presentations

This is the second weekend in a row that I heard a presentation on RTI. RTI in my school is in the infant stage, especially at the high school. It was nice to her the process of the 3 tier system explained again. It is something that is almost a thought of fear to most veteran teachers when we begin to learn the process of RTI. The 3 tier system seems to make a road map to be followed and schools shouldn't have much difficulty implementing it if they are making a good effort. I know we have seen our share of changes over the years, but this change makes sense. Ever since the creation of the inclusion teachers have been trying to make their classrooms more effective for all learners. This process fosters colaboration among staff and will do what's best for every student.

Paying non-certified

I did not know that uncertified staff who coach or supervise are supposed to get overtime if those hours exceed 40 for the week. We have many uncertified staff who take tickets at games, work the concession stand, or run the clock at games. They get paid a flat amount for each event. Unless they work multiple games in a week, I would bet that what they get paid is more than what they would get as overtime pay. I wonder if it matters how the pay for these extra hours is put on the books.

Interviews

I found our discussions about interviews intriguing! I find it interesting that each school interviews candidates differently example, in our district some schools used the traditional interview where we all sit in a circle and take turns asking questions. A few of our elementary buildings interviewed candidates and asked the top 4 to teach a lesson with students in front of the interview team. This worked well except for the leading candidate. She had a great lesson until the last 15 minutes where she completely lost control of the room. Another method that I do not believe has been tried is including critical incidence situations. I would like to do more research to see if one method or style produces better candidates!

Presentations

Although we have done presentations in many of the other classes, I feel that these were the most beneficial. I liked the fact that we were able to choose any topic as long as it related to Human Resources. This allowed us to choose a topic where we were knowledgable or a topic we wanted to know more about. As an observer, I learned a lot about a variety of topics in a day! What a great way to share our knowledge!

ADA

I found learning about the Americans with Disabilities Act to be interesting and valuable. Prior to this class, I had heard of the ADA, but was unaware of specific details about it. Many people seem to have a misconception that it forces employers to hire disabled people and if they don't, they're breaking the law and will be sued. I agree that employers should provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities. I also feel that employees must be able to perform essential job functions, especially in the teaching field. If a teacher can't perform essential job functions, the education of students is likely to suffer. I liked the example the book gave demonstrating how an employee must be able to perform essential job functions.

Co-teaching

I liked the presentation on co-teaching, as it is something that I have always been interested in doing, but have not had the opportunity to do yet. I definitely feel it is important to consider personalities and teaching styles when deciding to co-teach a class, and that an administrator should not have teachers co-teach without discussing it with each of them first. I can see how teaming a special education teacher and a regular classroom teacher could create an environment where students view the special education teacher as some sort of an aide, since the special education teacher would probably have more knowledge of how to assist special education students and would do so more. It would be important for the co-teachers to explain to the class from the beginning the unique co-teaching situation. I also found it interesting that co-teachers haven't been evaluated as co-teachers. If I was an administrator, I would want to evaluate each co-teaching situation to see if it was effective.

changing culture

Kim's presentation on school culture was very interesting. Several of the school districts I work with announce they are professional learning communities but as an observer I don't see that. I think it is the buzz word so some administrations think if they say it--they are instantly PLC's. I don't think they know that as the administrator they must buy into the PLC concept and work with their staff to create the change of culture. It isn't just saying it but it is actually changing the thought process of everyone involved.

Coaching evals

I really enjoyed all of the presentations last weekend! It would be great to have the ppt of all of them. I never really thought about evaluating coaches, but after listening to the presentations I definitely see a need. My son-in-law coaches girl's sports in Iowa and I know he feels he is constantly evaluated--- by the parents not the administration. He has had to complete several accredited classes to continue coaching.

evaluation of coaches

I'll bet I wasn't the only one of us surprised this weekend by how little formal evaluation of coaches is actually done in our districts. It surprise me, I guess, because sports and sporting events seem to be the most important part of our schools in the minds of many parents. I live and work in small towns that have been working on school consolidations for years, and it always seems that details like sports mascot and head coach assignments are the number one concern of the voters. Athletic Director Paxson sounded like he had a good handle on evaluations, with his several categories and measurable employee behaviors. Those research presentations certainly gave us something to think about. Coaches work with our students in the most removed places; late nights, out of town, far removed from any district support. We assume quality and competence in our coaches because we need to believe it, but who really knows our non-teacher coaches?
Dr. Closen, these research presentations are a terrific component of the course. They deliver great things to think about and let the students exchange ideas and experiences.

induction too

I felt the same way listening to any discussion of formal induction. I have worked in a number of positions as a teacher for special education cooperatives, and the induction has been very inadequate. Special ed coops establish student class roles that are cobbled together from local school districts. Then they look to "rent" a room from some school. That program home can change frequently. So I show up to a district to teach, but I am not a teacher in that district. I've never been treated badly as an outsider, but I sure have been overlooked. The situation is not a good one: most of the students assigned to this classroom don't live here, the teacher assigned to the room isn't employed locally. Good luck.
The point it, I don't have to repeat mistakes. As a building administrator, there will be many things I can do to help support new teachers in my building

Induction Programs

The presentation on teacher induction programs was interesting to me. My induction to teaching was being led down a hallway to an empty classroom with a couple of stacks of books a week before school started. I was helped by the fact that I subbed in the building before, but even with that, I remember thinking many times during my first month of how helpful some sort of program for new teachers would be. I do think this would be harder for smaller school districts such as mine to implement since they may only have one or two new teachers a year. As an administrator, I would want to be careful no to overlook the seemingly insignificant type of information new teachers need to know, such as how to check school e-mail, setting up your voicemail message, how to fill out and pass around homework request forms for absent students, what to do with the white, yellow, and pink referral forms, and so on. I recall this type of stuff taking up an inordinate amount of time when I started teaching. A good induction program can reduce the amount of time it takes to figure those things out, allowing more time to focus on teaching.

Professional Development

Tonight we had one of our late nights for professional development. We are still working on the RtI process in regards to disaggregating data. I know that we have a ways to go, but after listening to the class discussions, I cannot help but look at these meetings in a different light. I look around the room while someone is talking to the group, and am amused by the number of people who are paying no attention at all. It is not that the presentations do not apply to them, it is just that many people are burned out on the RtI process.

I was very intrigued to hear Dale's presentation on the behavior side of RtI. I had not really thought about that side of things because we really do not have the issues that other schools have. We all have behavior concerns, but we do not have them to the point of bringing in a consultant.

