Melissa Hornyak Competency 2: Communication Skills

Related Task: 2.1 Knowledge of group interaction techniques. Specific Task: 2.1.5 Attend an administrative staff meeting and analyze agenda items and role played by superintendent and building administrators. Narrative of specific task: I will job shadow an administrator in the Howell Public Schools District and attend an administrative staff meeting with the administrator. I will analyze the agenda to find out the nature of each agenda item (new policy, curriculum, etc.) and how much time is spent on each item. Process, Purpose, and Approach: I had the opportunity to job shadow an administrator in the Howell Public Schools District for an entire school day and attend an administrative staff meeting that extended beyond the hours of the school day. The administrator printed out the agenda for both of us and he went over the agenda with me. He also printed the documents that the administrative staff would be going over during the meeting. They were professional development forms for new and experienced teachers, discipline forms and also a new form for teachers to fill out for students who they wanted to be exempt from their student growth piece on their evaluation. The administrative staff meeting took place on March 9, 2014 at the Howell Public Schools Administration Building and was scheduled from 3:00 pm-4:30 pm, however did not actually end until 5:00 pm. The Superintendent, Director of Human Resources, Director of Curriculum, Director of Operations, Finance Director and the Executive Director of Achievement Initiatives from Livingston Educational Service Agency were all present. Also, all principals from the seven elementary schools, both principals and assistant principals from the two middle schools and the principal and assistant principal from the high school were present. The purpose of this competency was to sit in on an administrative staff meeting, analyze the agenda and find out the nature of each agenda item. I wanted to find out what area the administrative staff focused the most on during a staff meeting. I created a chart to show the items that were on the agenda and also how much time was spent on each item. (Attachment A) It came as no surprise that the Labor Relations and Personnel Update consumed the most time during the meeting. Included in this portion of the meeting were new forms for recording professional development, a new teacher certificate renewal form and also a form for teachers to fill out if they would like certain students to be exempt from their student growth piece of their evaluation. Since new teacher evaluations, with the student growth domain, have recently been implemented in Howell Public Schools, this opened up a lot of conversations regarding the student exemption form. An administrator made a suggestion to extend the deadline for these

forms since teacher evaluations were still being conducted after the exemption form deadline. This was taken to a vote, and decided upon by the rest of the administrative staff that an extension to the deadline would be beneficial for all administrators. As for the remaining administrators questions, the Director of Labor Relations and Personnel just asked administrators to email or call her with any additional questions or concerns since they had to move on for the sake of time. She also discussed some upcoming training and also reminded staff to forward all court orders, subpoenas and PPOs to the administration building. The Director of Labor Relations and Personnel ended her part of the agenda with a discussion about the classroom makeover contest. A local business will donate three, $300 visa cards to three teachers who win the contest. The director will be asking administrators to volunteer to judge the contest. The second biggest agenda item was the data presentation and the state and local assessments update. The data presented looked at the cohort growth of students who have been in the district from third through eighth grade and how they scored on the MEAP test every year. The data showed the most growth in reading. The group that made the most growth was those students who were in the bottom 30%. The data presentation then moved into the discussion of state and local assessments. Even though the state is doing away with the MEAP, they have not agreed upon a new test to show student growth. It was mentioned that Smarter Balance is the only test that aligns with the Common Core and the district should fight for the Smarter Balance test to assess student achievement. The remainder of the meeting was a short discussion about the Energy Audit. The Director of Operations reminded administrators to make sure that teachers do not change the temperature in their classrooms. The district has to pay additional fees when temperatures in the classrooms are changed. The meeting ended with a finance update to let administrators know that they did not know final numbers yet for the 2014-2015 school year but to anticipate about at 5% cut across the board. Lessons Learned I learned that most of the time at the administrative staff meeting was spent analyzing data and discussing the upcoming new state and local assessments. Just like teachers are requested to look at and analyze data, the administrators were asked to do the same thing. After looking at the cohort growth the administrators were asked to talk with a partner and discuss what trends they saw with the data. It is very clear to see that administrators are looking at trends with data and working on trying to find answers to these trends. I also learned that Howell Public School District is also very data driven when it comes to looking at test results and finding trends within a school or across a grade level. The administrators agreed that digging deeper into the data might help to find out why certain schools or grade levels had certain trends. I also learned that, as an administrator, being able to communicate the information that is coming from the district to your staff is a valuable asset to posses. By relaying the information that is presented at the administrative staff meetings, the administrator is sharing valuable information that affects teachers as well. This open line of communication would give some understanding to

teachers when they are asked to change or implement something in the curriculum. It would also keep them well informed about new policy changes, budget information and what is coming their way from the state. The data that was presented at the meeting today would be valuable to share with staff members and celebrate together, the growth of students not only across the whole district but those students who are in your building. Letting teachers know that they are doing a good job and that all their hard work is paying off is a great way to boost the morale in the building. One way to communicate the information is to present it at a staff meeting. Going through the agenda with the staff and highlighting some of the key points about the meeting will help teachers understand why they are being asked to do certain things. Providing them with the information and leaving time for a question and answer session, will give them the opportunity to gain more information on subjects that are in question. With so many changes coming from the state regarding teacher evaluations, assessments and student growth, it is imperative that teachers and administration work together to make sure their focus stays on the students and that all students are being provided with a safe and nurturing learning environment where all students can grow and learn.

Artifacts Table representing how time was spent at the Administrative Staff Meeting Howell Public Schools Administrative Staff Meeting Agenda for April 9, 2014

Appendix A

AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ON EACH AGENDA ITEM

TIME SPENT ON EACH AGENDA ITEM IN MINUTES

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 CURRICULUM DATA ANALYSIS AGENDA ITEM STAFF POLICY/PROCEDURES

Appendix B