FONPV for SSC: Fear of No Parent Volunteers for School Site Council

As both an educator and a parent, I completely understand the challenges of parents that are raising children and working full time. At the end of the day, it can be difficult to find the time and energy to be a productive parent representative for an SSC team. However, I do see the value in having a parent representative on the team. I know if my child’s school made it a point to communicate the importance face to face, I would feel that sense of responsibility and highly consider being a part of the team. The on line article, A Principal’s Top 10 list for Successful Communication, supports this idea by offering tip #2 “Communicate face- to-face as often as possible”. The article also mentions the more serious the topic, that face to face communication is the most effective. As an Administrator, I would ensure all parents, not just the active ones, learn about the importance of the parent role on the SSC team. To do it face to face might be difficult, but I would try to find a variety of opportunities through the classroom teachers’ communication, back to school night, and/or pick-ups/drop off times. Hopefully, with this type of communication and building of positive parent relationships that we would have interested parents that would want to be a part of the SSC.

Motivating Those Resistant to Change

Stepping into the role as an administrator, I plan to use a variety of leadership strategies to motivate and inspire the staff to be accepting of change. Before making any major changes, I think it is important to establish a positive and trusting relationship with the staff. If the staff are confidant with my leadership skills then it will be more likely that they will be supportive with the change process (Robbins & Judge, 2012). More importantly, I think establishing open and honest communication about the reality of the situation, causes for change (data), and future goals can help build support and a commitment to change. Kotter (2012) also emphasizes this importance and takes it a step further by communicating the vision or common understanding of the organizations goals and direction. I would make sure to follow Kotter’s change model because the leadership strategies offered has the potential to positively impact the attitudes of others to create transformational change (Kotter, 2012). More specifically, if there are individuals that consistently resist the movement for change; I would work with each individually to have honest conversations about their opinions and feelings. By giving an opportunity to be heard and validating their opinions, there is a better chance the “resistor” could be swayed in a more positive direction. I have also seen success in finding key staff on campus, well respected by colleagues, to help promote the benefits of change. By enlisting help from key staff, there is a potential to impact the opinions and attitudes of those resistant to the change vision (Kotter, 2012). Overall, as a leader, I want to address the fears and anxiety of those that are resistant to change. I think by being honest and open and having these direct conversations can help alleviate the negativity and resistance to change. Judge, T. and Robbins, S. (2012) Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Kotter, J.P. (2012). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Theory in Practice: Thoughtful Observer

In completing Clinical Practice 3, I thought the article “Mini-Observations-seven decision Points for the Principal provided some helpful points before conducting our own observation. One of the recommendations was to be a thoughtful observer by slowing down, listening to the teacher and observing the students and their work. Marshall (2009) also mentioned that elaborate checklists or rubrics could be distracting and taking notes could greatly impact teacher stress or the quality of the lesson. I thought I would try this out or Clinical Practice 3. As a teacher being observed over the years, I can completely understand that stressful feeling when an administrator jots down meticulous notes. It can be distracting trying to figure out if they thought my lesson was a huge flop. Or even worse that they missed an entirely great teaching moment because they were busy writing down notes from an earlier part of my lesson. Unfortunately, I had huge challenges with trying to keep mental notes in my head of important points and fighting the urge to write down important points /notes as I was conducting the observation. Luckily, I was just observing one of the videos in our blackboard shell. At the end of the lesson, I realized I was so caught up in trying to practice being a thoughtful observer that I didn’t really have enough specific examples to answer all the prompts for our narrative reports. I was able to re-play the video and I took notes on each of the prompts so I could address each of the prompts with specific evidence. This made me realize that this is a skill that I would like to work on as an administrator so I do not cause any additional stress. I think next time; I might have a short checklist and then jot down notes right after the lesson outside the classroom. I am curious to see how others conducted their observations and if you ran into any challenges similar to mine? How did you gather your observation data to write a meaningful summary report and recommendation? Did you practice any of the recommendations as a thoughtful observer or did you take notes during the observation or used a different strategy? Marshall, K. (2009, Feb 03). Mini-Observations' Retrieved April 21, 2017, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/02/04/20marshall.h28.html.

A Fighting Chance to Make a Difference

The Wallace Foundation (2012) has been conducting ongoing research since the year 2000 on strategies that effective principals practice to build successful schools. They compiled a summary report that identified five common practices that greatly impacted school leadership: Shaping a vision of academic success for all students, one based on high standards. Creating a climate hospitable to education in order that safety, a cooperative spirit, and other foundations of fruitful interaction prevail. Cultivating leadership in others so that teachers and other adults assume their part in realizing the school vision Improving instruction to enable teachers to teach at their best and students to learn at their utmost Managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement The report stated that when each of these practices are evident and work “in harmony—that principals stand a fighting chance of making a real difference for students (Mendels, 2012)”. I though this article aligned well with all that we have been studying in our MAELA program. Having a common vision, creating a positive school climate, and fostering a spirit of growth and progress for both teachers and students are best practice strategies that I have addressed in many of my theory papers and clinical practice assignments. What impacted me most in this article was the statement that as a future administrator we would have a “fighting chance” to make a real difference if we are able to infuse these five practices “in harmony”. Writing about it in our program seems effortless but this article made me realize that this is a huge feat to accomplish all five practices as a future administrator. For me, I have had many administrative teams that were able motivate change by using many of these practices. However, it took almost 2 years of extensive work just to establish a common vision and create a positive school climate. These practices seem like long term work that can be accomplished over an extended period of time. My concern is that as administrators, there are so many shifts and re-organizational changes that can negatively impact the work we start and there is no guarantee that the changes we try to implement will be sustainable practices if we get excessed or moved to another site.

