INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Career & Technical Education Leadership Development Program

INDIANA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA Career & Technical Education Leadership Development Program Competency Guide Sheet Name: Date: Competency Number: 774 Competency Title: Conduct Helping Conferences with Faculty and Staff Members Level of Development: Mastery INTRODUCTION While it might be very difficult to identify a competency in the entire list comprising career and technical leadership development as assuming a greater importance than all the others, one does seem to stand out Competency 774, directly or indirectly, greatly influences more than one-third of all the competencies! The philosophy of IUP's career and technical education leadership development program strongly supports creating an atmosphere in schools where all staff members, particularly instructional staff, can become self-actualized or intentional Experience shows that all instructors need help at one time or another with their curriculum and instructional skills, and that these same instructors are often reluctant to ask for help, especially from the administration The career and technical leader who can provide this assistance via good helping conferences, leaving instructors with the feeling that their interests are taken seriously with the help they really need, will enjoy managing a school where high morale exists All staff members must perceive that the career and technical education leader is offering bona fide help for them to grow professionally This genuine help is the cornerstone of Competency 774 A question perceptive educators seem to ask is, "what techniques should be employed by career and technical education supervisors and administrators to inform their staff of behaviors that might be improved?" Should the leaders tell the staff (direct assistance) how to improve their performance, or should they assist the staff (indirect assistance) in determining for themselves what to improve? Uncertainty surrounding this situation can be overcome by examination of the goal of a good helping conference, i.e., to facilitate maximum growth through processes which free individual potential A good helping conference is designed around a model of supervision that is interactive rather than directive, democratic rather than authoritarian, teacher-centered rather than supervisor-centered, and helping rather than dominating (Acheson and Gall, 1980) By assisting staff to develop the skill of self-evaluation to improve performance, the leader, through the helping conference enhances the potential for continued professional growth This learning guide is designed to help optimize the staff's potential for continued professional growth Specifically, it is designed to assist you in helping staff explore ways for improving their performance GUIDE SHEET STRUCTURE AND USE This learning guide contains an introduction and six sequential learning experiences Overviews, which precede each learning experience, contain the objective for that experience and a brief description of what the learning experience involves OBJECTIVES Terminal Objective: While working in an actual leadership situation, conduct helping conference with faculty/staff members Your performance will be assessed by your resource person using the "Leadership Performance Assessment Form," (Learning Experience VI) Enabling Objectives After completing the required reading, demonstrate knowledge of the rational for and the procedure followed in conducting helping conferences as prescribed by the clinical supervision (Learning Experience I) After completing the required reading, demonstrate knowledge of the distinction between direct and indirect styles of supervision (Learning II) Given a videotaped performance of a career and technical education leader conducting helping conferences, critique the performance of the leader (Learning Experience III) Given case studies describing the efforts of career and technical education leaders assisting instructors to improve their teaching skills, critique the performance or stated views of the leaders (Learning Experience IV) Given an example of an instructor's performance (written product) develop a plan for conducting a helping conference based upon your evaluation of the instructor's performance (Learning Experience V) PREREQUISITES To complete this module, you must have competence in evaluating instructor's process and product teaching performances If you not have competence in this area, meet with your Resource Person to begin developing, at the mastery level, competency 622, "Evaluate Process and Product Teaching Performances." RESOURCES A list of outside resources that supplement those contained within the module follows Check with your Resource Person to (1) determine the availability and the location of these resources, (2) locate additional resources specific to your situation, and (3) get assistance in setting up activities with peers or observations of skilled career and technical education leaders Learning Experience I Optional If additional information is needed to complete this competency, please select an Internet site that addresses one of the following topics Include the link as the final item on your documentation list Include a copy of page one of the site with your completed competency • • • • Conducting Helping Conferences Techniques in the Clinical Supervision of Teachers Supervising Career and Technical Education Personnel Helping Conferences in Micro-Supervision Learning Experience II Optional If additional information is needed to complete this competency, please select an Internet site that addresses one of the following topics Include the link as the final item on your documentation list