In regards to coaches and stipends. It always amazes me to hear the differences between coaches stipends in between school districts. I know that we have a weak union, and therefore do not have the best contract in the world, but I am still taken back by gap between two districts that are less than 20 miles apart.

What a Weekend!

I can't wait to get a copy of all the power point presentations we listened to this past weekend. There are so many things that need to be done in my district, and probably every district, and listening to my peers empowers me to continue with my administrative degree in order to help make a difference. I'd like to think I can accomplish "things" being a teacher, but it's not as much as being an administrator.
One of the first things I did when I returned to school on Tuesday was ask the athletic director if there was an evaluation system in place for our coaches. He said he was in the process of getting one going, but there hasn't been anything to his knowledge. I found this topic to be especially interesting because it's something I don't consider top priority, and I never really thought about it before. Coaches and teams travel all over the state and their behavior reflects on the school. Evaluating coaches should be taken seriously in all districts.
Also, I appreciate the info on portfolios. Good to know especially since I'll be completing my internship next fall. Thanks to everyone!!

Presentations

I thought Dale’s presentation about the behavior side of RtI was very interesting. I especially liked the emphasis on “real data” regarding a student’s behavior…not just a teacher’s recollection and summary of how the student behaves. I agree that teachers in the later grades are not used to teaching behavior, and I can see how a few incidents (that may not occur very often) can lead to assumptions about a child’s behavior. The daily chart and calendar showing the hotspots of bad behavior would be much more useful in correcting/limiting the problem.

FLSA

It appeared that many of us were surprised by the FLSA requirements. The Fair Labor Standards Act conversation seemed to be a new topic for most of the class. The additional overtime costs are not paid in my district and I am sure that the people involved are oblivious as well. Certainly valuable information to know when becoming a building principal.

Coaching

I particularly enjoyed the conversations involving coaching. I have coached for 7 years and have never been evaluated. The evaluation of coaches has not even been a topic of conversation in my district. Also, the percentage pay was unfamiliar to me. Our Jr. High head coaches (volleyball, girls/boys basketball, girls/boys track) are paid $1540. That was the “magic number” 7 years ago when I started and it is still the “magic number” today.

Presentations

Listening to the various presentations that were given I realized that there are many ways to accomplish positive student achievement.  The presentations that addressed student lead conferences, co-teaching, and induction could be beneficial to many school districts and easy to implement.  I know I left this class with some great ideas to share with my co-workers.   School's are all different and their are various ways to do things but the most important aspect and what all schools must achieve is student progress.  

Teacher Portfolios

All of the presentations were very interesting to hear throughout the second and third weekends of class. However, the presentation regarding teacher portfolios was extremely helpful to me. I was able to gain information about different templates and components for establishing portfolios. Also, the information for the internship and location for the files on the WIU site was extremely beneficial so I can begin to plan for my internship experiences in the near future.

Evaluating Coaches

I liked both of the presentations of evaluating coaches. This is something that I've never had to do or think about. I felt that criteria other than wins and losses are important to consider, seeing how it's not realistic to expect every coach to have a perfect season every year. I'd much rather have a losing coach who effectively teaches valuable lessons that can carry over into students' academic and personal lives than a winning coach who smacks kids into bleachers at basketball games. Both presentations gave me important aspects of coaching to consider when evaluating coaches.

Learning Experience

I really enjoyed hearing the presentations. I get the most out of classes in which my peers are presenting. I guess it is more of a connection for me in addition to the professor.

Unfortunately I have heard enough about Moline (j/k), however , I love to hear what other districts are doing. I do not always want to compare it to my school, but I have heard a lot of great ideas that could truly benefit my school culture.

I was particularly interested to hear that schools are still team teaching. I know that it was a popular thing for a while, but I was not aware of areas still doing it. I have not heard much about it anymore, let alone positive research that supports it. I would really love to try it, however, I can be a control freak sometimes and am not sure how I would handle it. I believe that anyone who is involved with the team teaching situation, really learns a lot about themselves and their strengths and weaknesses. I would tend to believe that the two teachers involved would learn more about themselves as a person rather than as a teacher.

school cultures

I thought Kim's presentation on creating and maintaining a positive school culture was great. It is almost impossible to accomplish the goals a school creates for itself if it does not have a school culture that's inspiring for the staff. In particular, I feel like a lot of a school culture comes from individual's choosing their attitudes. Teaching is a stressful and sometimes thankless job. However, we also need to decide to make the best of things and to be a team player. As long as teachers are easy going and willing to do whatever it takes for the benefit of students good things will happen. She was exactly right when she stated that positive attitudes are the basis for successful schools.

Pay Scales

I thought the discussions on pay scales and merit pay were eye-opening. I didn't get into teaching for money. I had no idea what teachers made, so when I started teaching and saw how the scale was arranged in steps, I just thought "that's the way it is," and accepted it without question. I knew that eventually I'd be at the top (bottom) and I expected to be a better teacher each year as I participated in professional development activities, gained new understandings of children and families, and collaborated with others. I have been naive about the fact that other people feel upset that they are getting paid less for the same job. I liked the idea of merit pay that was shared about the Colorado school. I wasn't sure that there would be a way to have merit pay that was reasonable to implement, but this sounds like it could work. I am competitive by nature, so I could see how merit pay in that district would help me to develop as a teacher, and as a better collaborator. For me, it would be a win-win situation. I believe most people would feel that way too, and maybe it would even weed out those who don't want to put in extra effort.

Connections...

Wow! When listening to the presentations in class, I kept thinking how everything is connected. No wonder school change is so hard-one thing leads to another and before you know it, you are in the midst of changing more than just two or three things! I think it would be very hard to prioritize the needs. I guess that's where something like the future wheel is helpful. Brainstorm, categorize, prioritize, act. Choosing one big area and then focusing on only a couple of things related to that area is probably the way to go. Lots of interesting and helpful presentations--thank you!

Collective Bargaining

I found it interesting to hear that a mediator has no power in the negotiations process and really doesn't care about the outcome. I was also surprised to hear about the arbitrator and how they do have power. I did not know about the final offer arbitration and that the arbitrator picks which one will be implemented.

Mentoring

I really enjoyed the discussions on mentoring and induction. I am going to ask my principal why we don't have a program like this in place. I remember how it was when I first started teaching and think that it would have been nice to have had a program then.

