ELCC standards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.3
Description of Internship
The Internship is a substantial component of Delta State University’s Master of Educational Leadership Program. Candidates complete three 12-week internships at three different school sites: an elementary school, a middle/junior high school and a high school. Candidates spend four days each week at each of these internship sites for a total of 48 days (approximately 384 hours) in each setting. These internships occur over the course of the school year, August through May, and once completed, candidates have over 1,152 hours of
administrative experience in real school settings. Candidates complete an internship portfolio at the end of each internship period that includes an overview of the school, a description of the mentor’s leadership practices, a log of activities and hours, and documentation of the major project completed at that site as a contribution by the candidate.
In addition to the school-based internships, candidates complete a one-week intensive internship (approximately 40 hours) at a local school district central office. This central office experience occurs during the spring semester, between the second and third school site
internship. In addition to the on-site activities, students compile a central office resource document, visit the Mississippi Department of Education and the Mississippi Legislature to complete the central office administrative experience. Candidates receive four hours of graduate credit for each of the 12-week school site internships and three hours of credit for the central office internship (ELCC 7.1, 7.2, 7.4, 7.6).
The internship experiences are fully integrated with the ISSLC/ELCC standards based program content and each course syllabus includes field experiences and internship activities to be completed during the internship periods that provide opportunities to apply the knowledge, skills and dispositions being acquired. Interns complete additional activities assigned by faculty and/or the mentor that are designed to meet individual needs or the needs at a specific school site. Over the course of eight years, program faculty and practicing school administrators who serve as mentors at various school sites across Mississippi have planned appropriate activities cooperatively, and review and revise them as appropriate. Program faculty work cooperatively with the site mentors through visits to the sites, phone calls and email to ensure successful internship experiences for program candidates. (ELCC 7.3, 7.5)
Intern Performance Assessment
The Intern Performance Assessment is designed to allow the internship site mentor to evaluate a candidate’s overall performance at the end of the 12-week school site internship. The
instrument is formatted as a checklist with a rating scale of 4, 3, 2, 1 or not observed, and items are designed to assess a candidate’s knowledge, skills and dispositions relative to the
ELCC/NCATE standards. The instrument also allows the site supervisor/mentor to make comments and suggestions for the candidate’s improvement. This assessment provides
information about each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses as perceived by the mentor at each site and is used to guide individual candidate improvement during the program year. These assessments from three different school sites/mentors combined provide an excellent overall indication of each candidate’s abilities and potential for success as a future school administrator. Analysis of data from the Intern Performance Assessments for all cohort members provides faculty with important information for overall program improvement at critical points throughout the program the year (October, February & May). A copy of the Intern Performance Assessment instrument is included at the end of this section.
The Intern Performance Assessment was revised after the first internship during the 2005-06 year to better align with the ELCC/NCATE standards; therefore, data are only available for Cohort VIII from the second and third twelve-week internship periods.
Analysis of ratings by standard for Internship 2 revealed a majority of the candidates were rated at or above expectations for each ELCC standard assessed. However, one candidate was rated as below expectations on all standards except Standard 5 where the rating was at expected level, and three candidates received “not observed” ratings on one of the following standards 2.4, 4.0 and 6.0. At the end of Internship 3, all candidates were rated at or above expectations on all standards except Standard 4 where one candidate received a “not observed” rating. The number and percentage of candidates rated above expectations increased from Internship 2 to Internship 3 on all standards except Standard 3.0, where there was a slight decrease from 8 (57%) to 7 (50%). While most comments made by mentors were specific to individual candidates, there were several instances in which more knowledge and experience in budgeting, working with finances, i.e. gate receipts, and federal program budgeting were noted as suggestions for improvement. Management of resources is a component of Standard 3.
Summaries of performance on the Intern Performance Assessments are shown below.
