Sunday, April 29, 2012

5399 Week 3- CARE and Part C of Comprehensive Final Report


Week Three Assignment, Part 1 – CARE Model Analysis of District/Campus Improvement Initiatives or Action Research Plans
Please review your intern plan. In the first course, students were encouraged to engage in some action research, or participate in district or campus improvement initiatives. Each of you has had some experiences with such initiatives or action plans. Please review those experiences and complete the following analysis:
Concerns – Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and list at least three concerns that you have identified from these experiences – a concern may be any matter that engages your attention or interest.

1.     Creation and Implementation of “Passport to Kindergarten”, a community wide registration opportunity held at 4 locations in the city and offering multiple services to families as part of the registration process
2.     Implementation of One to One IPAD ratio at High School level
3.     Implementation of Common Intervention Time system, utilizing push-in student services

Affirmations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and affirm or identify at least 3 actions that must be sustained and supported to achieve the District/Campus improvement initiatives.
1.     Sustain effort to host the registration events at each high school, communication efforts, and family services offered at each site. These included registration, ELL testing, Tips and Tools for Parents, Health Services, Nutrition Services with opportunity to apply for free and reduced lunch
2.     Continue process of upgrading infrastructure to support adding almost 10,000 IPADS to the system.
3.     Sustain effort toward offering professional development and the coordination of site visits to schools that have successfully implemented the model.

Recommendations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and describe at least 3 recommendations you would make regarding the District/Campus Improvement plans or action research plans.
1.     Improve the coordination of registration event and ELL testing, Bilingual testing, publicity of the PRE-K portion of the registration event. Tighten up coordination of services at the event so it is easy to get qualified for free and reduced lunch, have ELL testing done, and qualify for PReK, then register. Improve copier access and flow at all 4 high schools.
2.     Implement staff development for educators in how to use IPADS in the classroom, with a particular emphasis on addressing classroom management concerns.
3.     Implement a staff development component to monthly principal meetings that provides an emphasis on the “push in” model of intervention.
Evaluate - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and identify at least 3 strategies for evaluating the improvement plans or recommendations.
1.     Compare registration numbers as a portion of the subsequent fall enrollment numbers and survey campuses/parents about the services provided at each site.
2.     Conduct walk throughs to analyze use of the IPADS at the high school level. Focus on engagement, use of devices across multiple subjects, and classroom management techniques seen.
3.     Compare access to the general curriculum before and after implementation of the model and scores over a three year period, as well as survey of campus personnel on effectiveness of the model.


Week Three Assignment, Part 2 – Part C of the Comprehensive Final Report
Describing Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned
Review the above analysis, and write at least one page thoroughly describing recommendations and lessons learned from experiences with the improvement initiatives or action research plans.
Blog Follow-Up: Be sure to post your above reflection on your Recommendations and Lessons Learned to your blog, and read and comment on at least two other students’ assessment reflections.

Over the course of the school year, I have had the opportunity to be involved in three very important change efforts in our district. Upon arrival in the district, I implemented a model of intervention that provided a common intervention time in each grade level on my campus of 50 minutes. The time is split into a 25 minute segment for math intervention and a 25 minute segment for reading intervention. During this time, the teacher takes the lowest performing group. A “helper” arrives in the classroom do do intervention in the classroom as well. This could be an ELL teacher, reading or math specialist, or paraprofessional. The teachers maintain intervention logs or real time information on each child receiving assistance. During this same time, any student needing special services like resource will leave. Inclusion through co-teaching accompanies this initiative. Inclusion students are clustered in one class per grade level. An Inclusion teacher co teaches with the general education teacher during reading and math. This method has resulted in dramatic gains. As a result, our campus has been visited by over 200 educators from 30 schools. The district recently promoted me to Area Superintendent. I will have the opportunity to serve and lead the 22 elementary schools in the district. There is much excitement about this model of RTI within the district. My recommendation for implementing this model across the district is to provide staff development session at the monthly principal meetings I will lead. I plan to continually reinforce how the model works, have question and answer sessions, and provide continuous staff development and the follow up needed to build on the excitement already seen.
I also had the opportunity to chair the Kindergarten Round Up committee. The strategic plan listed this activity as one that should undergo change. The plan advocated for the creation of a unified and community wide event to be held in fewer locations. Previously, it was held on each campus, but the strategic planning committee had the vision for the creation of an event that featured multiple community services, registration opportunities, etc. This morphed into Passport to Kindergarten!  Families received a “passport” upon arrival and headed to one of seven color coded stations. It went off very well and we were able to register almost 1000 students in a three hour period on a Saturday morning. Evaluations from the 22 campuses gave the events a 4.5 out of 5. Minor problems like copiers seemed to get the most attention. However, after it was over, we realized that there needed to be tighter coordination of the ELL Bilingual testing and the preK registration portion. Next year, I would like to see nutrition services, and ELL services set up next to designated PreK registration areas. It is important that we get as many people registered as easily as possible.  Because I was coordinating the payroll for personnel working the event, and was doing so for the first time, with a budget that was never set for this new event, I will work to evaluate this years budget and the way payroll worked so that I can improve upon the communication in this area.
The third big opportunity I had to serve on a committee related to the strategic plan is ongoing. It is the IPAD project at the secondary level. The plan seeks to improve infrastructure and increase access for our students. We are currently in the process of taking a One to One Ipad proposal to the school board. This plan would use money allocated for textbooks and other educational resources for the IPADS. It would put a device in the hands of every high school student. So far, we have piloted a classroom at the high school level. The proposal also provides for increasing bandwidth and improving infrastructure across the district to accommodate this endeavor. It also provides funds for internet filtering and security. My recommendations are to provide professional development in a wide range of areas.  Teachers need to know how to load apps on devices, help students manage the devices. They also need to know how to use them for instruction, and techniques for classroom management that will keep students engaged and away from questionable activities. The district is working very hard to win approval and manage all of the technical aspects of the project. My recommendations will help to ensure that the tool is taken advantage of the highest degree.
I have enjoyed learning about and being a part of several efforts that are part of the district plan.


Week Three Assignment, Part 3 - Scheduling a Conference with the District Site Supervisor to review the SISE
Please schedule a conference with your District Site Supervisor between now and Week 5 to review the Supervisor’s SISE (Superintendent/Supervisor Internship Summative Evaluation). To confirm this scheduled conference, please describe your efforts below – this may include “sending an email request for a scheduled conference, visiting with the supervisor to schedule a conference, or any other efforts describing your efforts to schedule this conference.”

****I met with my Superintendent on Friday, April 27 and reviewed the SISE, which he completed.  I forgot to note this in the copy I submitted in my assignment.




Reminder regarding the parts of your Comprehensive Final Report


Part A of the Comprehensive Final Report: Career and Leadership Goals
Week Two – Part B of the Comprehensive Final Report: Summarizing Leadership Experiences in each of the SBEC Superintendent Competencies
Week Three – Part C of the Final Report: District Improvement and Recommendations
Week Four – Part D of the Final Report: Reflections on Reflective Leadership
Week Five – Part E of the Final Report: Three Year Professional Development Plan
The Educational Leadership faculty has developed a template for each candidate to develop a three year professional development plan. Based on the lessons learned during their internship, the candidates are asked to complete the following Template:

Goal
TExES
Competency and Domain
Objective
(What do you want to improve?)
Course Work/Book/
Workshops
(How do you want to improve?)
Mentor
Professional Support
(Who will help you improve?)

Date of
Completion
Evaluations
(How will you know you have improved?)



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