Harpo Allen School Case Study

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Harpo Allen School is a school that is in crisis. The school has declined steadily over the years. There are many issues that shape the schools current stay of disarray: academic decline, discipline, disconnect between the culture of the school and the community, and high teacher turnover. These problems are compounded by little to no parental support in students’ education. Each aspect only serves to highlight and intensify each other. In order to rectify the issues at Harpo Allen, increase student achievement, and promote overall success for the organization, the school will need to be restructured.
In restructuring the school, the principal should use the demographic data of the community to devise ways to integrate the culture found …show more content…

Team-building activities that engender trust and collaboration will pave the way for a culture based climate change within the walls of the school. Since the faculty is diverse and with generational gaps, a way to bridge those gaps and the inherent disconnect caused by the generational gaps must be found. Professional learning communities should be formed which represent the best combination of skills each teacher can contribute to the whole. In a collaborative effort, motivation and management plans should be created, communicated, and implemented which nurture student growth and progress. Once approved, they should be explained orally to the parents and students and then placed all throughout the school both in English and in the ELL student’s native …show more content…

Harpo Allen’s current culture and climate is one of “you stay on your side of the property line, and I will stay on mine”. Parents must feel welcomed and needed when they walk into the doors of the school or classrooms. If parents do not feel valued, or are made to feel less than adequate, they will not make an effort to participate, and to be honest, why should they? It is critical that Principal Allen and his staff begin to reshape the perceptions of the parents and begin to treat the parent/student/teacher dynamic as a partnership. Programs should be implemented both related to social aspect of school as well academic aspect in which parents are invited to come in and participate in a non-threatening environment. Sponsoring workshops, family fun night, community festivals, and having a parent resource center would all be opportunities for parents to understand they have value and are an integral part of the school

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