Include a copy of page one of the site with your completed competency • • • Micro-Counseling Conducting Helping Conferences Techniques in the Clinical Supervision of Teachers Learning Experience III Required REFERENCE: A videotape of a helping conference which you can view for the purpose of critiquing the career and technical education leader's performance You will also need a videotape recording system Optional A Field Resource Person at IUP's Center for Career and Technical Personnel Preparation whom you can observe conducting a helping conference Learning Experience IV No outside resources Learning Experience V Optional A Field Resource Person at IUP's Center for Career and Technical Personnel Preparation with whom you can discuss planning and whose plan for conducting a helping conference you can review Learning Experience VI Required An actual leadership situation in which you can conduct helping conferences Instructors with whom you can conduct helping conferences A resource person to assess your competence in conducting a helping conference A videotape recording system to record your conference for assessment purposes SELECTED TERMS Career and Technical Education Leader refers to a member of a school's administrative team A career and technical education leader could be synonymous with a career and technical education director, a career and technical education supervisor, or a career and technical education curriculum specialist Unless indicated otherwise, the term refers to all three Leadership Intern refers to the individual enrolled in IUP's Leadership Development Program, pursuing competencies for certification purposes Institution refers to a secondary (or post-secondary) educational agency Except where otherwise specified, this generic term is used to refer to secondary high schools, area vocational-technical schools, career and technology centers, and secondary comprehensive career and technical education schools Resource Person refers to the professional educator directly responsible for guiding and helping you plan and carry out your professional development program These individuals are IUP's Field Resource Person (FRP) and your in-house School Leadership Resource Person (SLRP) Acting as your official university advisor, reviewer of key competencies, and the third member of your resource team is a Senior Teacher Educator (STE) Instructor refers to either an instructor in a career and technical education school or teacher in a comprehensive school who daily interacts with students In this learning guide, both instructor and teacher are equally used and are often interchanged since in certain passages "teacher" seems to fit comfortably while in others "instructor" appears to be the expression of choice LEARNING EXPERIENCE I OVERVIEW Enabling Objective After completing the required reading, demonstrate knowledge of the rationale for and the procedure followed in conducting helping conferences as prescribed by the clinical supervision model Activity You will be reading the information sheet, "The Helping Conference," pp 7-39 Optional Activity If additional information is needed to complete this competency, please select an Internet site that addresses one of the following topics Include the link as the final item on your documentation list Include a copy of page one of the site with your completed competency • • • • Conducting Helping Conferences Techniques in the Clinical Supervision of Teachers Supervising Career and Technical Education Personnel Helping Conferences in Micro-Supervision Activity You will be demonstrating knowledge of the rationale for and the procedure followed in conducting helping conferences by completing the Self Check, pp 40-42 Feedback You will be evaluating your competency by comparing your completed Self Check with the Model Answers, pp 42-44 The Helping Conference Rationale With an ominous shrinking resource base from which to operate and a continual demand from the public for increased accountability, schools are faced with the challenge of demonstrating improved educational "productivity" via creative administrative management and supervisory techniques The schools are being put on notice, in effect, to use your resourcefulness and initiatives because the purse strings are being pulled tighter and tighter by the public In fact, current national political thinking seems to be leaning in the direction of offering subsidies to parents of children attending parochial and private schools to exert pressure on public schools to be more responsive to the needs of the community While at the same time as being faced with this challenge, school administrators have been beset with contractual issues with their staffs Gone are the days when the supervision of teachers is viewed as dominance versus subservience relationship Teachers are more sophisticated and organized today than to simply bow their heads in submission when issued an administrative fiat Witness the number of negotiation efforts and strikes nationally dealing with personnel issues Supervisors and administrators find it difficult and counterproductive to issue "commands" unilaterally to their staffs and honestly expect a conscientious effort to obey them! The supervision benchmark today has become participative as opposed to autocratic; e.g., the staff must be given the opportunity to become involved with those pedagogical and management decisions closely affecting their professional careers The helping conference is one way of providing this opportunity By demonstrating a genuine attitude of assistance to individual instructors and a willingness to go that extra mile, supervising staff via the helping conference, the participative style of leadership is exemplified Briefly stated, the helping conference is a prearranged, thoroughly