EDLD 5399 Week 3 Assignment, Part 1

Please review your intern plan. In the first course, students were encouraged to engage in some action research, or participate in district or campus improvement initiatives. Each of you has had some experiences with such initiatives or action plans. Please review those experiences and complete the following analysis:

Concerns – Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and list at least three concerns that you have identified from these experiences – a concern may be any matter that engages your attention or interest.

1. While more consistency between the campus and district goals has been achieved, the format of the form is very general and states only goals and objectives.
2. Increase the review and level of feedback for individual campus plans.  Some campuses objectives are very brief, while others go into great detail stating how they will work to achieve a given goal.
3. Each campus plan should focus on the use and evaluation of accommodations for English language learners and special education students.  This continues to be a problem and an increased focus will work to place an emphasis on this task.

Affirmations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research, and affirm or identify at least 3 actions that must be sustained and supported to achieve the District/ Campus improvement initiatives.

1. The continual review of local and state-mandated assessment data must be disaggregated and used to drive the revision of curriculum and instruction.
2. A focus on meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) at both the campus and district level.
3. Parent involvement must be a focus.  Additionally, ensuring all parents are able to receive important communications regarding their child’s education is paramount.

Recommendations - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and describe at least 3 recommendations you would make regarding the District/Campus Improvement plans or action research plans.

1. Initiate additional levels of review for each campus plan.  Create a model campus plan that campuses can work to mimic. 
2. Ensure all campuses create a plan for meeting AYP, especially their special education and limited English proficient subgroups of students.  Each campus and the district should focus on accommodations as well as ensuring these students are taking STAAR (and not STAAR-L, STAAR-M, or STAAR-Alt) unless these students truly meet the state-articulated participation requirements.
3. Have each central office department articulate their goals and how they will support campus and district goals.

Evaluate - Review your participation in improvement initiatives or efforts to engage in action research and identify at least 3 strategies for evaluating the improvement plans or recommendations.

1. Publish a needs analysis tool and place in the same location as the campus improvement plans.
2. Have each campus complete the needs analysis at multiple points in the year and communicate progress towards goals.
3. Conduct individual reviews of the needs assessment activities with campus principals.  Give feedback on this process and include as a portion of the campus principal’s evaluation.