Primary Goal#1:
The purpose of this project is to develop a handbook for a school in order to implement a cohesive reading, writing, communication, organization and 21st century skill instructional plan so to increase student academic achievement in all subject areas.
This project will involve the creation of a handbook which teachers within a school or school district will make use. The manual will include processes specific to the different uses of technology. Additionally, multiple programs will be included; such as, AVID’s WICOR (Writing to Learn, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading to Learn), Marking the Text and Cornell Notes structures, Kagan’s student collaboration activities, Penn State’s I.C.E. writing structure, and the CDE’s (Colorado Department of Education’s) project-based learning model. These programs will serve as required tools for every teacher to use by means of their academic units. In addition to these programs, added platforms such as Microsoft OneNote, Google Classroom and Schoology will be included as organization boards. These platforms will accomplish the need to help students and teachers organize their workload, academic units, and increase computer usage in the classroom. Lastly, to tie everything together, teachers will apply a final program, called PLC (Professional Learning Communities), to share and learn from one another. This process will allow each content grade level to share common formative and summative assessment data and learn from each other’s successes and failures. Ultimately, this will create needed conversations about how to improve student achievement in all skill areas based off the strategies and structures suggested in this manual.
I have used each of these initiatives/programs during the past academic year. I have collected student data for each program employed as support for all goals set forth in this plan. The data has shown that each of these programs implemented, in the correct way, can and will improve student achievement. For this plan to be truly successful, all educators must apply each of the programs and the corresponding structures; this will include both new hire and tenured teachers. The intention of this manual is to provide all faculty with enough information about each program, as well as usable strategies capable of being applied immediately without the formal training that will eventually be arranged by the district. If these tools are used, then students at all levels will have a similar foundation that can be built upon each academic year; true growth will then be observed in all grades and in all classrooms, rather than in only a few.
Secondary Goal #2:
For my client, Dr. B. Dallas at FMS, many of the initiatives/programs have already been put in place; however, not all teachers understand them, nor have they had the opportunity to be trained on them. This plan will link all initiatives/programs. When each program is implemented correctly, or as individual puzzle pieces, a much greater picture is unveiled. The image will provide each educator and administrator with a richer vision for how everything fits together that is being asked, and required, by the district and school. Furthermore, all stakeholders will be able to execute each step of the plan with little to no formal training, but also better understand the training that they later will be required to complete. For new-hire teachers, this plan will provide them classroom structures and activities that they can use right away and be in direct line with their fellow tenured co-workers. Not only will this plan get everyone on the same page, or make things much clearer, it will also achieve the primary goal: help increase student achievement in reading, writing, communication, organization and 21st century skills.
Client Background
The clients: Dr. L. Cooper, Asst. Superintendent of Student Achievement; Dr. B. Dallas, Principal of FMS; and Ms. S. Krider, Asst. Principal of CMS. At this point, Dr. Dallas advised that his primary academic goals/mission/vision of FMS is/are to get all teachers to embrace and use the AVID structure of WICOR next year. WICOR stands for – Writing to Learn, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading to Learn. This structure puts focus on multiple areas of improvement for student academic achievement. Secondary to this goal, is to fully incorporate all district initiatives/programs; such as, AVID, Kagan Cooperative Learning, Capturing Kids Hearts, One-to-one laptop, Co-teaching, and Professional Learning Communities. Based on Dr. Dallas’ goals for FMS for the 2018/19 school year, this manual will strive to meet each of these needs.
Mission & Vision:
This project will meet and exceed all goals/mission/vision that the client, Dr. Bill Dallas, has set for the 2018/19 school year. In addition to making AVID’s WICOR structure a primary focal point of the plan, additional programs and teaching strategies will be introduced. The project will implement all district programs and keep to the primary goal: to improve student achievement in reading, writing, communication, organization and 21st century skills. The vison for the plan is that after year one of implementation, all teachers are on board and have a very good understanding of each district program; whether they have had the professional training or not. In addition to teachers feeling better about each program, they are also more confident with how to implement each program together in their classrooms. Lastly, with confidence and better understanding, teachers will see significant academic growth from their students. This will constitute the overall vision of this project.
