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Unit Three: Collaborative Processes in Action--Activities

Page history last edited by Aimee Howley 10 years, 11 months ago

 

Case Study Activity:

 

 

  • Consider the following discussion prompts to accompany your reading and to prepare for the activity:

 

    • As one positive outcome of a concentrated collaborative effort, SAU 56 created its own RtI "Definitions and Use" document. This one document serves many purposes, and the district has promised that it will not be changed for one full year. One major purpose of the document is to establish a common definition of RtI to which anyone in the district can refer. What are some other purposes this document serves, both explicitly and implicitly?

 

    • What expectations for the future does the SAU 56 RtI does put into place?

 

    • In this district, where efforts have been ongoing for the better part of a decade, certain people's roles and responsibilities changed over time (for example, the role played by Mr. Marquis, the Assistant Superintendent.) This district seems to have used "internal turnover" to its benefit. Indeed, "continuity" is one of the district "watchwords." Thinking about your own building, how might you promote continuity? How might you build instructional and leadership capacity? For example, which of your teachers can you mentor toward leadership roles? What skills and functions of such teacher-leaders would help increase your school's capacity for closing achievement gaps?

 

    • Pages 7-10 focus on collaborative processes--PD, leadership teams, and so on--that enabled the district to organize and analyze data, identify promising interventions, and make needed instructional modifications. What did District SAU 56 do to implement and sustain an RtI approach that is actually producing results?  What were the most important processes in the district's multi-step effort?

 

  • Imagine that during the next ten years, you will remain in a leadership role in your school. In a 5 to 7 page reflective essay, answer the following questions:

 

    • What steps will be needed over the next 10 years in order to realize and sustain meaningful improvement in the following arenas: collaborative data gathering and analysis, a school culture that is welcoming to all community members, and a teaching staff that routinely uses effective, differentiated instructional practice?
    • How might your role and style as a leader need to shift now or in the future in order to support these long term changes? How will leadership functions be accomplished at the end of the 10-year period? 
    • What instructional and leadership strengths do your teachers currently have--individually and collectively?  How can you use each teacher's strengths to assist you in accomplishing school improvement over the entire course of the change process?
    • What community assets can assist you in accomplishing school improvement over the 10-year period? How will you bring those assets to bear on the improvement process?
    • What community challenges will you need to deal with in implementing the kinds of changes that will lead to high-quality, inclusive education? 
    • What additional supports are needed to help you implement reform strategies that will lead to meaningful improvement? 
    • What documents (e.g., written plans, data collection tools, team meeting protocols, and so on) will need to be developed in order to facilitate sustained, collaborative implementation of the improvement plan? Be very specific about the character of each document and how it will be used in your school. Who will you involve in the creation of and the ongoing revision of these documents? How will you ensure their use? 

 

Rubric

 

Product

 

Criteria for Target

Performance

(Score = 3)

 

Criteria for Acceptable

Performance

(Score = 2) 

Criteria for Emerging

Performance

(Score = 1)  

A report that summarizes a 10-year plan for school improvement (Completeness)

The candidate demonstrates extremely careful analysis and synthesis of information by developing a report that is highly responsive to questions about school needs, capacities, community assets and challenges.

 The candidate demonstrates careful analysis and synthesis of information by developing a report that is responsive to most of the questions posed about school needs, capacities, community assets and challenges.

The candidate demonstrates awareness of what is needed in an analysis and synthesis of school-level information by developing a report that is fully responsive to at least two or the questions posed about school needs, capacities, community assets and challenges and partially responsive to the other questions. 

A 10-year plan that demonstrates understanding of how collaborative processes, norms, and structures function The candidate demonstrates deep understanding of the collaborative processes needed for school improvement by embedding numerous relevant insights into his or her 10-year plan. The candidate demonstrates some understanding of the collaborative processes needed for school improvement by embedding at least five relevant insights into his or her 10-year plan. The candidate demonstrates awareness of the importance of collaborative processes to school improvement by incorporating some collaborative processes into his or her 10-year plan.
A 10-year plan that demonstrates understanding of how context impacts school improvement. The candidate demonstrates comprehensive understanding of how context impacts school improvement through a careful analysis of community assets and challenges and their impact on school improvement goals and processes. The candidate demonstrates understanding of how context impacts school improvement by surfacing a list of at least five community assets and at least five community challenges that might impact school improvement goals and processes at his or her school. The candidate demonstrates awareness of the fact that context impacts school improvement by surfacing a list of at least two community assets and at least two community challenges that might impact school improvement goals and processes at his or her school.
A list of documents that will advance the work of school improvement The candidate demonstrates a rich understanding of how to structure school improvement by developing a thorough list of documents (e.g., written plans, data collection tools, team meeting protocols, and so on), collaborative processes, and leadership strategies that would be effective in facilitating sustained, collaborative implementation of the improvement plan. The candidate demonstrates adequate understanding of how to structure school improvement by developing a list of at least five documents (e.g., written plans, data collection tools, team meeting protocols, and so on), three collaborative processes, and three leadership strategies that would be effective in facilitating sustained, collaborative implementation of the improvement plan.  The candidate demonstrates awareness of the role of documents, collaborative processes, and leadership strategies to school improvement improvement initiatives by developing a list of at least three relevant documents (e.g., written plans, data collection tools, team meeting protocols, and so on), two collaborative processes, and two leadership strategies that would be relevant for facilitating sustained, collaborative implementation of the improvement plan.  

 

 

 

 

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