School Change Project: Implementation of a Teacher and Volunteer Database

8/7/2019 School Change Project: Implementation of a Teacher and Volunteer Database

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School Change Project:Implementation of a Teacher and Volunteer Database

Lea Ambion

Mary Takle

University of Washington, Bothell


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Part I - IntroductionEvident in most classrooms is the overwhelming ratio of students to teachers which

creates a lot of difficulty in ensuring that each student is receiving the appropriate amount

of time for their learning. By providing more instructional support in the elementary

classroom, a teachers workload becomes lightened with a volunteer, a parent, or college

student who is seeking experience in the field.Schools with smaller class sizes report significant student learning increases.

(Haimson,2000). With the current fiscal attitude in Washington State continuing to cut

funds for education, it is unlikely that more teachers would be hired to help reduce classsizes in the near term. This project proposed linking volunteers and college students with

classroom teachers in order to create a lower adult to student ratio. While this is not the

same as reducing class size, we believe it can bring in some of the same benefits.One of the obvious benefits would be that students who were struggling could have

additional assistance from the adult volunteer. This is one of the strategies employed in

Finland, a nation whose students rank first in the world in Reading and Science tests. A

tactic used in virtually every lesson is the provision of an additional teacher who helpsthose who struggle in a particular subject. But the pupils are all kept in the same

classroom, regardless of their ability in that particular subject (Burridge, 2010.)

This school change project proposes to provide a computer database for teachers tospecify classes and or days where an additional adult could be useful in their classroom.

It will also provide an easy way for volunteers from the school community, students from

a nearby college, or even working professionals to view the needs and offer their time asa volunteer to fill the teachers request. Those selected to be in the classroom would have

appropriate background checks and indicate a passion for sharing their knowledge with

others.We believe the outcomes from this change model would be a smaller adult to student

ratio, extra assistance provided to struggling/more advanced students, an improvedclassroom climate as students are able to receive more individualized instruction,

expanded lesson plans, and increased flexibility in classroom organization as the teachermay be able to create different groupings of students. All of these outcomes would

ultimately lead to an increase in student performance.

Part II - Interviews

Interview with DN - Para Educator (April 19, 2010)This interview was with a Para educator who frequently substitutes at her districts junior

and senior high schools in both short and long term substitute positions. As a substitute,she has seen many different learning situations, especially from the perspective of the low

achiever or special needs student.When the model was presented to her, she expressed an overall approval of it. She

agreed that it would be beneficial to have additional adult help in the classroom,

especially if that help were not targeted to just one student, but to several. She felt that itwould permit the teacher to make greater progress in meeting the needs of the learners


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better. She thought that it would particularly helpful in science and math classes and with

English Language Learners (ELL) students.

As we discussed the implementation, she voiced some concerns. One of the things shehas noticed as she has worked in multiple classrooms is that some teachers do not know

how to use helpers well. She mentioned that teachers who are organized tend to be able

to use extra helpers well. Unorganized teachers might really need the extra help, butunless they have something specific for the volunteer to do, the volunteers time can be

wasted trying to figure out what to do.

She also mentioned that there is a loss of valuable teacher time every time the teacherneeds to explain an assignment to the volunteer. For this reason, she recommended that

the program try to encourage volunteers to be consistent and to stick with the same

classroom/teacher in order to be more productive and to help the volunteer build a good

working relationship with the teacher.Another concern she pointed out was that volunteers need to pay careful attention to the

students they are working with and not be too willing to give away the answer of do the

work for the student. In her experience, high school students can sometimes try to take

advantage of a new person by pretending to not understand something in order to nothave to do the work. She thought that it might be good for volunteers who have net had

prior experience working in the classroom to receive some instruction about how best towork with teens. She added that it is important for the volunteer to try to build a

relationship with the students he or she works with and to not be afraid to interact with

the students.

Her final concern was the commitment level of the volunteers. She thought it would bevery important for the volunteer to understand that they are making a serious

commitment to help when they sign up. If a teacher has planned the classroom lesson

around having the extra adult, then it would be essential that the adult show up and beready to actively participate. Sometime volunteers can be inconsistent. Inconsistency on

the part of the volunteer would negatively impact the program.

Interview with KK - Middle School Math Teacher (April 20, 2010)This teacher thought the idea was an excellent one. He immediately wondered if it was

something that could be implemented in his school as he would love to take advantage ofit. He was able to think of several things that he could task a volunteer with, including

working with small groups of struggling students to bring them up to standard.

He did not see too many hurdles, but did mention that some teachers might be resistant to

having another adult in their classroom. Some teachers can be self-conscious about theirteaching and not want another person to observe them. He agreed that the program

would be better received if participation were voluntary. He did wonder if his

administration might pressure teachers into participation because of the overarchingconcern about closing the achievement gap. Teachers are expected to take any measure

they can in order to close this gap, and having a program that adds volunteers might be

something that the administration would see as a good tool to assist with closing the gap.He definitely preferred to have the same volunteer every time, but understood that might

not be possible given the volunteers schedule. He would really like to have the volunteer

consider making a regular commitment to a particular day/time.


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He thought that there might be some issues associated with background screening and

visitors on campus. He knows that every school handles this differently, so the volunteer

would need to be briefed on the schools policy and would be expected to comply with it.He was certain that there would be some computing hurdles to overcome. At his school,

all computing decisions about software, programs and website access are made at the

district level. There is much concern about protecting the system form virus attacks aswell as keeping the students protected from inappropriate material. If a program were to

be installed on a schools computing system for teachers to have access to it, the district

IT office would need to approve it.

Interview with AS - Former Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) Board

Member (April 29, 2010)AS thought the project was promising. She thought the PTSA would readily support it,but was not sure exactly how. Committee members were very rare in her experience and

often it was the overworked PTSA board members who did everything. She thought that

if there was a parent who really liked the idea, they might be willing to run theorientations. She also mentioned that the PTSAs primary purpose is to fund raise. They

would most likely support such a school project with funds.

She was not so sure it would work in a high school or junior high due to the low level ofparental involvement. She feels that most parents with kids in junior and high school are

burned out and not so willing to help in the classroom. Her recommendation was to try

it in an elementary school.

When asked about how she thought the teachers would respond to such a tool, sheinitially thought they would really like it since they seem to want to connect with

volunteers. She was concerned that some teachers would not like to use it if it was

computer based. Some teachers have not learned to use computers very well because it isnot required for them to do so. A new computer based system might be too challenging

for some teachers.

She also felt that most parents wouldnt use a web based tool to sign up, but laterqualified that to mean that she might not because she isnt a strong user. She expressed

concerns about how the volunteers would be filtered and screened.

