School Law

This weeks assigment led us on our journey through the wonderful world of ARDs and IEPs. It is a necessary evil we must all contend with to ensure our student's needs are all being met. Here are my findings:

How do school staff members feel about the IEP process as a whole? Is it stressful? Do they feel it represents a true collaboration between parents and staff members to best serve students?

Staff members really don’t mind going through the process because we are trying to develop ways to appropriately reach that individual child and ensure they are making progress. Sometimes it can be hard getting everyone to the meeting, though. Getting all of the paperwork completed appropriately can be very stressful. When the parents are involved, there is true collaboration, but when the parents are not involved, it seems to just be the staff members truly looking out for the student.

Which aspect of the IEP process most confuses or discourages team members?

The IEP’s themselves can be very confusing, especially to new teachers. Determining which type of test to take and what accommodations the child needs can be confusing as well. It can also be confusing when trying to determine how the student initially qualified for special education, whether it is a learning disability, behavior, or some other health impairment, and then relating back to understand how it impacts each individual child.

 How does your school/district determine whether students are eligible for special education?

My school determines eligibility going through the RTI process, starting with tier I, moving to tier II, and ending with tier III. Initially we meet with the RTI team to develop interventions to be implemented. The teacher will document the interventions along the way, and everyone will meet again to evaluate the interventions. If it is needed, more will be put into place and monitored and evaluated as well. Vision and hearing is also screened. The third time we meet, we evaluate interventions, work done within literacy groups, pulling for tutoring, using one on one time, and if the students is still not being successful, we refer them to be tested for special education. The student may also be screened for other things like dyslexia and ADHD. It is a long process but useful in correctly determining whether or not the student has a learning disability or if it is just a lack of motivation or effort.

 What do IEP team members say can be done to better improve the process?

The process can definitely be improved through more parental involvement. The paper work can also be a lot to keep up with and complete by the classroom teacher, so it would be helpful to have a third party assist with it. If the teacher had more resources, like new and innovative interventions, it would be very helpful.

Are students’ IEPs effectively implemented at your school? What can be done to improve implementation?

 Students’ IEPs are effectively implemented and closely monitored at my school. Progress reports are sent home with every report card as well. To improve implementation, it would be helpful to have parental feedback. It would be nice to know if out IEPs have improved the childs outlook not only in school, but at home as well.

Action Research Wondering

Our district has been discussing the whether or not retention and/or promotion fosters student achievement. There has been a lot of research showing the negative effects on a student’s social well-being from retention greatly outweighs any positive ones. Traditionally teachers think retention helps the students because it can reduce skill variance in the classroom, allow students to mature, ensure success with materials they have struggled with, and to more be prepared to move on the following year.

When discussing possible areas of research with my principal we had covered the areas I originally thought of like attendance, student teachers, parental involvement, technology, etc… Later, I emailed my principal because I had a feeling our time was cut short and we were not able to introduce any of her ideas into our discussion. She emailed me back and introduced the idea of researching retention and discipline. Many times, the students who are retained are those very ones all teachers know of because they are such high discipline students. Because of this, I would like to investigate ways we can help these students from ever needing to be retained, reduce potentially higher discipline problems, and still ensure their success in the classroom.

How can we gain higher student success without using retention and causing increased discipline problems? What interventions can we put into place to ensure the success of these students? What are some alternatives to retention that promote high performances? How can we help teachers/administrators/students/parents achieve this?

Reflection of Research Course

     As I reflect on all that I have experienced and learned through this course, I am able to recognize all of the positive aspects of it. I have gained the most through the readings, assignments, and discussion board postings.

     From the text, Leading With Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Fichtman Dana, I have learned the most. Her clear text features and organization helped me to easily navigate through the text. On any given page, my eye was drawn to the most important information she was presenting. Being a fourth grade reading and writing teacher, I am regularly covering text features and how they relate to the ease of reading through a non-fiction text. The style of writing Dana uses also contributes to the ease of learning from the text. She is very clear and concise and does not try to use unnecessary vocabulary which can lead to misinterpretations. I fully appreciate the way she provides facts and then backs them up with anecdotes. The real life examples help to visualize the way each aspect will play out in reality. Her brief mentioning of social justice has really sparked my interest. Teaching in a low socio-economic school has allowed me to realize the way many people around me around me live in a completely different way than what I thought was the norm. I hope through further research on social justice, I can help my students understand the importance of an education and breaking the cycle of poverty.

     The assignments individually and collectively have helped me tremendously. They have provided a framework to follow in order to navigate my way successfully through the course. Each week has a clear set of instructions that not only teach me the course curriculum, but also help me to further my abilities to effectively conduct my action research project. I am very interested in my topic and hope it will benefit many students, but in order for this to happen, I have to first know how to develop and conduct an action research project. This course has done just that. I feel that each week I have grown not only as a learner but as a researcher as well. I gained the most from week three because that is when I started feeling confidant on where my action plan started, grew, and where it is now going. Having to fully develop the plan allowed me to truly see the way my research will play out and how many students it can potentially benefit along the way.

