Community/Career Day
School Improvement Project
CI 5585 Teacher Leadership and School Improvement
Dr. Sara Zimmerman
Dr. Sara Zimmerman
Rationale: In order to practice leadership skills and to start my career as a teacher leader, I was given the task of planning a school improvement project. The project involved engagement as a teacher leader in a school by developing a plan that addressed a critical need. I was required to create a written School Improvement Project plan and reflection. For my particular project, I developed a detailed plan for implementing a school community and career day that would involve the public for a school I have worked in frequently.
Reflection: Schools need to constantly work to improve, a task that cannot happen without the help and leadership of all stakeholders of the school. This means that teachers need to take on leadership roles and work to solve issues within the school. I view the point of this project as a way to demonstrate that any teacher can become a leader within the school. As a beginning teacher and never having my own classroom, I first approached this project a little wary. I was not working in a school setting and did not have a school to implement an improvement project in at the time. I quickly realized that I do not have to be in a school setting to design a school improvement project. I thought back on my experience as a student teacher and decided that I would design a project based off of my observations of that school. After meeting with my former cooperating teacher, I came away excited to start a project that could realistically be implemented in the school. Overall, this project allowed me to see myself as a person who has the ability to lead a group of colleagues. I discovered how much thought, effort, and time goes into planning school event and also had the opportunity to practice my organizational skills. I am proud of the result of this project and hope that this plan is actually implemented in the future. I have shared the plan with my former cooperating teacher and she wants to present it to her colleagues for a possible plan for next year. I agreed to help in any way possible if the school decides to host a community/career day event. I feel that I started practicing leadership skills before most beginning teachers and I know that I will benefit from the practice once I get my own classroom.
Community/Career Day
Needs Assessment
Juniors are required to take the ACT test in March and they must do so in a secure testing site. The way that the school is set up makes it difficult to have a secure testing site for this one class of students. As a result, the juniors take the test in classrooms that are usually used to teach freshman and sophomore classes. Students other than juniors cannot go to their lockers or many classrooms during the testing time. Bells cannot be rung and announcements cannot be made during testing as well. This all creates an issue with what to do with the students not taking the ACT. Last year, the first year of this required testing, the advisors for each class were given the task of finding a solution. The senior class had a workday for their graduation projects along with practice interviews and the sophomore class went on a college tour. The freshmen advisors chose to not take the students off campus. Instead, they showed a movie and gave the students free time in the gym which is on the other side of the school where the testing takes place. When the day came, students did not seem to be interested in the movie and several disciplinary actions had to take place. Many students did not take part in the free time in the gym and just sat on the bleachers, most playing with cell phones. After speaking with multiple students, it was determined that many students found the day to be “boring” and not worthwhile. The six freshmen advisors also felt that the day could be used in a more productive way.
In the schools newest strategic plan, which covers 2011-2016, the needs assessment lists strong community partnerships as one of the school system’s strengths. Two of the weaknesses listed are lack of parent involvement and public relations. Several opportunities listed are collaboration with the business community, greater visibility and presence in the home and community, and internal collaboration. Some external threats include lack of value and understanding education in the public perception and family issues. Along with this analysis, the following goals have been set for the time period: increase collaboration by creating opportunities for external stakeholders to share information, ensuring active participation in existing community partnerships, cultivate community and business partnerships, and strengthening instruction to vulnerable students.
Keeping these standards and goals in mind, the ACT testing day can be used to better educate freshmen students and get the community involved in the school.
Purpose and Rationale
The ultimate goal of the school is to prepare students to enter the work force and be equipped with the 21st century skills necessary for success. There are several purposes for this Community Involvement/Career Day. The first is to introduce students to potential careers. High school is a time in which students must start thinking about their future. The career fair is designed to represent a wide variety of careers to allow students to discover and explore many different options. Career fairs are often times saved until later in a student’s high school career. This event will get freshmen students involved in the process early. A focus will be placed on the requirements of many different careers to demonstrate to students that they are much more likely to be successful if they finish high school. This focus will help all students, but is especially important for at-risk students. Students will also have the opportunity to meet and make connections with prominent members of the community and future employers. Equally important, the Community Involvement/Career Day will allow students to discover ways in which they can help their own community. The event will bring many members of the community into the school as well. By bringing these people into the school, future relationships and/or partnerships are much more likely. Parents will be asked to volunteer for this event as well. This will give parents an option to take interest in what their children are doing in school and will help build positive relationships with student families. The editor of the local newspaper will attend the event as a Career Fair booth presenter. He will also write an article that will be published in the weekly newspaper following the event. This will work to improve community perceptions of the school. Finally, the event will allow juniors to remain in a secure testing site for their ACT test.