Interview with TM a Junior High Teacher & Former School Principal, (May 1,

2101)

TM listened carefully and was quite intrigued with the idea. His first response was to

keep it simple as simple changes have a greater opportunity to get implemented and to besuccessful.

He felt the project had a huge opportunity to flop. In order for it to be successful,

it would need to get a buy in from the teachers. He recommended we present the idea in

such a way as to make it perceived as helpful. He said we should talk to the teachersabout their needs and how they could use the program. In his opinion, volunteers could

be used effectively to help with one-on-one tutoring, leading a group activity while theteacher was working with a student or group of students, or helping students with special

projects.

TM mentioned that often the reality is that the volunteer helper is not truly helpful and

the teacher ends up babysitting the helper. He recommended that there is a way to rate


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and or black list someone. He also recommended providing a way for teachers to request

a specific person.

TM was adamant that this project should be modeled after substitute teacher system.Ideally it could be piggybacked with the existing substitute teacher database and that

would make it easily accessible to the teachers. If not piggybacked, then it should

somehow be on the district website so teachers can easily find it. The district already hasforums via email and if it can be part of that it would have a greater chance of being used

and sustained. In the Substitute Teacher signup a teacher can select who they want as a

sub if this idea were similar that would be a good thing.TM was certain that this idea will need to be run through the district technology person.

Without that persons support, there is no chance of getting this done.

He felt that we should incorporate a community piece through the PTSA signups during

registration. Sell this as a vehicle for teacher and parents to connect. To sell this to theadministration, we would need to make this community based. Principals are feeling

pressured to link to the community more and more. If this tool would be able help the

principal do that, he/she will most likely support it.

TM recommended that I talk to human resources folks about how to screen people clearance will be stored with the head secretary at the school. Whenever someone is

scheduled to be in a school as a volunteer, be sure to email the administrator and headsecretary. Principals care about who is on their campus on a regular basis. When we

discussed the orientation needed for this project, TM felt that quarterly orientation would

be more than frequent enough.

In order to be successful, we will need a proactive person meeting with the departmentheads in order to sell this on the system. He recommended that we have the teachers

predetermine dates they would like help and enter them early. Have some sort of drop

down menu describing the need. He recommended we look at the classrooms in the coopprograms to see how they use their parent volunteers and how do they work around

confidentiality issues such as student disabilities.

TM felt that the best place to pilot this would be at an elementary school. He felt that anelementary school PTSA might be very supportive. At the middle school level parents

check out of their kids education and are not as involved. If the pilot were successful in

an elementary school, it might be moved up to the middle school level as parents moveup with their kids.

Interview with SR - a public school student (April 19, 2010)

This student is currently a sophomore at a public school located in the suburbs ofSnohomish County. She stated that currently her classes are "really big" in the sense that

there are not enough desks for each of the students. She stated that in order to

accommodate those students without desks, chairs have to be brought in a placed at

shared desks. She stated that her largest classes were typically her hardest classes such asAP European History, English and Honors Chemistry.

I asked her to describe to me her perspective on the skill levels in her class, she statedthat students are pretty separated in skill level however all the students communicate with

each other. She specifically referenced her AP European History class by stating that all

the students help each other because the teacher "teaches well but some students are

slow" to pick up the material. Everyone has their fair share of questions in these classes.


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The biggest issue she is having in class is in her Honors Chemistry class where she said

that "she [her teacher] needs help or needs to go back to teaching" implying that the

teacher needs to reassess her teaching methods. There used to be a lot of labs but latelythey have been doing worksheets after the teacher lectures. She said that she enjoyed

doing the labs and does not understand why lab time has been cut. It was mentioned that

there is a student in class who is constantly ignored because she constantly havequestions.

I mentioned to her the proposed change in classroom by adding another adult in the

classroom and she did not seem incredibly enthusiastic about the change but also didrealize the some teachers may benefit from it (like her Honors Chemistry teacher). She

had different reactions to the kinds of volunteers that may possibly in the classroom, she

stated that a parent or teacher volunteer might be intimidating (depending on how they

teach) but a student volunteer she would feel more comfortable with.I asked her what kind of additional help her teachers currently offer students who need

additional help. She stated that only her math teacher offers to help students after class.

Her math teacher seems to really care and invest time in advising her students for future

classes.

Interview with GC - Public School Math Teacher (April 30, 2010)This teacher felt the model that I presented was more idealistic and would be difficult to

implement. He stated that he very much "values the community's involvement in public

education from the private sector to the public" however, since he has been in the

educational field he has found that instructional support from a volunteer tends to lessenfrom elementary to secondary schools. He went on to give some reason as to why this

may happen for people, why volunteers are not so prominent in high schools and he

stated that perhaps it was due to volunteers lack in self-confidence on certain subjectmaterial. He believes that some great examples of volunteers would be engineers to

come out to schools and help in the classroom but this kind of program would have to be

initiated from the corporation. He goes on to give an example of a time he rememberedwhen Boeing ran a big brother/sister program where engineers would come to schools

and work with a student or two. He felt that this kind of supported helped students make

the connection with real world and the topics they are learning in school.He commented on the resources that are needed in for this kind of change and stated,

"There is some validity in the 'resources' column where a particular university program

can interact and provide funding for teachers. I know that the University of Washington

Computer Science Department has seen a drop in local students applying into theirprogram. To increase greater awareness and the value of computer science on the world,

their department is taking a greater role in providing talks (speaking engagements) that

would inspire students to consider computer science. Perhaps down the road, they may

actually take a stake at providing funding or even a course where they provide doctoratesto come in a foster help in their learning in the midst of big classes".

He went on to state that due to the budget woes that education faces, he believes that thismodel is just not feasible (although he very much supports the idea of having extra

support in the classroom). He states that currently there is additional support in some

classrooms but they are mainly for the lower level classes. He believes that what this

model comes down to is time and resources. He believes that there are some difficultiesin getting teachers to "buy in" to this change because it can be very difficult to get a


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dedicated volunteer who will sit down and keep up to date with the curriculum plan and

this could potentially just create more work and stress for the teacher.

His critique of the model goes on to say, "to me, I feel that student and teacher ratios willchange for the worse and teachers will need paid time for quality professional

development, and in-service time for planning/grading. Professional development can

help where teachers learn new pedagogical ways that better manage large class sizes andprovide efficiency in grading. And that's what I feel this model lacks is that it fails to

look at other possibilities or ways to increase student learning".