     The discussion board postings have also been very important in my growth through this course. I have been able to view other students’ thoughts and reflections along the way, which usually directly correlated with my own. It always helps to know that we are not the only ones going through feelings of incompetence and that we can turn to others to help us on our journey along the way. There is a lot to be gained by reading through others’ reflections, commenting on them, internalizing the thoughts, and changing as a result of them. Sometimes, I find valuable information on areas I would have never considered and am able to utilize the ideas/information as well. Although I am a little reluctant to ever provide feedback that could be thought of as a criticism, I am always interested in seeing if anyone else has an insight of ways I could improve my reflections in the postings.

     Overall, as I look back on all of the knowledge I have gained through this course, I am grateful for the opportunity to grow myself as a learner and researcher and gain a master’s degree in the process. I am always trying to relay the importance of a quality education to my students and by being a student as well, I have more credibility in their eyes. This course in particular will forever change me because once this action research project is over, I will continue to look for more that can be conducted.

Changes to my research plan

After meeting with my site supervisor, we decided to narrow my focus group to only those fifth graders who have been retained instead of all of the secondary students that have been retained. She wanted me to narrow it down based on ease of implementation. I will be following them through and determine the interventions that have been put into place for each of these students, decide if they are working or not, consider whether or not they are still at risk, track their discipline records before and after the retention, and try to come up with new interventions that work better for each students. I will refer back to our Campus Improvement Plan and our Needs Assessment to ensure we are following the path the district has put into place for the success of our school and students. After analyzing this, I will be able to develop the three top most areas of need as it pertains to retention and discipline, and develop a budget from it. I will also present on the difference between a social contract and classroom rules.

Action Research Plan

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
List all students who are at risk.	Determine those at risk of being retained.	Report Cards/ Assessments/ At-Risk Cards	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Two Weeks April 1, 2012	Refer to List	Update each year
Clearly separate the two sets of students.	Divide the students into primary and secondary groups.	Grade Level Assignments	Researcher (Me)	Two Weeks April 1, 2012	Refer to list	Update each year
List all students in secondary group who are at risk.	Focus on secondary group.	Grade Level Assignments	Researcher (Me)	Two Weeks April 1, 2012	Refer to List	Update each year
List any findings regarding each student.	Determine underlying reasons for these students not being successful.	Teachers/ At-risk cards/ Special Education/ 504/ Attendance/ Age/ Learning Disabilities/ Emotional Disturbances/ Length in school	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Two Weeks April 1, 2012	Refer to List	Update each year
Weigh positives and negatives of retention.	Research social effects of retention.	Internet	Researcher (Me)	April 8, 2012	Refer to Research	Continue research as needed
Weigh positives and negatives of promotion.	Research social effects of promotion.	Internet	Researcher (Me)	April 8, 2012	Refer to Research	Continue research as needed
Develop lesson plans that reteach necessary areas to ensure success.	Base classroom instruction directly from assessments for reteaching purposes on most missed TEKS.	Assessments/ Curriculum/ TEKS	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Ongoing	District Benchmarks and Unit tests	After each assessment, reteach based on individualized needs
Have teachers who are highly trained to effectively determine the appropriate interventions.	Train teachers on multiple interventions.	District or School or Myself Internet	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Fall 2012	Provide List of Different Interventions	Train each year
Assess each students needs and apply appropriate interventions.	Develop interventions based on each student’s needs.	RTI/ IEP Internet	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Fall 2012	Develop IEPs	Update each year
Keep students from needing to be retained.	Implement interventions.	Internet RTI/ IEP	Classroom teacher/ Administration/ Researcher (Me)	Fall 2012	Refer to successes of each student	Update each year
Change elements that did not work, keep those that did work.	Determine results/ effectiveness.	Assessment results/ Report Card grades/ Promotion or Retention results	Researcher (Me)	End of Year 2012/2013	Change elements based on needs of students and groups	Update each year

Research

In week two of my researh class I have learned a lot about the different types of action research we as professionals can perform and the necessity of them. We grow so much as leaders and learners when we are forever trying to improve student learning. One area that really reached me is the topic of social justice. If we can find a way to reach, engage, and inspire those living a life inpoverty, then maybe we can stop that cycle and change the next generation to come. Providing a stable environment and interventions based on their specific needs is an effective way of doing this.

Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs Too

Educational leaders need a quick site to reference on a number of areas, especially those of concern. When trying to improve learning, we as educators have a responsibilty to provide information and findings we have discovered and one of the easiest ways of doing this is blogging. So blog on to discover all you can and remember to share any findings you have along the way.