There have been numerous calls to get the community involved in schools. Research shows that when there is community involvement, students are more likely to attend college. King’s 2012 study found that involving the community through long-term relationships as well as short-term encounters such as career days help rural students connect to professionals who can encourage and assist them as they make decisions and take the steps to attend college. Family and community involvement have also been linked to student academic success, better attendance, improved school quality, and improved discipline (Michael, Dittus, Epstein, 2007). Lack of parental involvement is an issue that many schools face as well. In a study conducted by the EPE Research Center in 2012, teachers were asked in an open ended survey what they viewed as the most significant challenges faced in addressing student misbehavior and what potential solutions to those problems would be. Over 30% of the teachers said that lack of parental support was the biggest challenge faced. This answer was the most common of all the other challenges listed. Over 25% of the teachers said that stronger parental support would help solve issues of student discipline problems (Molnar, 2013).
Goals
The Community Involvement/Career Day will…
Objectives
Documentation
Assessment
In order to assess the effectiveness of the Community Involvement/Career Day, surveys will be distributed to both presenters/employers and students. The presenter survey will be given to each participant in their welcome packet. They will be asked to either complete the form the day of the event or to return it via mail or email as soon as possible. This will allow presenters adequate time to reflect on their experience and provide detailed feedback. This assessment will help determine how the participants viewed the day as a whole, any possible improvements, and whether each participant would like to participate in the future.
The student survey will be administered to students via Survey Monkey during the weekly freshmen SOAR meeting the week following the event. This ensures that we get responses from as many students as possible. The information gathered from the student survey will be used to determine which presenters/employers should return, which presenters/employers should not return, and possible new presenters/employers. The survey will also help to measure how the Community/Career Fair affected the students.
The actual event will also be used as an assessment. The number of parents that volunteer to help, the number of presenters/employers/community members that participate, and overall student participation will be taken into consideration when assessing the event as a whole. A large number of participants will mean that several goals have been met.
Finally, the connections made with businesses and community members will be assessed throughout the year after the event. The number of new connections made and the number of community members that continue to take part in the school after the event will be used as data when assessing the Community Involvement/Career Day.
Reflection
Schools need to constantly work to improve. This cannot happen without the help and leadership of all stakeholders of the school. This means that teachers need to take on leadership roles and work to solve issues within the school. I view the point of this project as a way to demonstrate that any teacher can become a leader within the school. As a beginning teacher and never having my own classroom, I first approached this project a little wary. I am not currently working in a school setting and did not have a school to implement an improvement project in. I quickly realized that I do not have to be in a school setting to design a school improvement project. I thought back on my experience as a student teacher and decided that I would design a project based off of my observations of that school. After meeting with my former cooperating teacher, I came away excited to start a project that could realistically be implemented in the school.
Although the Community Involvement/Career Day was not actually implemented, all of the resources necessary for implementing it are ready for future use. Other than meeting with my former cooperating teacher for ideas, I did not have the opportunity to work with teachers or administrators. However, I do feel that I could lead a team in planning and implementing a community and career day. A lot of work goes into planning an event such as this one, but I believe that I could lead a team in planning it. With a timeline created, jobs would be distributed and the plan would be well on its way. For example, after the first team meeting in which possible presenters are brainstormed, the list could be divided equally so that each team member is responsible for the same number of information letters. A team leader needs to be available to see potential problems before they occur and solve the problems that do come up. The leader of a team planning an event such as this needs to be organized in order keep the plethora of information in order. A leader must also be able to listen and to encourage other team members to contribute to the team. Each team member has something to offer that will make the event even better and a leader needs to be open to all suggestions. The ability to collaborate is a characteristic of a strong leader and will result in a better, more thoughtful event. Although I did not get to work with a team for this project, I feel that I could be successful in doing so in the future.
