School Improvement

ED 613

Syllabus

In schools across the nation the time for significant change is now. In response to a public outcry, leaders from education and business are joining hands for school improvement and school reform.

Course Description

This course aims to contribute to the training, support, and development of educators in improving their schools. Whether new to or experienced in decision making and school improvement, the course provides participants with:

increased awareness of how they fit into the school improvement effort
learning of specific knowledge and skills that contribute to the process
opportunity to apply knowledge and skills learned to their school situations

Objectives

To identify personal styles and how those styles affect others and group processes.
To understand a school's culture and its relationship to school improvement and site-based decision making.
To understand change and how it impacts individuals and groups within a school.
To define school improvement and explore conditions for its success.
To clarify new roles for teachers in school improvement and site-based decision making.
To examine the human side of school improvement.
To explore strategies for identifying, collecting, and analyzing data needed for school improvement.
To apply the characteristics of a healthy organization and the effective schools correlates to assessing a school's needs.
To understand the theory and concepts related to site-based decision making.
To become familiar with the governance structures and the roles of stakeholders involved in site-based decision making.
To identify and analyze the common components of school improvement-planning models.
To review individual portfolios and prepare a personal plan for making a contribution to a school improvement plan.

Curriculum Design

The course modules attempt to incorporate the most useful knowledge and skills needed by teachers nationwide. The structure of the course includes presentations of information, experiential activities, self-assessments, and opportunities for processing and reflecting. Assignments require participants to do outside reading, analyze school data, and develop plans for applying what they have learned to specific school situations. This course is a forty-five hour, 3 credit graduate level course.

Time Requirements

This course is offered over a period of 15 weeks. Modules are completed over the 15-week period pending length of assignments per week.

Skill and Hardware Requirements

Students may use either a Macintosh computer or a PC with Windows 2000 or higher. Students should possess basic word processing skills and have Internet access as well as an active email account. Students also are expected to have a basic knowledge of how to use a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, etc.

Course Materials

Text is: Assembly Required: A Continuous School Improvement System by Lawrence W. Lezotte. Published by Effective Schools Products, Okemos, Michigan. 2002. ISBN 1-883247-20-9

Course Outline

Module One: Assessing Personal Styles

Contents:

Member Introductions
Individual and Group Expectations
Course Modules, Resources and Requirements
Culture Variables
Self-Analysis of Personal Styles
Analysis of Personal Styles

Module Two: Elements of School Culture

Contents:

Applying Personal Styles in Group Settings
Understanding School Cultures
Norms Supporting Improvement
School Culture Survey

Module Three: School Improvement and the Teacher's Role

Contents:

Dealing with Definitions of School Improvement
Looking at Past School Reform Efforts
Essential Conditions of Successful School Improvement
Identifying New Roles for Teachers
Reacting to New Roles

Module Four: Taking Charge of Change

Contents:

School Improvement as Change
Overcoming Resistance and Managing Change
Concerns-Based Adoption
Reactions to Change

Module Five: Getting to Know a School

Contents:

School Profile Analysis
Categories for Analysis
Process for Analysis
Practices at Analysis
Looking at Ourselves
Looking at Power and Authority
Planning for Data Collection

Module Six: Healthy Organizations and Effective Schools

Contents:

Analyzing the School Organization
Data Collection Methods
Surveys of School Climate
Review of Research on Effective Schools
Defining and Supporting Teacher Expertise
Planning for Improving Instruction

Module Seven: Organizing for Site-Based Decision Making

Contents:

A Visioning Experience
Restructuring and Governance Defined
Readiness for Site-Based Decision Making
Rationale for Site-Based Decision Making
Making Site-Based Decision Making Work

Module Eight: Making Decisions at the School Site

Contents:

Decision-Making Guidelines
Determining What is Decided
Who Makes Decisions?
Essentials of Site-Based Decision Making
What Goes Wrong?
School District Obligations

Module Nine: Developing a School Improvement Plan

Contents:

Rationale for Developing a Plan
Components of School Improvement Plans and Exploration of Planning Models
3. Analyzing a School Improvement Plan

Module Ten: Where Do We Go From Here?

