As you monitor for quality instruction within your district, please describe a local instructional situation that you have dealt with, are currently going through, or need to address. Please do not use individual names and only describe the situation.
Within our district we created an Education Programs and Services Monitoring Committee. This committee consists of the Assistant Superintendent, Director of Federal Programs, K-8 Director, EC Director, and myself. We established this committee because we have schools that are not performing well. We walkthrough every classroom within the school and then debrief with the principal. We offer feedback concerning our observation.
ReplyDeleteToday we went to a middle school that has not meet AYP in the past five years. The principal has been at that school for three years, but no progress has been made. The principal states that the teachers are not "up to par". However, he is not having the crucial conversations with the teachers or placing them on action plans. Today after our 2 hour visit we categorized each teacher in to four different tiers. Each tier would reflect what type of support would be needed for that teacher to succeed. We will be visiting the school again at the end of the month to conduct formal observations on specific teachers. The assistant principal was amazed that we categorized each teacher from our visit today. It was even more surprising to her that it matched what she has concluded after her two years at this school. Good instruction is good instruction! It is not hard to see if students are engaged and if learning is occurring!
In looking at the VoCats Tessting Data we clearly have an outlier in the fact that one teachers' students continue to perform well below all of the other teachers and students. 20% below all other class performances is unaccecptable. We are in the middle of dealiing with this and plan to use an action plan format with close monitoring and a lot of resources.
ReplyDeleteScott Elliott:
ReplyDeleteWe use a district wide system for instructional support and improvement that uses the Teachscape Classroom Walkthrough system. It is based upon the Marzano high yield instructional strategies. We conduct walk throughs in every classroom on a regular but random basis and then use the aggregated data to determine areas in need of improvement and plans for staff development. Many of our CTE teachers do a much better job than others with some of the strategies.
A specific instructional situation we all have been working on is the move to NCCER with our construction trades teachers. Mine have been very resistant and it has required many individual conversations with teachers to communicate my expectation of the changes needed. On one of my walk throughs this week I saw a carpentry teacher in his classroom using his new textbooks to explain the estimation of materials! The students were very engaged and interested in the subject, and the teacher seemed comfortable using the new materials.
Like Morgan, we have had to go so far as implementing action plans with at least two CTE teachers in the last year. One chose not to return this year, but the other successfully completed her plan and has made significant improvements in several areas of performance this year.
Chandra Darr
ReplyDeleteNCCER has sparked enthusiasm from the kids enrolled in the new Carpentry program. A new program, new teacher, new curriculum and new equipment has certainly required a lot of time and planning for me as a new director.
I would love to get into the classrooms more than I currently do, and look forward to hearing how others are able to do so.
When teachers utilize the instructional resources available to them, the quality of instruction and engagement is amazing. This is especially true with some of our CTE teachers. We have some teachers who have embraced the technology available for instruction and use it daily, aligned with the pacing guide and curricular materials, to engage students in true learning experiences. This engagement is refelected in the knowledge gained by students, their ability to demonstrate skills, and their performance on the summative assessments. The challenge is getting all teachers to appreciate the connection between engaging experiences and student achievment; and then having them implement quality instruction in their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteThe implementation of NCCER certification has been a challenge for all of the teachers in GCS. Some of the teachers adapted well and aside from a few complaints, students were quite successful in achieving technical as well as academic attainment on the module tests/end of course post assessment. One school in the county has an early start, right after summer conference and the changes in the curriculum that occurred between 8/1 - 9/15 were not communicated at all to them, and thus it was after their midterm period before they were notified of a change in their blueprint/pacing guide. There was too little time in their semester to recover and thus, their student's scores suffered. These teachers were shocked, frustrated and are now challenged to revise their teaching strategies to meet these new goals.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few teachers in the county who are not adapting well to new administrators at their schools and are in jeopardy of not being asked to return for the new school year. In one case, the teacher is taking all comments during casual walk-throughs as personal attacks and not looking at them as positive feedback from an experienced teacher/now administrator offering opportunities for improvement. In the other cse, the teacher is truly in a career mis-match and should be released at the end of the school year.
In schools with administrators who are Pro-CTE, have solid high school teaching, leadership experience, and student behavior management plans, the teachers are more proactive in implementing and maintaining quality instructional strategies in their classrooms. In schools with inexperienced, liberal arts focused administration who are intimidated by parents that they do not implement or recommend a minimal standard of acceptable student behavior at the schools, the teachers are more apathetic, less enthused in even attempting to implement/maintain anything to encourage student engagement and often seem to be "retired in place."