EDLD 5399 Week 3 Assignment Part 2 Reflection

There were three main concerns that led to improvement initiatives based on my understanding and observations for my district’s improvement.  The inclusion model of instructional practices has been implemented to minimal success and was in need of review, recent state budget cuts will have a potential major impact on school funding and inevitably create major changes, and the new STAAR state assessment will begin next year and it will be necessary to have creative measures in place to address this new exam.  These are the areas of concern I attempted to improve for my district as well as my campus.

As we all know, best instructional practices are essential for student success.  This is true for special populations as well.  Recently our district has adopted the practice of “full” inclusion.  There are many methods to achieve this established method of instruction.  Our district uses inclusion teachers and aides in the classroom to support special needs students.  Year one was very challenging and required many planning sessions; including several “gripe” sessions.  Based on these incidents and other observations, adjustments were made and the process was attempted the next year.  During decision making committee meetings there was a tremendous amount of input to help make improvements.  Recommendations included: rotation of inclusion teachers and aides to meet the needs of more students, teachers and aides need to be actively engaged in the lesson to better relate the information to students in need, teachers and aides need to be viewed as key members of the instructional staff to ensure buy in and respect from students.  Also, the implementation of a survey to determine level of understanding and attitude toward the district’s inclusion program is suggested.  The survey would focus on knowledge and practical application of inclusion concepts as it relates to individual needs.  These and many other suggestions will be used during staff development sessions as well as taken into account when designing campus master schedules.

Also, there were many concerns about the state budget and school financing as many of my cohorts would agree.  The state budget crisis is worrisome for all of the districts around the state and my district is not immune.  Our district and campus level administrators met on many occasions to discuss the potential shortfall.  Later during the planning stages department leaders and other campus staffing were invited to sessions to discuss the impact throughout the district.  After all the meetings and sessions a two tiered approach was devised to address the potential budget reduction.  See the recommended plan below:

As OISD prepares for the 2011-2012 school year and the likelihood of a decrease of $748,869 in funding – hard decisions must be made.

The Tier 1 recommendations to address this shortfall are:

Salaries frozen at 2010 – 2011 amounts

As of March 25th, letters of retirement or resignation have been received from 8 professional and 1 support staff.

(3) elementary teachers

(1) junior high teacher/coach

(1) junior high teacher

(3) high school teachers

(1) maintenance employee

Do not fill 8 of these 9 positions. Fill the agriculture position.

This represents $375,069 in savings.

Approve a change in program resolution to eliminate elementary music and certified elementary librarian positions. A paraprofessional would be reassigned to the library. The elementary library had operated under the direction of a paraprofessional until the 2009 – 2010 school year.

This represents $101,862 in savings.

Tier 2 Recommendations:  Eliminate Retiree Sick Pay (maximum $7500 per retiree)
Reduce Insurance Contribution $20/month
Administrator reassignment, if administrator leaves reassign administrator to cover responsibilities
Reduction of property insurance premiums, will not know amount until later, TASB has indicated there should be a reduction. Reduction of Administrators’ number of work days – depends on number of furlough days used. Furloughs – Legislature discussing the possibility of allowing 7 furlough days. Payroll $40,000/day.

In addition to the above mentioned items, we also have been preparing for the STAAR state assessment that will begin next year.  Although field tests have been administered for several years, there is still some ambiguity to the test and the best and most practical approach to being successful on these new exams.  Core departmental meetings at the high school campus were held to address the new STAAR exam objectives and college readiness standards.  These meetings were held weekly during the 4^th six weeks.  The overall response was very positive based on teacher comments and participation in the agenda items.  The English department will experience many changes because students will be expected to write two different types of essays.  Also, the English exam will cover two days, with TAKS it was only one day.  The English III and Algebra II STAAR exam will have college readiness standards imbedded to evaluate student preparedness for post high school education.  Students graduating on the recommended high school graduation program must pass twelve STAAR e exams to successfully meet that standard.  Recommendations for success on STAAR exams include:  review state standards and objectives, utilize TEA resource guides, attend educational service center workshops related to STAAR preparation, and ensure best practices are implemented according to district and campus expectations to ensure quality instruction and time management.  Hopefully, these ideas and others throughout the process will provide guidance and support through this necessary change in state assessments.

In conclusion the improvement process can be very tedious and challenging.  There are many other areas of improvement that could have been attempted or addressed, but these seemed to be the most interesting and timely.