Mentoring / Induction Programs

The information presented in the presentations regarding mentoring and induction programs was extremely valuable (the other presentation's content was also very interesting, too.) While I was listening to Tad's presentation, it struck up several thoughts and questions I have about our districts induction program. I am new to the school I am teaching at this year, and there are about 8 other new staff members as well; what hit me as I was listening to the presentation was the fact that our building doesn't have an in house mentoring program for new staff to the building. I was just talking the other days with one of the other new staff members and both of us commented on the fact that we didn't know half the staff in our building. We may see the faces in the hall occasionally, but to match faces to names, I don't think I could do that for more than half the staff. If we had an in house mentoring program or even if we were just assigned to a veteran staff member in the building at the beginning of the year, I don't think that would be an issue. Everyone makes us "newbies" feel at home there, but I would be more comfortable if I had a specific someone that I could talk with on a regular basis about the "little things." We're half way through the 3rd quarter and I'm still not sure what the procedures are for some things in the building, nor do I know where the "small gym" is located in the building.
I love the building and the people (the ones I know) but I am definitely suggest starting some kind of program like that next school year.

Salary Discussion

What a great discussion in Saturday's class about salary and how teacher/administrative pay varies from district to district and state to state. I work in the Davenport School District in Iowa and there have been several really great teachers that have been lost to districts across the river in Illinois. After the salary discussion, who could blame them. Although benefits may vary the fact still remains that I could drive 7 miles and over a bridge and make at least $12,000 dollars a year more. I find it hard to believe with that kind of salary schedule that our school alone has at least 8 teachers that live in Illinois and drive across the river to Iowa to teach. It makes me wonder. I know the grass isn't always greener as the cliche goes, but the huge difference in pay would be a magnet for most people. As mentioned in our discussion in class, I think that when making decisions about districts and schools to work for you have to weigh all the pro's and con's and base your decision on which of those things are important to you. I do have a feeling after Saturday Moline school district may have a long line at their doors the next time they have a position open. :)

I found the information regarding the salary schedules and forms of incentive pay to be very interesting. The positions within the program which I coordinate are funded through grants at the Regional Office of Education. Therefore, we do not have a salary schedule for personnel. Rather, we try to base the salaries upon what is competitive regionally for certified teaching positions. We have, however, looked into merit pay and incentive pay as viable options for our program in the past. Yet, we did not incorporate either of these models for determining salaries for teachers for a variety of reasons. Primarily, the reason was budgetary.

Through the discussions in class, I now have additional information that could be very useful to us in order to examine in further detail what the pros and cons are for incorporating these models for staff salaries. I am not certain that there will be any changes made to our current policies and practices upon salaries. Yet, the aspects shared will help us to make more informed decisions regarding the determination of annual salaries.

PowerPoints

The abundance of information given in the PowerPoint presentations is amazing. Much of what has been presented is relevant to most schools. I think it is a great idea to create a wiki that all of the PowerPoints can be posted to. Also, I found it interesting that one of the longest discussions today focused on coaching. This discussion helped to illustrate the importance of sports not just in the school but in the community.

School-wide Discipline

I have a difficult time supporting the idea that students who have behavior plans for hurting others should be in the gen. ed. classroom. While remediation and support is necessary, chidren who are constantly a threat to the safety of others, including teachers, do not belong in a regular education classroom. All children should be safe at school. How do you justify to a parent- that their son "Johnny" has been choked by the same student three times this year? ...And this child will remain in the same class/school? I have seen this process too many times. Doesn't school safety for the other students trump any sort of remediation for the dangerous student?

When we write plans that connect dangerous students to SPED (without learning problems) and label them ED, it makes it next to impossible to expell them and typically growth, if any, is small. Isn't every child who does something really terrible (like repeatedly throwing chairs, continuously hurting others) disturbed? Why do we write out plans- which end up really being excuses for their behavior? If students are a constant danger- get them out of the classroom with gen ed students and teachers! School should be safe. Any thoughts?

RTI and ELLs

I think that it's important for teachers to remember that ESL is not an intervention-it is core curriculum. (State School Code 14-C) In fact, state school code even specifies that ESL is to be the language arts grade for ELLs. ELLs need appropriate instruction with HQ teachers for the correct amount of time. (2 class periods daily for levels 1-3 high services-1 class period daily for levels 4-5 low service) ELLs also need "time to cook." It takes 5-7 years (Cummins, 2005) to attain academic language proficiency in a new language.

There is a good universal screener for ELLs that also aligns with ACCESS. We are piloting the Rigby for ELLs (2007) and will probably go district-wide with it next fall. It is not cheap- $1200 per kit. It is a Harcourt product and assesses an ELL student in all 4 domains of English language proficiency. It also correlates with Fountes and Pinnel and DRA reading levels. We are using Rigby check lists in six areas for progress monitoring.

It is also important to note that an over emphasis on fluency and phonics for ELLs is counter productive. ELLs should be at a level four in oral language before mainstream English language probes are valid. (Gottlieb 2007)

Salaries for Administrators

I firmly believe salaries for administrators should be significantly higher than teachers- as administrators do not have job security. If we want leaders that will take chances, we need to reward their risks.

Top 10 List

Here is the link to the Top Ten Things You Did Not Learn About Teaching in College.

Fluency

I guess I am a little frustrated with the EDL program. I have noticed a lack of consistency throughout the whole program among professors. It never seemed that any of them knew what each other were teaching in their classes, therefore there have been a number of topics that have been discussed repeatedly.

A prime example would be this APA style of writing and formatting. I had never been walked through expectations for papers at the Graduate level with APA formatting. Now that I have gone through the whole program, I look back and know that majority, if not all, of my papers were done wrong in some way.

Salary schedules - what's fair?

I really enjoyed our conversation earlier in the morning about what is fair in regards to salary schedules. I am firm believer that additional education should constitute more money rather than simply more experience. I know this is a skewed point of view since I have not been around very long as an educator, but this point of view really comes from this simple fact. We as teachers are supposed to be models of life long learners. I just do not understand how a teacher can display this with out some type of continual professional development. Challenging ourselves through graduate course work makes us grow. I know with every single weekend class I have ever had I have left with ideas from individuals from other districts to bring back to my classroom. I think the most foolish thing an educator can do is decide that they "know" everything they need to know, and no other education is necessary. There is always room for growth!

