DISTRICT LEADERSHIP TEAM

The District Leadership Team (DLT) serves as an important function in the District's organizational structure. The DLT includes EES Principal Mark Vallone, EMS & EHS Principal Kyle Repucci, Director of Professional Learning Lyn Healy, Director of Special Services Cathy Zylinski, Business Administrator Martha Williamson, and Superintendent of Schools Barbara Munsey. The DLT functions as both a district management team and professional learning team. Meetings are held weekly in which district management issues are discussed and professional learning is conducted.

Team Goal - The DLT goal is to implement the Epping School District Model "21st Century Student Outcomes for College, Career, and Life Ready Students." Schools will make adequate yearly progress (AYP) in reading and mathematics as measured by NECAP in October 2012. Epping High School will sustain the annual dropout percentage to state average or below as measured in June 2012.

Steps/Strategies - The DLT will develop a district instructional framework PK-12, refine the whole school "response to intervention" system, develop a district assessment framework PK-12, and develop district accountability policy & guidelines to include non-negotiable accountability goals.

District Leadership That Works - Last school year the DLT read and discussed District Leadership That Works Striking the Right Balance by Robert J. Marzano and Timothy Waters. This book addresses the question if district leadership matters as a correlation to student achievement. The authors in a previous book had found that school principals had a significant correlation (0.25) to student achievement. Contrary to opinion, the authors also found that superintendents and district administrators also had a significant correlation (0.24) to student achievement.

This book took responsibility a step further and addressed what type of district leadership. The authors researched districts and schools and found that most were "loosely coupled systems" in contrast to "highly reliable organizations." In order to be a "highly reliable" school system, the school district and schools needed to be "tightly coupled." This means that the school district would encourage school principals to assume full responsibility for school success within the guidelines defined by district goals.

The following district responsibilities were found to be critical to student achievement.

Goal setting by district administration, school principals, and school board.
Non-negotiable achievement and instruction goals. This includes specific school achievement targets and a common instructional framework for all schools.
School board alignment and support of the district goals with priority and resources.
Continual monitoring of school achievement targets by district.
Continual monitoring of school staff to insure the instructional model is being delivered.
Allocation of resources including time, staff, and funding to meet goals.
Commitment to professional development funding for teachers and school principals.

The DLT uses this information to develop district "tight" guidelines for the school district recognizing that school principals will need flexibility in making these guidelines work in their schools.