Interview with JK - University Student Teacher Placement Advisor ( April 29, 2010)"After reading your questions a couple of times, I'm not feeling confident to answer your

questions or respond to your model. I coordinate Teacher Candidates who are in a

different category than volunteers as Teacher Candidates are in graduate professionaluniversity courses rather than volunteer positions. If I am reading correctly, I suggest that

you do some more research before your interviews as the model you have outlined is not

new. Volunteers have worked in classrooms for many years, and many schools havecoordinated volunteer programs for many years. You may want to also read about class

size research to check whether research confirms your statement about student learning

being dependent on class sizes."

Interview with DB - College of Education Advisor (May 19, 2010)DB was interviewed in order to learn more about the process of interfacing with a

university. All of the questions posed to DB were specific to how best to implement thismodel from the university perspective. DB mentioned that her campus has people in

place whose job it is to match volunteers up with organizations that need volunteers. She

recommended that we contact these people and provide information to them about ourproject.

DB believes that most school districts already have someone in place to coordinate and

screen volunteers, but that in the current economic climate, those people are significantlyoverworked and that volunteer coordinating might not be as high a priority as other

tasks. She thought that providing a database interface would be an excellent idea. She

recommended that we examine the website www.donorschoose.org as a potential modelfor the volunteer database. She has used this website to make donations to teachers who

placed specific requests for resources in the database.

DB thought that the project idea was an excellent one - especially because it might

encourage more people to enter into education. She believes that people might find theirclassroom volunteer time enjoyable and then consider teaching as a career option. She

thought we should target high school students as potential volunteers in order to help

them meet their volunteer-service-hours requirement and expose them to the teaching

side of education.DB had one suggestion for how to promote the database idea. She recently read a

newspaper article that was highlighting the service of someone who volunteered in aschool on a regular basis. She felt that tapping into local newspapers to feature our

volunteers would be an excellent way to promote the project.


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Part III

Project GoalThe goal of this project is to implement a low maintenance teacher/volunteer database

that is easy to access and successfully links teachers with volunteers. Teachers will

request volunteers and volunteers will be able to register their availability and talents.Teachers and volunteers can create a match if they see one, or simply register with the

hope of a match later on. Each volunteer/teacher match will generate an additional

volunteer helper in a classroom where a teacher desires help permitting classroominstruction to be extended, smaller grouping of students, and more individualized

attention. All of these outcomes will contribute to an increase in student learning.

Implementation ModelThis model will be examined from the perspective of the committee head. It is assumed

the two grad student authors are co-committee leaders and will fill the role of committee

coordinators.Fixen,Naoom, Blas, Friedman, & Wallace (2005) lay out a model for implementing change in

several stages. Our project implementation would be modeled using the first part of theirprocess. The multiple steps of the implementation are shown in Figure 1 and detailed inthe following sections.

Exploration and adoption.

This stage is the planning stage where the idea is explored and clearly defined. Fixen

(2005) breaks this stage into four steps: "identify the need for an intervention considering

the information available, acquire information via interactions with one another; assessthe fit between the intervention program and community needs, and prepare the

organization, staff, and resources by mobilizing information and support." We have


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identified the need for intervention from our perspective, but would require a school that

would agree with us about this need and support the implementation of the change project

in their school. The main areas to explore in order to implement the project are detailedbelow. As we explore these areas and develop a plan, we will be completing the

remaining three steps Fixen et al. listed.

The pilot elementary schoolSince we are outsiders to the school, we would need to develop relationships with the

teachers, PTSA, and school principal at the elementary school where we plan to pilot the

project. By meeting with teachers at the school, we can learn of their concerns aboutusability, working with volunteers, and feedback about the process. We recognize the

authority the school principal has and understand the importance of having his or her

support on this project. The final group we would meet with at the school is the PTSA.

We see the PTSA as the group who will sustain the program once it is successfullyimplemented. Our current thought is that there would be a PTSA committee member

who would take over the coordinating role for the program and manage the program in

order to free the purveyors to implement the program at another school. One long term

goal is that the program would move from the elementary to the junior high as volunteerparents move up with their kids. We recognize, however, that the model would most

likely need to be adapted slightly to work well in a junior high and that theimplementation team might be needed again in order to adjust the model to fit the needs

of a junior high.

The local university

As project coordinators we would need to convince the university liaison(s) of thevalidity of this project in order that they would whole-heartedly support it and

recommend it to any students who need volunteer hours. Without volunteers teacher

needs would never be met and the program would fail. Raising awareness of schoolneeds and making the database accessible and easy to use are two things we hope will

help with bringing in more volunteers. We understand the university professors have

great potential to refer students to this program, so we would likely attempt to speak at afaculty staff meeting in order to present the project. We also want to make sure we tap

into any volunteer placement organizations that already exist on the university campus.

School district

Another key person we need to support this project is the district Information Technology

(IT) person. Since this person is the gatekeeper of the school computing resources and

we want to house the project on the school district website, the IT person must be willing

to support the project. Most likely, we would need to bring in the principal andsupporting teachers in order to establish a need for the program and to be able to sucure

the computing resources and support we will need to implement the database. The district

may already have a volunteer coordinator in place and we would want to discuss theimplementation of this project with them. Since the database would make it easier to link

volunteers with teachers, we expect that the district person in charge of volunteer

placement might wholeheartedly support the project. We hope to be able to use theirposition in order to gain access to advertising the database matching program on the

school website and in other district and school publications.


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Funding sources

We expect the PTSA to be able to support us financially, but we might find that

additional funds are needed beyond what they can provide. Soliciting the local Rotaryclub might be another possibility and they may also be able to support us with volunteers.

Product of the exploration and adoption process

After the initial groundwork has been completed, the key players in the process wouldneed to meet together to discuss implementation and training. This gathering would be

designed to work through the last two steps of the exploration and adoption phase - the

need to assess the fit and prepare for the change by mobilizing information and support.It is at this point in the project that the design should be adjusted to accommodate the

input received from the various sources in order to create a best fit for the situation.

Fixen et al. (2005) state that "The result of the exploration stage is a clear implementation

plan with tasks and time lines to facilitate the installation and initial implementation ofthe program." The outcome from this stage would be a document detailing the

implementation process.

Program Installation

In order for the program to develop fully, all of the pieces needed for implementationmust be brought together. This stage essentially allows each component of the project to

be developed as agreed upon in the exploration stage. At this point in the project a coreteam of people should exist. We see the need for the coordinators who would act as the

committee head, at least two supporting teachers form the elementary school, a volunteer

coordinator, and a publicity coordinator. These people oversee the following events

which occur in this stage:

The database would be built, tested, and installed on the district website.

All training materials for the volunteer training program would be

developed.

The process for screening volunteers would be developed.

Specific promotional strategies would be determined. University recruitment strategies would be constructed.