Contents:

Overview
Review Course and Learnings
Analysis of Conditions at Your School
Personal Readiness for Change
Planning for Back-Home Applications
Building Local Support Systems
Course Evaluation and Closure

Course Requirements:

Students are to complete all required postings and module reflections. 30 points.
Students are to complete the "Personal Style" inventory and post their type and reactions to the reflection. 10 points.
Students are to identify a change in their educational setting, analyze the change as to the course model for managing complex change. Include in the analysis change components that are missing or are present in the educational setting. 20 points.
Students are to focus on "Organizational Health" and compare the dimensions of organizational health to their educational structure. In a chart form, students will post elements present and absent in their setting. Student will also provide a 300-word description of the chart. 20 points.
Students are to gather information on the "vision of their educational setting". 10 points.
Students are to develop an action plan for school reform. 10 points.

Grades
100-93 - A
  92-85 - B
  84-77 - C
  76-69 - D
  68- 0 - F

Student Academic Integrity

Participants guarantee that all academic class work is original. Any academic dishonesty or plagiarism (to take ideas, writings, etc. from another and offer them as one's own), is a violation of student academic behavior standards as outlined by the Teacher Education University catalog and is subject to academic disciplinary action.

Bibliography

Academies at Bottom of School League Tables; INNER-CITY SECONDARIES FAIL TO BRING IMPROVEMENT IN EXAM RESULTS. (2005, March 17). The Evening Standard (London, England), p. 10.

Caulkins, J. P., Pacula, R. L., Paddock, S., & Chiesa, J. A. (2002). School-Based Drug Prevention: What Kind of Drug Use Does It Prevent?. Santa Monica, CA: Rand.

Costa, E. W. (2004, October). Performance-Based Evaluation for Superintendents: Combining Formative and Summative Approaches to Address Procedures, Policies and Products. School Administrator, 61, 14+.

Digate, G. A., & Rhodes, L. A. (1995, March). Building Capacity for Sustained Improvement. School Administrator, 52, 34.

Direct Success; Mrs. Cheney Applauds Pupils' Improvement. (2002, February 13). The Washington Times, p. B01.

Ennis, E., & Wood, F. H. (1998, December). Support Roles of Superintendents in School-Based Change. School Administrator, 55, 37.

Frost, D., Durrant, J., Head, M., & Holden, G. (2000). Teacher-led School Improvement. London: Falmer Press.

Harris, A. (2002). School Improvement: What's in It for Schools?. London: Routledge.

Hitchcock, G., & Hughes, D. (1995). Research and the Teacher: A Qualitative Introduction to School-Based Research. New York: Routledge.

Kolke, M. (2001, May). Creating Schools without Capital. School Administrator, 58, 22.

Many Initiatives Make Up Improvement Plan for U-46. (2005, January 5). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), p. 4.

Peterson, P. E. (1997, October). A Report Card on School Choice. Commentary, 104, 29+.

Peterson, P. E., Greene, J. P., & Noyes, C. (1996, Fall). School Choice in Milwaukee. Public Interest, 38+.

Sarasota FCAT Writing Scores Show Improvement. (2005, April 28). Sarasota Herald Tribune, p. BS1.

Squires, D. A., & Kranyik, R. D. (1999). Connecting School-Based Management and Instructional Improvement: a Case Study of Two Atlas Schools. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk , 4(3), 241-258.

Thomas, R. S. (2002, August). Getting to the Root of the Gap: How Your Organization Operates Internally Will Affect Student Achievement Initiatives. School Administrator, 59, 23+.

Wassef, A., Mason, G., Collins, M. L., Vanhaalen, J., & Ingham, D. (1998). Effectiveness of One-Year Participation in School-Based Volunteer-Facilitated Peer Support Groups. Adolescence, 33(129), 91.

Wohlstetter, P. (1995). Getting School-Based Management Right: What Works and What Doesn't. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(1), 22+.

Young, J. (2001, May). A System of Building Franchises. School Administrator, 58, 17.

Teacher Education University reserves the right to adjust and adapt this syllabus as necessary.