How Best Do We Measure Teacher Effectiveness?

As I have been reading and researching articles for our applied theory paper, I have had conflicting thoughts and ideas of how to improve our teacher evaluation system. Sandoval (2015) reports that many school districts do not incorporate student growth as part of a formal teacher evaluation. In support of this idea, I think that it would be fair to use some type of student data as part of an overall teacher evaluation. This information could potentially improve our practice by identifying specific needs of our students and helping us collaborate with our colleagues about effective changes in instruction (Marshall, 2013). However, I think it is important for administrators to clearly articulate the true purpose of using student test scores as a form of evaluation to only improve teaching and learning. I become conflicted with this idea because I am afraid some districts would use these evaluations as a form of “incentivizing” student achievement or awarding merit pay to boost student achievement. I am completely against this idea of merit pay because I feel it can cause such a negative learning environment. By incentivizing our work as educators, I think it takes away the focus of the true needs of our students. I think it could also potentially widen the achievement gap between the different subgroups. Why would any teacher want to work in the traditionally lower scoring school when they will be highly criticized because of their students’ lack of growth? We have seen some huge challenges and arguments against awarding merit pay and incentivizing teachers to increase student growth. I think the most compelling argument is that using standardized tests as a measure does not accurately demonstrate student growth. It is only one test that would unfairly determine teacher effectiveness (Marshall, 2013). When we are looking at teacher evaluation and effectiveness, I think there needs to be a variety of factors that should be considered in addition to student academic growth gains. I agree with The New Teacher Project article that offered six design standards to consider in a teacher evaluation: Annual Process, Clear/Rigorous Expectations, Multiple Measures, Multiple Ratings, Regular Feedback, and Significance (Rating a Teacher Observation Tool, 2011). The key factors from these design standards that stand out to me are the use of multiple measures of performance and the impact on student growth. I think this design standard supports both Marshall (2013) and Sandoval (2015) belief that teacher evaluations should include student growth and achievement gains. However, it is important to understand that best practice employs multiple measures as opposed to basing effectiveness on just one standardized assessment. Another important aspect of using multiple measures is utilizing both “on the spot” and interim assessments results to evaluate teacher effectiveness (Marshall, 2013). On the spot assessments provide immediate feedback for teachers to check for understanding. Interim assessments help teachers identify if students are able to apply their learning and demonstrate mastery over a longer period of time, usually monthly or quarterly. I agree with Marshall (2013) that using both of these assessments can be a powerful tool to improve student growth and measure teacher effectiveness. Marshall, K. (2013). Rethinking teacher supervision and evaluation: how to work smart, build collaboration, and close the achievement gap. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. RATING A TEACHER OBSERVATION TOOL . (2011). The new teacher project. Retrieved March 13, 2017, fromhttp://www.bing.com/cr?IG=2E1C96BA77A740CA9400FBB6E447076E&CID=04400622C2A362BC13260C66C3926351&rd=1&h=YbVv6WxISaRImf5oFV9z0VipVTGT_IGneHTvggn0FUU&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2ftntp.org%2fassets%2fdocuments%2fTNTP_RatingATeacherObservationTool_Feb2011.pdf&p=DevEx,5061.1

Irony of Budget Cuts

The State of CA verified our district 2016 graduation rate data and ranked San Diego Unified 1st out of the five largest districts with a 91.2% grad rate. As a high school teacher, I think this is an awesome accomplishment for the district and all high schools. Our Superintendent gave credit to the major reform efforts over the past decade with an intensive dropout prevention program. This is a district program with resource teachers that provided direct intensive intervention strategies to students in both middle and high school. It is ironic now that we have accomplished this high rate of graduation success that our district has proposed major cuts to the dropout prevention program. I had several students that worked directly with check and connect case managers and know without their support and knowledge of access to resources that these students would have had huge challenges earning a high school diploma. It is unfortunate that this program will not be as effective working with only half the amount of staff and I am sure we will see a drop in our graduation rate the next few years if the department does not recover from the cuts. How are things going in your district in relation to budget cuts? Are there any cuts that just do not seem to make sense? Are they in the classroom or elsewhere? https://www.sandiegounified.org/newscenter/news-release-san-diego-unified-achieves-highest-graduation-rate-among-large-california-districtsa