planned meeting between an instructor and supervisor for the purpose of moving the instructor toward self-satisfaction and self-actualization; i.e., full professional development With successful helping conferences, it becomes the responsibility of the supervisor to conduct them in such a way that instructors are placed at ease and both their personal and professional needs are being addressed Additionally, the effective supervisor must help the instructors gain the confidence needed to eventually accept full responsibility for their personal and professional development The ideal goal toward which to strive becomes developing a staff of "intentional" instructors An examination of the clinical supervision model will provide you with a conceptual framework of the role of helping conferences and this style of supervision Clinical Supervision The process of clinical supervision is not a new concept in educational literature, having been conceived during the late 1950's and early 1960's by Morris Cogan, Robert Goldhammer, and others at the Harvard School of Education It was designed, and has been somewhat modified over time, to address teachers' general unfavorable reaction to supervision Most teachers not like to be supervised; they often are outright hostile to traditional methods of supervision and for the most part not find it helpful or useful The Harvard researchers postulated an optimistic premise; teachers are not hostile to supervision itself, rather to the style of supervision imposed on them Teachers might react positively to a supervisory style that is more responsive to their concerns and aspirations (Acheson and Gall, 1980) Clinical supervision rests on this premise The clinical model is one that is based on close relationships between a supervisor and his/her instructors; it is instructor-centered, democratic and interactive With the clinical style of supervision, a series of meetings or conferences are jointly planned and executed by both the supervisor and individual instructors Each meeting is centered entirely on the instructor's needs either real or imagined with the purpose of each meeting or conference being specifically to address those needs The word "clinical" does not in any way connote illness either physical or mental It is meant to suggest a face-to-face relationship between a teacher and supervisor focusing on the teacher's behavior in the classroom with prearranged pedagogical needs discussed and remedied in a personal, private, and confidential meeting; i.e., in a "clinical setting." Briefly, the process is initiated by having a planning conference where the instructor expresses a need, concern, or aspiration Here the supervisor carefully focuses on these perceptions so that both have a clear picture of what is being communicated At the same time, the perceptions are put in terms facilitating observation and/or measurement During the planning session, both jointly explore new techniques and ideas that the instructor might employ to address these perceptions The planning conference is followed by an observation session to collect some data for later discussion The data might originate from assessment forms contained in learning modules, notes taken by the supervisor and/or instructor during class/shop activities, observation of a videotape, or the results of survey instruments and questionnaires Career and technical education supervisors need to provide instructors with indicators of performance, based on direct or indirect observation Such data will supply these indicators The final phase of the clinical supervision model requires the teacher and supervisor to participate in a feedback conference Here the teacher is provided without qualification the data collected Jointly, the supervisor and instructor review the data and arrive at the instructor recognizing weaknesses and seeking ways to remedy them Getting instructors to this stage of intentionally requires a skilled and trained supervisor utilizing specific helping techniques As the instructor and supervisor review the data, the feedback conference will end with or transform into another planning conference with instructor and supervisor cooperatively deciding to collect additional data for new techniques or preparing a selfimprovement plan The clinical cycle thus begins again It should have become apparent to you by now that the meetings or conferences within the clinical supervision model are the competency you are developing in this learning guide conduct helping conferences Up to this point you have been looking at this style of supervision from a wide perspective Let's step closer and examine the specifics of helping conferences; i.e., planning and feedback conferences Planning Helping Conferences The Planning Conference Clinical supervision requires that teacher and supervisor attack problems together and rests on the conviction that instruction can be improved by direct feedback to a teacher on aspects of his or her teaching that are of concern to the that teacher (as opposed to items on an evaluation form or items that are pet concerns of the supervisor only) (Reaves, 1976) The planning conference, then, becomes a very important ingredient for the tone of the remaining helping conferences The reception given the supervisor on the feedback conference will depend in large part on how well he/she employs a helping and caring attitude during this planning conference The initial planning conference may require more time and "drawing out" than subsequent conferences since instructors may be intimidated, uncertain, or suspect of the supervisor's motive Keeping in mind that most instructors are visited "officially" by the administration at most twice per year (and that visit is for the mandated evaluation which is placed