All publicity documentation needed to launch the program would be

developed

Teacher training and how best to inform the teachers would be

determined.

Funding sources would be secured.

Additional team members needed to implement the project would berecruited and brought on board.

The feedback process and survey would be detailed out.

The way to measure outcomes and present would be determined.

Initial installation

Many events need to occur in rapid succession in this stage. The teachers need to be

trained and encouraged to use the database. The supporting teachers who are part of theimplementation team would be responsible to perform the training. Ideally, this training

would occur at a school-wide meeting prior to the start of the year. Teachers would be

encouraged to make many requests for volunteers and begin to populate the database.They would also be informed of the process including the feedback process that occurs

after a volunteer has served in the classroom. Someone from the implementation team


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will need to monitor teacher requests and personally encourage teachers who have not

entered requests.

This stage has a great risk of failure. It will be extremely important for teachers to fellthey can trust the computing system to help match them up with volunteers.

Communication about how the system works and reminders to use the system will be

important during this stage.The second phase of this stage will be to begin volunteer recruitment, registration, and

screening. The beginning of the school year is a perfect time to inform parents about the

database and encourage them to sign up in it. Parents will also need several remindersabout the database, so we hope to use many venues for publicizing the database. Once

volunteers have registered, volunteer training will need to occur. It is likely that multiple

training sessions will need to be held in the initial stage in order to populate the database

with volunteers and get the matching set into motion.The purpose of the training is to prepare volunteers to be effective in the classroom.

Several of the people we interviewed mentioned the need to qualified volunteers in order

to impact the classroom in a positive way.

Prior to attending the training, a volunteer should register for the training and submitbackground check paperwork. There would be a parent from the committee who is

responsible for keeping track of the list of volunteers and ensuring that their paperworkwas complete. This person would also take care of any screening issues that might arise.

The volunteer coordinator would be responsible for organizing the training session

details. This person would work closely with the participating teachers who would most

likely be performing the training. As part of this training, several issues would beaddressed:

School specific cultural issues

the importance of a serious commitment from the volunteers

suggestions for how to be an effective classroom assistant

training for how to use the database

instructions for what to do when reporting to school to serve

We see this as a critical piece of the success of the program and a place for parents and

supporting teachers to contribute their talents. By requiring all volunteers to attend thistraining, we hope to provide teachers with people who are committed and serious about

volunteering.

Publicity would be managed by the publicity coordinator. In order to develop a pool of

volunteers, the program must have someone who is in charge of spreading the word.This needs to be someone who is willing to contact the various departments at the local

university as well as someone who is comfortable interacting with parents and recruiting

volunteers. The publicity person would make sure that the school newsletter hadinformation about the volunteer database. They would also be responsible to make sure

that the volunteer database was introduced to parents at every opportunity such as parent

open house and curriculum night. It will be especially important for this person toconnect with volunteers early in the school year. This person should work closely with

the volunteer coordinator in order to be informed of training dates and specific volunteer

needs. The publicity person would also be responsible for soliciting additional volunteer


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sources such as high school students who need volunteer service hours or local business

professionals.

Full Operation

The full operation stage would be entered once the database has been populated and

matches have occurred. Since it will take some time to overcome the inevitable inertia

involved in starting a new project, full operation may not occur until several months intothe program. It is hoped that with the help of the teacher and publicity coordinators, that

the database populating can be heavily encouraged and that matches would happen early

in the school year.

Database operation

The database would be designed to collect teacher requests as well as permit teachers to

choose a specific volunteer. Volunteers could either select a teacher who has already

submitted a request or just sign up listing their availability and/or any expertise they mayhave. The computer would not do any matching, instead teachers and volunteers would

be expected to periodically search through the database to see if there is a match. As part

of the teacher training prior to the school year start, we would encourage teachers to

identify needs and enter them into the system in order to "seed" the database with somespecific needs before we open the database to volunteers. Volunteers would then see a

list of teacher needs and could either choose to fill an existing need or submit theiravailability in order to be listed as available to meet a future need. The project

coordinator could periodically search through the database and attempt to match

volunteers and teachers up as well and also to clean-up any incomplete requests.

After a match is made, an email would be sent to both the requester and the volunteer inorder to confirm the match and provide contact information for both parties. The

indivduals involved would then be responsible to follow up with each other and share any

additional details. Prior to the beginning of a school week, the database would email theoffice staff a list of volunteers who would be on campus in the coming week.

Some additional features of the database might include:

Volunteers who register with the database cannot be matched up untilthey have completed training. This will ensure that only pre-screened

applicants participate in the classroom.

The ability for a teacher to list any special needs/requests associatedwith the volunteer request. This might include the desire for someone who is

an expert in a particular field or to communicate the the volunteer would be

doing a very specific task.

Teachers would be able to "block" specific person from accepting arequest.

Volunteers could also prevent teachers from selecting them.

Online Registration System

Volunteers who wanted to serve in the school would register using the online registration

system that is part of the database. Once registered, the volunteer coordinator would

contact the person in order to provide training details.

Feedback Survey

The database would include a short survey that each volunteer and teacher would be

asked to complete after the volunteer had served in the class. This feedback from this


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information would be used to improve the database system and teacher/volunteer

training.

Outputs

Teacher Satisfaction: A satisfaction rating system would be devised and provided to each

teacher to evaluate the student who worked in their classroom

Volunteer Satisfaction: A satisfaction rating system would be devised and provided toeach volunteer to evaluate the teacher and classroom environment

Slots Requested/Filled Percentage: This statistic is necessary to track success in filling all

requested classrooms able to use results to develop changes if necessary, such as needingmore advertising of program.

Additional Adult in each Requested Classroom: In theory, each request from a teacher is

fulfilled and each adult who wished to volunteer is matched with a teacher.

Outcomes

There are several desired outcomes from this project. The main outcome is increased

student learning. With the additional of an adult in a classroom, it is believed the learning

increase could be realized in several ways, as listed below.

Classroom Organization FlexibilityBy having an additional adult in the classroom the teacher has the option of breaking the

classroom up into different groups. The teacher could choose to have the volunteer workwith those students who might need extra help, those students who could use more

challenging material, or students working on a long term project. The ability to group the

class and have adult oversight of the groups allows the teacher flexibility in assignments.

Expanded Instructions and Assignments

When teachers have extra adult help, they can provide an opportunity for students to

move on to more challenging activities with support from the volunteer. Instruction

could also be expanded to provide an opportunity for students who do not understand thecurrent concept to spend more time on a topic.

Classroom Climate and Relationships improved

Students will have an opportunity to get to work with another adult or to spend more timewith their teacher in a small group environment. This can help to build new relationships

or strengthen existing relationships between the student and adult. The extra adult can

bring in new energy and ideas which can improve the class climate.

