Willard R-2 Administrative Assistant Internship Program

The Willard R-2 School District recognizes that from time to time, certificated staff members will show an interest in pursuing a graduate program in school administration with the intent to become a school administrator. The District also realizes that with growth and other factors, there may be a need for expanding administrative staff. The program is designed to provide individuals with opportunities to demonstrate their leadership and supervisory capabilities to the Willard Administrative Team and Board of Education, as well as to prospective employers outside the district. Individuals accepted into this program will be called Administrative Assistants. These assistants will continue to assume their regular full-time duties and perform assigned administrative tasks in addition to those responsibilities. There will be a maximum of 4 interns per school year with two elementary and two secondary applicants. Three levels of administrative assistant are available for application: Level I: This level is for candidates with 0-15 hours of graduate school courses in administration or for individuals with 16 or more graduate hours but no substantial in-district leadership or supervisory experience. Pre-requisites include: 1. Satisfactory performance based evaluations with no job targets. 2. Two years experience in the Willard District. 3. Plans to pursue a graduate degree in school administration with the intent to become a school administrator. All candidates will enter the program on Level I. Level I candidates will not be involved in a building or district project. This level is for candidates with 16-36 hours of graduate courses in administration, but no administrative certification. Pre-requisites include: Items 1 and 2 from Level I, and 3. have a time-line established to complete a degree in school administration with the intent to become a school administrator. 4. Have demonstrated leadership and supervisory potential through prior assignments and service, including serving as a Level I Administrative Assistant. Level II candidates will be involved in a building level project. This level is for administrative assistants with a certificate in school administration in Missouri, but who are not currently assigned to an administrative position. Pre-requisites include items 1, 2 and 4 from Level II, and successful completion of Level I and II. Level III candidates will be involved in a district level project.

Level II:

Level III:

SELECTION PROCEDURES: A current administrator in the district may either nominate candidates for the Administrative Assistant program, or interested staff may submit written application to the Superintendent of Schools . The administrative team will then review the pool of nominees and applicants. The list of approved candidates is then sent to the Board of Education for final approval. The Board may waive any requirements for prior levels of participation to be completed, if it is felt in the best interest of the district to do so. IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURES: 1. Assignment of a district administrator as mentor and supervisor 2. Job shadowing of current district employees at the appropriate levels as assigned by mentor. 3. Responsibility for assignments as determined by the mentor/supervisor (could be at the request of other administrators). 4. Administrative Assistants may participate for a maximum of three years, but may not participate in any level more than once. COMPENSATION GUIDELINES: Compensation for the internship program will be

determined on a year by year basis as funding allows. The maximum stipend, pending available funds, will be $1,000 for Level I, $1,000 for Level II and $1,500 for Level III.

Administrative Internship Program Guidelines

Revised 3/06

APPLICATION FOR WILLARD R-II ADMINISTRATIVE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM NAME __Melanie Jones___ YEARS IN DISTRICT __4___ CURRENT ASSIGNMENT ____Shane Medlin/Willard Central_________________ Check one: __X___ I was nominated for participation in the program by ___Shane Medlin________. (name of nominating administrator) ______ I applied for participation to the Superintendent of Schools. Why do you want to become a school administrator (include in your answer a timeline in which you plan to complete your program of education/certification). I am currently completing my specialists degree in Instructional Leadership. I am interested in this internship to both fulfill the requirements for this degree and to explore the aspects of school administration as the instructional leader. What leadership or supervisory roles have you had experience with at Willard R-II? I currently serve in several building and district level leadership roles. I am a district Literacy Team member, a building Literacy Team leader, a member of the math CAP team, and a building and district PDC representative. In addition, I have worked with several student teachers and will serve as a mentor teacher this year. Describe ideas you might have on one of the district goals: (1) increasing student learning (2) recruiting, training, and retaining high quality teachers and support staff (3) enhancing and improving community and parental

support (4) establishing, maintaining, and planning for adequate facilities, resources, and materials. One of my ideas for both increasing student learning and retaining high quality teachers is to focus on collaboration. Over the summer I had the privilege of attending the New Frontier Conference and was able to hear several experts speak to the importance of collaboration and its connection with increased student learning. Dr. Reeves, Dr. Hargreaves, and Dr. Fuller all spoke at some point about collaboration. I also think that increased collaboration will also help with retaining teachers as teams share the responsibility of the teaching and learning process. Describe three things that you feel could be improved at the Willard R-II School District: One thing that could be improved in the Willard School District is collaboration (both within and between buildings). I also think Willard Schools would benefit greatly from having a teaching specialist in each building to work more closely and consistently with teachers in each building. A third thing that could be improved is additional training and common scoring expectations for our reading assessment (DRA2) so that reading levels are consistent between grade levels, buildings and the district. Write a brief autobiography about yourself, highlighting any important information you want the administration to know about you. I am currently a third grade teacher at Willard Central. I have completed eight years in the classroomfour of those in Willard. I have two years experience teaching second grade and six years of teaching third grade. I have a masters degree in education and plan to graduate in December with a specialists degree in Instructional Leadership. I love teaching and I also love working with new teachers. I have worked with six student teachers in my teaching career. Two of those student teachers have worked for Willard Centralone as a teacher and one as an instructional aide. I also love learning new teaching strategies or techniques that I can try in my classroom and share with my team.