in the personnel file), the supervisor must move carefully and deliberately to establish rapport and display a genuine attitude of help To facilitate this atmosphere, it is suggested that on first attempts of this style of leadership teachers be used who are cooperative and exhibit a desire to improve Good helping conferences require practice, and it is only logical that this practice be done with instructors who will help you help them Once you have proven yourself and the word has spread that you are really interested in the instructors' professional welfare, others should more readily accept your offer of help All other things being equal, there are two types of instructors you will be helping: those that are unsure of their needs or are reluctant to expose them; and those that are able to identify their needs and are willing to express them Once the needs are identified, however, the helping techniques will be similar for both The planning conference should take place away from distractions, preferably in the instructor's classroom or shop when students are not there The least likely place is in the supervisor's office with the instructor across that big barrier the desk! In the shop or classroom, sit side-by-side and remain as open-minded as possible (indirect and attending behaviors will be discussed in Learning Experience II, page 45) You should be prepared with some opening statement to relieve any tension and establish rapport Do your best to "research" your conferee to impress them with your interest: review their personnel folder to find children's names, spouse's names, hobbies, colleges/schools attended, credits earned Search your memory to find an event dealing with the conferee such as the condition of the school, recent legislation, aspects of their classroom or shop, last year's holiday party, or perhaps the closing of school last June Carefully identify anything that would facilitate a friendly, warm opening remark Spend only a few minutes on this friendly conversation and get right into the heart of the conference, zeroing in on a specific need and mutually deciding on a course of action to address it The following steps to conduct the planning conference, somewhat modified, are taken from Acheson and Gall, (1980): Step One: Identify the teacher's professional concerns Right from the outset, following your opening remarks, it is best to inform the instructor why you are there Come right out and tell him or her that you really want to help them grow professionally and improve their teaching Something like, "we're meeting today because none of us is so perfect that we don't need help I want to help you in any way I can with your teaching skills, curriculum development, professional problems, whatever; but to help you, you must be as honest and open as possible with me." You might simply ask how he/she might like to improve, but this may not prove to be too effective It is probably better and more effective to talk them through concerns The teacher who can express concerns and needs will also be able to express ways of addressing them Some simple, open-ended question (one requiring a response other than yes or no) will get the instructor to open up, such as "how has your teaching been lately," or "what is your favorite lesson why" or "if I were to ask you what the research shows are the top three teaching characteristics related to student achievement, what would you say," or "our goal is to help you to be the best possible teacher; are there any aspects of your teaching you would like us to take a look at?" Whatever you choose, remember it is the instructor's concerns not yours Some may appear silly or trivial, but not attempt to judge any attempt to impose your values on the instructor will in all likelihood throw up a formidable barrier If you your job properly, subsequent conferences will uncover more and more needs and you can skillfully "lead" the instructor to address only the substantial ones Step Two: Translate the teacher's concerns into observable behavior Most likely, your probing questions will result in needs that are stated somewhat abstractly: "I'm afraid I'm too tough in class" desirability of a program of professional growth and suggested they "spread the word" that the administration will everything possible to support the program The instrument was secured and administered to the staff Mr Nadalin appeared genuine in his offers of help, and all went smoothly The staff development committee then tabulated the results The summary indicated many needs were nearly common with the entire staff, while most were unique to individuals Those needs that were common to the entire staff became the focus of inservice programs, while the unique individual needs became the responsibility of Mr Nadalin Mr Nadalin reviewed every survey and on each indicated those needs shared by the entire staff, those needs shared by small groups of staff members, and those needs which only that instructor identified He then called in several instructors individually and informed them of the plan he had in mind for each and how they were to implement it Mrs Margaret Hadden had been the career and technical education supervisor of Stermer Senior High School for five years, and had taught Business Education for ten years prior Sensing a lack of professional growth among the staff, she decided to read about the clinical supervision techniques discussed at the recent state-wide career and technical education association conference Realizing the staff's historical reluctance at any attempt by the administration to "invade their privacy," she eased them into the idea by a few subtle memos and "small but deliberate talk" during the lunch hour and in the faculty lounge Her primary aim was to create an awareness of the