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Shonté Joyner

EAD-501

January 15, 2020

Dr. Jarret Sharp

Leading with Purpose: Beginning with the End in Mind

To lead with purpose, one needs to analyze and reflect on their abilities to strengthen the

weaknesses and change by continually learning. Therefore, I performed a self-assessment

utilizing the rubric from the Instrument for Measuring Leadership Effectiveness and discovered

that I can look ahead at professional leadership skills that I have not yet developed and choose

the ones that I might struggle with. This will give me foresight into my future self and nurture a

growth mindset to educate and work on developing those skills before actually getting to the end,

beginning with the end in mind.

I chose three areas of improvement from the self-assessment using the Instrument for

Measuring Leadership Effectiveness, Grand Canyon University (2017):

1. Element 1.2 - Collect and use data to identify and achieve school goals, and assess

organizational effectiveness

2. Element 1.3 - Promote continual and Sustainable School Improvement

3. Element 1.4- Evaluate and revise school plans for continuous improvement supported by

school stakeholders.

If you noticed, I chose leadership skills that deal with assessing, collecting data, and making

changes for improvement. Assessing and collecting data are my two weak areas that need

improving. I am still learning how to assess and collect data from preschoolers with disabilities

more effectively. If I can use an assessment that is already created, I will, but my strong suit is
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not creating assessments or taking data. I am more of an "on-the-fly, see what is needed, and

make it happen” leader.

Having developed a growth mindset from accepting constructive criticism from my peers

and administrators/mentors, I am continually improving these skills as I teach special education

students. Change takes guts and courage with perseverance. I have those qualities and more that

will allow me to learn the professional leadership skills that it takes to manage a school. I will

always be a learner and change for the better.

According to the SC Educational Leadership Certification Requirements (2018), the

requirements for elementary principal certification in the state of South Carolina, and the

timeline for completion for me are:

Elementary School Principal and Supervisor (Tier 1)

1. Master’s degree (1-2 years)

2. Valid South Carolina Educator’s Professional Certificate at the elementary level (Completed)

3. Minimum qualifying score(s) on the area examinations required by the State Board of

Education (Upon Completion of Master’s Degree)

4. Verification of three years’ teaching experience, including at least one year of teaching in

grades PreK–8 (Completed)

5. Completion of an advanced program approved by the State Board of Education for the training

of elementary principals and supervisors. (Upon Completion of master’s degree)

All will be completed within 1-3 years. In the meantime, I will continually learn by

subscribing to some of the most popular journals among administrators:

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Educational Leadership, NASSP Bulletin, and The School Administrator. As I researched which

journals would be informative, I found these journals stood out because of their popularity

among other administrators. I also asked my principal, and he recommended one of them.
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References

SC Educational Leadership Certification Requirements. (2018).

https://cm.wgu.edu/t5/Teacher-Licensure-Information/SC-Educational-Leadership-
Certification-Requirements/ta-p/1501.
Grand Canyon University. (2017). Instrument for Measuring Leadership Effectiveness. Retrieved
January 14, 2020, from https://www.gcumedia.com/lms-resources/student-success-
center/documents/?file=coe/MasterEdEducationAdminInternshipManual.pdf