Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

Recommendations and District/Campus Improvement Initiative/Action Research Lessons Learned

The Superintendent Certification program has allowed me to be exposed to new areas growth. Throughout this school year, I had the opportunity to serve on several district committees and engage in research to improve student and teacher performance on my campus. These opportunities have allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and begin thinking globally.

My first activity consisted of classroom walk-through research, which had taken place daily on my campus. The campus goal was to improve classroom instruction and increase student engagement. The campus administrative team created a template for classroom walk-throughs. The template was used as a tool to measure and chart classroom instruction and student engagement. The classroom walk-throughs would occur daily at scheduled times. The data would be discussed each Monday during the administrative team meetings. This data allowed me to see the gaps in the campus instruction. I was then able to meet with the campus professional learning teams and individual teachers to discuss the outcomes of the walk-throughs. Throughout the year, classroom instructional strategies had increased across the board. Teachers were using a variety of strategies to engage the students. This method of research has helped improve campus instruction. The next step is to continue classroom instruction and improve the observation template to address more specific issues.

For the past two years, I had the opportunity to serve on the district diversity committee. Last year the committee was looking for opportunities to train the entire district on diversity. The committee reviewed programs outside of the district and considered the idea of creating district training. This school year, the district created a diversity training program for all district employees. I was fortunate to serve as a trainer for the district. Throughout the first semester, I along with other committee members traveled the district to train the staff on diversity. This training was needed, because the entire student and community population was and has been changing. The program was well accepted by the entire district. The Human Resources Department conducted a follow up survey on the diversity training. The majority of responses were in favor of the training. This training was a goal in the district’s five year strategic plan. I believe the district should conduct more training for all staff members. I feel that the training should address specific issues throughout the district, as well as, addressing specific needs of each campus.

I also had the opportunity this year to participate in teacher instructional rounds. This training was part of the joint effort between the Rockwall ISD and Dr. Robert Marzano. During the past two years, the Rockwall ISD has been in a partnership with the Marzano Research Foundation. The goal of this partnership was to improve classroom instruction throughout the district. The teacher instructional rounds were created by district leaders, teachers, and Dr. Robert Marzano. The instructional rounds allow two groups of four teachers to observe selected classrooms. After each observation, the teachers will follow an observation protocol, which will lead to discussion concerning the teacher observational rounds. The overall plan is to train several teachers to lead observational rounds and follow up with discussion. The discussions would eventually lead to instructional improvements throughout the campus.