A framework for growing leaders at every level on every campus and across every department.

Background

In Spring ISD, we believe every employee can be a leader, regardless of role or title. This guiding principle is at the core of everything we do in the district and has developed as part of our ongoing work with the Holdsworth Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to leadership development as a way to improve the quality of public schools across Texas.

In 2019, Spring ISD was selected by the Holdsworth Center to take part in its  five-year program to strengthen our leadership and talent development systems. Since then, much work has been done, including the development of our Leadership Definition, unique to Spring ISD. The goal of this Leadership Definition is to give every employee a clear blueprint for success as we all look for ways to grow and develop professionally in Spring ISD.

In addition, our Leadership Definition framework includes other important initiatives to help our employees fulfill their potential, including our Leadership Academy and our Strategic Compensation program for campus-based staff.

A Focus On Leadership Competencies

Spring ISD has a strong set of core values that have helped guide our work since 2015. These core values are not changing and will continue to provide the framework for how we interact with each other, as well as our students and families. To review:

• We base our decisions on what is best for our students.

• We strive for excellence in all we do.

• We build trust through integrity and lead by example. 

• We communicate openly. 

• We value diversity and treat everyone with dignity and respect. 

• We win as a team.

Our new Leadership Definition is designed to align our work to our core values by giving us the specific behaviors that we can use daily in our positions for success. Our goal is simple: Ensure excellent, equitable outcomes for all students as we create a school district where every employee is dedicated to making Spring ISD a district of choice for our families and staff. 

Core Competencies To Guide Our Work

Each of the three core competencies in the Leadership Definition framework — Outcome-Driven, Service-Oriented and Relationship-Centered — is defined by four critical behaviors. To better understand how to put the behaviors into practice, there are specific action steps that employees can take to lead and influence others in a positive way. Spend some time clicking on the competencies below and exploring how they apply to your work and responsibilities. 

You can also download the entire campus or central office one-pagers here.

• Campus Package

• Central Office Package

Every superintendent was once a principal. Every principal was once an assistant principal, and every assistant principal was once a teacher. District support roles follow a similar path to leadership where employees often start out by managing their own work, and then progress to managing others and then managing other managers and even sometimes whole departments.

As such, strong leaders are needed at every level of the district. With this in mind, each of the critical competencies in the Leadership Definition framework is outlined into four levels of leadership, which as a whole represent the district's leadership pipeline. You can learn more by searching for your specific title or one that's like your title below. You can also check out the expectations for those roles that you hope to achieve one day. Explore below to find the one-pagers that are most relevant to you. You can then download and print them out for future reference.