edld+5333+-+Week+5+Assignment

Reflection One: Site-Based Decision-Making

Site-Based Decision Making Committees are a state mandated method for grouping persons from the school and community with the sole purpose to improve student achievement. Placing parents, principals, teachers and other community members on these committees is an important key to making sure that different perspectives are being heard. We have the following two SBDMs at Highland Park High School: the Campus Leadership Council (CLC), and the Student Leadership Team. Dr. Ken Fox, HPHS Assistant Principal, said that our campus committees only met twice last year, in opposition to prior years (Fox, 2011). He notes that the biggest, most consistent concern of these two teams is technology. “Our district does not have many funds to dedicate to our true technology needs” (Fox, 2011). They are committed to being wise with their allotted budget because they understand the importance of engaging and educating students in and for the 21st century. Fox stated that campus-based or site-based management is very much the norm at Highland Park. He continued that compared to other school districts he has worked in, where “lip-service” is given to the site-based committee, Highland Park really walks the talk. (Fox, 2011) I personally was surprised that the district really did put an emphasis on making the committee work. I was surprised that they had only met twice last year.

Dr. Ken Fox, Associate Principal, Highland Park High School (4/21/2011)


 * Reflection Two: Next Steps **

Action plans are developed with the student’s academic success and improvement in mind; our action was developed to address our campus’ needs. It would be very easy for schools such as ours to be complacent because we consistently earn an “Exemplary” rating. Most people from other districts would be jealous of the success our students find because it appears to be easily achieved. I think people would be surprised to know that we work hard at identifying our students in need of help and making that a serious targeted intervention goup, just like other schools do. As with this weeks discussion forum question concerning “Stuckness,” Highland Park continues to analyze student data: there are always areas that we can focus on. According to the //2009-2010 Campus AEIS Report//, Highland Park High School’s math and science scores were the two areas with the most room for improvement. To be more specific, our Special Education sub-group showed the lowest scores as a whole, partly because our Special Education population is small, which means their individual numbers count for a greater percentage once broken down into sub-groups. Our action plan consisted of the following steps: analyze individual student data to determine their specific needs of instruction; develop individualized plans; follow-up with analysis of student improvement; provide Margaret Kilgo’s //**Creating Aligned Lesson Plan Models for Mathematics and Science Grades 9-12**// training in order to help teachers develop lesson plans that take into consideration the TEKS, TAKS, and student expectations; and provide lunch tutorials for students who desire to reach their true potential on TAKS. After finding success with the above methods, we must make sure to celebrate both student and teacher efforts/successes. We continue to implement the previously discussed action plan, while also making improvements and additions where necessary. “Stuckness or complacency” is not what Highland Park is all about. As a professional, I think we can all push for continuous improvement.