Leadership

The push for 21st century schools (and 21st century approaches to the design of learning) exacerbates what has been true for years: revolutionary ways of thinking about schooling are often dismissed or manipulated to “fit” the existing confines of what we know how to do. How do we use our thinking to impact the culture of the learning organizations we lead? Allison Zmuda works closely with school leaders, board members, parents, and students to promote deep thinking and reflection about the purpose of schooling. Four key planning files are available below to facilitate the depth and focus of your improvement efforts.

Planning tools :

This visual illustrates the key steps in a goal-centered or problem-centered improvement effort.

This planning template uses backward design principles to define key goals, identify evidence of success, and develop action steps.

This document identifies primary consultant and school leadership roles as well as key deliverables for our long-range projects.

This table outlines the key components of a robust curriculum and assessment system, what problems will be addressed, and how the system will be strengthened through development.

Allison Zmuda works with leadership teams to articulate and/or refine of goals, principles, strategic plans, policies, practices, and vision statements to improve the coherence of the system, the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and the engagement of all members of the school community. Links to several of these projects are included below.

Consultant to support ongoing articulation and development of Virginia Beach Public Schools Compass 2015 Strategic Plan

http://www.vbschools.com/compass/strategies.asp
http://www.vbschools.com/compass/skillsGlossary.asp

Facilitated Secondary Schools Review Committee for Greenwich Public Schools in Greenwich, CT and development of Vision of the Graduate.

http://www.greenwichschools.org/uploaded/district/pdfs/SSRC/Revised_Vision_3-31-09_FINAL.pdf

Lead consultant for development of revised mission statement for Tamalpais Union High School District, California.

http://www.tamdistrict.org/

Lead consultant for the development of district-wide learning principles for Brookfield Public Schools, CT.

http://www.brookfield.k12.ct.us/uploaded/district/information/Conversation/june2009.pdf

The following projects provide additional examples of the leadership projects facilitated by Allison Zmuda. Each project is a carefully designed and facilitated experience to ensure that the work created reflects the values, culture, beliefs, and aspirations the school community has for its children.

Project: develop a revised mission statement that reflects the learning goals for a robust, 21st century curriculum for a school district in Connecticut.View Project
Project: articulate the core values and mission statement for a 21st century school that emphasizes a personalized learning experience for the while child for a school district in New York.View Project
Project: create a vision for extensive curriculum development project using Understanding by Design. Three samples are included here to represent the big picture work from three different schools.View ProjectView ProjectView Project
Project: grow capacity of department chairs as instructional leaders through the development of an informal classroom observation tool and the reexamination of how to leverage time during the school day to improve instructional effectiveness. This file is a synthesis of the plan that was created over a series of meetings with department chairs as well as building and district administrators.View Project
Project: improve the quality of teaching and learning at a charter school through the raising of expectations for students and the drafting of school improvement action items to achieve success. This document was produced by 11 teachers on the school staff.View Project