Superintendent Internship

John G. Parker
Standard 1
The candidate is an educational 1eader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating
the articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is created, shared,
and supported by the internal and external education community.

Standard 2
The candidate is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating,
nurturing, and maintaining a district culture and instructional program conducive to student
learning and the professional growth of staff.

Standard 3
The candidate is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring
management of the district's organization, operations, and resources to support safe, efficient,
and effective learning environments.

Standard 4
The candidate is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating
with families and community members in order to respond to diverse interests and needs to
mobilize community resources.

Standard 5
The candidate is an educationa1 leader who promotes the success of all students by acting with
integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.

Standard 6
The candidate is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by
understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, socia1, economic, legal, and
cultural context.

Standard 7
The candidate is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by working
effectively with the school district's board of directors to recommend appropriate policies and
effectively lead and manage the district consistently with the Board's policies.

During my internship year, I am beginning a new role as Director of Instructional Leadership within the area of
technology. Through this area, I plan to support both the internal and external community by leveraging technology
resources to improve the access to learning for all students. Our new website and the one-to-one initiative for student
computers are among the ways I will help articulate and be a steward of the vision of learning for the district. The
professional growth of teachers, administrators and community will be a primary focus through professional
development and communication throughout the year.

Other activities which I am currently taking part or plan to take part this year directly supporting the standards above
include:
PAEOP Bargaining Team
Presentations to the school board on technology update
Communications to community, teachers, and administrators promoting and supporting our new Edline
product
Implementation of a student database system upgrade (eSchoolPLUS 3.0) and knowledge of this program
and how it impact staffing, the P223, student scheduling, building master schedules, creation of teacher and
student accounts, enrollment verification, and course synchronization with CEDARS.
Implementation of an update for our teacher gradebook system, standards-based grades reporting, and
parent support to view and interact with teachers based upon online access to grades.
Implementation of a new assessment database system (Performance PLUS) provides stakeholders with a
repository for all student achievement and student learning benchmarks
Direct work with principals supporting their school improvement plans through the use of data to inform
instruction
Coordination with OSPI and the state on important updates and initiatives around the implementation of
new legislative action related to schools, reporting, and student learning.
Engaging technology staff through various communications means to support their work, growth, conflict
resolution, and systems approach to efficient operations.
Training teachers and administrators using various technology to support teaching and learning including
Edline, Qwizdom, using the Surface Pro to support TPEP, the new Excel evaluation tool, SmartBoards,
Thin Clients, etc..
Development/Update of technology plan for the district incorporating recent purchases and upgrades to
infrastructure
Support of student learning through online formats including OWare, eTextbooks, IXL, ThinkCentral and
other software programs
District training on essential elements of safe and secure learning environments through the implementation
of SafeSchools training.
Ongoing work with media during rollout of 1:1 initiative.
Continued work with providing feedback on district policy and regulations
Direct work with superintendent and community to address questions and concerns voiced from community
members



Internship Reflection
My internship showed me just how complex and political the position of superintendent is for leaders. Not only do
superintendents have to navigate the politics of complex community interactions and bargaining units, they also
have to engage the leaders of the state education system when bills and federal changes in policy impact schools.
For this reason, I learned a considerable amount standard 3 (ensuring management of the district's organization,
operations, and resources to support safe, efficient, and effective learning environments). I teamed with the
Executive Director of Technology to identify a 5-year technology plan which would identify how resources, if
properly aligned to strategic directions, would support learning environment for our schools. The leadership required
identifying a district technology committee so we received feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators on
technology we should focus. Specifically, we had to identify how this met the unique learning needs of all students,
specifically those students who are at-risk or who have been traditionally under-represented. I had to ask questions
of school administrators and get feedback on how we effectively meeting the learning needs of all students using
different technology formats. Regardless of who might ask the question about procuring new technology, I was
compelled to ask, "How is this going to help close the achievement gap?", or "Is the efficiency come at a cost of
learning more about the students themselves?". In addition to facilitating discussions with community,
administrators, or students, "how can we run a throughline to student achievement with proposed innovation or
acquisition that was requested?"

Standard 5, or promoting the success of all students by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner, can
be demonstrated with the work I did with our two assistant superintendents and Chief Academic Officers on
transcripting student grades of students who leave school early. What we found was a substantial inequity on how
we were transcripting student grades differently at each of the four high schools in our system. These inequities led
to different interpretations by counselors and data processors to award credit to some while negating if for others. In
short, some students could graduate on time because counselors or data processors interpreted district policies one
way, while others who believed they were implementing district policies properly, did not award credit preventing
students from graduating on time. Conversations