5370 Week One Assignment, Part 1.4 corrected

Self-Assessment

The course Leadership for Accountability covered a large portion of the educational topics discussed today. Although I had read AEIS results on our schools, I did not understand the scope of the information held within it. As well as how much it played into the campus improvement plan and the school ratings. I also had never created a personal vision of leadership. I believe this new information received will be very useful to me. I now understand all those charts and understand how some do not understand them and criticize schools as a result. Specifically, I analyzed the AEIS report for my elementary school and determined that Fifth grade science needed attention. My coursework required that I develop an action plan for addressing this need and a professional development day to equip teachers. In the article, Student Achievement through Staff Development, the authors start”from the premise that training needs to enable people to learn new knowledge and skills and to transfer these into their practice” (Joyce & Showers, 2003, p. 2).

Learn as a Learner

To learn this material, I analyzed the data and research the information given to me. Interviewing members of the campus improvement plan helped me gain insight in the workings of this committee. It is much more than planning how to spend the PTO fundraising money. I did well in this course in my grades and enjoyed what I learned. It was very helpful in understanding how the federal government is influencing the functioning of schools today. Learning about the Eduphoria product Aware helped me understand the need for data disaggregation software that is user friendly. The Aware program promises to be technology that “supports data disaggregation, provides data access, and generates useful data displays” (Ronka, Lachat, Slaughter, & Meltzer, January 2009, p. 18).

Lifelong Learning Skills

The many interviews conducted concerning the Campus Improvement Plan helped me forge some new friendships. I also took much advice from the members of my Skype group who all participate in some way on this committee. I do hope someday to participate as a member of a CIP, quite possible as the parent representative. Planning a professional development day was also a fun and productive activity. Our class work also required us to come up with a plan for monitoring progress and altering the path taken if results were not achieved.

Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (2003). Student acheivement through staff development. National College for School Leadership , 1-5.

Ronka, D., Lachat, M., Slaughter, R., & Meltzer, J. (January 2009). Answering the questions that count. Educational Leadership , 18-24.