APA

I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about APA format but I found out today I have a lot to learn. After this semester I will need to complete three classes to get my degree and up to this point no one has ever questioned the way I cited sources. I also found it interesting that different colleges expect different citation rules followed and just because this is the expectation at WIU the expectations might be different at another University. While I feel that citing sources is important, today’s discussion makes me question how important some rules are or are not. Is it truly important that in a given citation the proper number is italicized or should we spend our time on other tasks? Personally, I am not sure. I see relevance two both sides of the discussion.

co teaching

Rhonda, you made a point that's going to be significant in West Central Illinois. Co teaching is going to be attractive to school boards because it can save money. Districts will see important or required special ed classes of only five or fewer students and wonder how to better manage that expense. But then another point you made was key: the co teachers will NEED administrative support. It can't just be left to individual teachers to make it work. Common planning periods will need to be found, general ed parents will need to be educated and assured of the benefits, and special ed parents will need to be assured that this delivery model will benefit their special needs children.

compensation

Good job, Ian. Good voice. Good humor. Good timing within the course. Pulling up the Denver spreadsheet was a slick use of technology.

EDL 522, SIP, AYP,and RtI

Funny how patterns emerge when you look for them; how everything seems to become related. The same week I began studying West Central Elementary's SIP, they had an early dismissal day to take a look at their SIP as a faculty. The plan under which we are currently working is aimed satisfy next year's 70% AYP. The plan they are just now putting the finishing touches on is aimed to satisfy the following year's 77% AYP. Meanwhile, the high school, as most high schools, has fallen far below. We climbed from math 20 to 35% meets/exceeds and reading 45 to 55%, but that's not even close. The success of our elementary RtI efforts, paired with the successes of our behavior change team, has inspired the high school faculty to schedule a homeroom period for next year and launch a massive PD undertaking in learning to teach character development and conflict resolution. They have seen the data that punishment without incentives or direct instruction is an inadequate motivator.
When asked about NCLB, our President stated that he wants to adjust, but not eliminate, the legislation. We aren't getting out of this by waiting for it to go away.

Economic Stimulus

I can't believe that the Senate is cutting some of the school construction money out of the stimulus package. Construction dollars have real impact on our economy and we need to upgrade our school infrastructure. How many of us have 100+ year old buildings in our districts? We have 2 two. One of the other interesting things in the House version was $200m Teacher Incentive Fund for innovative "alternative pay programs." What might those look like?
Steph

PD in the SIP

I'm finding myself in the very same situation as Jeff B describes in his latest post. Professional development is addressed as a means to an end in the SIP of one of my elementary schools. They have created four goals for themselves this year; three of them academic. In seeking to raise some sluggish subgroups, they have identified pages (literally) of BD activities such as entire-faculty workshops, small-group inservice trainings, and IT support.
Boys, as a subgroup, make an interesting study. Their scores tend to droop in fourth and fifth grade, and the principal has been looking to do something about it. There's a book study club which should foster some insight. One way is to do more with the non fiction genre. I have seen good work on multi-curricular topics like penguins and bats. Most reading anthologies go heavy on fiction and relationship building, and tend to neglect non fiction and biography.
Another subgroup, predicatably, is low income. Do we all have some experience with Ruby Paine's research (is the spelling right)?
So back to the BD grading rubric. Querry: ELLC Standard Six: Does the educational leader show sensitivity to the larger social, political, and cultural aspect of the community? I believe he does.
Querry: ELLC Standard Three: Does the educational leader promote a safe, efficient, and effective school? Again, I think he does. He has empowered several teachers to take on significant leadership roles. RtI and the school improvement plan is a big deal here. One of the Title I reading teachers is all about collecting, learning from, and diseminating reading data. She was really excited when she learned I was reading the SIP and has been checking back with me this week.

Professional Development Plans

I have found the professional development plan assessment interesting. My district does not have a PD plan. I am using the PD section of our school improvement plan that was required for us not making AYP with one of our subgroups. The school improvement plan addresses one specific goal which is getting students with disabilities to Meet or Exceed in Reading, but has a number of strategies and activities in the area of PD to address this goal. The plan does not seem to meet many of the criteria set forth in this assignment’s rubric. The strategy section is not very specific. I wonder what effect the lack of a district wide professional development plan had on our school’s deficiency in reading. Is it common for a district to have no professional development plan?

Random

Sorry for the random post, however my 6th grade team recently lost our annual field trip do the the fact that we have a new super and she said it was not curriculum focused. We are looking for
some good advice for a worth while 6th grade field trip.

Any thoughts? Thanks

Sexting

Here is an article I found about a problem we discussed in class. Sounds like the laws haven't caught up with technology, and law officials aren't sure kids should be charged with pornography. Interesting and timely!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/technology/sns-ap-tec-teen-sexting,0,7310539.story

Portfolios

As we discussed different types of evaluation instruments, I thought about the reasons for an evaluation--to improve what is being done, and to weed out the people who are not effective educators. As a teacher, I would much rather have an evaluation where I can learn about ways to improve and become more effective. Having someone come in to observe me and tell me I'm doing fine doesn't help me improve my teaching. It makes me feel good for a little while, but it isn't meaningful feedback. Having a professional learning plan is slightly better, but still not as helpful as I believe a portfolio would be. A portfolio would help a teacher be accountable for what s/he is doing to improve instruction. It offers the chance for continuous reflection if it is done right. Reflection in my opinion, is the best way to make meaningful changes for the better. I find that my student teachers over the last several years are missing this in their teaching. I try to help them see that reflection will make them better teachers. I'd really like to try to do a portfolio and may suggest it for my next evaluation.

As an administrator, I'd like to initiate portfolios as an evaluation option.

Peer Triads

First of all, I want to say that I enjoyed the presentations. They were interesting and thought-provoking. Great job!

I had read a little bit about peer review/evaluations, but as we talked and I thought about it, it occured to me that teachers from the "old school" would probably not respond as positively as newer teachers. When I began teaching in the mid 80's, there wasn't much collaboration going on. It was pretty much shut your door and do your thing--sink or swim. As a young teacher, I would have been very uncomfortable with the idea. However, I think the newer teachers are more open to the idea of peer evaluations. Think about the collaboration and collegial relationships that must be developed. Rather than being threatened, this is an opportunity to work together, offer suggestions and ideas, and allow each person to use their own strengths and expertise for the good of all. I see a lot more willingness to ask for assistance from the younger teachers. Guess they are just "wired" differently!