need for professional growth and her desire to be of genuine help After some time, factors indicated she was successful in her efforts, and decided now was a good time to get started on an active program of staff improvement After some thought, she decided to begin with Charlie Moretti He's the Technology Education teacher, having taught for nearly twenty years and had been cooperative in the past Mrs Hadden sent Charlie a memo explaining the program in more detail and suggested they meet in Charlie's shop either during his Monday or Thursday's prep period or after school During the meeting, Mrs Hadden was her usual friendly self and obviously impressed Charlie about both the depth of her knowledge concerning staff development and Charlie's personal background (she took the time to "research" Charlie's personnel folder) When she sensed that Charlie was at ease, she got right into the body of the planning conference by focusing on the Technology Education shop Her approach was a direct one using very thinly veiled, obvious open-ended questions Mrs Hadden adhered to a proper planning conference routine by identifying needs, assisting Charlie to express them in concrete, observable terms, planning a course of - 70 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D action for immediate needs and a long-range plan for other needs, and agreed on an instrument to collect data on the behaviors needing attention Although Charlie identified some needs, he was aware that Mrs Hadden was "putting words in his mouth!" When Charlie was filling the Conference Log, Mrs Hadden noticed a distinct change in Charlie's attitude Her reaction was that maybe the meeting was too long and Charlie was getting restless Ruth Crawley, an experienced cosmetology instructor at Wilson County CTC, completed her career and technical education supervisory certificate training last spring Ed Reppel, the director of Wilson County CTC, wanted to put her training to work and offered her release time each week to work with selected staff in improving their curriculum development and instructional skills Knowing who would be involved (mostly new, inexperienced instructors) and their eagerness to accept such help, she readily accepted Mr Keppel's offer Such an experience, she reasoned, would be not only rewarding, but invaluable for her leadership career Ruth's strengths were in her personality few if any in the school doubted her sincerity or willingness to help She was very much aware of her responsibilities; and adhering to philosophy of participate leadership, she embraced the clinical supervision style with enthusiasm However, she was also aware that in order to assist the instructors, she should have more than a cursory knowledge of classroom observation techniques Her plan was to search the literature for the latest in classroom observation techniques and acquire at least a conversational ability with most of them Her plan also included researching in depth two or three techniques she knew would be valuable to the instructors and develop her skill in applying them for a variety of situations Her longrange goal was to add one more technique to her observation repertory every three months When she held her first planning conference and guided the conferee into identifying his needs, the plan developed to improve the instructor's skills was so unique and appropriate that the conferee couldn't hide his enthusiasm to begin Later that day, Ruth was caught whistling as she left the school! Brian Contrucci had been assisting the staff for nearly one year now in improving their instructional effectiveness To date, everyone with whom he has worked has accepted his help, but the time has come to approach one instructor who regards any intrusion into his professional growth as an affront At the initial contact, Brian found the individual, Ned Zeigler, very irascible and closeminded; however not wanting to risk insubordination, he reluctantly agreed to cooperate To make matters worse, Ned's colleagues believe he is "stale," and in need - 71 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D of improvement Student evaluation data revealed Ned's students have had a declining interest in his class for a number of years and really needs help The planning conference went about as expected Brian really had to work at drawing needs out, but Ned did identify some The plan to address these needs was sound and involved the use of a videotape In addition, Ned agreed to administer and instrument to his students surveying their opinion of him as their teacher However, Ned agreed to the instrument only if no one else would see the results To prepare for the feedback conference, Mr Contrucci "popped in" on Ned's class about ten minutes after it began and without hesitation began taking copious notes Almost as abruptly, he left the room Later that day, he prepared a detailed feedback conference plan and sent Mr Zeigler a memo that they meet tomorrow in Brian's office at 3:30 p.m During the feedback conference, Mr Contrucci insisted on analyzing the student survey results He also insisted on discussing several behaviors observed in his class (which came as quite a surprise to Ned) It became more and more apparent to Ned that he was being evaluated rather than being assisted toward self-improvement When the conference was summarized and a plan was discussed for the next conference, Ned commented sarcastically that his next priority of need was to get some help keeping his desktop neat and his shop windows clean! Feedback Compare your completed written critiques of the Case Situations" with the Model Critiques given below Your responses need not exactly duplicate the model responses; however, you should have covered the same major points Model Critiques Mr Nadalin while less