Public schools of Washington DC - Essay Example

ment of the objectives An experimental after school program for is to be created for improving performance in the public schools of Washington DC. The program is a joint effort of Woodson Foundation, public school, Washington and NCPIE which is representative of parents with main focus on improving students’ learning. It has three major objectives: Objective 1 The first objective is to ensure development of effective leadership within the development team of the program which would comprise of members from Woodson Foundation, Public School and NCPIE.

Each organization has diverse interests but is united in its goal of improving students’ academic performance and learning. The leader should be able to motivate team members to develop common goals and collective decision making. The leadership therefore, becomes a major element that is able to empower members to make decisions based on informed choices and encourages cross cultural understanding and mutual respect. It thereby, exploits personal traits of the team members for optimal performance outcome.

Objective 2 Teams perform best when adequate resources line finance, infrastructure, skill etc are available to them. Hence, leaders must ensure availability of resources. In this case, he must create two steering committees: one would oversee development of educational leaders, training and development and teaching curricula; the second would help to ensure management of the program vis-a-vis meet the financial and infrastructural need of the program. The team members should be judiciously selected so that team has technical expertise and managerial skill to identify problems and evolve solutions through mutual consensus.

The well defined functions of the team would ensure smooth management of the program. Indeed, the operational efficiency of academic and non academic members is critical to the success of the program. Separate committees would help demarcate areas of proficiencies and thereby, each could use its creative input to enhance performance outcome of the program. The managerial freedom must be the hallmark of the committees so that each can adopt innovative approach to enhance their effectiveness. While one would be able to develop new methodologies of teaching and curricula design that can meet the challenges of the program, the other could evolve new approaches for funding resources and facilitate adequate infrastructure to make it successful.

Objective 3 Effective teamwork and group dynamics are critical ingredients that significantly impact work performance. Performance evaluation and reward system would motivate teachers as well as students for optimal performance. Help inculcate an environment of trust and respect amongst students and teachers so that students are motivated for higher achievement in academic as well as in their personal life. This is extremely important because students come from diverse background comprising of disturbed family environment, poverty, drug addiction etc.

and may be prone towards crime and delinquent behavior. Teachers and mentors need to set high standard of ethical behavior that is able to inculcate strong sense of self worth and confidence amongst the students. Thus, recruitment and training of teachers and principals who are committed to the cause of the students must be major agenda of the team so that group of committed teachers can exploit the academic competencies of the students coming from impoverished environment. The higher academic results would serve as major motivation for students to excel in studies and thereby easily become part of mainstream society.

(words: 548) Reference Case Study.