Policy Review

I thought the policy review assignment was a good one to have us do. It really allowed me to dig into the policies of our district. I realized that we are following some policies and not others, which is a bad deal. We are a new district and the policies are only 2 years old, at most. I wonder how other districts are doing following their policies?
Regard professional development, our district has been hit and miss ever since I began teaching. This year is the first year we've ever had PD that wasn't piece meal. I also see how the staff reacts to this.
The presentations were interesting also. I've tried student led conferences before and the parents really enjoy them, although the students very very nervous. We need to practice more before hand. Being in a small district, we never have to deal with interpreters, but that could be changing if the hog confinement goes through, which everone says will cause an influx of hispanics. We'll see.

Critical Incident

I also enjoyed the critical incident part of last weekend’s class. After listening to the situations each group came up with, I realized that they were all probably real. Somebody encountered those problems and had to deal with them. There are so many situations that you can’t anticipate or prepare for. I liked Sara’s description in her posting of “canned answers”. Anyone can give a good interview if you know what the questions are going to be. You can prepare. It is the answers to the questions that you aren’t prepared for that are important. I have had experience as an interviewer (though not in education). The people I interviewed who could respond thoughtfully to a question that started “What would you do in this situation: …” were the most successful people I worked with. I noticed that with the critical incident we used in class, no one seemed 100% happy with any of the 3 responses we had to choose from…so many decisions are not black and white.

Interviews

I had the opportunity, after we talked about interviewing on the first weekend, to interview four candidates for a language art position at our middle school. Something hit me this weekend when we were looking at the critical incidence situations. We asked the applicants general questions and it seemed that they were all "canned" answers. They were the answers that they were taught were the right answers. I wish we would have presented them with a few situations. One applicant in particular, could tell us what she wanted her classroom to look like but couldn't tell us what she would do if it didn't work the way she planned. I think that posing a situation and asking how they would respond really gets to the heart of their abilities. I might save these until the end of the interview so they may be less nervous!

Professional Development

After presenting (for 22 minutes :-) I started thinking about the comment made about how the weekend academy may not allow time to apply the skills that we learn. I do think that although we learn a lot of material in one class, the assignments that we do help us to apply our knowledge. Also, when it comes to graduate work, for a lot of us, weekends are all we have in regards to free time. So, contrary to what I presented on, I like the weekend classes! Sara :-)

Presentations

Great job to those who presented this past weekend.  All were informative and thought provoking.  The information regarding the student lead conferences was interesting, our school has been doing student lead conferences with the 6th grade students for the past 5 years.  The method we use for student lead conferences is slightly different than what was presented in class.  The students lead the conference with their parents with an open dialogue.  This open dialogue allows for the parents to ask questions when they are unclear about something the student is presenting.  The teacher acts as a facilitator but ensures that the student is able to present everything within the portfolio.  These conferences are scheduled within a two day time frame.  The parent may request a teacher conference at a different time.  I agree with what was presented in that this type of conference does hold the student more accountable and make the conference more student centered.  

Interview Scenarios

This past weekend I really enjoyed coming up with the different scenarios for interview questions.  The interview scenarios are a great way to get more information from a candidate that you may not be able to achieve through the standard questions.  Though the intention of the project was to learn how a teacher may handle a situation I thought it was a great way to think about how you may handle the various situations as an acting principal.   

Professional Development

Sara made a great point in her presentation regarding professional development training that I hadn't ever thought of before... if a district would spend the equivalent monies to send a few staff members to be trained instead of bringing in presenters for professional development that would allow the district to have on hand certified trained staff. The benefit being that having multiple trained staff members at the building level would be a bonus for the district because the district would have trained staff to train any new staff members. I really had never thought of that as an option, but that is definitely something I will opt for when I am an administrator. Something so simple makes me wonder why our district doesn't do their training this way.
Another thing that I found so interesting was the amount of time that other countries spend on professional development and student contact. I think it is great that that amount of time is spent of PD it obviously proves valuable to test scores being high.
The professional development information that was shared throughout the course of the weekend was very valuable.

Administrator Evaluations

I know that in previous classes we have discussed evaluations. There was a discussion about 360 degree evaluations. Does anyone do these evaluations in their buildings or districts? Does anyone get the privilege of evaluating their administrators? I think it could be a powerful tool if used properly. Would you have the evaluations anonymous, or would it work to have the evaluator's name on it?

teacher evals

The discussion we had on teacher evaluation was quite interesting to me. In 17 years, I can only remember being evaluated three or four times. Then today I was reading Rick DuFour's article in Eduactional Leadership on High-Leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership. He began the article by saying "By promoting teacher learning in collaborative teams, a principal is far more likely to improve student ahievement than by focusing on formal teacher evaluation". As part of our Reading First grant, principals are expected to be in classroms doing walk throughs and they complete administrator academies that also stress the importance of walk throughs rather than evaluations. We talk about holding teachers accountable but maybe administrators should be as well.

Presentations

I enjoyed the presentations yesterday. Since I worked with Cicero schools last year the information Stephanee presented really was interesting. I know they used interpretors but I never really thought about where they found them and the cost to the district. I also met a principal from southern IL that said they currently had 41 different languages in their district. You never think about these situations when you are working in rural IL schools.

Mentoring/Induction

I found value in the mentoring/induction discussion this past weekend. This is the topic of my presentation and I have found quite a bit of interesting research in regards to this topic. The percentage of teachers leaving the profession in the early years is astounding. Currently, our district is altering our mentoring program to make it more specific. It appears that the area that we have had the most trouble is time. Trying to allot time during the school day for the mentors and mentees to collaborate has been difficult to schedule. Hopefully we can design a program that makes the mentees feel comfortable and confident so they will stay in our district for an extended period of time.

weekend 2 presentations

I thought that the three presentations were very interesting this past weekend. Stephanie's topic was of particular interest to me because I have always been in a district in which all students were fluent in English. As times change I'm quite sure the district will have to face this issue so we should be thinking of a plan to address it. Sarah's presentation seemed to really simplify professional development. The 4 critical questions made analyzing professional development much easier. I also liked the explanation of the difference between "teamwork" and "groupwork". Nick's topic has been discussed by teachers in my district ever since I started here 7 years ago. However, discussions are as far as we have gone and no true progress has been made to incorporate student-led conferences.