enthusiastic at first, certainly got things in order when he put his mind to it If he wanted to impress the Board, at least the preliminary steps were in order First he sought the involvement of the staff through the Staff Development Committee He also correctly used them as "messengers of good will" for the staff at large Secondly, the administered instrument was not his, indicating to the staff that it was their needs, not his being identified Third, he appeared to persuade the staff that he was genuinely interested in their professional welfare He rightfully used the Committee to tabulate the results and undertake plans for in-service programs He was also on target by preparing a profile of needs for each instructor At this point, however, Mr Nadalin began tripping over his successes His weakness was manifested by his reverting to the old autocratic behavior The subsequent planning conference was definitely supervisor centered with apparently little input from the instructors He is running the risk of spoiling all of the good work of his previous efforts and surely not versed in clinical supervision techniques - 72 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D To top off an otherwise sound plan, Mr Nadalin should have used the profiles only as a guide and assisted each instructor in determining priorities among the needs It is entirely possible that if sufficient interest had been generated up to this point, the instructor would have expressed needs not identified on the instrument Such needs would not have been taken into account by Mr Nadalin's autocratic behavior Mrs Hadden was obviously an astute leader She recognized the staff's need for improvement but was also aware of the staff's professional "turf protection" attitude To prepare as carefully as possible, Mrs Hadden read about the clinical supervision technique and obviously became knowledgeable about it It was to her credit that she did not announce to the staff, "I have a great idea!" She gently got them to realize a need exists for staff development and seemed to secure their "unwritten" approval Her planning conference techniques were right on target and the future seems bright Her error however, and it was a big one, was misreading Charlie's attitude when completing the log An experienced teacher, Charlie apparently preferred a much more indirect approach Mrs Hadden's questions should have concealed her intentions and permitted Charlie to discover for himself what his needs were Knowing they are his needs, he would have undoubtedly have been much more receptive at attempts to address them As might be expected, Ruth approached her responsibility with great zeal She was given a vote of confidence from Mr Keppel and this undoubtedly served as a tremendous boost to her ego Aware of the weakness of relying on her own personal experience, she undertook an ambitious plan to develop her classroom/shop observational techniques The fact that she chose awareness for most, but mastery for two or three indicates a professional level of maturity for her capacity Her attention to detail apparently paid off since her first conferee was obviously "turned on" to her help It would be difficult not to imagine how enthusiastic and confident she would be during subsequent conferences even more so since she will be adding techniques to her supervisory repertory If Mr Contrucci "helped" the remainder of the staff as he did with Ned, it is a wonder he lasted the year! Brian's biggest strength was that he seemed to conduct a good planning conference He did succeed in identifying Ned's needs and should have capitalized on that faint light at the end of the tunnel From this point, however, it was all uphill It was inappropriate to use a videotape knowing how Ned felt about his professional growth However, the suggestion to solicit student opinion was good, especially to restrict the results only to Ned or so it seemed Mr Contrucci is flirting with trouble by conducting observation sessions as he did At the very least, his credibility is at stake with the rest of the staff During the feedback - 73 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D conference, no mention was made of the videotape recording a big mistake since Ned had agreed to prepare one It also goes without saying that to have insisted on using the results of the student survey was unprofessional and to have injected extraneous behaviors not agreed upon into the conference just added insult to injury It is no wonder that Ned was sarcastic If the impression came across that Ned was being evaluated, then Brian better back way up and start all over again His helping skills have become very dull indeed Level of Performance: Your complete written critique of the Case Studies should have covered the same major points as the model responses If you missed some points or have questions about any additional points you made, review the material in the information sheets or check with your Resource Person if necessary - 74 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D LEARNING EXPERIENCE V OVERVIEW Enabling Objective: Given an example of instructor's performance (written product), develop a plan for conducting a helping conference based upon your evaluation of the instructor's performance Activity You will be evaluating the partial incumbent worker survey p 78, and you will be completing the accompanying assessment form, p 79 Activity You will be preparing a plan to conduct a helping conference by completing the Helping Conference Plan Worksheet, p 80 Feedback You will be evaluating your competency in developing a helping conference plan by comparing your completed worksheet with the model worksheet, pp 81-82 Activity Assume you and the heavy equipment machines instructor have been regularly meeting