Administrative Scenario
Which activities in the planning process adhered to the functions of Standard 1?
The vision for how the new changes and policies would work came as a result of "collaboration" between a group of teachers, administrators and students and a group composed of community leaders, parents, government, religious leaders and business professionals. The development of the mission statement -- and the listing of core values -- assured that attention was being paid to make sure every student had a chance for success. In the list of core values letter "f" points to the need for the school district to embrace diversity (i.e., "every student" must have a chance). The letter "c" in the five goals (staff effectiveness is enhanced when teachers receive training -- "professional development programs" -- that is "tailored to the needs of teachers") certainly adheres to Standard 1.
Setting up the school councils -- that established specific goals for each school in order to share those goals with committees in each school -- helped the "implementation" of Standard 1. The committees focused on curriculum, resource allocation, and professional development, and by committees of people working together there was an "articulation" of the needs and the vision for a better district.
There were no specific statements from Superintendent Wallace regarding inclusiveness, no quotes that verified her specific thoughts in that area. But because she was on the committee that launched the challenge -- to "…select individuals for the committee who represented the diversity of the district" -- she clearly was part of the plan that worked towards diversity. Saying that she "…passed out materials on state and national standards and assessment measures" and that she "spoke about current trends" is not evidence that she definitely stated the great need to include all members during the development process.
FOUR: How do I rate the collaboration between all the various groups that were part of this? Was there conflict within the groups? How would I ensure continuing stakeholder involvement? The collaboration was very impressive. When you bring together religious groups, business people, political representatives from city government, parents, students, teachers, and administrators to devise a strategy for moving forward, I rate that 9 on a scale of 10. There was no evidence of conflict. The way to assure and ensure that stakeholders (especially the parents…
