ELCC Standards for Educational Leadership as a Professional Development Tool

As I finish my MSE in Educational Leadership from ASU, I am busily working on creating my portfolio as part of my internship. The seven ELCC standards are mostly focused on students demonstrating competency in the various areas of school leadership. But once your internship is over, then what? This got me thinking about professional development for educational leaders. Are any schools, associations, or individuals using the ELCC as a vehicle for professional development? Because on the international school scene, I'm not seeing it.

It would be easy to do. As a school, the Leadership Team could focus on one of the standards they want to improve for a school year. They could develop a Leadership Portfolio as a team and include their artifacts that demonstrate forward progress in this area. Another option would to to create a portfolio for yourself as an educational leader. The same basic principle as the group portfolio would apply -- choose an area you would like to develop and include various artifacts that demonstrate your growth within that standard for the year. Making this portfolio public and open for faculty and peer review is an important idea. A blog would be an excellent method for sharing your portfolio with colleagues.

Professional development is an important tool in education and all members of the faculty and staff, including administrators, need to work on continual growth. The infamous life-long learning we keep hearing and talking about -- time to walk the walk! Be a real leader. Don't accept excuses from yourself that for too many educational leaders fall into. You know the ones I'm talking about.

• I'm too busy to create a portfolio.
• Everyone is too busy! Make time, be a leader, be an example, be a role model. It is your job!
• I'm not a "blog" guy/gal.
• It doesn't necessarily have to be a blog, but a blog is an easy and powerful tool for doing it. If you want your faculty using technology, you need to use technology. Finally, don't think of it as a blog, it is a public portfolio.
• Portfolios and professional development are for my teachers, not me.
• If you don't take ownership of professional development, how will your faculty? Your faculty and staff will work as hard as you do. If they perceive you are slack, they will be more slack. If they perceive you are a professional engaged in improving yourself, they will as well.