals’ training policies • InstructionalLeadership • Theprincipal´s role istofacilitateteaching and learning • TranformationalLeadership (Bass, 1998) • Theprincipal´sworkisto inspire, motivate, and developcommitment

4. Instructional Leadership • A principal’s role in school: • Edmonds (1979): createanatmosphereconducivetolearning • McLaughlin & Marsh (1978): becomeinvolved in staff development • Brookovedr et al (1979): monitor classrooms • Leithwood & Montgomery (1982): guardteachers´ instructional time • Hallinger & Murphy (1985): anything and everythingwithintheirmeanstosupportclassroomlearning • Marks & Printy (2003): everythingthatsupportstheachievement of students and theability of teacherstoteach

5. A complementary approach • Grissom and Loeb (2011) studytheprincipal’seffectivenessbyexamining a broaderspectrum of practice • IncludingwhatMarch (1978) callsthe “rudimentarypragmatics” of makingtheorganizationfunction • Grissom and Loeb (2011) observe thatmuch of theprincipal’sdaytodayactivities are notconcernedwiththecorebusiness of teaching and learning • March (1978): schools are bureaucracies; and as managers in thosebureaucracies , much of the principal ´s time isallocatedtothe “mundanework” of making a bureaucracywork

6. A complementary approach • Grissom and Loeb (2011) find five groups of task areas that principals perform in schools: • Instructional Management • Internal Relations • Organizational Managament • Administration • External Relations

7. Data and methods in Grissom and Loeb (2011) • Miami Dade County • More than 350 schools • A “rich administrative data” • Applied an inventory of tasks for the five areas

8. Somefindings in Grissom and Loeb´swork • They find that those principals that see themselves more effective in Organizational Management have systematically better school outcomes • Better performance in Miami Dade County Accountability Index, Teacher Satisfaction, Parent Climates, and Math and Reading achievement

9. Our research • Wereplicate Grissom and Loeb’sstudywiththepurpose of: • Identifyingtheareas and tasksthat are more closelyrelatedtobetteroutcomes in DominicanRepublic • We hope ourfindingscontributetothedevelopment of effectivestrategiessurroundingthenecessaryteachingleadership and managementskillsforhighperformingschoolprincipals in theDominicancontext

10. Our findings • Along the lines of Grissom and Loeb (2011), school principals that perceived themselves as more effective in Organizational Management tasks are associated with better school outcomes, as measured by national assessments • However, school principals that are more effective in Internal Relations tasks are associated with worse school outcomes

11. Some thoughts/ problems • TheDominicanEducationSystemcurrentlyfunctionsundertheInstructionalLeadershipParadigm • Thecommonknowlegeisbiasedtowardsthe role of school principal that warrants qualityteaching and learningprocesses • Educationprovisionforschoolprincipalsisbiased and doesnothelpdevelopleadership and managemnetskillsthatcontributetoschool performance as a whole

12. Some thoughts/ problems • DominicanRepubliclacks a clearjobdescription/ profile • Nevertheless, theMinistry of Educationrecentlyappliedstricterstandardsonthecompetitiveexaminationfortheschool principal post • Also, thereis a growingconcernregardingprincipals’ credentials and their and leadership and educationalskills • Theyhave a special training programforprincipalscalled: ESCUELA DE DIRECTORES (Principal School)

13. How we joined the REACT Project? • We are invited to present our findings to Agustin and Gladys Navarra (CORD) • INICIA Foundation’s concerns regarding the involvement of Principals in the Project • Also, INICIA considered the monitoring of principal a necessary condition for success through empowerment

14. What did we do? • We created a program to develop principals’ leadership and manegement skills as part of REACT Project • We call our Program “Diplomado de Liderazgo y Gestión Educativa”

15. Diplomado • Weproposed a Workshopwith 96 Academic Training hourssplitinto 6 modules • Objectives • Developleadershipskills and schoolexemplarypractices • Provideschoolmanagementwith tracking toolstofor a strongeraccountability culture • Concrete lines of actiontodevelop and implementschoolprojects • Integratingleadership and managementpracticestoeffectively monitor theimplementation of REACT Project

16. Program

17. Program • Case studies are used throughout the program • Most of the case studies are developed by CILGE using Dominican examples • Workshops provide tools and teach practical ways to use case studies • Self- Assessment tools are administered for attendees to reflect on their work

18. Expectations • Fundación INICIA already has a monitoring plan to follow the teachers • A monitoring plan is in place to follow the school principal and guarantee the success of REACT Project