EDLD+5333

EDLD 5333 Course Embedded Reflections

What I value most this course Leadership for Accountability is the information I take to my classroom, my grade-level team and my campus. I have always been an advocate of being a lifelong learner, but never taking it to the next level. It is through this course that I now realize for a school to be successful it requires several components: leadership, shared vision and mission; site-based decision making team, and professional learning communities. Like a puzzle you must have all these interlocking pieces to complete the whole picture. I now realize when a leader has no vision a school has no direction. In the past six years we have had six different principals. With the exception of one principal the other four felt our school was a problem school (though we have been Recognized every year) and their mission was to change our school. And with those changes came six new Campus Improvement Plans developed based on data results. Yet, when delivering their new plan each principal meet with resistance for they never took the time to foster a cohesive-shared vision.

We also explored the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) data utilized in developing the Campus Improvement Plans. As a fifth grade teacher data has been an intricate part in driving our instruction in the classroom and tutoring after-school. This course took us a step further by completing data analysis to determine areas of strength and weakness and identifying patterns and trends. This now is critical component of RTI which helps our campus meet AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). Unfortunately this is where my campus falters; they identify general patterns of strengths as well as areas needing improvement but do not follow through with research based strategies.

I have actually implemented all my strategies with the exception of Professional Development. Our teachers, especially my team, complained about students forgetting what they learned in the beginning of the year. My strategy was to use homework to review concepts once learned. I based my strategy on the research provided by U.S. Department of Education. Research found that,

“Students typically remember much more when they have been exposed to information on two occasions, rather than one, and when the interval between these two occasions is not less than about 5 percent of the interval during which the information has to be retained” (Pashler, Bain, Bottge, Graesser, Koedinger, McDaniel, & Metcalfe, 2007, p. 6)

Many of my students were excited about working on homework they had done before because they were scoring higher the second time around! In reviewing previous concepts taught through homework, we were able quiz them at the end of the week. This allowed us to close the gap of learning. The other strategy I suggested and have implemented is the use of computer instruction. I recently trained my grade level teachers on how to embed links on their web page. I have also created a games folder for our fifth grade students. This consists of various sites that provides supplemental instruction and drills for review. In conclusion I am pleased to say that I have been asked to provide professional development on Professional Learning Communities. My Academic Coach was impressed with my expertise about Professional Learning Communities and how I guided our last meeting.

**﻿Reference ** The Education Trust (2004). The ABCs of AYP: Raising achievement for all students.  Retrieved from []  release/the-abcs-of-%E2%80%9Cayp%E2%80%9D-beyond-any-reasonable-  doubt-we-can-do-this

Pashler, H., Bain, P., Bottge, B., Graesser, A., Koedinger, K., McDaniel, M., and  Metcalfe, J. (2007) OrganizingiInstruction and tudy to improve student  learning (NCER 2007-2004). Washington, D.C.: National Center for <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> Education Research, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> Education, Retrieved from [|http://ncer.ed.gov].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Texas Education Agency. (January 2009). Summary of Texas Projection Measure <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> (TPM) Approved by the United States Department of Education (USDE). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> Austin:Texas Education Agency. Retrieved from <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> []