Passing the Principal

TExES Exam: Keys to

Certification and
School Leadership
Chapter 3
Learner-Centered Leadership and Campus Culture

Presented by William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

Domain I: School Community
Leadership
Domain Key Concepts: Culture, Climate,
Vision

Competency 001
The principal knows how to shape campus culture
by facilitating the development, articulation,
implementation and stewardship of a vision of
learning that is shared and supported by the
school community.
Domain I: School Community Leadership
Competency 001
Integrates into the other eight competencies
Watch for verbs, they are always action verbs
The principal shapes, not dictates campus
culture

Throughout the competencies, youll see

the principal as a leader who shapes,
facilitates, develops, nurtures and
supports the school and community.
Domain I: School Community Leadership
Competency 001
Principal is shaping campus culture by facilitating:
Development
Articulation
Implementation
Stewardship of a vision of learning
Vision is not where our school is. It is where we
want it to be!
Our vision is the ideal school
Our vision is our dream
All schools have a vision; they all have goals, strategies,
resources and timelines to facilitate the development of
the vision, and they have an accountability system to
ensure the vision becomes a reality.
Domain I: School Community Leadership
Competency 001
IMPORTANT: Involve as many people as
possible in developing the vision, subsequent
goals and strategies to achieve them.

The school community includes EVERYONE

interested in the success of the campus.

It is human nature to support

what you have helped build!
Domain I: School Community Leadership
Competency 001
Articulation: The entire school community
must speak with one voice. Everyone must
articulate the same vision and the same
message, with the same passion and the
same commitment.

You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet, it is one

thing to develop and articulate goals and
strategies. It is something else to implement
it, to put it into practice.
Domain I: School Community Leadership
Competency 001
Stewardship of a vision is imperative!

The role of the principal is to become the

shepherd of the flock, finding ways and
resources to tend, nurture and support
everyone who is a part of the vision, while
seeking to involve more people.

In the ideal school we are a family working

together to nurture, sustain and grow
our vision.
The Principal Knows How
To:
Create a campus culture that sets high expectations, promotes learning
and provides intellectual stimulation for self, students and staff members.
Campus culture is critical to the success of the school
It involves EVERYONEAll-a popular TExES term and concept.
Ensure that parents and other members of the community are an integral
part of the campus culture.
Ensure means to guarantee.
Implement strategies to ensure the development of collegial relationships
and effective collaboration.
Pulling together to achieve a common goal
Respond appropriately to diverse needs in shaping the campus culture.
Use strategies for involving all stakeholders in planning processes to
enable the collaborative development of a shared campus vision focused
on teaching and learning.
All stakeholder must be involved in the planning process
The Principal Knows How
To:
Align financial, human and material resources to support
implementation of a campus vision.
Alignment- repeated throughout competencies
Everything must match up
Use various types of information to develop a campus vision and create
a plan for implementing the vision.
Triangulation-use multiple sources of data to gather input, verify results and
draw conclusions in data driven decision making.
Establish procedures to assess and modify implementation plans to
ensure achievement of the campus vision.
Countinuously is important on TExES; continuously asses and modify
anything and everything that is working, not working or could be working
better.
Support innovative thinking and risk taking within the school community
and view unsuccessful experiences as learning opportunities.
View unsuccessful experiences as learning opportunities
The Principal Knows How
To:
Acknowledge and celebrate the contributions
of students, staff members, parents and
community members toward realization of the
campus vision.
Praise people
Acknowledge and celebrate all successes
The principal should be the schools biggest and
beat cheerleader!
Important Points to Remember!
High expectations are essential to success.
Collaboration and collegial relationships are fundamental to
positive campus culture, climate and vision.
Ensure that parents are involved and that appropriate things
occur in every aspect of school community.
Diversity of persons, thoughts and deeds are to be
encouraged.
Triangulation. Use multiple sources of data and factors in
decision making.
Plan, continuously assess, and align EVERYTHING.
Support anything that is out of the box. Encourage risk taking.
Celebrate contributions and successes of everyone and the
campus as a whole.