Learning goals expanded

The presence of an additional adult in a classroom could permit the teacher ot expand the

learning goals for the class. High achievers could be taken further, low achievers could

be brought up to standard, interesting projects could be explored, or specific contentstandards could be met through the help of an expert volunteer.

Part IV - AnalysisStructural FrameIn Bolman and Deal (2002, p.) the structural frame examines the project through the lens

of team hierarchy and interaction between members. When structure is clearly definedpeople are able to function well because they understand what their role is and the role of

the other people involved. The type of organizational structure that would best fit this

project is a committee team with equal roles. For this project, we believe the team will


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need to consist of the project coordinators, supporting teachers, a technical support

person, a volunteer coordinator and a publicity coordinator.

Project team structure.

Each person on the team has an equal role in the projects success and therefore the

official tiles will be defined as project coordinators, teacher coordinators, publicity

coordinators, technical support coordinators, and volunteer coordinators. By giving eachteam member a coordinator title, we hope to instill the idea that each member has an

equally important part it he team and that we are all coordinating our efforts. Without the

equal participation of each team member, the project cannot be successful. Figure 2below shows the key players in this project and the primary communication plan.

Project coordinators

The role of the project coordinators is to oversee the other coordinators in the project and

ensure that each coordinator has the needed support to complete the task. Projectcoordinators would also be responsible for securing the funding. The team coordinators

would need to employ the use of normative power as they manage this team. Normative

power, as defined by Etzioni (as cited in Chance & Chance, 2002) is the type of structuralthat generates collaboration between team members and produces a high level of

commitment. The coordinators of the team will need to reward members with praise and

recognition of a job well done as there really is no other type of reward built into thismodel. True to many service organizations, the reward is typically one of self-satisfaction because of supporting a greater good.

Teacher coordinators

Teacher coordinators would be teachers from the pilot school who enthusiasticallysupport the project and want to see it successfully implemented in their school. These

teachers would be responsible of the development of the training materials for both the


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teacher training and volunteer training sessions. They would also be the ones to present

the project to their peers and train volunteers to work in the classroom.

Teacher coordinators would help guide the team as they work with the various staffmembers in the school. Teachers have the unique perspective of understanding the

values of a school and how things really work. They will be able to provide insight into

the school culture that an outsider would not know existed. Edgar Schein (as cited inChance and Chance, 2002) used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the overall values

of a school. On the surface are the visible elements that everyone would see the school

philosophy, goals, etc. However, many of the values of the school are lying below thesurface and are unseen to the outside observer. Assumptions are the essence of the

culture because they define an individual's relationship to the environment and the

realities upon which the school is anchored (Chance and Chance). The teachers on the

team have unique and essential insight into school values that only those who workbeneath the surface can observe. As team members follow the advice of these teachers,

they will have more success integrating the project into the school environment.

Volunteer coordinator

We see training as a critical piece of the success of the program and a place for parentsand supporting teachers to contribute their talents. By requiring all volunteers to attend

this training, we hope to provide teachers with people who are committed and seriousabout volunteering.

The volunteer coordinator will handle all of the details associated with setting up and

overseeing the volunteer training sessions. Volunteer registration would be managed by

this person. Since the school district will have requirements in place for screeningvolunteers, this person will need to work closely with the district employee in charge of

volunteer screening to make sure all of our volunteers are in compliance with district

screening policies. This person will need to communicate with the teacher coordinatorsto schedule training sessions and develop the agenda for the training.

Publicity coordinator

The publicity coordinator would be the person who interfaced with the outside world toinform people about the volunteer database. This person would work closely with the

liaisons at the university to make sure that they were promoting the database and

encouraging volunteers to register. The publicity coordinator would also interface withthe school district person in charge of the website in order to have the database access

prominently displayed on the school website.

Ideal school climate.

Open school climates, characterized by high levels of communication among teachersand administrators and by teachers who are highly supported by administration and

generally committed to the goals of the school, are more conducive to change and

manifest leadership that promotes educational effectiveness. (Chance and Chance, 2002)We see this type of school environment as the best place to implement our project.

Teachers will need to feel comfortable with volunteers in their classroom and are taking a

risk by permitting outsiders to take an active role in their classroom. It will be veryimportant for the school climate to be one of acceptance and not judgment in order for the

volunteer project to succeed. Volunteers are such a broad range of people and do not

necessarily have formal educational training so they might not understand all that goes on

in a classroom and my even be inclined to criticize what they see. Teachers who work in


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a school where they know the principal will support them can feel more comfortable

working with volunteers knowing that the principal would be willing to listen to their side

of any issue that arose.School culture is also reflective of the larger societal culture in which it exists. (Chance

and Chance, 2002) The district culture will greatly influence the pilot school culture and

will also have an impact on the success of this project. If much resistance is encounteredat the district level with either the volunteer coordinator or with the IT department, the

project could easily fail. This project needs a district climate that is trusting and

supportive, not coercive and controlling. IT departments have a serious responsibility toprotect school computing systems from malicious threats. This can cause IT personal to

be unwilling to install new software or even permit access to external websites. Our team

project managers must work closely with the district IT person in order to meet the

district computing requirements for the database and satisfy the IT persons demands inorder to get the database installed on the district computers.

Human Resource FrameIt is our plan that the implementation team will work together to ensure that there is

program coherence, defined as "the extent to which the school's programs for student and

staff learning are coordinated, focused on clear learning goals, and sustained over aperiod of time" (Newmann et al. as cited in Fullan, 2001, p. 64). By creating an

environment that fosters program coherence, we hope to recognize everyone's ability to

contribute to the success of this program. For example teachers are a vital part of the

initial implementation process and teachers need to be trained and encouraged to use thedatabase. We believe that it is important for teachers to take leadership in the training

because they bring in a perspective that can relate to other teachers who are unfamiliar

with the system and hopefully lead others to internalize these new approaches, "that is, toboth master and value new practices and ways as how might this learning happen"

(Levine & Marcus, 2007). Giving teachers the ownership of the training allows teachers

to display their personal knowledge and opinions about the project but they can also opena conversation about moral purposes with other teachers. It could be during these open

discussions that some teachers may bring up their hesitations. It was mentioned by some

of our interviewees that teachers may find the use of computers intimidating and theywould not be comfortable using a new program; however we would hope that the

teachers conducting the training have experience with the database and can clearly show

the ease of using such a database system. Also by imitating the substitute database

system, we can show teachers that there is not much more to learn or adjust to that istechnology oriented.

