Leadership Process-Sample of What We Did
Now...it's not perfect, but this is what we did for our most recent round of interviews for a leadership role in our district. What will yours look like?
Analyzing data
Candidates were given a classroom data set in advance of the interview and asked to analyze it prior to the interview and be prepared to answer a series of questions about the data…for example, what are the strengths of the class? areas of need? How should a teacher use this data? etc...
Facilitating a feedback session a teacher
In one of the stations prior to coming to this station, candidates were asked to view a video of a classroom teacher in action and plan out a feedback session with the teacher. Then, they were given 5 minutes to lead that feedback session in an authentic role-play scenario. We actually had the teacher who was in the video serve as the teacher in the role-play….does it get more authentic than that?! We have used this in the past, but it was so 'time-limited' that we were rushed.
Problem-Solving in a difficult situation
This was a scenario based activity that challenged the candidates to reflect deeply about how they would tackle an authentic scenario in their building, who they would contact etc…Candidates had to go deep with their response and then were asked to reflect and then given some feedback for their growth and development.
Developing Relationships
This actually cuts across many areas and is a critical leadership characteristic. Some of us asked this question explicitly during the interviews as well. However, as the last session of the day, we put all of the candidates in a room, thanked them for their time and then had them draft and send an email introducing themselves to the staff of the ‘___’ school. The email didn’t go to the school, just to the interview panel, but it gave us insight into their style of writing, what they value about themselves and leadership, and how they will communicate with teachers.
Working with Struggling Students
This was another scenario-based activity that caused the candidate to reflect deeply about the topic and then respond to the interviewer. In this instance, we had our candidates reflect on a scenario with an identified special needs students and communicating with the parent.
Leading Professional Development
Each candidate was asked in advance to come prepared to discuss a previous PD that they had facilitated. They were given the following scenario in advance..."Your principal has asked for you to articulate a professional development plan at the next building leadership meeting.” There is a bit more to the email that includes a PD topic…but I’m sure you get the gist.
Reflection and responding to feedback
This is a critical characteristic that we value in our leaders. Leaders need to be able to reflect, learn, and grow. So, we embedded, in some of the sessions, reflection opportunities and then direct feedback. For example, after leading the feedback session, we began by asking ‘How do you feel that session went?’ Then, we named a couple positives and a couple specific areas of growth. We observed how they reflected and how they responded to the feedback. This was used during the debrief as evidence, but we decided to develop a rubric to evaluate a candidates response to feedback in the future.
Analyzing data
Candidates were given a classroom data set in advance of the interview and asked to analyze it prior to the interview and be prepared to answer a series of questions about the data…for example, what are the strengths of the class? areas of need? How should a teacher use this data? etc...
Facilitating a feedback session a teacher
In one of the stations prior to coming to this station, candidates were asked to view a video of a classroom teacher in action and plan out a feedback session with the teacher. Then, they were given 5 minutes to lead that feedback session in an authentic role-play scenario. We actually had the teacher who was in the video serve as the teacher in the role-play….does it get more authentic than that?! We have used this in the past, but it was so 'time-limited' that we were rushed.
Problem-Solving in a difficult situation
This was a scenario based activity that challenged the candidates to reflect deeply about how they would tackle an authentic scenario in their building, who they would contact etc…Candidates had to go deep with their response and then were asked to reflect and then given some feedback for their growth and development.
Developing Relationships
This actually cuts across many areas and is a critical leadership characteristic. Some of us asked this question explicitly during the interviews as well. However, as the last session of the day, we put all of the candidates in a room, thanked them for their time and then had them draft and send an email introducing themselves to the staff of the ‘___’ school. The email didn’t go to the school, just to the interview panel, but it gave us insight into their style of writing, what they value about themselves and leadership, and how they will communicate with teachers.
Working with Struggling Students
This was another scenario-based activity that caused the candidate to reflect deeply about the topic and then respond to the interviewer. In this instance, we had our candidates reflect on a scenario with an identified special needs students and communicating with the parent.
Leading Professional Development
Each candidate was asked in advance to come prepared to discuss a previous PD that they had facilitated. They were given the following scenario in advance..."Your principal has asked for you to articulate a professional development plan at the next building leadership meeting.” There is a bit more to the email that includes a PD topic…but I’m sure you get the gist.
Reflection and responding to feedback
This is a critical characteristic that we value in our leaders. Leaders need to be able to reflect, learn, and grow. So, we embedded, in some of the sessions, reflection opportunities and then direct feedback. For example, after leading the feedback session, we began by asking ‘How do you feel that session went?’ Then, we named a couple positives and a couple specific areas of growth. We observed how they reflected and how they responded to the feedback. This was used during the debrief as evidence, but we decided to develop a rubric to evaluate a candidates response to feedback in the future.