Reflecting on the event specifically, there are several things that I would do slightly different if the project was actually being implemented. First, I would start the process earlier than February. The initial team meeting would ideally take place before the beginning of the year. This would allow for a more complete list of possible presenters/employers, more time to contact potential participants, more time to communicate with parents, and more time to advertise the event to the community. I believe that this would result in more participants, better exposure, and an overall better event. Second, I would have students complete a survey prior to organizing the event. This survey would ask students what careers they are interested in, what services they know are in the community, and what services they wish were available. This information would be very helpful in finding presenters/employers. For this project, I chose to have workshops in health care and local industry careers because it has been my observation that most students go into these fields after school. A survey would provide more information concerning specific careers of interest. This survey would also help the team to see what community services the students are aware of and what they are not aware of.
This event was planned with several different goals in mind. Having students start thinking of possible careers early on will hopefully help them to focus their high school career. For the students at-risk of dropping out, it is the goal that they will see that they will have a much greater chance of being successful if they earn a high school diploma. These tasks can be completed much better when real employers are relaying the message instead of teachers just making statements. I believe that students are more likely to really consider possible careers when they can speak to people who have gone through situations similar to theirs. The other goals deal with bringing community members and parents into the school. I feel that by having different members of the community present in the school can result in greater support and more opportunities. Many of these people have not been in the school since their high school days. They may not know what is taking place in the school and what needs to be improved. By seeing these things firsthand, I think many people would be more willing to help in the future. The final goal is to improve communication with the community. Positive press can greatly help a school. A representative from the local newspaper would be at the event not only as a potential employer but also to write an article, interview students, and take pictures for the weekly newspaper. It is important to keep the community informed of what it happening at the school where their children go.
After the first Community Involvement/Career Day, the stage will be set for an annual event. Relationships will be made through the first event that will help the Community/Career Day grow each year. Information from each of the surveys will be used to improve on the Community/Career Day and will allow for a sustainable event. Documents such as information letters and confirmation letters can be slightly modified and used from year to year. This event has the potential of becoming an annual event.
Overall, this project has allowed me to see myself as a person who has the ability to lead a group of colleagues. I have discovered how much thought, effort, and time goes into planning school events. I have had the opportunity to practice my organizational skills as well. I am proud of the result of this project and hope that this plan is actually implemented in the future. I have shared the plan with my former cooperating teacher and she wants to present it to her colleagues for a possible plan for next year. I have agreed to help in any way possible if the school decides to host a community/career day event. I feel that I have started practicing leadership skills before most beginning teachers and I know that I will benefit from the practice once I get my own classroom.
Reflection: Schools need to constantly work to improve, a task that cannot happen without the help and leadership of all stakeholders of the school. This means that teachers need to take on leadership roles and work to solve issues within the school. I view the point of this project as a way to demonstrate that any teacher can become a leader within the school. As a beginning teacher and never having my own classroom, I first approached this project a little wary. I was not working in a school setting and did not have a school to implement an improvement project in at the time. I quickly realized that I do not have to be in a school setting to design a school improvement project. I thought back on my experience as a student teacher and decided that I would design a project based off of my observations of that school. After meeting with my former cooperating teacher, I came away excited to start a project that could realistically be implemented in the school. Overall, this project allowed me to see myself as a person who has the ability to lead a group of colleagues. I discovered how much thought, effort, and time goes into planning school event and also had the opportunity to practice my organizational skills. I am proud of the result of this project and hope that this plan is actually implemented in the future. I have shared the plan with my former cooperating teacher and she wants to present it to her colleagues for a possible plan for next year. I agreed to help in any way possible if the school decides to host a community/career day event. I feel that I started practicing leadership skills before most beginning teachers and I know that I will benefit from the practice once I get my own classroom.