The principal also plays a vital role in ensuring that there is program coherence. It is

important that the principal supports the program in order to become the liaison between

the community and the school. We would invite the school principal to greet each groupof volunteers as they are trained in order to facilitate the development of a

relationship because according to Fullan, "schools and school districts can get toughabout student learning, can use their minds to identify new and better ideas, and can

establish strategies and mechanisms of development. But successful strategies always

involve relationships, relationships, relationships" (Fullan, 2001, p. 70).

One of the potential strengths of this program is the opportunity for teachers to connectwith volunteers and build relationships. We hope that volunteers will commit to a regular


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schedule that the teacher can depend on. If the relationship between the teacher and

volunteer develops to a high level, the teacher may be willing to take even more risks and

try a new activity or teaching style. Taking a risk can put the teacher in a precariousposition and yet it has the potential to take learning to a new level. Teachers need to be

assured that should the risk fail, they will not be judged harshly, but instead be permitted

to learn from the mistake. "Even highly educated professionals bring their needs and theirhumanity with them when they come to work. They still need to feel safe, to belong, to

feel appreciated, and to feel that they make a difference" (Bolman and Deal, 2002, p.66).

Another important factor group of people we have to recognize in the human resourceframe are the parents of our students as well as those parents who are volunteering. It is

crucial that parents are able to express their concerns in an open communication

environment because their involvement is important in the success of our students,

Parent involvement improves students academic achievement and lowers studentsdropout rates regardless of racial, cultural, or socioeconomic background (Flaxman &

Inger as cited in Levine & Marcus, 2007). We find that parents will find value in

participating in this kind of program because they are contributing to the success of their

children in school and to the improvement of the community.The most critical person that we must ensure is satisfied under the human resource frame

is the District IT person. As the implementer of this project, we can easily see why wewould value the skills that the IT person would have seeing that this project hinges on

creating a workable database system however, in a give an take world the District IT

person might have difficulty reasoning what he or she may benefit from this relationship.

As mentioned by one of our interviewees without this person on our side, this project willhave reached a dead end.

Political FrameThe political frame is all about politics and power. It examines the strategies needed best

to implement the change and to resolve or avoid conflicts. In the political frame, it is

important to look at the team players and how the project fits into the larger scheme. Inthe current political climate resources are scare and often fought over. Having a good

political strategy can be helpful in getting the resources needed to implement the project.

Also, since this project relies heavily on recruiting people to register in the database, it isimportant to have allies in the school and district who will support the project.

Within this project it is assumed that everyone is on board and able to work well with

each other. Because of the small team size and the lack of opposition to the project, we

do not anticipate political issues within the group. Our overall team strategy will be toconvince people that the project is beneficial because of the research. Petersilla (as cited

in Fixen et al., 2005, p. 8) states, Unless a community recognizes or accepts the premise

that a change in corrections is needed, is affordable, and does not conflict with its

sentiments regarding just punishment, an innovative project has little hope of surviving,much less succeeding.

One of the key players is the school district computing department. Our interviews haverevealed that the best place to house the database would be on a school district computer

system so that teachers can have easy access to it. We would need to determine how to

permit volunteers (who are external to the school district) access to the database. Should

the district be unwilling to house such a database, it would need to exist on an externalwebsite. This might prevent some teachers from using it. We would model the database


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after the district substitute teacher database since teachers are already familiar with this

system.

In order to have access to the security sensitive teacher resource database or any of thedistrict computers, we will need authorization and support from the District IT person.

This person typically has a lot of power in the school district because of his or her

specialized knowledge. The job he or she performs is critical and the district computersmust be kept safe from malicious threats. Therefore, security becomes a critical issue and

is often wielded as a weapon.

Figuring out how best to work with the district IT person is essential and it may involveneeding to bring in people who have authority over him in order to get the cooperation

needed. Hopefully, things will go smoothly, but this is such a critical area that we

absolutely need to gain this persons support. The leverage we have to work with is

limited. The district IT person really has nothing to gain by giving us access to thesystem, so we have no ability to negotiate or barter. Our only hope, at that point, would

be to appeal to the moral compass of this person and demonstrate the altruistic reasons

why we should have access to the computing or to find someone in authority over the

district person to force him or her to comply.Another critical person to the success of the project is the school principal. We believe

that with the principal, we do have leverage to strike a bargain. If we can present theproject to the principal in such a way that it will convince him or her that additional goals

beyond student learning could be achieved, we might have success. Broad agreement

exists among educators and families that a primary principal responsibility is motivating

students and teachers to do their best work (Markow & Scheer, as cited in Bellamy,Fulmer, Murphy, & Murk, 2007, p. 38).

One approach is to use the argument that principals are under great pressure to improve

their schools and one way they can do this is through community relations (personalcommunication). Leadership for social capital is an important aspect of every

principals job because it emerges from the particular social context of each school and

community. This creates unique leadership challenges for school principals as they striveto foster communication and trust across all communities affected by the school and to

influence the norms that support collaboration in all aspects of the schools work.

(Bellamy et al., 2007, p.108). It is our hope that by bringing parents and local collegevolunteers into the school it will help the principal develop communication and trust

between the school and the community.

Another group we need to create an alliance with is the teachers in the pilot school. The

teachers need to be convinced that this will be a useful tool and that it will match themwith volunteers who will be helpful. We have tried to consider the teachers perspective

carefully as we designed the project in order to win them over. KK (personal

communication) expressed a concern that teachers might get pressure to use the programfrom their school principal. Since principals are doing everything they can do improve

student learning, they might impose their will on teachers and require them to add

volunteers to their class. As implementers we do not have control over something likethis happening, but we would be inclined to discourage it. Rather than use a political

method to persuade teachers, we would prefer to use a less coercive method.

It is our hope that parents will prove to be an invaluable political ally in the process of

implementation. We hope to use the leverage that they have over the administration and


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teachers to encourage the use of volunteers in the classroom. We believe that most

parents will be happy to have additional volunteers in the classroom, but recognize that

there could be some opposition as well. We hope that by creating an alliance with thePTSA, we will be able to gain an awareness of parent concerns and satisfactorily address

their concerns.

This parent support group would most likely be providing our funding for any expenseswe might encounter. They would also assist by managing the training sessions on a

quarterly basis. The PTSA would need to be convinced that this program would be

valuable to their students and that all participants would impact the classroom in apositive way. We understand that the PTSA as a group can be a great resource for a

school and that it will have influence over the principal. We hope that the environment is

one of open communication and that the parents wished would be respected by the

principal. We believe that if we can win over the parents and the PTSA, we will have agreater chance of success.

The final group of people we need to create political alliances with are at the university.

