Tonya D.

Jones
NCPAPA DLP
Component #1 Strategic Leadership for High Performing Schools
NELA Intern Interim Assignment
Assignment 1.1: Assessing and Enhancing Your Schools Identity
Statement
1. School Mission
Statement

Northwest Halifax High

School will be a school
committed to providing
Excellence in Education for
all students. Northwest
Halifax High School will
create independent thinkers
who are respectful and
positive citizens.

2. School Vision
Statement

Northwest Halifax High

School is to offer a diverse
education curriculum that
will assist students on their
path to individual,
community and global
success.

3. Core Values/Belief
Statement

Part 1:
Assessment
Proficient

Proficient

Not
demonstrated

Part 2:
Justification
This written statement is located
on the schools webpage in the
About Us section. It is
communicated to students and
staff daily through the morning
announcements and in the
principals message Week At A
Glance. The principal also
revisits it during staff meetings.
The statement is unclear to
stakeholders in that it does not
identify how it will create these
independent thinkers or the
contributions of stakeholders on
students.
This written statement is located
on the schools webpage in the
About Us section. It is
communicated to students and
staff daily through the morning
announcements and in the
principals message Week At A
Glance. The principal also
revisits it during staff meetings.
This statement is unclear in how
it is written (is to offer)
The principal and staff have
identified core values and beliefs,
however they are not written.
Without this written, living
document, it becomes more
difficult for the staff to buy-in and
to encourage student buy-in of the
focus.

Part 3: Next Steps

Poll the staff to identify their current core values regarding educating all students and the culture that we
want within our school. The questions we will use will include: what do we value, believe in, and hope
to be?
Compare the newly identified core values to those discussed during the beginning of year staff
development. Staff will collaborate to determine why we have not solidified those identified by putting
them in writing and incorporating them into our daily activities.

Identify obstacles that may be creating barriers that are keeping us from internalizing the core values.
Post the newly developed core values around the school in the locations with the school mission and
vision statements, include in all correspondence and on the schools webpage.

Assignment 1.3: Personal Reflection on Strategic Leadership

The NCPAPA High Performance Model identifies Strategic Leadership as the driver of the seven North
Carolina Standards for School Executives because this standard directly addresses the school leaders ability to
successfully lead a school. This standard addresses numerous factors from identifying what is currently
important to the school and its leadership in the mission, vision, and core values to innovatively preparing the
students for an unimagined future. In this one standard alone, the school executive uses data to define the
identity of the school, plans to grow its learners, and the ways that this growth will take place.
As a principal resident, I have seen first-hand the value of strategic leadership and its impact on the culture of a
school. To truly engage in Coveys habit of Beginning with the end in mind, I believe we must first envision
how we want our school to be in the future. What does learning look like? What does the culture feel like? Do
students and staff want to be there? Our current mission statement is written in future tense on what our school
will be. In order to see effective changes, we must first begin here with reviewing where our school is currently.
In my role, I plan to be active on my schools School Improvement Team to help cultivate a more positive
image of our institution. I will work to create opportunities to celebrate the positive things our students and staff
are accomplishing and relay that information to our community. I will become more involved in the data
analysis, using input from all stakeholders and data points to drive instruction to help our students become more
competitive and college and career ready. I will also work to help our staff become more reflective of their
practices, regularly checking for effectiveness, to ensure that we are working towards continuous improvement
of our school.