This module describes how assessment of early literacy skills can help administrators and instructional leaders promote beginning reading success for all children, including children placed at risk, by improving instruction and intervention through early identification and monitoring response to intervention efforts. The module presents a conceptual framework for thinking about early literacy assessment across four distinct purposes: (a) screening; (b) diagnosis; (c) progress monitoring; and (d) measuring student outcomes. The module describes how developing a coordinated schoolwide system to assess students’ early literacy skills across each of these four purposes can facilitate informed and ongoing instructional decision making at the school, grade, and individual student level.

Ethical decision making is critical for understanding and demonstrating values that are inclusive for all students. Ethical decision making is underscored by philosophical, social and moral standards and codes, and these form the basis for understanding the relationship between one’s values and decisions made in the organizational setting. This module intends that the school leader apply normative ethical theories to their educational setting and thus ensure the school leader’s “moral compass” serves as the guide to complex decision making.

What knowledge and skills do today’s high school students need to be able to continue their education? What can schools do to better prepare all their students for life after graduation? This module presents findings from research that identifies the knowledge and skills required for success in entry-level college courses. If students can be working toward mastery of these knowledge and skills while in high school, they will be better prepared for postsecondary in a range of institutions, including community colleges and technical training programs. The module examines issues of equity and how high schools are organized to result in inequitable outcomes for students in terms of postsecondary readiness. The module leads learners through a process to analyze the ways in which their high school’s curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices promote or limit opportunities for postsecondary success for a wide range of students. The materials then suggest what school administrators can do to create school environments with high standards linked to postsecondary success that are applicable to essentially all students in the school.

This module provides current and future leaders opportunities to review the literature and to discuss and reflect on the impact of race, ethnicity, culture, social class and disability on students of color in the school and the larger society. Activities in this module are designed to encourage participants to think about leadership from a praxis-oriented perspective that will allow them to combine critical leadership theory with action (Foster, 1986) in their work with teachers, students, parents, and the community. Future school leaders will be encouraged to critically reflect on their assumptions about leadership relative to working with at-risk students of color and their families. Additionally, participants will investigate and make recommendations about strategies that enhance the participation of families of color in the education of their children.

Purposes of this Module: To recognize the essential leadership contributions of teachers in the realization of inclusive schooling and to identify conditions and actions that support the work of teacher leaders.

This module introduces school administrators to concepts and practices associated with a full service community school. The module is designed to educate students, teachers, and administrators how a full service community school can make a difference in student success, by becoming knowledgeable in the different components and models of a full service community school. This module is intended for use after viewing and discussing Module One: An Overview of Full Service Community Schools, narrated by Dr. Dean Corrigan. PLEASE NOTE THE DOWNLOAD TIME IS LONG DUE TO THE SIZE OF THE .ZIP FILE.

School leaders face a series of challenges every day. Parents, teachers, and students place demands on educational leaders to make sound, quick decisions. Pressures on leaders increase when they attempt to address the complex issues of students with disabilities and those placed at risk. While many educational leaders thrive on making decisions under pressure, untimely and poorly considered decisions can cost leaders headaches, legal problems, or even their jobs. This module examines real-life “blunders” that educational leaders have made concerning issues of inclusion, parental contact, and student behavior. The module uses a case study approach to unpack the fallout of hasty decisions and provides leaders with practical tools to prevent (or undo) “blunders.”
Central to the module are underlying assumptions and contemporary examples that promote positive values and beliefs toward inclusion, integration, and social justice. The module is organized around four “blunders” entitled “You’re child is too disabled for regular education classes,” “If you would just discipline your child at home life would be easier at school,” “I don’t care if your child has a disability, rules are rules,” and “Those supports are not going to be provided because we simply can’t afford it.” Case studies with questions, reading assignments, and PowerPoint file including instructor’s notes, reflective questions, and references are included for each “blunder.”