Historical Background:
FMS will be my new employer this coming fall. FMS is one of the oldest schools in the district; however, a new building has been constructed to accommodate the growing population. I have worked at the sister school, CMS, for the past four years; also in the same school district. All of the district initiatives/programs are the same for each school. I have completed all trainings; to include, AVID, Kagan Cooperative Learning, One-to-one laptop, Co-teaching, and Professional Learning Communities. Based on my trainings and experience using these programs, I have been able to devise a plan to help put all of these tactics together as a single program. This manual that I plan to present will aid in better organizing and unifying the staff at my new school and within the district. If this plan is fully implemented by the client(s), it will greatly improve student academic achievement. My professional history and the client’s history have strong parallels, as their goals are also my goals.
The programs that have been paid for and have been implemented by our school district are still fairly new. Most have been implemented in just the last four years. These programs are not going away and the expectation from the district administration is that all teachers will be trained on how to use them.
Learning Problem:
First, the #1 problem for all education administrators, teachers and district stakeholders is student academic achievement. Student academic achievement is something that is, and always will be, a problem, or focus, for all schools and school districts alike. Everyone in the education profession is looking for the next best program, strategy, and plan to improve student learning. This will never be a solved problem. Many studies and articles have been written on this topic. The most common trend observed today is big profile studies and articles, and the data they produce to endorse the next big deal initiative/program. Then, school districts go out and purchase the rights to these programs, training and continued support for their schools. It becomes comical when school districts go hog wild and purchase a number of these programs and then have no plan in place to fit them together to make sense; hence, the second problem this project seeks to fix.
Secondly, a problem that I have personally observed in my six years as a teacher is the disconnect between teachers and all of the district initiatives/programs that have been implemented. The mission/visions of the school and school district is/are not very transparent. There have been no formal strategies put into place to help teachers understand the direction and decisions being made at the district level. Additionally, one of the biggest problems observed with the implementation of new programs is teacher training. There are many teachers who have not gone through the voluntary training of these programs, which has become the scapegoat for some teachers to not have to incorporate or use these mandatory programs. Lastly, new hires coming into the district have no clue or guidance on where to begin. The expectations for new hires do not require them to use any part of these district programs until they have later been trained properly.
Based on these learning opportunities, there is a need for a formal plan to aid teachers in using each of the district’s paid programs. This plan needs to be a working document; meaning it can be added to as needed. The plan needs to provide clarity on all initiatives/programs the school and school district requires teachers to implement, but also answer the why question; “why are we doing this?” The plan needs to, not only, explain the many different initiatives/programs, but also provide examples of how each can successfully improve student academic achievement. Lastly, the plan needs to include minimum required structures/strategies from the many different programs that all teachers must use in their classrooms. These structures/strategies need to be simple activities that any teacher can use. The excuse of not being trained should no longer apply. The plan should be simple enough that even a new hire can use each of the minimal structures in their classrooms with regularity within their first year. The plan itself will not simply improve student academic achievement alone. The teachers who commit to and implement the plan to its fullest in the school are the ones who will make the project plan improve overall student academic achievement.
Literature Review:
This academic problem has not been addressed by any peer-reviewed literature. No available literature or purchasable programs are available to demonstrate how to properly marry all of the paid initiative/programs: AVID, Kagan, ICE, Project Based Learning, One-to-one Laptops, PCL, Google Classroom, and Microsoft OneNote into one cohesive package. There is a great deal of research on each of these individual programs and their abilities to improve academic achievement. There is no dispute whether these programs work or not; the issue is trying to best incorporate each together to maximize student academic achievement and make it easy for teachers to understand, learn and incorporate each in their daily instruction.
- AVID. (2018). [Graphic Illustration of AVID’s Snapshot of Student Success]. Retrieved from https://www.avid.org/cms/lib/CA02000374/Centricity/Domain/8/AVID_MC_AVID_National_Snapshot.pdf
- AVID Weekly: Marking the Text. Retrieved from https://www.sps186.org/downloads/blurbs/23663/Marking%20The%20Text.pdf
- Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House. 83, 39-43.
- Capturing Kids Hearts. (2018). Flippen Group. Retrieved From https://flippengroup.com/education-solutions/capturing-kids-hearts/
- Colorado Department of Education. (2016). Colorado’s District Sample Curriculum Project Background. Retrieved from https://www.cde.state.co.us/standardsandinstruction/samplecurriculumproject-background
- Clipart WORLD. (2018). [Graphic illustration of Kagan Cooperative Learning]. Retrieved from http://hanslodge.com/clipart/501455.htm
- Dearie, K., & Kroesch, G. (2011). Advancement Via Individual Determination: The Write Path History/Social Science: Interactive Teaching and Learning Teacher Guide. San Diego, CA: AVID Press.
- DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T., & Mattos, M. (2016). Learning by Doing: Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work. Third Edition. Blooming, IN. Solution Tree.
- Edutopia. (2011). Reteach and Enrich: How to Make Time for Every Student. George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/video/reteach-and-enrich-how-make-time-every-student
- Edutopia. (2011). 5 Strategies to Ensure Student Learning. George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-budget-assessment-how-to
- Flippen, F. (2015). Capturing Kids Hearts: Participation Manual. College Station, TX. Flippen Group.
- Fountain Fort Carson Unified Improvement Plan for School (2017). Colorado Department of Education.
- Kagan, S., & Kagan, M. (2009). Kagan Cooperative Learning. San Clemente, CA. Kagan Publishing.
- Penn State Abington. (2018). ICE: Introduce, Cite, and Explain Your Evidence. Retrieved from https://abington.psu.edu/ice-introduce-cite-and-explain-your-evidence
- Pinterest: Kagan. (2018). [Graphic illustration of Cooperative Learning Table Mats]. Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/546765211002225306/?lp=true
- Slavin, R. (1987). Development and motivational perspectives on cooperative learning: A reconciliation. Child Development, 58, 1161-1167.
- The ABCDs of Writing Learning Objectives (2016). [Graphic illustration of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Domains]. Retrieved from https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-_x2kbPXJQBw/VMSW6EJfQyI/AAAAAAAACpE/e6_VKyag-6U/w1439-h1077/Bloomrevised.png
- Those Who Can Teach: Socratic Seminars: How to prepare (2017). [Graphic illustration of Costa’s Level of Thinking and Questioning]. Retrieved from https://thosewhocanteachblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/costas-levels-of-questioning.png
- Watson, S. (1992). The Essential Elements of Cooperative Learning. The American Biology Teacher, 54(2), 84-86.
Learning Problem Solution:
For my client, the solution to the learning problem is to create a teacher manual that will address each of the paid programs that the school district has required teachers to use in their classrooms. By providing a brief explanation of each program and providing a short explanation for “why” the program is a worthy initiative, this will better educate teachers on the importance of the initiative, and validate “why” the district has invested its time and money into these selections. Additionally, the manual will introduce strategies/learning structures for teachers to implement right away with in their daily classroom activities. This will put all teachers on the same page using the same minimal strategies/structures that will each focus on the different parts of AVID’s WICOR acronym. Overall, this project will seek to improve student academic success, but also unify school staff to have a better understanding of all school initiatives/programs, and how to use them all effectively in their daily classrooms. Teacher buy-in is the most important factor in achieving the greatest level of student academic success. Lastly, the PLC program will be introduced and explained for all teachers so they know what the program is, but also what it asks from them as in their individual contributions. It will clearly lay out what non-negotiables there are within the PLC program, and illustrate what a compliant program looks like.
As a completed package, this manual will be able to elevate the excuse or disconnect between teachers who are “trained” in such programs and those who are not. The manual will make it possible for all teaches to be on the same page, provide them each with the minimal instructional strategies that every teacher will be expected to use, and a road map for how to implement each. The manual will make newly hired teachers to the school better aware of what future training they will need to complete, but also be able to start using strategies/structures right away. For tenured teachers, this manual will aid in making sure what they are doing what the district is asking of them in the classroom, and if not, it will provide a path of compliance.
Assessment of Outcomes:
The outcomes from a fully implemented “Teacher Manual” that addresses all of the above measures will be easily assessed on daily, weekly and yearly assessments. Each strategy/structure introduced in this manual will produce activities that teachers can use as formative assessments that will be common to their fellow grade level and content counterparts. This information will be valuable in tracking what is and is not working within each classroom, so teachers can learn from each other. This PLC process will be vital to tracing the assessment outcomes of the manual plan for all teachers. Teachers using the PLC program will then be able to track student academic growth through each of the strategies/structures they have implemented. Ultimately, if teachers are all on board and using these structures in their classrooms, unit assessments and state testing assessments will demonstrate increases in overall student academic achievement.
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