Excellent and Equitable School: A Goal of Every Leader
By: Veronica C. Elep, EdD
Principal II
Bagasbas Elementary School, Daet North District
Pupils who are able to thrive in spite of serious challenges are actively engaged in school. It is one of the places where learning takes place. The task of creating excellent and equitable schools requires systems such as management designs, policies, rules and regulations, and the like. These normally provide a framework for both students and teachers. With the values, norms, and traditions, an individual is taught how to interact properly within the context of socialization. Interactions among students, teachers, and administrators must be characterized by reciprocal determinism.
There must be a dynamic equilibrium between the school and the agency to build an excellent and equitable school. Policymakers must be aware of the design features and policies that would promote quality education accessible to every Filipino learner. More so, they need to create a scheme for proper documentation and monitoring of the best practices in instructional leadership so that other schools can replicate it to maximize better results in achievement tests. Schools need to share with other schools by creating a network highlighting effective school organization and instructional practices. A support system is highly needed, involving not only school managers but also teachers, to be cascaded down to the students. Newer strategies and techniques in teaching must be introduced to ensure the maximum learning outcomes.
In terms of leadership, a school must have a clear vision of its plans, as laid out in its school improvement plan every school year. This must be religiously followed to ensure that every dimension of instructional leadership is given preferential attention. The leader must possess strong leadership qualities and should embody the characteristics of a 21st-century school head.
Furthermore, school managers must oversee everything within their purview. Curriculum instruction and authentic assessment must be given attention too. With the K to 12 program, school managers must be theoretically and conceptually grounded in the innovations of the current educational system. A structure for teaching like a spiral approach introduces the fundamental structure of all subjects- the big ideas, early in the school years then revisits the subject in more and more complex forms over time. In terms of authentic assessment, school managers must monitor their teachers to ensure that students are asked to apply skills and abilities as they would in real-life situations.
In addition, there is a need to increase funding for every school. Allow every learner to partake in every activity. Maximize the utilization of funds, especially for school activities to bring out the best in every student. With the rise of technology, schools should maximize the use of available technology to transform education to facilitate governance and to enable all its constituents to the proper digital rise.
Thus, the aim of creating an excellent and equitable school is not an elusive one; stratification must not be observed. Instead, parity should be maintained regardless of gender or social orientation, so that 21st-century learners can be developed, and 21st-century schools can be attained.
