L1. Establish a campus-based leadership team to guide efforts to improve literacy instruction.

In this lesson, you and your colleagues will learn about establishing a campus-based leadership team, one of the key elements of the Texas State Literacy Plan (TSLP).

Part 1 of this lesson describes a campus-based leadership team, including member responsibilities.

Part 2 explains how to recruit members and start working as a team.

To get started, download the Implementation Guide for this component and refer to the Action Step for this lesson. Review the Implementation Indicators for each level of implementation and note the Sample Evidence listed at the bottom of the chart.

A campus-based leadership team consists of a group of school leaders at the campus level who possess knowledge of literacy development and have experience with age-appropriate literacy instruction for secondary students. Leadership teams may include principals, department heads, instructional coaches, teachers, special education teachers, librarians, parents and families, and others who impact literacy achievement for students on your campus.

Contributions from members with a variety of experiences and areas of expertise will benefit the team. All members, regardless of their campus position, will act as leaders in the efforts to implement the TSLP and improve literacy for students on your campus.

Per the TSLP, it’s important to define the roles and responsibilities of the campus-based leadership team. Defined leadership roles and responsibilities improve communication and strengthen the outcomes of the data-informed plan for improving literacy instruction. Putting this information in writing will help ensure that members understand their roles and responsibilities.

The following are examples of team member responsibilities:

• Setting dates, times, and locations of the meeting
• Creating agendas and sending them to all team members at least one week ahead of time
• Researching information and resources to support literacy for secondary students
• Gathering, analyzing, and sharing data
• Asking colleagues who are not on the leadership team for input
• Disseminating information about literacy improvement efforts
• Planning professional development
• Meeting with community partners
• Communicating with leaders at other campuses and at the district level to coordinate efforts

These roles are in addition to the main work of your team: to develop, implement, and continually review and adjust your data-informed plan for improving literacy instruction, focused on improving literacy outcomes for all students. You will learn more about creating and implementing your plan in Action Step Lesson L3. Team members should be aware of one another’s assignments and contributions to the team. This way, new ideas and problems can be shared with the appropriate members. Everyone benefits when there are clear responsibilities and roles.

As you and your team meet and share your expertise, you will work collaboratively to problem solve and make informed decisions. These decisions regarding the implementation of your data-informed plan for improving literacy instruction will all focus on the overarching goal of the plan: improved literacy outcomes for all students on your campus.

After identifying possible team members, the next step in forming your campus-based leadership team is to recruit members. Again, the team should be comprised of members who represent different age and grade levels. This helps to ensure that members have diverse background knowledge and experience. It is highly recommended that you include an administrator on your team to help ensure that the team is empowered to effectively fulfill its role in implementing the data-informed plan for improving literacy instruction. There is no recommended maximum number of participants, but keep in mind that you want to have the right number of people to effectively discuss the TSLP Action Steps and make collaborative decisions as you build, revise, and implement your data-informed plan.

Once the team is formed, members will meet regularly. There is no recommended number of times for the team to meet. However, teams should meet as often as is necessary to complete each task. During the team meetings, members will identify challenges of implementing the TSLP, determine how the challenges will be addressed, and decide who will be responsible for various actions. A key part of this process is meeting to collect and analyze data for identifying needs and creating action items to address those needs. Action items should be recorded to help the team monitor and follow up with activities.

Campus-based leadership team members also create timelines to ensure continuous progress. As your team reviews the changing needs and data, you will be determining what is needed and collaboratively design plans to track your progress. The team's work is focused on implementing your data-informed plan so that you can improve literacy achievement for all students. For example, you may identify a need to assist staff in reviewing assessment results so that you can encourage them to make appropriate changes to instructional plans and practices.

To help your leadership team get off to a great start, read the scenario below and imagine that you have participated in the early activities of a successful team.

Scenario: Thoughtful interviewing and recruitment have allowed X High School to create a strong campus-based leadership team. There are five members on the team, and they have accomplished the following:

• After agreeing on the time and the place of the first meeting with all team members, they schedule the first meeting for 4:00 p.m., a week from Tuesday, in the office conference room.
• Each member of the team is prepared to actively contribute to the meeting in one of the following roles:

• One member has collected ideas for the agenda, created it, and sent it to team members along with appropriate contact information. All contributions to the agenda are welcomed.
• Another team member has agreed to create and bring sign-in sheets and file them for the team after each meeting. Since this will be the first meeting, this team member plans to facilitate a discussion for members to learn more about one another’s experience and background.
• The third team member has brought a school-year calendar to assist in creating planning timelines. He or she also agrees to bring a copy of the TSLP for each team member.
• The fourth member has brought last year’s state assessment data to share with the team.
• The fifth member has brought a laptop to take minutes and access the district's online data system, as needed, for the team’s discussion.

• Everyone at the meeting is given an opportunity to share his or her background experience, which includes English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR), one or two other content areas, reading specialization, and administration.
• Team members agree to rotate the role of taking minutes at future meetings and share the minutes with all members. Other managerial roles are identified and shared as well.
• The team discusses the purpose of the campus-based leadership team and focuses on working on behalf of students to improve literacy—reading and writing across content areas. Each member shares how this relates to the entire campus and to his or her department or position.
• Current challenges are also identified during the meeting and the team begins problem solving together. A schedule of meetings and other needed actions is outlined and included in the minutes.
• The recorder for this meeting reads the minutes, and others provide additional information that needs to be documented.
• All team members know what they are responsible for before the close of the meeting.

NEXT STEPS: Depending on your progress toward full implementation of Action Step L1, you may want to consider the following next steps:

• Brainstorm with stakeholders and invite them to participate as leadership team members.
• Recruit stakeholders to be leadership team members and collect contact information for the campus-based leadership team.
• Create written descriptions of the roles of the leadership team members.
• Set up the first campus-based leadership team meeting.
• Establish a yearlong meeting schedule at a place and time that works for all members.
• Create and clarify clear policies and procedures.
• Determine leadership team members’ knowledge about current policies and procedures.

L1. Establish a campus-based leadership team to guide efforts to improve literacy instruction.

With your site/campus-based leadership team, review your team’s self-assessed rating for Action Step L1 in the TSLP Implementation Status Ratings document and then respond to the four questions in the assignment.

TSLP Implementation Status Ratings 6-12

In completing your assignment with your team, the following resources and information from this lesson’s content may be useful to you:

• Refer to Part 1 for an overview of roles and responsibilities of campus-based leadership team members.
• Refer to Part 2 for information about recruiting your team and getting started.

Next Steps also contains suggestions that your campus may want to consider when you focus your efforts on this Action Step.

To record your responses, go to the Assignment template for this lesson and follow the instructions.