Community/Career Day
Needs Assessment
Juniors are required to take the ACT test in March and they must do so in a secure testing site. The way that the school is set up makes it difficult to have a secure testing site for this one class of students. As a result, the juniors take the test in classrooms that are usually used to teach freshman and sophomore classes. Students other than juniors cannot go to their lockers or many classrooms during the testing time. Bells cannot be rung and announcements cannot be made during testing as well. This all creates an issue with what to do with the students not taking the ACT. Last year, the first year of this required testing, the advisors for each class were given the task of finding a solution. The senior class had a workday for their graduation projects along with practice interviews and the sophomore class went on a college tour. The freshmen advisors chose to not take the students off campus. Instead, they showed a movie and gave the students free time in the gym which is on the other side of the school where the testing takes place. When the day came, students did not seem to be interested in the movie and several disciplinary actions had to take place. Many students did not take part in the free time in the gym and just sat on the bleachers, most playing with cell phones. After speaking with multiple students, it was determined that many students found the day to be “boring” and not worthwhile. The six freshmen advisors also felt that the day could be used in a more productive way.
In the schools newest strategic plan, which covers 2011-2016, the needs assessment lists strong community partnerships as one of the school system’s strengths. Two of the weaknesses listed are lack of parent involvement and public relations. Several opportunities listed are collaboration with the business community, greater visibility and presence in the home and community, and internal collaboration. Some external threats include lack of value and understanding education in the public perception and family issues. Along with this analysis, the following goals have been set for the time period: increase collaboration by creating opportunities for external stakeholders to share information, ensuring active participation in existing community partnerships, cultivate community and business partnerships, and strengthening instruction to vulnerable students.
Keeping these standards and goals in mind, the ACT testing day can be used to better educate freshmen students and get the community involved in the school.
Purpose and Rationale
The ultimate goal of the school is to prepare students to enter the work force and be equipped with the 21st century skills necessary for success. There are several purposes for this Community Involvement/Career Day. The first is to introduce students to potential careers. High school is a time in which students must start thinking about their future. The career fair is designed to represent a wide variety of careers to allow students to discover and explore many different options. Career fairs are often times saved until later in a student’s high school career. This event will get freshmen students involved in the process early. A focus will be placed on the requirements of many different careers to demonstrate to students that they are much more likely to be successful if they finish high school. This focus will help all students, but is especially important for at-risk students. Students will also have the opportunity to meet and make connections with prominent members of the community and future employers. Equally important, the Community Involvement/Career Day will allow students to discover ways in which they can help their own community. The event will bring many members of the community into the school as well. By bringing these people into the school, future relationships and/or partnerships are much more likely. Parents will be asked to volunteer for this event as well. This will give parents an option to take interest in what their children are doing in school and will help build positive relationships with student families. The editor of the local newspaper will attend the event as a Career Fair booth presenter. He will also write an article that will be published in the weekly newspaper following the event. This will work to improve community perceptions of the school. Finally, the event will allow juniors to remain in a secure testing site for their ACT test.
There have been numerous calls to get the community involved in schools. Research shows that when there is community involvement, students are more likely to attend college. King’s 2012 study found that involving the community through long-term relationships as well as short-term encounters such as career days help rural students connect to professionals who can encourage and assist them as they make decisions and take the steps to attend college. Family and community involvement have also been linked to student academic success, better attendance, improved school quality, and improved discipline (Michael, Dittus, Epstein, 2007). Lack of parental involvement is an issue that many schools face as well. In a study conducted by the EPE Research Center in 2012, teachers were asked in an open ended survey what they viewed as the most significant challenges faced in addressing student misbehavior and what potential solutions to those problems would be. Over 30% of the teachers said that lack of parental support was the biggest challenge faced. This answer was the most common of all the other challenges listed. Over 25% of the teachers said that stronger parental support would help solve issues of student discipline problems (Molnar, 2013).
