Smith- Demographic Study

Tammie Smith EDAD 6291 Internship for Educational Administration Dr. Reed September 9,2013

Demographic Study

Smith- Demographic Study 1. Historical background of the community and the school. 1a. What is the history of the city or community? Sugar Land was originally granted to Samuel M. Williams in 1828 for his service as secretary to Stephen F. Austin. The area was developed when the Williams brothers established their raw-sugar mill in 1843. 1b. How many schools and facilities are contained in the district? There are 11 high schools, 14 middle schools, 45 elementary schools, and 4 specialized schools. 1c. When was the campus opened? Why was the campus given its specific name? Sugar Mill was opened in 1984 and was given the name Sugar Mill Elementary because of the close proximity to the original sugar mill factory. 2. School district/campus governance 2a. Review the district governance organizational chart 2b. What is the chain of command in the school? The Chain of command is as follows: Superintendent- Charles Dupre Director of Superintendent- Dr. Phyllis Hill Principal- Dr. Terry-Ann Rodriguez Assistant Principal- Brian Gibson Team Leader- Sue Nelson 2c. How is the campus site-based management committee selected and how does it function? The basic premise of site-based decision making is that the most effective decisions are made by those who will actually implement the decisions. The belief is that people involved at the campus level have a greater opportunity to identify problems, develop problem resolution and change strategy than people located off-campus. Sitebased decision making concepts also recognize that people at the campus level are more likely to internalize change and to support its implementation if they are involved in the decision making than if they are not. The objective of site-based decision making is to improve student performance and to enhance accountability. Each campus should have the freedom to set its own educational objectives, consistent with the school district's goals. The expected outcome of site-based decision making is improved student performance as a result of: Effective campus and school district planning for the purpose of improved student performance Improved community involvement in the school improvement process Clearly established accountability parameters for student performance Increased staff productivity and satisfaction Improved communication and information flow Consensus-based, decision making Pervasive and long-range commitment to implementation Increased flexibility at the campus level in the allocation and use of both human and fiscal resources Coordination of "regular" and special program or service components

Smith- Demographic Study The implementation process for site-based decision making occurs at two levelsdistrict and campus. To implement the process at the district level, administration should consider the following critical success factors: Support of both the school board and the superintendent as site-based decision making requires a fundamental change in decision making. Extensive and continuous training prior to and during implementation within the school district. Training should include, but not be limited to, developing skills on consensus building, brainstorming, problem solving, managing change and interpersonal communication skills such as conflict resolution, value clarification and negotiation. Budget shifts will be performed by objective instead of the historical method of formulas. Therefore, a large part of the responsibility for budgeting will be transferred to the campus level. An extensive amount of time will be spent changing role definitions, training school district staff, educating the community, establishing objectives, developing and implementing programs and monitoring program success. Extensive and accurate information must be provided to the campuses so that they may establish objectives and develop and implement programs to meet those objectives. Systematic communication is necessary as site-based decision making is an inclusive process that involves school staff, parents and community members. Site-based decision making strives to decentralize decisions to the campus level and solicits the input of the following stakeholders in the decision making process: Board members to evaluate the performance of the school districts site-based decision making plan Superintendents to develop and implement site-based decision making across the school district Central administrative staff to provide support services to both the board members and schools in site-based decision making initiatives Principals to develop their respective schools site-based decision making policies and procedures as well as its campus improvement plan Teachers, parents, students and community representatives to provide input for their respective schools site-based decision making policies and procedures and campus improvement plan Sugar Mill has a Campus Based Leadership Team, CBLT. The members consist of a parent, business partner, principal, assistant principal and a representative from each grade level that are elected into the positions. The purpose of the committee is to make decisions the involve campus issues. They solve problems based on the needs of the campus and children. 3. Enrollment/Growth/Achievement 3a. What is the district enrollment? (Disaggregate by ethnicity, socio-economics, grade level, etc). What is the growth rate?

Smith- Demographic Study District enrollment is 68,974 and the growth rate is 2.4 percent. African American...................................... 29.4% Asian/Pacific Islander................................21.9 % Hispanic.....................................................26.2 % Native American......................................... 0.5% White/Anglo..............................................19.6 % Two or more ethnicities.............................. 2.3% Economically Disadvantaged.....................38.0 % Limited English Proficiency....................... 14.0% Special Education.......................................6.3 % Gifted & Talented...................................... 5.9% Career & Technology Education...............15.4% Number of languages spoken.....................>90 3b. What is the schools enrollment? (Disaggregate by ethnicity, socio-economics, grade level, etc). What is the growth rate? Total School Enrollment: 686 Growth Rate1.2% Grade K--- 112 Grade 1---109 Grade 2---124 Grade 3---96 Grade 4---113 Grade 5---128 PPCD------4 African American.....................................11 % Asian/Pacific Islander.............................. 23% Hispanic...................................................31 % White/Anglo............................................34 % Two or more ethnicities............................3 % 3c. What are the strong and weak areas of student performance on state exams? The strongest area of student performance on state exams is in the subject of reading and the schools weak area is in Science. Attendance rate, of the campus, is the strength at 97.8% 4. Political and geographical characteristics of the school attendance area. 4a. What are the socio-economic levels of the parents? 28.8% economically disadvantaged 4b. How active are parents in various school activities? How is the PTO/PTA organized? The percentage of parents involved in PTA is around 45%. Support is there for raising funds and volunteering in the school to help.

Smith- Demographic Study 4c. Are there any significant geographical characteristics that might impact students or parents? No geographic features that impact negatively. The school is in a neighborhood and 80% of the children walk to school. There are only 3 buses that come to the school. 5. Professional staff 5a. What are the levels of education, years of experience, and demographic characteristics of professional staff at the district level? Average Experience with Fort Bend ISD....... 11.7yrs Percent Highly Qualified.............................. 70.9% Teachers with Advanced Degrees................28 % Student/Teacher Ratio.................................17:1 African American.........................................25.8 % Asian/Pacific Islander...................................4 .3% Hispanic.......................................................11.5 % White/Anglo............................................... 56.3% Two or more ethnicities...............................1.9 % Males: 22.2 % Females: 77.8 %

5b. What are the levels of education, years of experience, and demographic characteristics of professional staff at the campus level? African American...................................4.6% Asian/Pacific Islander............................2.0% Hispanic.................................................4.6% White/Anglo.........................................84.1% Two or more ethnicities.........................2.3% Males: 4.7% Females: 95.3% 5c. How do these groups compare? The demographics for both the campus and district levels are very different when it comes to ethnicity. 6. Other elements deemed appropriate to describe the demographics of the school. Areas of improvement should be focused on writing skills and LEP activities for LEP students. Professional development for ESL and English teachers should be priority. 7. Potential areas for improvement. Identify key stakeholders in the school and community. Leadership strategy you might use. Areas that need to be improved would be the STAAR scores in science. The scores dropped 10 points from 2012 to 2013. The campus improvement plan has addressed this concern and working to improve this issue. Key stakeholders in the school would be

Smith- Demographic Study the teachers. This campus has 79% of the staff living in the neighborhood it serves. The staff has a vested interest in keeping the school a high performing school to keep their property values high. If the school declines then their home values will as well. Leadership is the key component to a successful school. I feel that good leaders possess a combination of many positive styles but the one that stands out the most is leader among leaders. This style of leadership helps to build ownership in the school, helps to keep the morale high and ultimately improves student performance. Placing leaders in a position to discuss issues and solve problems with staff members is a proven way of keeping the lines of communication open and allows the staff to feel they have a part in the decision making process of the school, in which they play a huge role.