Standard 1
A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.
Title: Utilizing Test Scores to Focus the Mission and Goal
Questions:
1. How much involvement will come from the local RESA and other training agencies?
2. How can administrators prepare students teachers and the school staff for challenges in the school setting?
3. What changes is the school experiencing and how do these changes affect test results?
Performance Objectives Demonstrated
THE ADMINISTRATOR FACILITATES PROCESS AND ENGAGES IN ACTIVITIES ENSURING THAT
- The vision shapes the educational programs, plans, and actions.
- Assessment data related to student learning are used to develop the school vision and goals.
- Relevant demographic data pertaining to students and their families are used in developing the school mission and goals.
- Barriers to achieving the vision are identified, clarified, and addressed.
- Needed resources are sought and obtained to support the implementation of the school mission and goals.
- Existing resources are used in support of the school vision and goals.
- The vision, mission, and implementation plans are regularly monitored, evaluated, and revised.
Description of the case:
The school system that is the focus of the case study is one of the smallest in the state and serves approximately 600 students per year from grades PreK through 12. This school is truly under one roof and has been recognized as a Title I Distinguished District in the past. Previously we have had only one full time administrator at the school level. The school principal has served our school as the administrator for the last seven school years. During her tenure as principal, Mrs. Gogetter has served as the building level administrator for the following grants: REA K-3 (Reading) Grant, Consolidated School Reform (CSRD)K-12, Title II-D Wireless 1:1 Technology (eMath 3-5), Low Incident Grant for Special Needs Individuals. Mrs. Gogetter’s leadership has been instrumental in the implementation of a school-wide Professional Learning Community (PLC) with elementary grade level teams and 6-12 academic teams meeting monthly. The PLC agenda has included reading resources that focus on instructional strategies for differentiation in the regular classroom and curriculum content that includes rigor. Mrs. Gogetter serves on the Small County Consolidated School (SCCS) School Council and works closely with the Communities in Schools program to provide student resources that would be unavailable through school funding. She has worked effectively with community resources to provide counseling, mentoring and tutoring services for at-risk students. This collaboration has been instrumental in addressing absentee concerns, resulting in SCCS meeting AYP goals over the previous three school years. Our current mission statement, which serves students of a variety of ages from 6 years old to 19 years old is currently, "The mission of the Small County School System is to provide optimal learning opportunities for all students to prepare for post-secondary achievement and productive adult lives." with this in mind, one of the areas that we have focused on improving is the development of inclusion for students with disabilities. This promotes diversity and provides for the school to meet the requirements of IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) 1997. This along with the adoption of performance standards has been at the forefront of the school's professional development plans.
During this 2006-07 school year, inclusion was implemented in most instances for students with learning disabilities. The special education teachers and classroom teachers in several grade areas were provided with training during the summer of 2006 in inclusion strategies to provide for a smooth transition. Also, this was piloted in the middle grade levels the previous years in the area of language arts with a great deal of success. There were professional books that were purchased and placed in the media center for teacher check out to aid in this transitional period. Across several grades and subject areas, inclusion was begun at the school. in high school, there were many different comments about the use of the one special education teacher in many different subject areas and grade levels. One teacher stated, "The special education teacher works with the special needs students in the classroom. Often times, one or two students take his focus and prevent him from helping those who truly need help." Another stated that the teaching duties were often not equally shared and that sometimes another teacher being in the room could be a disruption.
According to the AYP report, Small County Consolidated did not make AYP for the 2006-07 school year because of low CRCT scores in the students with disabilities group. Only 43.5% of students with disabilities met or exceeded the standards on the math CRCT in grades 1-8. In the entire school population, 73.5% met or exceeded the standards. There was insufficient data on this group in the area of the Georgia High School Graduation Test. Similar scores were also resulted in the area of Language Arts, 85% met or exceeded the standard, while 48.7% of special needs students met or exceeded the same standards. This caused Mrs. Gogetter to make the decision that professional development needed to provide teachers with a forum for professional dialogue and a positive professional experience for the benefit of all the students involved.
Professional development, organized by Mrs. Gogetter, for the summer provided by the local RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) included breaking the standards down into student friendly language. This professional development included the special education teachers input so that the needs of the students with disabilities were met. It provided communication among the teachers and helped them begin professional dialogue and a collegial working relationship. Furthermore, additional staff development will occur during preplanning for the teachers to disaggregate data and find areas of strengths and weaknesses where both those with special needs and the general student population occur. Also, there have been several changes in special education staff including teachers working with different grade levels and new employees.
Answers to the Questions
1. How much involvement will come from the local RESA and other training agencies? The RESA is responsible for the initial meeting. However, the main purpose of the RESA is to begin the professional conversations that will continue into the next school term. The true work comes from the stakeholders, in this case the teachers, reading and interpreting the data, making the appropriate changes within their own classrooms, and looking reflectively at their practice and its impact on the students and their success. The use of RESA as a resource demonstrates the principal's use of a resource provided to the school. The data from the test score information for CRCT was shared with RESA prior to the trainings. Teachers were broken into groups by grade levels. Elementary teachers met with other elementary teachers, while middle and high school teachers worked together. Also Mrs. Gogetter utilizes the Communities in Schools program to find additional help in the areas of counseling, mentoring, and tutoring for students from all demographic groups including those considered to be at risk. Her collaboration with this group has helped address the absenteeism problem and aided in making AYP until this school term.
2. How can administrators prepare students teachers and the school staff for challenges in the school setting? The administrator's role will be to monitor the growth and change within the educational community (school). She will need to provide her committment to the vision of learning that the school's mission provides. It will be her charge to engage all members of the school community to be involved in this effort. The administrator will need to address any barriers or roadblocks that could come up. The administrator will also have to take a check of the resources within the school and determine if they are being utilized effectively. She will need to look at any additional resources that are not currently provided and determine methods for providing them if necessary. The barriers and roadblocks were not discussed by the teachers. The administrator's appearance and direction could have pushed the teachers to explore the different factors that could impede the success of some students.
3. What changes is the school experiencing and how do these changes affect test results? The school will have several personnel changes within the area of special education. The school is not giving up on the issue of inclusion. "We must try this for more than one year and give it a chance. Sometimes finding the right mix of personalities can make all the difference in the world," according to Mrs. Gogetter. The way that the mix of teachers will have on test results remains to be seen. This is an active case and will be updated as benchmarks are assessed in the classrooms this fall and when the CRCT and AYP occurs during the 2007-08 school year.
Evaluation of Leadership Style
The level of performance in this case study is developing. There are several reasons that I feel that the level of performance could be increased. First, this school is in an unusual situation being a Prek through 12th grade school. Thus, the mission statement in our school is not written with this in mind. From what I can gather, the mission statement was written many years ago when the system had a different superintendent and there was little input from the stakeholders. I believe that the goals of the school need to be refined and the stakeholders must have input on its development. While many teacher know there is a mission statement, few can tell me the focus of this mission.
Another way that I feel the principal can demonstrate support of this mission is to attend and give her input on the staff development. This year will be a learning curve for our school because this will be the first year that the school will have a full time assistant principal that will focus on displine. This will free up the principal to come by classrooms and provide support to teachers in the curriculum that they are teaching. I believe that the principal will continue to grow and increase her level of performance in the area of Standard I.
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