Goals
The Community Involvement/Career Day will…
- Encourage student thought concerning future career options
- Provide support for at-risk students
- Allow students to interact with community members
- Allow students to make connections with potential employers
- Bring community members into the school
- Bring parents into the school
- Provide secure testing site for junior class
- Improve communication with community
- Develop and practice leadership skills (personal goal)
Objectives
- Students will be given opportunities to explore multiple careers that require different levels of education/skills/knowledge
- Information regarding minimum requirements for different careers will be provided to help encourage students to stay in school and continue their education
- Presenters/employees will discuss skills needed for different careers
- Local business owners, employers, and prominent community members will participate in workshops and information booths
- Parents will volunteer services such as set-up and greeting presenters
- Students will remain in the main quad section to secure testing site for ACT testing
- An article about the event will be published in the weekly newspaper to improve communication concerning what is taking place in the school
- I will lead the freshman advising team in planning event by distributing jobs, overseeing assigned duties, etc. (personal objective)
Documentation
- Thursday, February 22 – Face to face meeting with Wanda Duncan, former cooperating teacher and School Improvement Team member
- We met to discuss possible school improvement projects. After some discussion, we agreed that a plan to improve the ACT testing day for freshmen was needed. We then decided that a career day would work well to provide an activity for freshmen as well as bring community members into the school.
- Since I am not in a school setting, this school improvement project will not reach the implementation stage as it is. The following documentation is how the Community Involvement/Career Day would be implemented in the school that I completed my student teaching in.
- Table of Contents
- Community Involvement/Career Day Timeline
- Presenter/Employer Brainstorm (from first meeting with Freshman Advising Team)
- Proposed budget
- First letter to presenters with interest form
- Information letter to parents/guardians with volunteer information
- Confirmation letter for workshop presenters
- Confirmation letter for career fair presenters
- Presenter information
- Information letter to school faculty/staff
- Final Community Involvement/Career Day Schedule
- Final Workshop Schedule
- Final Career Booth Table Assignments
- Thank you letter for presenters/employers (to send out after event)
- Presenter survey
- Student survey
Assessment
In order to assess the effectiveness of the Community Involvement/Career Day, surveys will be distributed to both presenters/employers and students. The presenter survey will be given to each participant in their welcome packet. They will be asked to either complete the form the day of the event or to return it via mail or email as soon as possible. This will allow presenters adequate time to reflect on their experience and provide detailed feedback. This assessment will help determine how the participants viewed the day as a whole, any possible improvements, and whether each participant would like to participate in the future.
The student survey will be administered to students via Survey Monkey during the weekly freshmen SOAR meeting the week following the event. This ensures that we get responses from as many students as possible. The information gathered from the student survey will be used to determine which presenters/employers should return, which presenters/employers should not return, and possible new presenters/employers. The survey will also help to measure how the Community/Career Fair affected the students.
The actual event will also be used as an assessment. The number of parents that volunteer to help, the number of presenters/employers/community members that participate, and overall student participation will be taken into consideration when assessing the event as a whole. A large number of participants will mean that several goals have been met.
Finally, the connections made with businesses and community members will be assessed throughout the year after the event. The number of new connections made and the number of community members that continue to take part in the school after the event will be used as data when assessing the Community Involvement/Career Day.
Reflection
Schools need to constantly work to improve. This cannot happen without the help and leadership of all stakeholders of the school. This means that teachers need to take on leadership roles and work to solve issues within the school. I view the point of this project as a way to demonstrate that any teacher can become a leader within the school. As a beginning teacher and never having my own classroom, I first approached this project a little wary. I am not currently working in a school setting and did not have a school to implement an improvement project in. I quickly realized that I do not have to be in a school setting to design a school improvement project. I thought back on my experience as a student teacher and decided that I would design a project based off of my observations of that school. After meeting with my former cooperating teacher, I came away excited to start a project that could realistically be implemented in the school.
Although the Community Involvement/Career Day was not actually implemented, all of the resources necessary for implementing it are ready for future use. Other than meeting with my former cooperating teacher for ideas, I did not have the opportunity to work with teachers or administrators. However, I do feel that I could lead a team in planning and implementing a community and career day. A lot of work goes into planning an event such as this one, but I believe that I could lead a team in planning it. With a timeline created, jobs would be distributed and the plan would be well on its way. For example, after the first team meeting in which possible presenters are brainstormed, the list could be divided equally so that each team member is responsible for the same number of information letters. A team leader needs to be available to see potential problems before they occur and solve the problems that do come up. The leader of a team planning an event such as this needs to be organized in order keep the plethora of information in order. A leader must also be able to listen and to encourage other team members to contribute to the team. Each team member has something to offer that will make the event even better and a leader needs to be open to all suggestions. The ability to collaborate is a characteristic of a strong leader and will result in a better, more thoughtful event. Although I did not get to work with a team for this project, I feel that I could be successful in doing so in the future.