to revise and update the heavy equipment mechanics curriculum As part of the revision process, you and the instructor have obtained three separate occupational analyses The instructor has assessed each occupational analysis and selected the one that contained a suitable organizational hierarchy, tasks that were comprehensive, and most important, one that fit within the scope of his program Actually, he picked the "best" features from all three to arrive at a list of approximately 174 tasks for possible inclusion in his program Next the instructor (with your assistance) reviewed each task statement to ensure it was well written using a twelve-item checklist Now he must get the list validated to be sure it would constitute a curriculum of essential tasks for each student to enter the workforce As part of the incumbent worker survey, it was decided that a sampling of the workers would receive the survey rather than every worker in the school's service area The instructor's next responsibility was to prepare a survey form You and he have discussed the format of the survey as well as the extent of the information to be - 75 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D solicited At your last meeting, you both had discussed several criteria to be included in the survey and have decided on those items found in the Validation Checklist, p 79 You also supplied the instructor with a module to provide him with some background material and information Three days later, you found a draft of the partial incumbent worker survey in your mailbox at the school (The draft is shown on the next page.) Using the Validation Checklist, p 79, assess the instructor's efforts at preparing the survey form - 76 CGS-774 Fred Monaco Ph.D Heavy Equipment Mechanics Task List D.O.T 620.261-022 Heavy Equipment Mechanic D.O.T 620.281-050 Truck Mechanic D.O.T 620.281-058 Tractor Mechanic D.O.T 620.381-014 Mechanic, Endless Track Mechanic Supervisor Other (specify) TASK NO TASK NAME Note: R & R means Remove and Replace DUTY A Servicing Wheels and Brakes R & R wheels Repack wheel bearings R & R brake shoes R & R wheel cylinders Rebuild wheel cylinder Adjust brakes R & R master cylinder Rebuild master cylinder R & R power brake unit 10 R & R hydraulic lines and hoses 11 Adjust air brakes 12 Inspect/R & R air valves 13 Inspect R & R air valves 14 R & R air compressor 15 Test/replace AC governor 16 Inspect/R & R anti-skid system 17 Inspect/R & R air chambers Performs Daily Performs Weekly Performs Monthly Performs Yearly Does not Perform VALIDATION CHECKLIST Directions: Place an "X" in the No, Partial, or Full box to indicate that each of the following criteria was addressed by the instructor as not accomplished, partially accomplished, or fully accomplished If, because of special circumstances a particular criterion was not applicable or impossible to address, place an "X" in the N/A box The overall survey provided information regarding the identification of those tasks: Performed by entry level workers Performed by a large percentage of workers Performed frequently Critical to job accomplishment Essential in the performance of other tasks Relatively easy to learn on the job Performed infrequently Performed by a small percentage of the job holders Performed without further instruction 10 Similar to other tasks 11 Best taught in a school setting N/A LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE NO PARTIAL FULL Level of Performance: All items must receive FULL or N/A responses If any item receives a NO or PARTIAL response, the instructor and resource person should meet to determine what activities the instructor needs to complete in order to reach competency in the weak area(s) Activity Having evaluated the sample survey submitted by the instructor, develop a helping conference plan to assist the instructor focus on behaviors that need to be improved Your plan should include all necessary information You may use the Helping Conference Plan Worksheet below to record your plans Helping Conference Plan Worksheet Observations or points for discussion Tentative objective(s) Introduction Body Summary/Closure Resource Materials Possible objectives for next helping conference Post Mortem Feedback Compare your completed Helping Conference Plan Worksheet with the Model Worksheet provided below Your responses need not exactly duplicate the model response; however, your plan should reflect the same major points or line of thought Model Worksheet Helping Conference Plan Worksheet Observations or Points for discussion: A Could include the company name and number of years employee is on the job B Did the instructor self evaluate using assessment form? C Only one "validation item" is identified; e.g frequency several others should be included Tentative objective: A Making use of random sampling techniques and considering the cost of mailing, the instructor will determine how many surveys will be sent out to the incumbent workers The total cost will not exceed the amount budgeted B After discussing a variety of methods of summarizing the data, the instructor will select a format facilitating both recording the responses by the incumbent worker and the ease of summarizing the data Both time and cost factors will judge the suitability of the final format Introduction: A "I saw you at the Wilton-Heights football game last Saturday Central-Tech played a pretty good game, didn't we?" B "You certainly did a complete job with your incumbent worker survey draft You must have put a lot of time in it." Body: A How you feel about this draft? B What were your thoughts after you compared your draft against the checklist? C Without any major revisions, what might we add to your draft to get additional data? D We're allowed $50 in the budget for postage How can we get