We need the support of the university education department and career center in order to

spread the word about this program. We would need to convince these folks that theycan support and strengthen their educational program by participating in the schools in

their community. This program can provide a much needed service to students who mustfulfill volunteer hour requirements. It can also provide university professors with a ready

pool of teachers and classrooms for their students to work in.

There are two critical allies at the university level from who we will need to enlist

support. They are the education department placement adviser and the volunteercoordinator at the college. Both of these people have multiple sources competing for

their attention. It will be important for our publicity coordinator to carefully explain the

program. Additionally, the publicity person will need to convince them as to why theyshould recommend college students register in the database.

The political frame permits our team to strategize and think about any roadblock we

might encounter. It gives us an opportunity to discuss how we might handle theroadblocks in advance and also can build team trust as members have a chance to share

their political insight about the various people we must interface with. While political

perspective can be considered a negative, we hope to use our understanding of thepolitical situation in a positive way.

Symbolic FrameThe Symbolic frame assesses the project through the lens of culture. This perspective ona team or project allows one to understand the rituals and other significant items that help

to create a cohesive team. It is also critical to understand the existing school culture

where the change will be implemented in order for the project to succeed. As we

consider the symbolic frame, we will also look for opportunities to strengthen the projectteam and create a team culture. Our project will also need to be aware of the culture

within the school and the community and try to find ways to work within the existingculture.

We initially planned to implement this program in a secondary school. However the

feedback we received from our interviews caused us to rethink that idea. Several of the

people we interviewed felt that this program would be best piloted in an elementaryschool because of the strong parent volunteers that are already part of the school culture.


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Secondary schools do not have the same level of support from the parents. Epstein (as

cited in Levine & Marcus, 2007) might have shed some light on this when he stated,

Secondary teachers, however, generally see their role as subject-area specialistsresponsible for contacting parents only if there are problems in their specific class, rather

than as resources aiming to engage and partner with families. The current culture in

schools is such that there are parents volunteering in classroom at the elementary leveland not at the middle or high school level. Rather than attempt to implement the project

in an unfriendly culture and try to figure out how to change the school culture, we opted

to implement the project in an elementary school where the culture will support what weare doing. In the long term, once the database program is established, it could be moved

up to the junior and them high school level as the parents move up with their kids. By

developing a team of volunteers who understand how to work with teacher and how to

help in a classroom, we would hope that these same volunteers would have a desire toextend that service into the junior high level. The junior high school culture could then

become one of encouraging volunteers.

As project implementers, we are outsiders to the school culture and will need to observe

how the pilot school members work together. In additional to observing how ting work,we will need to try to find ways to integrate into the existing culture and support it.

Supporting the development of social capital is critical to successful school leadership,because social capital underlies the ability of a school and community to address all other

school responsibilities. In essence, social capital serves as a multiplier of the schools

work toward sustainable goals, strategic priorities, and effective daily action. (Bellamy

et al., 2007, pg. 50). We believe that our project is one that can assist the school indeveloping social capital by bringing together volunteers and community members to

work alongside teachers in the classroom.

Another potential cultural issue was brought up by DN (personal communication), the

para-educator we interviewed. She commented that sometimes teachers are not very

organized and don't know how to use volunteers well. This is a topic we can bring upwith our teacher coordinators in order to get recommendations about how best to help

teachers use volunteers well. We want to be careful to not appear critical of teacherssince as Fullan states, Over the years we have built up all kinds of structural and cultural

barriers to sharing, and they [schools] are having a devil of a time overcoming inertia.

(2001, p. 99). Change is difficult and we need to find ways to build teachers up insteadof criticizing them.. Instead of presenting the idea from a critical perspective, we will

probably find a way in the teacher training to offer suggestion to the teachers about how

they can use the volunteers effectively.As we seek to implement the project, we have already discussed how we plan to work

closely with the school principal in order to gain his support and political influence.

Bellamy points out that Principals strengthen social capital and focus underlying values

on school work by a combination of activities to understand and enhance any of thesocial capital in schools internal and external communities. Internally, principals foster

the development of supportive norms, and steward those norms through conversation,

personal example, and supportive school structures. Externally, principals can helpfamilies increase social capital supporting their childrens learning and foster productive

connections with other community groups. (Bellamy et al, 2007, p. 130 ) We believe

that our project can support both the internal and external goals of the schools principal.


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By bringing trained volunteers into the classroom, we hope that teachers can use the

additional help to be more productive. In so doing, we expect them to share their

successes with other teachers and promote the database model. Also, we hope that theparents and other volunteers will gain a better appreciate for what goes on in the

classroom and how they can support teachers and the school.

Within the project team itself, there are many ways we can create a culture that positivelycontributes to the outcome of the project. We can celebrate each of the transitions in the

stages of the implementation in the project. When the project moves from the

exploration and adoption stage into the initial implementation, we should celebrate withthe team members who have worked so hard to get the project off the ground. At this

point in the implementation, we should also have a project name determined and even a

logo in order to build recognition of the project.

Bolman and Deal (2002. p. ) mention that membership in the group and how one obtainsit can be an important element. As part of our orientation and in our database, we can

heartily welcome both the teachers and the volunteers into the program. By doing so, we

can cultivate our own culture for members. Often a strong community can be attractive

to outsiders and cause them to want to get involved. Teams that are moving forward andappear organized and successful, inevitably attract attention. Creating a culture that

celebrates the participants ant lets them believe they are significant and that theircontribution is valuable is one of the desires we have for the project.

One of the interviewees mentioned that she saw a volunteer celebrated in the local

newspaper. This idea is something we can have our publicity person assist with. If we

interview volunteers and publish short write-ups on them, we can increase interest in ourproject and perhaps bring in more volunteers.

Part V Reflection

Lea AmbionAs I anticipated the concept of change is extensive and thorough as we studied theintricacies of the political, human resource, structural and symbolic frames. My shallow

understanding of change as a process that merely is accepted or opposed has now been

deepened by this new knowledge and I see change not only as a process but as a complexorganization working towards a common goal. I understood that implementing a change

in a school environment could be difficult, especially if the proposed change is seen as

radical or if it is seen as a threat to the current school culture, however, I was completelyoblivious to the notion that there are so many people, organizations, conditions and

school cultures that are effected. I am well aware now that it would benefit me to lay out

a plan that outlines my proposed change plan and all the groups of people it would effectbefore committing myself to that particular change.The book, Reframing The Path to School Leadership by Bolman and Deal helped me the

most in viewing situations in a school environment under different frames of mind. I

hope to find as much success as Joan Hillard during her journey of her first year ofteaching although resolves to her conflicts seemed to work themselves out unnaturally,

fairly well. I cannot hope for the same luck that Joan encountered but I can now better

prepare myself for the kinds of obstacles I may meet in the near future during my


