T. Bentley and J. Wilsdon believe that: "Solutions rely, at least in part, on the users themselves, and their capacity to take shared responsibility for positive outcomes. In learning, health, work, and even parenting, positive outcomes arise from a combination of personal effort and wider social resources" (The Adaptive State, p. 20).
In practical terms, this means that administrators need to develop, support, and model a learning community that uses self and peer evaluation as well as administrative evaluation and evaluation from outside the school (i.e., accountability through site visits and document review by the state department of education).
"In the past, self-evaluation has been touted as an alternative to top-down assessment. In fact, we need to conceive of self-evaluation and use it as a both/and solution...the area of accountability and assessment is going to be contentious...the whole system must be involved in a codependent partnership...(it) must constantly work on connecting the dots...Coherence-making makes complexity simpler."
With so many mandates coming down from afar, local leaders certainly need to connect the dots to keep their school system focused and coherent. One way to help individuals clarify their role in the K-12 system is through professional growth plans. These plans should reflect both the district-wide action plan (K-12) and the building level action plan (elementary, middle school, high school). To the left is an example of a Professional Growth Plan that you may want to modify for the purposes of your own system.
Another way to develop "Intelligent accountability and vertical relationships" is to have "study buddies" peer edit each other's staff development notebooks. This activity needs to be clearly stated at the beginning of the year, and administrators should model expectations by keeping a notebook themselves. They also should participate in the peer editing process. You may want to modify the peer editing sheet to the left for your own staff development purposes.
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