Bullying

In today's society there are growing number of people that believe that fair is fair and that everyone should be treated the same. I think that discipline is an individualized plan. Principals and teachers must look at each and every situation as they would if they were facing some sort of disciplinary action. There are track records and files made on every student in our district, by documenting all referrals and making sure that they are readily available to teachers is the key. In a situation where two kids are fighting and one is accused of bullying, even though there is policy against fighting, the two should be disciplined accordingly. Both students should be disciplined, but each should have priors brought into the decision of what kind. It is not a bad thing for kids to defend themselves. Kids need to learn how to defend themselves even if it means facing some sort of discipline at school. Schools should make students aware of the intolerance of violence, but also how each one will have a file created on how much discipline they have had throughout their schooling and be disciplined accordingly.

Trewyn Schools

While dissecting a school, you can't help but feel for everyone involved in this school. They haven't any of the key ingredients for a successful school. Even worse, nobody wants to teach or administrate there. I would be interested to see what will happen to this school in the next 10 years. I realize that there are schools out there that have high SES, it just seems to me that those schools must have some other key ingredient that others are missing. There must be someone who grew up in these higher SES schools that doesn't want to see there alma matter fail. I would imagine that quality people in these less than ideal settings has to be few and far between.

Scenario

After looking at the different scenarios in class it makes you realize that no matter how much you plan and think ahead you may never be completely prepared. For example the scenario with Zayed getting mad because of the bullying. Now you have a problem with parents and in my opinion you have an issue with the teacher that didn't put a stop to this in the first place. I know that teachers can't stop everything but, if the problem is accruing in the classroom then it should be taken care of.

Portfolio

I liked the idea of portfolios for staff development. I have never heard of this method, I just thought that staff develoment was done as a group. If I thought someone at my school would listen to me I would suggest this for my school.

Case Studies

I have found the discussions regarding the case studies to be extremely helpful. It is interesting to hear the different vantage points that everyone has for the scenarios. Overall, there are obviously a few commonalities. But, each person brings his/her professional and personal experiences into the decision making process. This is helpful to me especially to hear from individuals who have experiences with the middle and high school grade levels because I am so familiar predominantly with the early childhood grade levels.

Professional Development

I found the discussion regarding professional development very helpful. There are so many aspects to consider when you are the person establishing the professional development opportunities for teachers and staff. By using a model that incorporates the research-based practices of shorter durations (3 hours) over an extended length of time, I think that the administrator would see a definite change in the actual implementation of strategies shared during the professional development sessions. This is a program model that I am currently working to implement on a more consistent basis with my current position as I offer professional development for teachers.

Doing what's right

I really found myself intrigued during the story of Dr. Closen's wife having to fire a teacher that was one year away from tenure when she, herself, was just in her first year as an administrator. There would be so many things to take in to consideration during a situation like that. I know the first thing that entered my mind would be the fear that firing the teacher would really create an atmosphere of low faculty morale. One wants to build trust as the instructional leader of a school, and some teachers who were sympathetic towards the fired teacher may never fully trust the administrator again. It seems like the obvious answer would be to simply fire the teacher because it is the right thing to do, but it sure wouldnt make it any easy. However, I suppose as long as administrators make every decision based on what is best for students in the end they will come out on top.

Critical Incident Questioning

Posing a critical incident to a prospective teacher is a great way to get more insight into a perspective candidate. I have been involved in several interviews and have never seen this form of questioning. Next time I am part of a team conducting an interview I will use a critical incident question.

Board Policy

I am not quite sure of where I stand on the board policy topic. I understand why they are in place, but if you do not have to follow them, what purpose do they serve besides looking professional. While going through the policies on line last week, I realized that a good portion of them were adopted/revised in 1983. We have had a lot of changes in the district since'83, and I cannot imagine that there has not been a superintendent that has encouraged revision of these policies.

I truly think that all staff should have a copy of the board policies in their classroom that sits next to the staff and family handbooks. Not that I would expect all staff to read it every day, but I do think that having them accessible for reference is a good idea. Talking about these at an occasional staff meeting or professional development would be a good thing to remind the staff of these important documents.

School Law

I am very interested in the law sid of education, and as an administrator, there are many situations that having as much knowledge of the law as it pertains to education will be beneficial. I am simply fascinated listening to the descriptions of the cases that come through the courts regarding the school system. I think this is a very important area as you never know what individual, whether that be a student or parent or staff member, etc. that will want to voice their opinion (resistance) to a policy or situation that occurs in the building. It is important to stay on top of the everchanging world of school law, there is always something new that pops up that makes you shake your head and say to yourself "you mean to tell me they thought this (action) would be appropriate?" I am looking forward to keeping up with school law issues through the website Dr. Closen pointed us to, School Law Blog, just to stay current with what is happening in the way of education law.

Policy Reviews

Discussing the policy reviews showed how, much of the time, there is a gray area. Many situations do not have clear answers. It is important to look at each situation on an individual basis and then there is still a judgment call that must be made. Also, I did not realize that school districts did not have to follow their own policies in their Board Policy Manual. It seems to me that if the district does not follow it’s own policies it sets a negative example for when those same policies must be enforced.

Counting Basketballs

I still don't believe there was a gorilla.
Steph :)

gorilla video

I'm sure a lot of other people are going to be commenting about the Gorilla video, but I can't help myself. This was my second time watching it, but it was even more fun this time since I was able to wait until the gorilla made his appearance and then look around for people's reactions to see if they were noticing it. I made sure to find this video and book mark it immediately. What a great video to one day show to a faculty to prove the importance of having evidence of different learning modalities during each lesson. By demonstrating the fact that some people do not notice a dancing gorilla, if that does not prove that people's minds are wired differently than nothing will!

Gorrilla Video

http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

Basketball video

I think it would be appropriate to use the basketball video to introduce a staff discussion on change. When we continue to use the same techniques with our students, and we concentrate on a specific measurement, sometimes we do not see the "whole picture" of our school, and we miss other important pieces of information.

The link to do this for yourself is http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/flashmovie/15.php. If you san't see it here- you can purchase it here.

