Evaluating the School Improvement Plan

 

Introduction: Interviewees & Highlights

Parke and Coble (1997) found that working collaboratively toward improvement increased skills, trust, and empowerment (p. 784). I chose to work with two Golden West colleagues to review and discuss our school’s improvement plan. I teach Spanish and I have 22 years teaching experience, the last three at Golden West High School in central California. I enjoy working with colleagues from other departments for the diverse opinions and insight they provide. Melissa Cepeda works in the Math department. She has been teaching at Golden West for her entire career of 27 years. Although her schedule varies slightly year to year, she primarily teaches Math 3 and Math 3 Honors classes. Stacey Travous is a Chemistry and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) teacher in the Golden West Science department. She has been teaching for 13 years, seven of which have been at Golden West. I appreciate working with both these women and enjoy discussing our successes and challenges. It provides the opportunity to “share knowledge, exchange perspectives and tap into each other’s expertise” (Voogt et al., 2015, p. 262).

The most pertinent points from our collaboration are:

• Adding new courses in Math will help student choice and engagement.
• Golden West needs consistency in all aspects to improve school culture and student achievement. 
• Behavior expectations and consequences need to be clear and strictly followed.
• Teachers and students need more transparency and communication from administration.

Summary of Interview Findings

            Overall, we considered the School Improvement Plan (SIP) to be weak, mainly because we thought its goals were too vague. Despite its weaknesses, we discussed some strengths regarding student learning goal one: “Engage students in a challenging curriculum and provide them support to be successful” (Golden West SIP, 2022).  One of the main strengths that we discussed was the addition of new Math courses to increase student engagement. Two new courses are being offered in the Math department this year: Financial Math and Stats Reasoning and Sports. Both classes will be an option for students who have completed Math 1 and Math 2. These exciting Math alternative classes allow students to fulfill graduation requirements while completing a class that interests and engages them. This encourages students to “practice decision-making, explore their academic identity, and connect their learning to interests and passions” (Merrill, 2021). 

Another positive step toward achieving this SIP goal is having strong teachers in low level classes. As mentioned by Starr (2019), the most experienced teachers are often teaching only academically rigorous classes. He states, “principals simply don’t have the authority to reserve those teachers for the most privileged children” (p. 61). At Golden West, many experienced and influential teachers have one or two periods of low-level academic assist or math principles classes in their schedule. This placement is an effective strategy to help lower-level students progress toward meeting the SIP goal.  

            Because behavior is a serious and increasing problem at Golden West, it dominated our conversation. We considered the SIP behavior goal weak: “Provide additional community support to reduce instances of behaviors which lead to disciplinary action for English Language Learners, SED, and Foster Students” (Golden West SIP, 2022). Behavior problems are more prevalent and more severe than ever before. They certainly are not limited to the three populations mentioned in the SIP goal. Starr (2019) says we must consider and value students from all backgrounds and make sure our SIP and action steps recognize them. (p. 60) Our best suggestion for behavior improvement is consistency. Students need to know behavior expectations and consequences and take them seriously. The best way for them to do that is to understand expectations and witness administration and staff follow through when consequences are necessary. 

Another aspect that we thought needed a lot of improvement is communication and transparency from our administration. The second SIP student learning goal is, “Support a district-wide collaborative culture for students and adults focused on learning and results” (Golden West SIP, 2022). Teachers are a valuable part of the school culture, and it is important that we feel safe and supported on campus. One thing our group suggested could greatly improve our collaborative culture is improved communication from administration. We would like to know what the objectives are for tasks pushed out by our administration team. We would like the tools and skills that we need to help our school culture improve. Our evaluation was that the SIP goals and strategies are not specific enough to produce true change and improvement. 

Conclusion: Teacher Leader Recommendations & Action Steps

            Teacher leaders work with collective wellbeing in mind (Cherkowski, 2018, p. 68) and this is my goal. I believe my teacher leadership can make a positive impact on the school culture of Golden West. “The most beneficial way to ensure that schools are safe, while also improving behavioral, academic and mental health outcomes for students, is to focus on creating, supporting and sustaining a positive school climate” (Thapa et al., 2013). I would start to improve school climate and culture within my own classroom and department. According to Goldring (2002), there are six characteristics shared by highly successful schools: shared vision, traditions, cooperation, shared decision making, innovation, and communication. By focusing on these characteristics with my students and colleagues, I could endorse significant positive change within the school culture. 

Mrs. Cepeda, Ms. Travous, and I came up with three action steps that we believe could improve progression toward the SIP goals. 

• We teachers will continue to reach out to administrators for support and clarification.
• We will advocate for clear campus wide student expectations and consequences and will resolutely follow them.
• We will teach and collaborate with SIP goals in mind. 

References 

Cherkowski, S. (2018). Positive teacher leadership: Building mindsets and capacities to grow wellbeing. International Journal of Teacher Leadership, 9(1), 63-78.

Golden West High School, Visalia Unified School District. (2022). School Plan for Student Achievement. https://www.vusd.org/domain/22

Goldring, L. (2002). The power of school culture. Leadership, 32(2), 32-35.

Merrill, S. & Gonser, S. (2021, September 16). The importance of student choice across all grade levels. Edutopia. https://edutopia.org

Parke, H.M., & Coble, C.R. (1997). Teachers designing curriculum as professional development: A model for transformational science teaching. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34, 773-789.

Starr, J.P. (2019). Planning for equity: School improvement teams should focus on what really matters. Phi Delta Kappan, 101(3), 60-61.

Thapa, A., Cohen, J., Guffey, S., & Higgins-D'Alessandro, A. (2013). A review of school climate research. Review of Educational Research, 83(3), 357-385. https://doi.org/10.3102/ 0034654313483907

Voogt, J., Laferrie`re, T., Breuleux, A., Itow, R. C., Hickey, D. T., & McKenney, S. (2015). Collaborative design as a form of professional development. Instructional Science, 43(2), 259–282.