Reflecting on the event specifically, there are several things that I would do slightly different if the project was actually being implemented. First, I would start the process earlier than February. The initial team meeting would ideally take place before the beginning of the year. This would allow for a more complete list of possible presenters/employers, more time to contact potential participants, more time to communicate with parents, and more time to advertise the event to the community. I believe that this would result in more participants, better exposure, and an overall better event. Second, I would have students complete a survey prior to organizing the event. This survey would ask students what careers they are interested in, what services they know are in the community, and what services they wish were available. This information would be very helpful in finding presenters/employers. For this project, I chose to have workshops in health care and local industry careers because it has been my observation that most students go into these fields after school. A survey would provide more information concerning specific careers of interest. This survey would also help the team to see what community services the students are aware of and what they are not aware of.
This event was planned with several different goals in mind. Having students start thinking of possible careers early on will hopefully help them to focus their high school career. For the students at-risk of dropping out, it is the goal that they will see that they will have a much greater chance of being successful if they earn a high school diploma. These tasks can be completed much better when real employers are relaying the message instead of teachers just making statements. I believe that students are more likely to really consider possible careers when they can speak to people who have gone through situations similar to theirs. The other goals deal with bringing community members and parents into the school. I feel that by having different members of the community present in the school can result in greater support and more opportunities. Many of these people have not been in the school since their high school days. They may not know what is taking place in the school and what needs to be improved. By seeing these things firsthand, I think many people would be more willing to help in the future. The final goal is to improve communication with the community. Positive press can greatly help a school. A representative from the local newspaper would be at the event not only as a potential employer but also to write an article, interview students, and take pictures for the weekly newspaper. It is important to keep the community informed of what it happening at the school where their children go.
After the first Community Involvement/Career Day, the stage will be set for an annual event. Relationships will be made through the first event that will help the Community/Career Day grow each year. Information from each of the surveys will be used to improve on the Community/Career Day and will allow for a sustainable event. Documents such as information letters and confirmation letters can be slightly modified and used from year to year. This event has the potential of becoming an annual event.
Overall, this project has allowed me to see myself as a person who has the ability to lead a group of colleagues. I have discovered how much thought, effort, and time goes into planning school events. I have had the opportunity to practice my organizational skills as well. I am proud of the result of this project and hope that this plan is actually implemented in the future. I have shared the plan with my former cooperating teacher and she wants to present it to her colleagues for a possible plan for next year. I have agreed to help in any way possible if the school decides to host a community/career day event. I feel that I have started practicing leadership skills before most beginning teachers and I know that I will benefit from the practice once I get my own classroom.
Career Day Timeline
Confirmation Letter - Fair Only
Presenter Thank You Letter
Workshop Schedule
|
Career Day Invitation Letter
Letter to Parents
Presenter Survey
Proposed Budget
|
Career Day Workshops/Booths
Career Day Schedule
Student Survey
Presenter Information
|
Confirmation Letter - Whole Day
Letter to Faculty/Staff
Career Fair Tables
|
Works Cited
King, S. B. (2012). Increasing college-going rate, parent involvement, and community participation in rural communities. Rural Educator, 33(2), 20-26.
Michael, S. M., Dittus, P., Epstein, J. (2007). Family and community involvement in schools: Results from the school health policies and programs study 2006. Journal of School Health, 77(8), 567-587.
Molnar, M. (2013). Home and community involvement can play key part in school success. Education Week, 32(16), 28-31.
King, S. B. (2012). Increasing college-going rate, parent involvement, and community participation in rural communities. Rural Educator, 33(2), 20-26.
Michael, S. M., Dittus, P., Epstein, J. (2007). Family and community involvement in schools: Results from the school health policies and programs study 2006. Journal of School Health, 77(8), 567-587.
Molnar, M. (2013). Home and community involvement can play key part in school success. Education Week, 32(16), 28-31.
final_school_improvement_plan.docx | |
File Size: | 80 kb |
File Type: | docx |