June 4, 2007

“The Engine of Communications”: Is Your Principal Involving Teachers in Crucial School Decisions?

Filed under: Education NYC DOE by Peter Goodman @ 12:17 pm

The Department is in the process of “rolling out” the range of initiatives that the 321 Empowerment Schools endured this year. By the end of June each and every principal will have sat through “Toolkit 1″ and “Toolkit 2,” rather lengthy and dense presentations. The seventy plus PowerPoint slide presentation has been eagerly awaited, as principals peer into Plato’s cave.

An interesting part of the presentation is a plea to start up the “engine of communications,” involve all the stakeholders: teachers, support staff and parents in the mix.

The future:

Interim Assessments: Each and every school will have to chose Acuity (McGraw Hill) and/or Performance Online (Scantron), assessments in ELA and Math that will have to be administered (grades 3-8 five times a year, HS four times a year) throughout the school year. The assessment results are web-based, available to every teacher, and can be disaggregated in any combination of formats.

Will your principal involve the UFT Chapter in data-driven decisions re the use of school funds?

School Progress Report: Next year each and every school will receive a School Report Card and a letter grade (A to F) based on School Environment (15%), Student Performance (30%), Student Progress (55%) and possible “extra credit” for moving ELL, Special Ed, Hispanic, Black and “Other” students in the lowest third citywide. All principals year end ratings will be based on the SPR grade.

Has your principal explained the School Progress Report metrics to your staff?

Inquiry Team: All schools must establish an Inquiry Team, a committee composed of school staff (”at least one teacher”) that will investigate 15-30 low achieving students and share their findings with the school staff. The principal has a sample posting and the Team must be selected by the end of this school year.

Has your principal invited teachers to serve on the Team? Has s/he posted the position(s)?

ARIS: All the current data troves: ATS, HSST, CAPS, NYSTART (SED Testing Data) will be embedded in ARIS and can be downloaded to Excel formats by teachers and other designated school staff. By September schools can analyze the warehouse of data that up to now has been sequestered in discrete programs.

Will your principal provide training and involve staff in the data analysis process and the creation of school programs to implement measures to address the data?

If principals hide in offices with their acolytes and issue ukases we will continue to joust, and the kids will suffer. If principals see the “engine of communication” as a process to share with teachers and listen to teachers perhaps, just perhaps, we can create schools that are “learning organizations.”

It would be even more helpful if Joel acknowledged “school leaders” include teachers as well as principals.

2 Comments »

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  • GMAB,

    this is garbage data. The kid stuff will be useless for decision making. The teacher stuff (ARIS etc) is aimed at punishing teachers.

    The “metrics” are garbage. The report cards are garbage.

    Why would you want to waste our time with this dreck?

    Teachers teach. That damned well better be good enough.

    Jonathan

    Comment by jd2718 — June 4, 2007 @ 9:23 pm

  • The Inquiry Team position was posted, but a major requirement is that you must have administration coursework.

    What other city/state tests are coming up in elementary school 3-5? Science, Social Studies?????

    Comment by Schoolgal — June 5, 2007 @ 5:31 pm

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