School Improvement Plan for Schafer School - Essay Example

Reviewing a School Improvement Plan School Improvement Plan Report for Schafer Elem School SD 45 DuPage County District Grades Served: 6.5 Current Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Status: Not Improving Does the SIP clearly identify the areas of weakness reflected in district, state, or national assessments or other data? No. SIP enabled the identification of various weaknesses among students in coping with their studies. Furthermore, it also enabled the identification of the varieties of difficulties that students experience during their learning program, as well as the fact that the proficiency level varies between African American students and Caucasian students. Is it clear from the SIP what problems exist in the school? Yes. Sip enabled the identification of the variety of problems faced by the school, such as the status of struggling students as well as their difficulties in learning. as such, these students require appropriate support in order to improve their proficiency levels in all their subject areas., such as improve in Algebra proficiency scores from 32% to 40%, improve English proficiency score from 75% to 83%, and to improve the school attendance by both students and staff by 99% List and briefly describe the school’s weaknesses in complete sentences Lack of effectively coordinated staff deters effective coordination of the staff. Secondly, communication breakdown among the staff further makes management costly. Lastly, indiscipline among the students deters effective performance. Are the objectives stated in the SIP directly related to low achievement? Yes. The objectives of this SIP include focusing on individual students and helping them to improve their achievement. Has the SIP team considered how broad or narrow weaknesses are? Yes. Teachers hold conversations with students regarding simple issues like why they have failed to understand specific problems of a course. They regularly analyze data to understand whether students are maintaining state level standards. Are the objectives measurable? Yes. The objectives are to understand the learning capacity of each student and how to intervene to help students overcome their difficulties. Does each area of weakness involve many students or a few? Many, the failures are consistent in the various classrooms and in various subjects What does the school think is causing each weakness? As Schafer Elem School develops its improvement plan for the year, the school comes from a backdrop of poor performance as the students perform poorly in various subjects thereby resulting in consistent poor results save for mathematics. Additionally, the fact that the students perform well in mathematics is a vivid portrayal of the abilities of the students thus justifying the roll out of the improvement plan. What factors have contributed to each area of weakness? Of these factors has the school prioritized ones that can be influenced or controlled? The weaknesses of the students have been attributed to lack of teacher intervention and proper methods of teaching. The school has focused on dealing with individual students by focusing on their area of weakness and accordingly plan intervention methods. Do these key factors indicate what the school thinks has caused or contributed to low student achievement? Individual students have been assessed based on their marks in five different courses. Other than online tools, teachers have used student journals, classroom response system, interactive blogs, improved questioning techniques, closure activities to assess the performance of students. However, It has not been clearly stated the causes of low student achievement. Is there a strong relationship among the key factors, strategies, and activities? Yes. Under the school improvement plan, teachers are focusing on meeting the needs of individual students. Early intervention methods and submitting bi-weekly progress reports to students and parents help to overcome all factors contributing towards low achievement of students. Are strategies and activities in the action plan clearly focused on what students, teachers, and parents will do to impact student achievement? No. This SIP has focused mainly on teachers’ contribution towards students’ improvement. It has not given much scope for students and their parents to introspect on their individual roles. Focus needs to be given on reducing the gap between educational researches and teaching practice by emphasizing on curriculum development. This means providing efficient “teaching, learning, and assessment practices and materials for a specific course or program” Are the measures of success toward achieving objectives clear? No. Although the school, the programs initiated by the SIP have been successfully implemented, measures of success have not yet been clear. Have all weaknesses been sufficiently addressed? No. Since the focus has been more on teachers’ contribution, this SIP has failed to take into accordance the lack of support system at home. For instance, the importance of completing homework needs to be instilled in the minds of the students. Would the effect of implementing these strategies and activities most likely cause the school to attain its achievement goals, including Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)? No. It is possible that with continuous focus on achievement of individual students, AYP can be achieved. However, it is equally important that teachers have necessary training for initiating systematic changes in their teaching method. Also, a clear idea has to be made regarding what changes are required. Just focusing on individual students will not be sufficient as overall status of all students needs to be considered. How well did your school establish a critical relationship among its problem areas or weaknesses, the presumed causes of these weaknesses, and the plan for improved student achievement? Explain in complete sentences This School Improvement Plan focused on achievement level of all students of the school in the subjects of math and reading. Under this plan, quarterly assessment of each student is made. Also, the impact of intervention on reading and math is also monitored on weekly basis In order to ensure AYP, the need is to make efficient utilization of all resources like teachers, educational tools and time. Proper organization of resources according to the designed plan can lead to long term success. The principle focus needs to be on an overall change in the educational system of a school. However, making improvement plans in one school while ignoring other schools in a district cannot lead to overall improvement in proficiency level of all students. In order to bring improvement in schools, the need is “well-conceived, well-designed, and well-implemented prototype innovations” Does this plan have a chance of successfully improving student achievement? Explain in complete sentences. Team building further requires effective motivation of the employees, which in this context refers to the teaching staff. As explained earlier, schools are like commercial organizations whose primary objectivities are profitability and longevity. In order to achieve the two, managers must always manage their resources effectively. Key among the resources is human resource. The motivation of teachers in a school is fundamental in creating a competitive workforce, one that will steer the school’s improvement plan. As such, the management must always credit others while taking the blame. This way, the teaching and support staff feel appreciated thus increasing the efficiency of operations at the school. Developing and managing teamwork is the most appropriate way of ensuring effective utilization of the resources thereby ensuring that the school maintains optimal operations despite the variations that may exist. Teamwork is a major component of school success. Is there evidence of teamwork in the SIP? Explain in complete sentences. The development of effective teams in such organizations as schools requires the management to develop effective relationships that will enhance the efficient management of the school. A school consists of various stakeholders whose input influence the performance of the students. The stakeholders include parents, teachers, students and the government among many others. The formulation and implementation of the No Child Left behind Act by the Bush administration for example is a portrayal of the government’s influence in the education system in the country (Gray & Streshly, 2008). As such, the management of the school must strive to develop effective teams that will incorporate the existing laws besides improving the performance of both the teachers and the students thus improving the performance of the school. In building the effective relationships among the stakeholders who influence the success of a school, the management must uphold professionalism. Professionalism in this context will influence the relationship between teachers and their students and parents among many others as all the parties work in tandem ad in compliance with the existing state laws. Effective and functional relationships ensure high discipline standards in the school coupled with a friendly and helpful relationship between the students and their teachers. In this context, the students will consult their teachers freely a feature that will enhance the performance of the students. References Gary, W. H. & John, L. K. (2009). Theories of Practice: Understanding the Practice of Educational Leadership. Journal of thought, fall winter 2009. Gray, S. P & Streshly, W. A. (2008). From good schools to great school: what their principles do well. ProQuest Education Journals. Vol 7, 7. Thelma, M. (2011). Bold ideas: for secondary school reforms. Principal leadership. Read More