Reflections+EDLD5333

EDLD 5333 Leadership for Accountability As I reflect on this course’ assignments I realize that this was a very informative and useful course in helping me better understand the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and the importance of data analysis to ensure continuous improvement in our campus. We started by exploring the 2009 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) manual, I learned the specific sections analyzed, which included the Reading/English Language Arts, Mathematics, attendance rate, and graduation rate. Data includes student subgroups African American, Hispanic, White, Economically Disadvantaged, Special Education, and Limited English Proficient (LEP). The manual also provides the performance standard a campus or district must earn to have an acceptable status and the consequences campuses must face when they do not meet AYP standards. We then analyzed our own campus results for the 2008-2009 school year in every category and subgroup and compared them to the AYP standards. I work at an elementary campus that only houses third and fourth grade students; we disaggregated the data for the categories that applied to my campus. We were Exemplary in Reading/Language Arts and Recognized in Mathematics but the campus as a whole met Exemplary standard based on the TPM results of our campus and our attendance rate was a 97%, which also met Exemplary standard. The following week we explored the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) data for our campus compared to the state average and our comparison group average. I compared the third grade Reading and Mathematics and the fourth grade Writing, Reading and Mathematics. Based on my analysis I considered our strength to be fourth grade writing with a passing rate of 91% and surpassed the Exemplary standard for the state. The two areas of weakness in my opinion, based on the results of the analysis were third grade Mathematics with a passing rate of 80% and Reading with a passing rate of 87%, three percentage points away from meeting the Exemplary standard. The area of weakness I chose to focus on based on the results of the analysis was third grade Mathematics with a passing rate of 80% after analyzing our Mathematics score history I realized that we had been unable to progress beyond 82% in the last several years. In my experience as a Mathematics third grade teacher I can attest to the dedication of our teachers working with the students to prepare them for the TAKS assessment, yet we were in a situation that was frustrating and disappointing based on the results of our students passing rate each year. I created a specific goal and objective that stated that we would meet or surpass Exemplary state standards by the end of the 2012 school year. I can honestly say that this year we made excellent strides in reaching this goal our passing rate for Mathematics were 85% an increase of 5% from the previous year. Based on this goal and objective I created an action plan that included a one-day professional development session that would focus on the necessary steps needed to reach this goal and objective. The action plan also included two other activities that would help us reach our goal, the first activity is a mathematics lab that will be utilized to offer 30 extra minutes of tutoring for low performing students in Mathematics based on their individualized academic needs. The second activity is a weekly “Power Hour” designed for small group students assigned to specific teachers delivering lessons on objectives students are weak in while other students join a larger group that will receive mathematics enrichment lessons. Both of these activities were research based and should help our campus in reaching our goal. The professional development session I created is designed to inform teachers of the AEIS analysis and introduce them to the concept of Teacher Learning Communities where teachers are able to share, communicate and work together. They may share different activities that worked or did not work, collaborate on different activities, and create a positive teaching and learning atmosphere. I believe these activities would address the needs of our students and help us reach our goal of surpassing the 90% passing rate to meet an Exemplary status.