Responsibilities For Administrative Internship Program

The following are a list of duties which administrative interns will be required to complete throughout the year of their internship program. These responsibilities will be monitored by the assigned mentor administrator. Upon successful completion of all listed duties, the mentor administrator will then sign an Approval of Program to be submitted to Central Office, with the portfolio. This form will act as a payment voucher, in the event that funds are available for the internship stipend.

Responsibilities 1. Meet with mentor administrator either face to face, by phone, or via email at least twice monthly. Every effort should be made to meet in person as often as possible. During these meetings, the mentor should discuss or review items such as: understanding the school finance system, budget issues, etc. teacher evaluation process, including working with deficient teachers teacher recruitment, interviewing, hiring practices teacher certification information student discipline working with parents on difficult issues confidentiality These ideas are not all inclusive, but rather a general list of hot topics which most administrators encounter in their jobs. Other topics of relevance to the intern or mentor should be covered at the mentors discretion. 2. Shadow mentor administrator at least two days in the following situations: a general day in the building getting to know the layout and operation of the building (if intern is assigned to building other than where they teach) classroom observation and post-observation conference (with permission of teacher being observed) disciplinary conference with student and/or parent parent conference or special education staffing conference Again, this is not an all inclusive list, and other issues that the mentor feels would be a valuable experience should be included.

3. Fill in at building for a principal at least 4 times per year. Building principals shall arrange, through the interns mentor, for an intern to fill in for them. Whenever possible the intern should attempt to meet with the principal they will be filling in for prior to their assigned day, to go over instructions, etc. Attend at least one Board of Education Meeting during the school year. It is possible that the intern may be asked to give a brief report to the board about their experiences in the internship program. Attend at least one A-team meeting with their mentor during the school year. Attend at least one administrative professional development conference, such as Aspiring Principals Conference, MASSP, MAESP, etc. Level III administrative assistants have an expense paid trip to the state principal conference. Perform the duties of administrative supervisor for student activities and athletic events. 2 Athletic events per sports season (fall, winter and spring) 1 Non-athletic student activity per semester (concerts, PTO events, theater/drama events, other academic contests, etc.) Supervision should be in an activity or sport other than that which the intern is coaching or sponsoring under contract. Develop for consideration a policy or procedure as determined with the mentor and approved by the superintendent (Level II and III only). See Guidelines For Policy/Procedure Project. Level II administrative assistants will be involved in a building project Level III administrative assistants will be involved in a district project. As a final project, the intern will submit a portfolio summarizing their years experience as an intern. The portfolio will include, but not be limited to: time log of supervision activities policy/procedure project in its completed form a journal of experiences encountered during the year examples of workshops or seminars attended as an intern

The portfolios contents should reflect each of the various components of the internship in sufficient enough depth to give the administrative team a picture of the value of the internship to you. The portfolio and all related paperwork should be submitted to the mentor administrator for review by May 1. At the discretion of the mentor and/or superintendent, an internship can be terminated at any time, if in the administrations opinion, the intern is not fulfilling his or her responsibilities to the program in a timely and professional manner.

Guidelines For Policy/Procedure Project

The Willard R-II Schools have categorized 5 major roles that administrators serve in the principalship. In the internship program, the goal is to provide an experience for the intern to develop leadership experience in as many of these areas as possible. At the same time, the design of the program is to continually work to improve the educational process of the district, as well. Using the following categories as a guide, the intern and their mentor will develop a project which will enhance the interns leadership experience, as well as benefit the district. In the planning of the project, the intern and mentor should determine a need or rationale behind their project, get approval for their proposal by the superintendent, then develop and finalize the process for completion of the project. The five major categories, and examples of things within those categories are:

A.

Improvement of Instruction: Professional development for improvement of instruction, school reform initiatives related to instruction, using test data to look for strengths and challenges, Career Ladder procedures, research on best practices and methodologies. Curriculum: Review/revision of curriculum based on test data, curriculum alignment including scope and sequence, assessment.

B.

C.

Discipline: Review building/district data related to trends in disciplinary referrals, revise policies based on local/state/federal laws and mandates, research programs/procedures related to buildingwide discipline (bully-proofing, harassment issues, character education, etc.) D. School Climate Use of surveys, observations, interviews, etc., to evaluate the climate of a school and develop strategies for improvement. This could also include parent/community involvement, staff/administration rapport, relationships between various school/community/parent groups, etc. Communication Demonstrating effective group and individual communication, and how such can influence any of the above categories.

E.

Willard R-II Schools Administrative Assistant Internship Program Verification of Completion

_______________Melanie Jones______________ has successfully completed all components of the Willard R-II Schools Administrative Internship Program for Level _X__I ___II ___III (check one).

____________________________________________________________ signature of mentor administrator signature of intern

This form also serves as a voucher for payment of stipend, if funds are available.

Willard R-II Schools Administrative Assistant Internship Program Responsibility Log

Name: ___________________________________________________ Reponsibility:______________________________________________
Date Description of Events
Begin Time

End Time

Total Hours