Teacher Pay and Student Performance

I thought the discussion between teacher pay and student performance was interesting. We know that simply paying teachers who are in their positions now more would not effectively raise test scores. I think there can be a way that paying teachers more could lead to higher test scores, although I am not sure if it would make things better or worse overall. Rather than having salary schedules, teachers could be considered like free agents in baseball are , with a minimum salary. Schools could then sign teachers for whatever their market value is; the better the teacher, the higher the salary. In this scenario, paying teachers more could lead to increased student achievement. There are some potential issues with this, such as 1) districts would have to value teaching ability over saving money, 2) without equitable funding, poorer districts couldn't afford the best teachers, 3) an effective way to determine the quality of a teacher would need to be created, and there are most likely more than I am thinking of now. I also wouldn't want to be the first administrator to try to implement such a system. It is certainly interesting to think about.

Chapter 8 evaluation models

Exhibit 8.1 made very clear to me the differences between the several ways to evaluate teachers. I know some teachers who have elected the goal-setting model (where contract language provided for such an option) but I hadn't been as clear as I now am on why they chose that method. According to the text, the goal of the remediation model, with the standard formative and summative instruments that are most familiar to us, is to "Bring all teachers to a minimum level of performance." No wonder that model is so much less useful for experienced teachers. Because it "Works best with teachers with correctable teaching problems," it is a poor fit for good, experienced teachers who want to explore new methods and develop new skills. This goal-setting model gives teachers a framework and "permission," so to speak, to deviate from the norm. The portfolio model has a student assessment equivalent in special education. Districts are allowed to evaluate a few percent of its IEP students by portfolio rather than by standard ISAT. At its beginning four years ago, the burden was excessive and few teachers had the time resources to assess this way. The state has since trimmed down the required contents list and is now more manageable.

Chapter 6 Induction

After twenty years in education, this term "induction" should have been very well known to me, but almost the entire chapter was news to me! The recommendations for principals on page 111 crystalized every struggle I have ever watched first year teachers face. Take another look at it and see if you don't find yourself nodding your head in sad agreement. The first point sent me back to the very beginning of my career. I was a first-year special ed teachers aide working for a first year teacher in a self-contained behavior disorders school. The room we were assigned had been vacant, and whatever furniture, games, and materials others wanted had been taken out. What a sad disaster. She lasted about a month. The second point is so political. New teachers get the large study hall supervision, and veterans with more pull get something soft like before school hallway duty; an assignment which does not infringe upon their prep times - that time the newer teachers need more of.

IIRC & CPS

One of the things I thought was interesting was the data from the IIRC website and the comparison of the southern school with the Chicago school. The southern school I felt like I understood pretty well. It seemed to have a lot in common with my school, which I have looked at a lot on the IIRC. When I looked at the Chicago school's numbers, I could tell something was strange about it by comparing it to the rest of the district. The fact that it was charter school that was probably not easy to get into made me think about what happens to students who can not attend charter schools. I also found the Chicago school to be interesting since the district's CEO at the time is now the United States Secretary of Education. I was a little concerned about the district's performance at first, so I did some checking. Ther CEO had been there since 2001. From 2002-2008 their percentage of students meeting and exceeding standards went from 60% to 75%, however, the state's percentage went from 60% to 75% over the same period of time, so Chicago closed the gap on the rest of the state by 7%. It looked to me like he was doing a good job and there was an upward trend in student achievement. Hopefully he'll do well on a national level.

A Sad Event

We just got terrible news. One of our teachers has experienced a terrible loss. Her two grandchildren were suffocated in a hide-and-go-seek accident. I'm sharing this because I think that all administrators should think about how they communicate personal tragedies with staff. I've witnessed many bitter feelings against administrators because they did not communicate well or in a manner that staff felt was appropriate in times of extreme emotion. I think that the principal of this building did a very good job. She contacted the counselor and they untilized the school phone tree after calling staff members that are especially close to the teacher. The counselor then set up an EAP counselor to meet with us after school. This doesn't always happen.

using the IIRC

I have used the Illinois Interactive Report Card (IIRC) many times this fall since learning about the importance of data driven decisions in EDL 505. After our work this weekend, I am able to make more use of the financial links. We studied in class this weekend how the large dollar amount of administrator salaries in large districts is actually a relatively small percentage of the the education budget, typically 3 to 5 percent. I looked at the data for my small schools and found that the salaries for only two or three administrators represents over 10 percent of the education budget in our rural districts. That, of course, is a result of the lower administrator/student ratios in the small schools. It's because of that declining ratio that had lead to a number of districts trying to operate with a principal/superintendent position.

Motivation

I also enjoyed the discussion about motivation. Discussing the theories of motivation was interesting because the teaching profession differs so greatly in this regard. Many employees are motivated by money. Many put in long hours for a bigger paycheck. Some motivated salespeople are driven by commission. However, the teaching profession doesn’t really involve hours or sales. Teachers are motivated in a much different way. I feel that this is why the hiring process is so vital to a successful district. Administrators must find candidates that are internally motivated to engage students and bolster student achievement.

Stragtegic Planning

Before I get into the insightful part of this blog (if there is one), I have an interesting comment. In class, we talked about what would happen if there were a bomb threat and the principal evacuated the school into a field surrounded by woods. As we discussed it, I realized that a situation like that never crossed my mind. As I was staying in the Union Hotel, I received a phone call at 4:30 in the morning in the hotel room. I answered the phone and it was campus securtiy. They said that my dome light was on in my vehicle. The first thing that crossed my mind was, "This could be anyone calling me...is this just like the bomb threat?" HAHA! I asked him to meet me at the locked door on the bottom floor and as soon as I saw his uniform, I went outside. I am very thankful they called! Now for the insightful part, the future wheel also opened my eyes to the details that encompass a change. My group worked hard and thought we had covered all the angles and when we started to share, that was not the case! Thanks for the insight! Sara

Final Decision

I think that one of the most important comment that I took from c lass was, "Always let people know they have a say but let them know that they do not have the final say.I agree with the idea that people want to be heard. Whether or not you can do anything about it, they just want you to listen. By letting people have a voice in a major decision, it gives them the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas. For example, I am on the District RtI committee and part of the Staff Development Team. We are looking at various universal screeners for our district. After our class discussion, I went to my meeting today and we came up with an idea to create a rubric and let the teachers rate each screener. When it comes down to choosing, the RtI team will have the final decision but all of the teacher are going to be able to share their thoughts on each. I think that when the screener needs to be implemented next year, it will be given with integrity because we will have more buy-in from all staff. Thanks for the advice! Sara Dail

Black and white areas

I really enjoyed the class this weekend. I especially like to hear that there are situations that are not black or white, but can be in a gray area. I get many calls from administrators/teachers/parents and they expect answers that either black or white. I feel now that I can give them the answer and explain it is in that gray area and not feel guilty that I couldn't give them a definite.

