Mountain Pine principal completes leadership program
MOUNTAIN PINE — Mountain Pine Elementary School principal Toby Crosby recently completed the Master Principal Program through the Arkansas Leadership Academy.
The three-phase program is voluntary and spans about three years. According to Crosby, it is “designed to improve leadership performance by building capacity in the staff around you.”
“It provides the processes and tools needed to embrace organizational change within our school system. I was first introduced to the Arkansas Leadership Academy through the Teacher Institute in 2010. It gave me the tools needed to be a better teacher leader and helped improve my teaching abilities to increase student learning,” he said.
“After my first year as an administrator, I knew that I needed to develop my skills as a leader to help our district improve teaching and learning for our kids.”
Over the past three years, Crosby said the program has taught him that, in order to initiate change in any capacity, the school must develop a shared purpose for the change.
“We must build a collaborative relationship with all stakeholders while establishing a culture for learning that drives every decision that is made. We must advocate for our school, staff and most importantly our students at every level of our school’s system,” he said.
“The Master Principal Program is not just a training; it provides the opportunity to network with some of the best administrators in the state while allowing the opportunity to develop action research plans that focus on changing student learning from the inside out. Expectations of high-quality teaching and learning happen in every school, but with the help of the Arkansas Leadership Academy, it is becoming a reality in our school.”
The Arkansas Leadership Academy is built around five performance strands, Crosby said, which build leadership in all aspects of the school system. These strands include setting a clear and compelling direction, shaping the culture of learning, leading and managing change, transforming teaching and learning, and managing accountability systems.
“As you look at the five performance strands … there are 22 components that correlate to those strands,” Crosby said.
“ALA helps by providing the skills needed to engage staff, community, parents and students into the decision-making processes that affect schools. The more people are involved, the better the thoughts and ideas are that affect positive change in the school system. The recognition/ reflection of change goes to our stakeholders as we are growing as we speak. For example, we have had an increase in student enrollment in the elementary over the last two years of 54 students. That growth is a reflection of the tremendous changes that are happening in our school,” he said.
“Mountain Pine School District is a hidden gem in the Garland County area. One only needs a closer look to see how good it really is.”
Crosby said he suggests any school interested in improving its leadership look into the programs offered by ALA.
“The Arkansas Leadership Academy provides the best professional development and networking available for teachers and administrators. The program focuses on school improvement and provides the tools and skills needed to transform teaching and learning at the highest level. I would recommend the Arkansas Leadership Academy to any aspiring teacher, leader or administrator that is in a school system,” he said.
“Currently I have two teachers that will graduate from the Teacher Institute this summer with two more that have applied for next year. Our district is applying for the Team Institute this summer.”