the best results for our efforts? E What might make it easy for the incumbent worker to complete the survey? What difficulties can you see in gathering and summarizing the completed surveys? Summary/Closure: A Review what additional columns are to be added B Review the stratified random sampling technique C Decide on a target date to get surveys in the mail Resource Materials: A A table of random numbers from statistics text B Sample "mark-sensor" sheet Possible objective for next conference? A Begin the discussion of writing performance objectives Post Mortem: (Obviously, this will remain blank until the conference has ended) LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE: Your completed Helping Conference Plan Worksheet should have contained the same major points or pattern of thought as the Model Worksheet If you missed some points or have questions about any additional points you made, review the material in the information sheet, "The Helping Conference," pp 7-39, or check with your Resource Person LEARNING EXPERIENCE VI OVERVIEW Enabling Objective: While working in an actual leadership situation, conduct helping conferences with faculty/staff members Activity As you fulfill your leadership duties, assist the faculty/staff to grow professionally by conducting helping conferences following the clinical supervision technique This will include: • • • • • • • Developing objectives for the planning conference Selecting behaviors/products for observation Selecting an instrument or record behaviors/assessment criteria Observing a lesson and/or evaluating the product Developing a detailed plan for accomplishing these objectives Gathering the necessary resources (VCR, texts, etc.) Conducting the helping conference with the staff member As you complete the above activity, document your competence (in writing, on video/audio tape, through a log) for assessment purposes This documentation should include: Your planning conference plans Your feedback conference plans Your post mortems Copies of instruments or assessment devices used for the observation session Copies of the Helping Conference Logs Video tapes of your helping conference skills Signed and dated LPAF Note: Your Resource Person may want you to submit your written helping conference plans for evaluation prior to conducting the conferences Feedback Arrange in advance to have your helping conference videotaped Your total competency will be assessed by your Resource Person using the Leadership Performance Assessment Form Based upon the criteria specified in this assessment form, your Resource Person(s) will determine whether you are at the Mastery Level (5) in conducting helping conference COMPETENCY #774 LEADERSHIP PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FORM Competency: Conduct Helping Conferences with Faculty and Staff Members Criteria: In preparing for the helping conference, the leadership intern: scheduled a mutually convenient and adequate time provided a comfortable physical setting had all the necessary materials ready for use (e.g., critique forms, aids, tape recordings) prepared a detailed helping conference plan In introducing the helping conference, the leadership intern: exhibited behavior designed to relieve tension in the conferee (informal, relaxed, and accepting in manner) communicated to the conferee the purpose of the conference reported on actions he/she promised in previous conference related the objectives of the conference to previous conferences or experiences made a smooth transition into the body of the conference In the body of the helping conference, the leadership intern: 10 guided the conferee in self-evaluation 11 gave the conferee an opportunity to express ideas about his/her own performance 12 demonstrated receptivity to conferee's ideas 13 identified behaviors needing attention 14 substantiated the behavior needing attention with video/audio recording, records, aids, etc 15 offered criticism in a constructive manner 16 suggested new ideas without dominating the conferee's thoughts and actions 17 suggested only one or two items on which the conferee should concentrate his/her efforts for improvement (e.g., did not confuse the conferee with too many ideas at one time) 18 followed a logical sequence of topics in the discussion Attained Not Attained N/A LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE Attained Not Attained N/A LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE 19 made good use of available time (e.g., kept on topic, wasted no time on extraneous talk) In concluding the helping conference, the leadership intern: 20 involved the conferee in reviewing the major points discussed (e.g., to stress important ideas and clarify any misunderstandings) 21 gave the conferee an opportunity to determine and express future objectives and reached an agreement on next steps to be taken 22 suggested a suitable date, time, and location for the next helping conference 23 reinforced desirable behaviors and ended the conference on an encouraging note 24 kept a record of agreements reached and made sure that the conferee had a copy of the record Intern's Initials Date SLRP's Initials Date FRP's Initials Date ... TERMS Career and Technical Education Leader refers to a member of a school's administrative team A career and technical education leader could be synonymous with a career and technical education. .. reactions of the conferee It is well worth bearing in mind that the career and technical education leader never really stops learning and should be overtly involved in a program of professional development. .. education director, a career and technical education supervisor, or a career and technical education curriculum specialist Unless indicated otherwise, the term refers to all three Leadership Intern