Interviews

I enjoyed listening to the stories about different people that had been interviewed. I forgot that you could ask to look at other references, with permission of course. I didn't know that there was a "right" time to let the candidate know that you have chosen them. I was informed right away when I was hired before the board had even met. I thought that was just how it was done. I was surprised to hear about schools that don't look into references. I would think that you would want to know as much as you could about the people that you are about to hire, especially when they are working with children. For example the guy who kept getting hired after he worked eight days at one school and two weeks at the next.

Merging Schools

I found this topic to be very interesting, because there is so much that I didn't really think about. I didn't think about how to make the transition for the students easier. This is something that I didn't think about because I was so focused on how to find a spot for the teachers and other staff that you forget about one of the most important things and that is the students. The amount of planning that would go into something like this is unbelievable and the thing is no matter how hard you try you will not make everybody happy. In the end you hope you did what was right for the students and the community.

Value of Class Discussion

What great discussions we were able to have all weekend. I must admit the real-life stories as they relate to the topic at hand are quite valuable. I think the best part of the sharing of the actual situations experienced by Dr. Closen was that many times he opened it up to the class to think about how we would handle the particular situation described. The fact that there were so many different opinions goes to show that there isn't always just one way to handle things and that each person is different as are their views.
I must admit I looked forward to hearing about all the things that were shared.
Another topic that was interesting was the topic of merging schools or closing schools. The things that need to be considered when faced with this potential situation is unreal. I never thought the would be so much to consider. The first thing that came to mind when I thought about being faced with this, I have to admit, was what and how will the kids feel about this? Will anyone take time to explain this to the students, or will it all just be a big argument about the inconvenience this would be on the parent's and/or the teacher's lives. I know this is a hot topic with all the cuts in education spending, but from everything I have seen on the news regarding situations such as this, I don't remember once hearing about how the student's education would benefit from the mergers. Quite eye-opening!!

Kelly Roehm

Reflection

I found many/all the topics that were discussed this weekend valuable. Analyzing the 2 different school's data was very interesting, with the most valuable piece being the discussion that arose from it. It was very interesting to hear the speculation and different points of view as to what each particular school's data might tell about the school. The exercise in analyzing the data peeked our curiosity into finding out more about the individual school including location of the school, demographics, etc. I thought it was especially interesting that one of the schools was a school that students had to be accepted to. Looking at the test scores in relation to the low SES status of each school was a real eye opener. I guess I have had this stereotype engrained in my mind that all low SES status schools equals low test scores. Not true I discovered. This exercise definitely provides a whole new perspective on student success in relation to the socio-economic status of the school.
Kelly Roehm

Future Wheel

As an early elementary teacher, I use webbing a lot with my students. The Future Wheel is right up my alley because it is a form of webbing. I consider myself to be good at brainstorming, especially when other people have input too. The input of others feeds my brain and spurs many ideas for problem solving. I wouldn't have thought of all of the challenges for combining two schools myself, but with the wheel and a team of people with different viewpoints, we could come up with almost every possible consideration. It is a quick way to organize the ideas of many. Most people are visual, so this would be a very effective tool to use in a problem solving or information gathering situation. It would also be easy to put away and add on to later after taking a day or two to let the ideas sink in a bit.

Thought Provoking!

After two days of listening to real experiences of a real administrator, there are many thoughts running through my mind. I was so glad to have the discussion about things NOT being black and white because I believe that it depends on the situation. Fair is not equal. Fair is where everyone gets what s/he needs (Tomlinson). I subscribe to this belief and I think it goes hand in hand with our discussion about things being gray sometimes. It's good to know that I have the flexibility to take circumstances into consideration before making a decision. Things aren't just black and white.

Additionally, I liked looking at the data from IIRC. It was interesting to see the numbers and make educated guesses as to why the numbers might be as they are. I enjoyed coming up with questions to further my knowledge about the districts we looked at.

SBM, weekend 1

I enjoyed the SBM conversation this weekend. The district where I work has one Superintendent and one Principal. So, SBM is extremely evident because we have two buildings with one administrator in each. After discussing the disadvantages of SBM I feel that they have had an effect on my district. Especially the heavy workload for both teachers and the administrators.

Black and White

Thinking about the number of things that we discussed in class the one thing that stood out the most to me is that there is no black and white area in education.  With each positive and negative scenario that was brought up we had different opinions on how to handle the situation.  I walked out of class each day questioning how I would handle the various situations if I were principal.  It seemed to be overwhelming, but the one thing that I believe is the most important aspect of a principal is to be consistent with all decisions.  No matter if it is keeping the school safe or the hiring of good staff, the way that the principal goes about these decisions needs to be consistent from day one. 

EDL 522 1/18

The future wheel we did in class today was very eye-opening! There is so many factors to think about when wanting to make a change! I enjoyed our discussions on the satisfactions of teaching and why we went into this field. The discussion on resumes and interviews were very helpful for the future!

EDL 522 1/17

I really enjoyed class today. Listening to your experiences-both good and bad were more useful than any textbook could be. Reviewing the IIRC data for a school other than my own was very helpful. It gave me practice on what to do when researching a school for a future job. Our group had some good discussions when creating a job description- there's a lot more to it than just tell what the opening is. I thought our class had some great discussions as well.

Mari Thomson

Scenarios

Discussing the different scenarios is beneficial. Many of them have both a legal an ethical question that must be considered. I think that when looking at these situations it is important to continue to ask what is best for the students. Also, today’s activity demonstrated how important it is to consider all possible challenges that must be addressed when making any major change.

Practical scenarios

I felt that the group activity which was completed to discuss the option of closing one of two high schools in a district was very helpful. It allowed me to not only organize my thoughts, but it provided me with an opportunity to hear other view points from persons in my group regarding the problem. Each group member shared different experiences that assisted in problem solving the major issues that would need to be examined in that situation. To me, this activity supports the need for a diverse team to be developed in a real situation such as this in order to fully determine the needs and to examine the solutions that arise.

Work Environment vs Teacher Salaries

The environment that is created within a school is essential to ensure that staff morale proceeds in a positive manner. I agree with our class discussion that increasing instructional materials and decreasing class sizes have a greater impact on student achievement than increasing teachers' salaries. Salary increases are more apt to be forgotten within a short period of time by personnel while the impact of instructional materials are on-going with students.