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September Experience in student teaching. I do not plan to attempt to create drastic

changes during my student teaching, however, I can see how my cooperating teacher may

find my presence a large change to their classroom environment. By understanding howchange may effect my cooperating teacher and those other groups involved in the

process, I can adjust my behavior as to not upset the current classroom culture. I also can

discover the power players in the political frame to ensure that I give myself theopportunity to be in the good graces of the right people especially my cooperating

teacher, the principal and the secretary of the school. This relationship could greatly

benefit me for future requests that I may have or perhaps assist me to furthur my career.Also by understanding the structural frame of the school and this September Experience,

I will know what is expected of me so I can be sure to meet my advisor's and cooperative

teacher's expectations of me. These meetings of standards also overlap with the human

resource frame where I have to make the effort to foster an open communication with mycooperative teacher so that we both may express our concerns or our suggestions for

classroom lessons or conduct. This way we can try to create a safe and open environment

where we both feel that we are being heard and our needs are being met and where are

morale remains firmly intact during the whole experience, satisfying the symbolic frame.With a solid foundation on the theory of change and how it applies to the school

environment, I can go into student teaching with more confidence as to how others mightbe reacting to my presence.

The ultimate impact Mary and I wanted to acheive was towards student learning and in

order to do that we believe that what was needed to change in schools was the number of

adults in the classroom. In order to get more adults in the classroom, the actual changewe were going to implement was the process of finding more volunteers-a change that we

thought was feasible for most schools and a small enough change that it will not disrupt

the overall school environment. When Mary and I first wanted to implement this changewe had limited knowledge about the different frames and the process of change however,

even after gaining more incite about the theory of change and all that encompasses it, I

still would have implemented the same change. I believe that for someone atttempting tocreate change for the first time in a large setting like a school enviroment, it is better to

start off with a change that is small and reasonable so if I was to fail, then my failure

would be small enough to not discourage me from starting a new change project.

Mary TakleThis past week I interviewed with two teachers at the school where I hope to student

teach. I specifically asked to student teach at this school because of the instructional

program they are piloting complex instruction. I am greatly intrigued by this model and

the way it engages students. I am also very excited that I will be observing and teachingduring the second year of the program, as I perceive it will be a year of progress and

improvement for the school. The teachers have spent this entire year rewritingcurriculum to be used in the new instructional model. This follows on the heels of a year

when they implemented new textbooks curriculum and spent the entire year creating new

lessons and teaching out of an unfamiliar textbook. When I interviewed, I could sense

that the teachers were weary. They have had two long years of daily hard work and norest. Each and every day of instruction for the past two years has included something


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new and required hours of labor to prepare for it. I have not been a part of those two

years of labor, but instead will benefit greatly from it. As I interviewed, I was extremely

positive and enthusiastic I truly look forward to being in the school and participating inthe change.

After my interview, I was reflecting on the situation and realized that I have much I can

offer to the teachers I work with. I have energy and time and youthful enthusiasm something that they lack right now. I also realized that there are many things I will need

to be careful about in my enthusiasm. This course has given me four frames to analyze

my future teaching situation from and I can see the relevance of those frames even after a45 minute interview.

Politically, I will need to figure out who in the department or topical sub-teams (the

school organizes the teachers into small teams for each math topic algebra, geometry,

etc.) are the leaders? How can I become an ally, without annoying them with my energyand enthusiasm? I recognize that my enthusiasm could easily be interpreted as

criticism of their weariness. I will need to carefully present my skills, talents, and

desires in such a way that it can be perceived as well intended and not critical. Gaining

the respect and trust of the political leaders and other teachers will be advantageous as Ihope to bot only contribute positively to the school while I am there, but also as I will

need references for my future job search.I recognize that the teachers I will be working with are the experts when it comes to their

school and learners. I have a lot of theory and little experience. They will most likely

be tired of theory after two years of slogging through the realities of implementing

theory. As I examine the culture of the math department, I will look for the cues abouthow the teachers collaborate and work with each other and how much theory they have

actually managed to implement in the curriculum. Until this project, I dont think I

would have considered examining something like curriculum for clues about the teachers,but I now realize that the products of their labor will reveal much about how thoroughly

they embrace the new instructional model they are being tasked with implementing. From

my discoveries, I will have a better idea of how much of the theory these teachers areactually buying into and can temper my input accordingly.

From a human resource perspective, I sense that there has been a change in operation

over the past year. I was able to ask about collaboration and learned that this past year allof the teachers in the math department agreed to work together in small teams. Initially,

it was out of necessity, since developing 180 days math curriculum as the year unfolds is

not possible for any one person. The team approach has been so successful, that the

teachers have agreed to continue them next year. They even plan to get together over thesummer and work. One of the teachers said that she would continue the extra team

meetings even if they dont get paid for them, because she found collaborating so

valuable.From a structural perspective, I will need to understand how the department is organized

and how the individual teams fit into the bigger picture. One thing I understand about

myself is that I am a big picture person. I need to understand the bigger picture before Ican interpret the details. I have worked in business situations where the structure is

unclear and turnover is high. Since my situation will require me to integrate into the

team in order to complete my training, I know that understanding the teams structure

will be important.


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ResourcesBellamy, G. T., Fulmer, C. L., Murphy, M. J., & Muth, R. (2007). InPrincipalaccomplishments: How school leaders succeed(pp. 17-27). New York, NY: TeachersCollege Press.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2002). Reframing the path to school leadership: A guidefor teachers and principals. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Burridge, T. (2010/04/07). Why do Finland's schools get the best results?BBC News.

Retrieved from:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/world_news_america/8601207.stm

Chance, P. L. & Chance, E. W. (2002). Organizational structure: Fundamental constructs

that define schools. InIntroduction to educational leadership and organizational

behavior: Theory into practice (pp. 11-33). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Fixsen, D., Naoom, S., Blas, K., Friedman, R., & Wallace, F. (2005). ImplementationResearch: A synthesis of the literature. Tampa: University of South Florida Louis de laParte Mental Health Institute.

Fullan, M. (2001).Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass

Haimson, L. (2000). Smaller is Better: First-hand Reports of Early Grade Class SizeReduction in New York City Public Schools. Educational Priorities Panel. Retrieved

from:http://www.edpriorities.org/Pubs/Report/Report_Smaller.htmlLevine, T. H. & Marcus, A. S. (2007). Closing the achievement gap through teacher

collaboration: Facilitating multiple trajectories of teacher learning.Journal of Advanced

Academics, 19(1), 116-138.

Documents

School Change Project: Implementation of a Teacher and Volunteer Database