[cross-posted
at the TechLearning blog]

There are two primary standards documents for school administrators: ISLLC
and ELCC. Together they broadly define the parameters of school leaders’ work.
They also guide school district position descriptions; administrator evaluations
and assessments; state licensure, certification, and accreditation expectations;
and the content and coursework of postsecondary leadership preparation
programs.

ISLLC

The Interstate
School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards for School Leaders (a.k.a.
ISLLC), were created by the Council of Chief State School Officers and are the
foundation of nearly every state’s standards for administrator licensure and
certification. The ISLLC framework was adopted in 1996 and is organized around
six basic standards. The ISLLC standards note that a “school administrator
is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by…”

1. facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship
   of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school
   community;
2. advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional
   program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth;
3. ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a
   safe, efficient, and effective learning environment;
4. collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse
   community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources;
5. acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner; and
6. understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social,
   economic, legal, and cultural context.

The ISLLC standards only mention technology twice:

• the administrator has knowledge and understanding of the role of
  technology in promoting student learning and professional growth (under
  Standard 2); and
• the administrator facilitates processes and engages in activities ensuring
  that there is effective use of technology to manage school operations
  (under Standard 3).

ELCC

The Educational
Leadership Constituent Council standards (a.k.a. ELCC) were adopted by the
National Council for Accreditation of Teacher
Education and are used for accreditation of postsecondary educational
leadership programs. The ELCC framework was adopted in 2001 and is organized
around seven basic standards. The ELCC standards note that “[c]andidates who
complete [educational administration programs] are educational leaders who have
the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by…”

1. facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship
   of a school or district vision of learning supported by the school
   community;
2. promoting a positive school culture, providing an effective instructional
   program, applying best practice to student learning, and designing comprehensive
   professional growth plans for staff;
3. managing the organization, operations, and resources in a way that promotes
   a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment;
4. collaborating with families and other community members, responding to
   diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources;
5. acting with integrity, fairly, and in an ethical manner; and
6. understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social,
   economic, legal, and cultural context.

The seventh ELCC standard has to do with preservice administrator
internships.

As you can see, the ELCC standards are extremely similar to ISLLC. However,
the ELCC standards mention technology a little more than does ISLLC:

• candidates demonstrate the ability to use and promote technology and
  information systems to enrich curriculum and instruction, to monitor
  instructional practices and provide staff the assistance needed for improvement
  (under Standard 2);
• candidates are able to use qualitative and quantitative data, appropriate
  research methods, technology, and information systems to develop a long-range
  plan for a district that assesses the district’s improvement and accountability
  systems (under Standard 2); and
• candidates demonstrate knowledge of adult learning strategies and the
  ability to apply technology and research
  to professional development design
  focusing on authentic problems and tasks, mentoring, coaching, conferencing, and
  other techniques that promote new knowledge and skills in the workplace (under
  Standard 2); and
• candidates use problem-solving skills and knowledge of strategic,
  long-range, and operational planning (including applications of technology) in
  the effective, legal, and equitable use of fiscal, human, and material resource
  allocation and alignment that focuses on teaching and learning (under Standard
  3).

There also is some additional language regarding technology in the narrative
sections accompanying Standards 2 and 3.

NETS-A

The International Society for Technology in Education released its National Educational
Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A) in 2001. The NETS-A are
comprised of six broad standards and 31 performance indicators. The NETS-A state
that “educational leaders…”

1. inspire a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology and
   foster an environment and culture conducive to the realization of that
   vision;
2. ensure that curricular design, instructional strategies, and learning
   environments integrate appropriate technologies to maximize learning and
   teaching;
3. apply technology to enhance their professional practice and to increase
   their own productivity and that of others;
4. ensure the integration of technology to support productive systems for
   learning and administration;
5. use technology to plan and implement comprehensive systems of effective
   assessment and evaluation; and
6. understand the social, legal, and ethical issues related to technology and
   model responsible decision-making related to these issues.

The NETS-A do not align very well with the two main sets of administrator
standards. To date they also have had little impact on most state licensure and
accreditation efforts or on most university educational leadership programs.

Discussion

Should there be more mention of technology in either ISLLC or ELCC? Probably.

That said, we also know that technology leadership is just one aspect of
principals’ and superintendents’ busy lives. While we might wish that ISLLC and
ELCC better recognized the ways that digital technologies are revolutionizing
our personal and professional lives, we also must remember that school
administrators are responsible for leading instruction, supervising and
evaluating employees, budgeting, community relations, management and operations,
and a variety of other duties. There’s only so much time in administrators’ days
and we have to prioritize their time and energy.

The NETS-A are an ambitious set of standards. While ideally all of the
NETS-A capacities exist somewhere in the school organization, it is difficult to
argue that a single person should be proficient in every single area the NETS-A
cover. There will be some educators, whoever, who want a comprehensive program
grounded in the NETS-A. The graduate programs offered by CASTLE, our partner universities,
and a few other educational leadership programs are an attempt to meet that
need.

The ISLLC and ELCC standards dominate conversations and
expectations regarding school administrator competency. The next iterations of
both documents probably should more explicitly address the technological changes
that are occurring in our society. Until then, anyone got a good
NETS-A / ISLLC / ELCC crosswalk?

Other questions

• Do you know of any comprehensive, high-quality, district-sponsored staff
  development efforts based on the NETS-A?
• Are the NETS-A too ambitious for principals, superintendents, and/or central
  office administrators?
• Which NETS-A standard is most important for principals? Which is most
  difficult for them to master?
• Does your school organization and/or local university do a good job of
  preparing administrators to be technology leaders?