Summary of Intern Performance Assessment
Internship 2
February, 2006
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC Rating 1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3 4 5 6
4 9 (64%) 12 (86%) 10 (72%) 11 (79%) 8 (57%) 8 (57%) 10 (72%) 12 (86%) 10 (72%) 3 4 (29%) 2 (14%) 3 (21%) 2 (14%) 4 (29%) 5 (36%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%)
1
Not observed 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%)
Summary of Candidate Intern Performance Assessment
Internship 3 May 2006
Item 1 Item 2 Item 3 Item 4 Item 5 Item 6 Item 7 Item 8 Item 9 ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC ELCC Rating 1 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 3 4 5 6 4 12 (86%) 12 (86%) 12 (86%) 12 (86%) 12 (86%) 7 (50%) 10 (72%) 14 (100%) 12 (86%) 3 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 2 (14%) 7 (50%) 3 (21%) 2 (14%) 2 1 Not Observed 1 (7%)
An analysis of mean scores showed improvement and growth from Internship 2 to
Internship 3, in all areas related to ELCC/NCATE standards except Standard 3.0 that remained at a mean score of 3.5. Candidates received the highest possible mean scores, 3.86 and 4.0, on ELCC Standard 5 reflecting their ability to act with integrity, fairly and ethically. Candidates’ mean scores also demonstrated growth and strong performance in the areas related to vision; instructional leadership; working with and responding to families and community members; and understanding, responding to and influencing the larger context. The mean score of 3.5 for ELCC standard 3 was the lowest. While the 3.5 indicates at or above expected levels of performance for the cohort as a group, this score most probably reflects the comments about candidates needing more experience with budgeting and finance. Several mentors indicated that candidates’ skills would continue to increase with “more experience”.
The table of mean scores for items 1-9 and the relative ELCC standard is shown below.
Mean Scores on Intern Performance Assessment
Item 1 ELCC 1 Item 2 ELCC 2.1 Item 3 ELCC 2.2 Item 4 ELCC 2.3 Item 5 ELCC 2.4 Item 6 ELCC 3 Item 7 ELCC 4 Item 8 ELCC 5 Item 9 ELCC 6 Internship 2 3.57 3.79 3.64 3.71 3.54 3.50 3.69 3.86 3.43 Internship 3 3.86 3.86 3.86 3.86 3.86 3.50 3.77 4.00 3.86
* 4 is highest possible rating
Delta State University
Master’s Level Cohort Program Intern Performance Assessment
Candidate: Internship:_______
Question: Please base response on candidate’s amount of
internship experience at this time.
4 Above Expectations 3 Meets Expectation 2 Below Expectations 1 Needs Extreme Improvement Unable to Answer 1. Candidate can develop, articulate,
implement, and steward a school vision of learning supported by a school community. (ELCC 1.0) 2. Candidate can promote a positive school culture. ( ELCC 2.1) 3. Candidate can provide an effective instructional program.(ELCC 2.2)
4. Candidate can apply best practice to student learning. (ELCC 2.3) 5. Candidate can design comprehensive growth plans for staff. (ELCC 2.4)
6. Candidate can manage the organization, operations, and resources of a school. (ELCC 3) 7. Candidate can collaborate with families and other community members, respond to community interests and needs, and mobilize community resources. (ELCC 4) 8. Candidate acts with integrity, fairly, and ethically (ELCC 5) 9. Candidate can understand, respond to, and influence the larger context. (ELCC 6)
10. In your opinion, what are the candidate’s greatest strengths?
Superior Above Average Average Below Average Unsatisfactory Unable to Observe Punctuality Attendance Appropriate attire Ability to organize Ability to perform tasks Problem analysis
Decisiveness Ability to use supervision
Ability to delegate Personal motivation Judgment Teamwork Ethical behavior Written communication Oral communication Tact in dealing with stressful
situations Interpersonal relations
Ability to work with support staff
Ability to work with professional staff
Ability to cope with stress Ability to communicate with
faculty Ability to relate to students
Sensitivity to diversity issues Quality of final project Overall leadership
performance
Please rate the candidate’s performance on the following individual characteristics and dispositions:
What areas would you recommend for the intern to concentrate on in his/her continued professional development?
Please comment on any other aspect of the intern’s performance on the back of this page.
______
Mentor signature Title
School Date